Ina received a secret letter, a strange letter with no signature or recipient.
It's worth mentioning that due to the dense fog over the Misty Town area, both carrier pigeons and mechanical birds would lose their way. To send messages out of the town, people still used the most primitive method—asking Baker, the grocer, to help pass the message to Bant City and send it out when he went out to purchase goods.
However, this secret letter was brought by The Goldfinch. It and its companions usually wandered around the skies of Misty Town. Unexpectedly, they encountered a bizarre-looking bird that they had never seen before. Driven by curiosity, they approached the bird, which went berserk as soon as they came close.
The Goldfinch still felt uneasy recalling the incident: "It ate the parchment tied to its claw! We tried to stop it, but it still ate half of it."
The Goldfinch's face showed fear of causing trouble: "We didn't know this bird would be so timid. Lady Ina, do you know whose letter this is? It's best to tell them to send another one. Next time, don't use such a timid bird to deliver letters..."
Ina looked at the damaged parchment in her hand. The writing on it was incomplete, and it wasn't written in the common language of the continent.
Who would send a letter in this way?
Misty Town now had quite a few guests: mercenaries, the elder Mr. Wenter from the Mercenary Guild, Professor Derrick, and his students...
[You've triggered a random side quest 0-5: The Storm Approaching
Rewards: Unknown
Quest Progress: 0
Quest Requirements: You've intercepted a secret letter, which may hide a conspiracy behind it. Darkness gradually approaches this quiet town. Try to decode this secret letter!]
Ina rolled up the parchment and comforted The Goldfinch, "It's not your fault. If I knew who the owner of this letter was, I would remind them to send another one."
The Goldfinch ate strawberry-sauce-topped ice cream in the restaurant and soon forgot about the incident, becoming lively again.
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In a dark basement, eerie green fireflies flickered. The long table was filled with strange equipment, and viscous red liquid slowly wriggled through the pipes.
"I sensed that he released five weird owls at once," said a man with mysterious tattoos on his face, gritting his teeth, "Is this kid getting impatient? Does he know how hard it is to create something that can track a location without being intercepted by magical signals?"
An old man, who appeared more like a mummy than a living person, opened a sealed jar. The stinky liquid inside made him frown, but he continued the conversation, speaking kindly, "That child knows the value of the weird owls; he won't abuse them."
"Are you saying there's a big fish this time? How's that possible?" The tattooed man sneered, "He's been fooling us with small fish and shrimp for years."
The old man poured the dark green liquid from the jar into an instrument, speaking calmly, "If he disappoints us again, we'll turn him into a weird owl."
As they spoke, a bird covered with strange patterns flapped into the basement and perched on the tattooed man's shoulder.
The tattooed man opened the parchment on the bird's claw and laughed, "We can set off now. Bring our little darlings." He glanced at the instruments on the table.
The old man took the parchment and read it. The wrinkles on his face deepened with his smile, "Coincidentally, I was going there anyway."
"What task did you accept?"
"To kill a cat."
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Ina returned to Mist Swamp to bring nutritious fish feed to the pond administrator, the Lizard.
She sat on a large rock by the pond, casually sprinkling a handful of fish feed. The pond suddenly sparkled, and the silver scales of the Cold Thornfish flashed through the water like fragments of moonlight.
It almost made her forget that these were ferocious carnivorous fish; they now looked more like ornamental fish.
Ina brought ten fried chickens, three plates of braised pork, and six bowls of rice to the Lizard. Watching it swallow a whole fried chicken in two or three bites, with the muffled sound of crushed bones barely audible, she couldn't deny that this was a fierce beast that ordinary people couldn't handle.
The only flaw was that the beast's arms were too short, and it needed someone to feed it.
Seeing the gaping mouth in front of her, Ina poured a whole plate of braised pork into it and followed up with two bowls of rice. The Lizard finally closed its mouth, chewing contentedly. Its tail, which could smash rocks, swung leisurely, so happy it seemed about to bubble.
"How about opening another fish pond?" Ina felt that she still had too few in her industry chain.
Frank's chicken coop has expanded fivefold, supplying not only the townsfolk but also over a hundred eggs daily to the restaurant. It sounds like a lot, but the Rize tribe alone could use up more than 200 eggs for one lunch.
Many of the eggs Hana used for making bread were bought from Neranka by Ina. Although Frank already had the idea to expand the scale by hiring workers like Hana, it would take some time to implement.
