It is not an easy matter for the Forsbarrow people to accept a group of demon-stained people. Until now, Lux has concealed the identity of the Dharma Controller, planning to wait until the artificial lake is completed and then make it public to gain access to The identity of the people of Fosbairo.
Before achieving actual results, in order to avoid resistance among the Forsbarrow people, Lux did not intend to reveal the identity of the Dharma Protector.
However, "not intended to be released" does not mean confidentiality.
Those who were relatively well-informed in Forsbarrow also had some guesses about the identities of the members in the temporary camp. However, everyone kept silent and waited to see the consequences.
For example, Grandma Nadine, through Grandma Ling, she vaguely guessed the identity of the Dharma Protector in the temporary camp.
This time, Grandma Ling found her again. On the one hand, she wanted to convey to her that "Count Laxana has sent her most capable men to Freljord to explore the possibility of Freljord trade." On the other hand, she also He hinted that she "sees Count Laxana's attitude, she really wants to build Forsbyro, so when the identity of the Archon is announced, you have to help."
Grandma Nadine called Sambor in and took the initiative to make a joke with Grandma Ling. In fact, she recognized the other party's request. After all, from the perspective of the Forsbarrow people, she dared to send the most powerful person at this time. The confidant went to Freljord, which had already declared Count Laxana's attitude.
Even though Sambor was still confused, the two old women had already reached an agreement on their attitude towards the Dharma Master.
Of course, Lux doesn't know this yet.
At the Chamber of Commerce, she got some answers from Sambor, but there were still many questions that even Sambor was not very clear about.
After returning to sort out the question entries, Lux found that the questions about the fur trade that Sambor didn't understand were basically concentrated in two aspects: one was about the fur trade in areas outside Forsbarrow; Production and processing links.
Regarding these two points, Lux decided to discuss them in categories after some thought.
Outside of Forsbarrow, the only major fur-producing areas in Demacia are Mithril City and Owendale. As for the fur trade situation in these two areas, Lux can write to ask her family.
After all... Mithril City is the fiefdom of the Crownguard family.
As for the production and processing of fur, she planned to visit the Orion's home, starting from the most basic level, to see the process that fur goes through from the beast to becoming a coat and cloak.
So, the next day, Lux found the Hunter Guild.
The guild members who suddenly saw the lord were somewhat at a loss. They immediately informed Lux that "the president has gone out to perform a mission," while Lux nodded with a smile and said that she knew.
"I signed that order!" She looked no different from the little girl next door. "I came here today mainly because I wanted to know about the hunter's daily life - I heard that Forsby The family with the most money is the Orion family. As the lord here, how can I not take a closer look at the living conditions of the Orion family?"
The hunters had obviously never seen such a battle before. They all looked at each other in confusion, not knowing how to respond. As a social terrorist, Lux would not let them continue to be embarrassed here, so she randomly chose a middle-aged man who looked neatly dressed. People, she directly asked to go to the other person's home to have a look.
"Your Excellency, it is winter now, and during the period of martial law, we will not go out hunting for the time being." The hunter who was named was immediately at a loss. He misunderstood what Lux meant, thinking that the other party wanted to go out to hunt, so he could only bite the bullet. Explaining, “At this time, we usually work with leather at home…”
"Very good, leather processing is also a part of hunting. The Chamber of Commerce will not transport bloody fresh leather." Lux was still smiling, "Let's go, let me go and take a look - don't be too nervous."
Having said that, the hunter could only grit his teeth and lead Lux back home, and introduce his wife and children to Lux.
Then, what he never expected was that Lux actually followed the common etiquette of the Forsbarrow people and gave his wife and children an exquisite but not too precious little gift!
Seeing the children circling around the "beautiful big sister" after receiving the gift, although the named hunter was still nervous, at least he was not trembling with fear or sweating profusely.
After chatting with the hunter's wife for a while, Lux quickly began to visit his small workshop.
