I Transmigrated Into A Fantasy World To Farm And Build Houses!-Chapter 247: Not Enough People
The scale of the livestock farm was getting larger day by day. With enough food, these rabbits and poultry didn’t resist too fiercely; the stubborn ones had long since been taken out by Eric to be stewed.
In short, the remaining ones had accepted their fate of living in bone cages. Eric planned to let Anna and Phong come here to watch over them once the scale grew a bit larger; at that time, the poultry with clipped wings could be free-range.
Before that, the housing and greenhouse for the breeding farm had to be built. Eric planned to learn from the method of making bone cages, using magical beast bones instead of steel rebar in the farm walls. This stuff was stronger than steel, and with concrete plastered on the outside, it would be hard for it not to be sturdy.
Coincidentally, the Horned Goat tribe was also staying in the tribe. Next year, they could be assigned to specialize in mining various ores.
For example, limestone for making cement, coal mines, and additionally, Joseph and the others had discovered saltpeter not far from the sulfur mine, along with iron and mithril mines that the Dwarves often used - all could be handed over to the Horned Goat tribe.
The large and strong curved horns of the Horned Goat tribe were very suitable for mining. It was just that the Dwarves responsible for guiding and finding mines had to stand a bit further away. If Snow Wolves got buried, they could dig themselves out, but Dwarves would be in trouble.
The bone cages made by Sam followed Eric’s suggestion and were relatively spacious. A larger space meant less susceptibility to disease.
The newly arrived rabbits were huddled together, looking like a ball of sticky rice, especially the baby rabbits among them, white and soft. Relying on his thick skin as a Snow Wolf now, Eric opened the cage directly, reached in, and grabbed one to hold in his arms.
The white rabbit was about the size of a local dog. Born in winter, it didn’t have much meat on it, but its fur was very smooth and felt great to touch.
Its attack power wasn’t as high as the gray rabbit, so Max didn’t worry about Eric getting hurt. In Max’s eyes, that rabbit was nowhere near as cute as Eric, so he stood up to add more food for the other poultry.
Recently, the bran, bean dregs, and cabbage leaves in the tribe were all used to feed them, so one could tell at a glance which ones were caught first. Every day, patrolling warriors would conveniently feed them and clean the cages; the rabbits and poultry that had been there longer had fattened up by two whole sizes.
It was rare to have a place with abundant food in winter. It was no wonder these animals quickly adapted to life in cages. Although their wild nature was hard to shed immediately, they were much better than when they first arrived; at least none were frantically ramming into the cages anymore.
"Max, is there any kind of magical beast that doesn’t know magic, has no attack power, and has a lot of meat? Being a bit big is fine too. Ideally, a goat-shaped magical beast. Not only can we raise them for food, but we can also shear them twice a year to make wool sweaters and felt."
Eric asked while stroking the rabbit in his arms, pinching its ears for fear it might run away.
Max carried the bucket used for feeding back over, thought for a moment, and said:
"There is a tier-two magical beast called the curved horn goat. Its body is half the size of a thorn pig, and its lightning attack is very mediocre. It happens to be suitable for raising, just that their numbers are few right now. Next year, I can catch a few for you."
So if he raised a large herd, wouldn’t he have to install a bunch of lightning rods in the farm... Eric thought awkwardly.
A body half the size of a thorn pig meant it was as big as a room. It should be known that a thorn pig was nearly the size of a truck; a single thorn pig weighed dozens of tons, and even its internal organs were substantial.
Every time a thorn pig was caught, Eric could have a feast of intestine dishes. He still liked pig offal best, especially the large intestine.
"If only we could raise pigs, it would be great. It’s a pity thorn pigs have thorns, which is very troublesome. Other pig-shaped magical beasts are too high-level and unsuitable for raising..." Eric sighed, speaking with some regret.
After finishing feeding the animals, Max walked over, sat next to him, smiled, and said:
"If you want to raise thorn pigs, that’s fine too. Pigs are indeed larger than other animals, and the amount of meat is greater. The thorns of a thorn pig are a bit troublesome, but every time it shoots its thorns, it needs time to recover. We can periodically let it shoot them once. During that time, don’t let the cubs get close, and other times should be safe."
Eric’s eyes lit up. He grabbed Max’s hand and said happily:
"Why didn’t I think of that? Isn’t that the best of both worlds! It’s just that the room for raising thorn pigs needs to be built very large and exceptionally sturdy. It seems our brick-making work next year will be heavy; the brick kiln needs to be expanded too."
Afraid he would forget, Eric took out a small notebook from his bosom and recorded the expansion of the brick kiln.
Now, there were more and more matters in the tribe. No matter how good Eric’s memory was, it couldn’t hold so much, so he had sewn a notebook to write down important things as soon as he thought of them.
"Will we be able to handle it like that? Next year, we have to build houses for the Snow Wolves and the Horned Goat tribe, build the livestock farm, which requires a lot of bricks, and also reclaim wasteland, dig canals..."
The more he calculated, the more his head hurt. The tribe, including the Dwarves, currently had fewer than five hundred people; manpower was severely lacking.
The houses for the Snow Wolves and the Horned Goat tribe all required huge spaces, so naturally, they would need a lot of bricks. The livestock farm would definitely be large in scale; rabbits and poultry were manageable, needing only the size of a modern pig farm.
But the thorn pigs and curved horn goats Eric planned for were not space-savers at all. He could only use magical beast bones as pillars, plus concrete to fix them, trying to use as few bricks as possible.
Furthermore, the roof would just use magical beast bones and straw; otherwise, needing that many tiles would take ages to fire.
That way, it would leak when it rained. Although thorn pigs and curved horn goats were tier-two magical beasts unafraid of continuous rain, cleaning would be very troublesome. When that time came, he would just have to use magic to clean.
Seeing Eric frown, Max extended his long hand and pressed between Eric’s eyebrows: "Don’t worry too much. Have you forgotten the Gray tribe?"
Eric raised his head in confusion. Wasn’t the Gray tribe the Dwarf tribe they passed by on their return from the coast? He still remembered the formidable Julia vividly.
Max patiently said: "Didn’t you agree to let the Dwarves go over there to teach them how to fire bricks to rebuild their tribe? We can cooperate with them, have them fire a large quantity of bricks, and then send people to haul them back."
No wonder Max became the patriarch of the Black Rock tribe in the original story.
Eric’s eyes sparkled:
"Max, you’re so smart! When the time comes, we’ll make a few more large wooden carts. That way, we just need to make a few trips back and forth to the Gray tribe, saving us from the manpower shortage!"
Saying this, he excitedly hugged Max.
The moment the warm body rushed into his arms, Max was stunned for a moment. Confusion filled the space between his brows, but his hands honestly hugged the person in his arms tightly.
He lowered his head, meeting the curved, smiling eyes of the little beastman. Max’s expression suddenly darkened; his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down a few times, and he restrained himself to lower his head and kiss his mate’s eyes.