The Rize tribe's vegetable greenhouse has been set up. The first batch of crops was just planted a few days ago. Even with the acceleration of growth due to fertilizers, it is estimated that it will take another week to harvest.
The rabbit hutch successfully housed a batch of adult Snowfluff Rabbits. These are valuable breeding rabbits; each one must contribute to the future proliferation and growth of the rabbit hutch and cannot be served on the table.
There's also the small tea forest behind the Dragon Flame Restaurant. When Ina took over, they were just knee-high saplings. Now they've grown quickly to more than half a person's height, but it's not time to pick the tea leaves yet.
In this way, the restaurant has many industries, but most of them are in the start-up stage, unable to keep up with the restaurant's rapid pace of opening branches.
It would be nice if there were some mature industries for Ina. She glanced at the restaurant's balance of funds. Not counting silver and copper coins, there were only 57 gold coins, a lot less than before. It's all because the initial investment in building the vegetable greenhouse was too much, and the profits have not yet been recovered. The daily provision of free meals for the Rize tribe is a large expenditure.
This amount of money probably can't buy any ready-made farms or ranches. Ina decided to rely on herself. As long as she wants to start, it's never too late. The Lizard has been doing a good job managing the fish ponds in the Miye Swamp, so she thought about building a few more.
After all, digging holes and compacting the soil can be solved neatly with magic. Placing a small one-way teleportation circle in the main channel of the swamp's river can lead to fresh water, the feed can be directly purchased from the system's feed store. The only troublesome part is that the Lizard needs to catch the first batch of fish, but it has already become adept at this, coordinating seamlessly with the auxiliary Pelican.
The Lizard, of course, had no objections. It even wanted to officially recruit the Pelican.
Ina agreed: "That's not a bad idea. You're responsible for land and water, and it can cover the sky. This way, you guys can protect the fish ponds in all directions."
The Lizard hesitated, though. Although the Pelican was huge and dared to swallow anything, it was somewhat lacking in combat power. At this moment, it thought of another suitable avian choice.
"A Four-Winged Thunderhawk?" Ina recalled that she saved Edith from its claws when she heard this familiar name. "I stole its prey. Would it be willing to work for me?"
The Lizard snorted, "To be able to transfer prey to you is its honor. It came to me a few days ago asking about you, and I sent it away."
Ina wasn't sure if the Four-Winged Thunderhawk would agree, but since the Lizard suggested it, it was worth a try. She asked the Lizard to contact the Thunderhawk and gauge its intentions, then she began to consider what to breed in the new fishpond.
She caught a lot of freshwater fish in the river of Mist Swamp.
[Willoleaf Minnow★★: A common fish on the Moro continent, with loose flesh and a heavy fishy smell. Not recommended for eating but can be used to feed cats.]
[Brook Sturgeon★★★: A fish unique to Mist Swamp, delicious but has many bones, aggressive, and has a large range of activity.]
[Crayfish★: Now in front of you is the dominator of late-night snacks, a regular guest at roadside stalls, a beer companion - Crayfish!]
Ina looked through them one by one. Since Willoleaf Minnow has a strong fishy smell, the picky black cat in the restaurant won't eat it. Brook Sturgeon has a large range of activities, making it difficult to meet the requirements of pond farming. That leaves only the crayfish, who seem to have the words "Pick me!" written all over them.
The Lizard was puzzled: "They're so small and all shell, are they really edible?"
Ina shook her head meaningfully: "You'll see." She handed the communication crystal she bought from Professor Derick to the Lizard: "Whether it's running out of feed or someone acting against my fishpond and staff, you can contact me. I've already charged it with magic."
As the Lizard went to catch crayfish, Ina stared at the water surface in deep thought, holding that half piece of sheepskin parchment in her hand.
[You have triggered a random side mission 0-5: Storm is Coming
Reward: Unknown
Progress: 20
Mission requirements: You have deciphered part of the content of the secret message but still feel clueless.]
This secret letter was first half-eaten. When Ina studied it, she found that it was written in a lost language. This wouldn't usually be a problem, as the system translator is versatile. But by coincidence, the person who wrote this letter, or the group using this lost language to communicate, only knew it superficially. This led to many flaws in the letter, making it impossible to understand what they were trying to express. Ina couldn't help but wonder if this was the legendary double encryption.
Ina studied the half-piece of sheepskin for a long time, and she could only recognize a few scattered sentences, one of which was related to her was [Dragon].
Did someone discover her identity?