Here, Lux saw for the first time the process of fur processing by the Forsbarrow people.
Since it is already late winter, most of the furs at the hunter's home have already gone through preliminary processing - the extracted parts have been washed for the first time and pickled for the second time, and the beautiful fur of the animals can be initially seen. It's shiny; the leather has also gone through preliminary tanning and doesn't look bloody.
Although she already knew Lux's identity, the hunter's round-shouldered wife had the unique boldness of a northern woman. When she learned that Lux wanted to know about the hunter's life, she rolled up her sleeves on the spot. The performance started directly with the third soaking and cleaning of animal fur - mineral washing.
"The furs from other places are not as good as ours from Forsbarrow!" The eldest lady explained enthusiastically as she gently took down the large pile of furs from the shelf and transported them to the soaking pool in the small shed in the yard, " It’s because our mines in Forsbarrow are good—look, this black decolorizing ore is the best nourishment for Forsbarrow’s fur!”
After quickly fetching water from the well and filling the soaking pool with water, she took out a small piece of black ore, put it into an old-looking mill, and started grinding it.
"This set of things was left to me by my father. I heard it was made of black iron." She crushed the ore with a bang and said to Lux in a northern accent as usual, "Crushed ore It's easy, other people's rollers have to be replaced every year..."
Lux nodded in agreement while observing the work in her hands. She crushed the black decolorized ores and put some of them into the soaking pool.
"Washing with water once to remove blood stains, pickling twice to soften the hair tips, and washing with minerals three times to fix the luster. These are all skills passed down by the old man." She said to Lux while stirring the soaking pool and observing the color of the fur. "After washing with water, the meat must be removed, after pickling, it must be pressed, and after mineral washing, it must be naturally air-dried. This step requires constant stirring, and the stirring must not stop for at least two days. The two of us have always worked in shifts."
"It will be easier in two years." Lux said with a smile. "The children are also growing up. When they become sensible, they will understand that their parents are working hard and come to help."
"That bastard in my family only knows how to fight on the street, and he always talks about joining the army. He doesn't understand how hard it is for his mother!" Although he seemed to be scolding his own child, the smile on the other person's face was even brighter, " He has a good size and shape, and is very good at eating. If I can’t join the army, all my hard work over the years will be in vain!”
"Yes, yes, more and more people from Fosbairo will be able to join the army." Lux roughly understood the method of stirring the immersion pool, "Can you let me try this stirring process?"
"Okay, okay!" Although she was surprised that the lord would do the work himself, the hunter's wife still nodded and handed over the stirring stick, "Be careful, it's quite heavy."
"no problem."
Lux easily took the heavy pine stick and began to stir the water-soaked furs according to the other party's instructions - at the same time, she stood from the perspective of a mage and observed the stirring pool of water with her magical vision. .
Sure enough, the black ore contains a small amount of magic power. Judging from the properties, it should be close to the shadow energy. After this kind of ore is crushed and put into the soaking pool, the shadow energy will slowly and softly stir for a long time. It erodes the fur and eventually makes the hair on the fur clear and shiny.
Very interesting way to handle it!
After gaining a general understanding of the mineral washing process, Lux handed back the stirring rod and continued chatting with her about daily life. Then, for the first time, she learned about the hunter's specific lifestyle from the talkative elder sister.
Generally speaking, hunters rarely hunt in the spring. During this period, the hunter couple usually does odd jobs, helping miners transport ore that has been stored for the winter. Animals in spring often bring young. Animals cannot be hunted at this time.
When summer comes, hunters from each family will send their own tanned and tanned furs and leathers to the merchant caravan of the Chamber of Commerce. After the statistics are made, a hunting team will be formed to go deep to the north of Forsbarrow. Deep in the Dragon Ridge Mountains, the first hunt begins.
This is the most profitable hunt of the year. Hunters from the Hunter Guild gather together to carry out large-scale hunting in the area close to the Freljord, and then divide the prey equally. This custom is that of the Forsbarrow hunters. With a "basic salary", even a newbie hunter can survive this first hunt.
