Confirmed that the rat-demon was dead.
Ma Lin and Na Du both escaped through a window and then set fire to the woodpile inside the rat-demon's mansion.
The rat-demon's minions, without their master, went berserk, causing chaos inside the mansion.
Once on the street, Ma Lin saw that the guards had entered the mansion, so he took a stone axe and split open the cages of twelve canine people and set them free.
By that time, flames began soaring high from the mansion.
These canine people refused to leave immediately; instead, they rushed into the mansion. When Ma Lin asked what they were doing, they said they needed to take the beer, the hops, and the barley seeds with them.
The demonic creatures in the town, hearing that the rat-demon was dead and its mansion ablaze with the minions out of control, immediately decided to loot amidst the chaos and began swarming into the mansion. When they saw Ma Lin, they assumed he was of the same mind.
The mansion was quite large, and the twelve canine people efficiently pulled out a cart, on top of which were six barrels of brewed beer, as well as a bag each of barley seeds and hops.
Then it was Ma Lin and Na Du, leading the twelve canine people as they ran south out of town. The town was in such disarray that no one paid attention to them.
The road was tough and the cart slow, but the canine people were very strong and Ma Lin and Na Du even stronger, so they were able to cover a hundred miles in a day.
Once they were in the wilderness, Na Du made a stone spear or stone axe for each of them, ensuring that the group, with its thirteen canine people including Ma Lin, would be safe.
With sharp teeth and claws, the canine people were formidable fighters.
Na Du was full of questions as to why Ma Lin was doing this, to which Ma Lin responded by inviting Na Du to drink beer from a wooden cup, to see what he thought of the drink.
Initially, Na Du was very disdainful of it, but his opinion changed after several more cups.
Ma Lin made sure to remind them not to drink too much beer and to wait until they got back to the village.
The twelve canine people were very happy to have been rescued and even happier knowing there was a place that would shelter them.
The problem with Da Gu Village was that its population was too small, so they would be very pleased with the addition of these twelve able-bodied canine people.
The "Book of Servants" stated that Ma Lin would obtain a beer brewing workshop. If he erected a statue of a great demon egg in the workshop and regularly poured it a few cups of beer, Ma Lin would be able to earn three hundred contribution points a month.
As for food, on the first day of their journey, Ma Lin had hunted a sheep and tied it to the cart, providing enough food for the way.
They took turns pulling the cart. Although the road was difficult, since there were many of them, they didn't find it too heavy.
Ma Lin himself was in great spirits, knowing that there would be beer to drink in the future.
One of the canine people was very good at singing, and another was skilled at playing the flute.
The journey was quite lively.
After four and a half days, they returned to Da Gu Village, where Ma Lin introduced the twelve canine people to the other villagers, and the village chief decided to build a few more houses.
Old Hu Da Ju was very happy to see Ma Lin.
Soon after, the twelve canine people settled down, and with the help of the villagers, built two small houses and one large house.
The big house was the brewery, but the village's canine people didn't understand what was so good about beer.
Out of the six barrels of beer they brought, three were considered Ma Lin's and the rest belonged to the entire village.
Ma Lin felt that drinking beer was truly enjoyable and tried to teach the whole village how to drink it, but it would still be some time before they could brew more. Growing and harvesting barley took time.
Luckily, the new special twelve canine people loved to work and were easy to get along with, so they didn't cause any trouble for the villagers.
Since the rat-demon had thought that beer was a great abomination, Ma Lin felt even more that promoting this drink had significant value. Why not sell beer in every town they could find, thereby disrupting the demons' social order?
Demons had their own drinks, which were incredibly evil, and the canine people dared not touch them.
Ma Lin felt he had found a great cause to pursue.
Beer made him start to like this world a little, and the discovery of beer by these twelve canine beings, along with their secret brewing and drinking, had nearly cost them their lives, also gave Ma Lin a certain sense of identity.
But this plan had to be taken slowly.
That day, after having drunk a little too much, he lay on his own fur blanket pondering all sorts of messy thoughts, and felt the "Book of the Servant" around his neck vibrate again.
Upon opening it, he found a task to travel three hundred miles away to find a blacksmith and bring him back.
His mood lightened a bit.
If there were a blacksmith here, life would get a bit better.
However, there was no need to hurry. First, he had to erect a stone sculpture of a great daemon egg in the courtyard of the beer brewery, as demanded by the "Book of the Servant."
There were some very skilled stone masons in Big Bone Village, one of whom was proficient in carving.
Ma Lin showed him a drawing, which depicted the statue.
The stone mason said he had seen this kind of sculpture and knew how to carve it, but didn't know who it was meant to represent or why he should create a statue of it.
Ma Lin thought to himself, great daemon egg, how come the people who live right next to your old home don't know who you are, let alone what you do?
After gifting the stone mason a two-foot-long fish with a somewhat unpleasant taste, the mason said Ma Lin didn't need to worry about the rest; the stone sculpture would be erected within four days at the spot Ma Lin had marked.
Then, Ma Lin went to find Na Du, saying he wanted to go out.
Na Du said, "You just stirred up a bunch of things, and now you want to go out? Poison Snake Town is certainly not peaceful right now."
Ma Lin replied, "My grandfather told me there might be good materials for making weapons about three hundred miles to the east from here. I really want to go check it out."
Na Du said, "You egg daemon, you're really restless."
Now that the village had an additional twelve canine beings, including three who once served as guards for a rat daemon and had some combat experience, and the rest being young and strong, the village's defense was reinforced. Even if Na Du went out, the safety of the village shouldn't be a problem.
So Na Du agreed to accompany Ma Lin on his journey.
From the village chief to Na Du, everyone felt that Ma Lin loved to stir things up but also did things that were beneficial for the village, so they should support him.
Having people's support really felt good.
Na Du had been eastward for over a hundred miles, but what lay further east was unknown to him. Even so, with his abundant wilderness survival experience, Ma Lin could be much more at ease with him around.
Both men carried bows and arrows for convenient hunting and defense.
With plenty of dry food packed, they then started heading east.
The canine beings of Big Bone Village had all witnessed the effectiveness of Ma Lin's healing medicines, and now his status had risen even higher. Coupled with his decisive action in saving the twelve canine beings, he had become almost as important as Na Du, second only to the village chief.
The village chief's value lay in his ability to cast "magic" to increase harvests; he was an elder who had helped found the village; he also knew a few low-level offensive and healing spells.
Now, Ma Lin found the village quite nice, and the more he looked at the canine beings' faces, the more pleasant he found them.
Na Du wanted to know whether there were any clues about the place Ma Lin was heading to, but Ma Lin gave evasive answers, unable to provide clear information.
The task had merely hinted that there was a blacksmith around three hundred miles to the east, without specifying exactly how to find him.
The journey was challenging, as they encountered cliffs blocking the path twice; Ma Lin's suggestion was always to climb over, and Na Du offered no objections.
Camping in the wilderness was not easy, but luckily Na Du was experienced.
There was a very dangerous valley filled with demonic creatures that carried skulls on their heads.
They had to make a detour to get past it.