In addition, Chushou is also a "blind date stage" for hunters to show themselves. The family Lacus visited was the one she met on Chushou ten years ago. In Lacus's view, Chushou's blind date really kills two birds with one stone. It not only provides the hunters with An opportunity to get out of the market, and at the same time, it also prevents the newbies from losing much profit because everyone is messing up.
After the initial hunt, it’s time to hunt freely.
During the hunting season, hunters' homes will simultaneously process various harvests from the hunt. The meat of the prey will be marinated, and the furs will be processed differently according to the type, and they will be stocked up to wait for next spring.
That night, Lux had a meal of Forsbarrow's special pickled sausages at the hunter's house. Due to the development of the blue ocher mining industry, Forsbarrow has many salt wells, and the price of coarse salt is very cheap, but Because coarse salt doesn't taste very good, and eating too much salt can dye your tongue blue, so hunters prefer to eat pickled products.
Meats and sausages marinated with coarse salt will have some blue crystals precipitating on the surface after the marinating time exceeds one month. This will not only extend the storage time of the meat and enhance the flavor, but also avoid the corrosion of coarse salt. Bitterness can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Objectively speaking, Forsbarrow's cured meat tastes good, but the problem is that the soil here is frozen, and the only barley that can be grown is too dry, so it can only be cooked with wheat rice - compared with the delicious cured sausages, wheat rice It's a little hard to swallow.
Just when the Hunter couple thought that Lux would not be able to get used to it and were about to get some "bread for the superior people", they were surprised to find that Lux ate more happily than anyone else.
This lord does not look like a nobleman at all, but more like a little girl from a poor background, who can enjoy even wheat rice.
(Obviously, they can't understand how a person who has walked tens of thousands of miles in the desert can tolerate food. In Lux's opinion, the texture of wheat rice is indeed terrible, but the taste is terrible. Much better than those eaten in the desert.)
This greatly shortened the distance between the two parties. After dinner, the hunter asked a friend to bring over a rabbit, and performed a preliminary fur treatment for Lux on the spot.
Seeing that the other party handled a rabbit as easily as a butcher undressing an ox, and almost instantly turned a rabbit into a pile of roasted rabbit meat and a complete rabbit skin in the blink of an eye, Lux couldn't help but sigh with emotion at the other party's proficiency. .
That day, Lux stayed at this house.
By the evening of the next day, Lux accepted a rabbit fur scarf and returned to the temporary camp. She already had a relatively clear understanding of Forsbarrow's family-style fur industry.
Hunters hunt and families process furs. This natural division of labor has well supported Fosbairo's fur industry. At every summer exhibition, Fosbairo brings tens of thousands of fur products and thousands of pairs to Xiongdu. Leather boots are the annual "surplus" of each Orion family.
These balances will be used to purchase production tools, raise offspring, and buy some tobacco leaves and wine. These are the favorite leisure and entertainment of Forsbarrow hunters.
If the Freljord trade expands, Lux will still have to wait for her mother's reply on whether the influx of furs into the market will drive down the price. But in addition to the price of the furs themselves, Lux is also keenly aware that Foss Bairro's fur industry still has the potential for deep processing to a large extent.
The quality of the furs produced by Forsbarrow is very good, but it does not deviate from the scope of raw materials. After purchasing these furs, buyers will make them into various coats and cloaks, and those prices are the highest.
So, if the Freljord's trade is destined to bring more furs, can Forsbarrow reach out to the next processing link?
Further processing of furs…fur industry?
Comparing the furs worn by the nobles at the winter banquets she had seen in the capital with the fur coats sewn by the locals of Forsbarrow, Lux narrowed her eyes slightly and quickly came up with some ideas.
Perhaps, I should write to the artists in Xiongdu and ask them to design some styles that are more in line with the aesthetics of the aristocracy?
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