"Eh?"
Ji Grass the little goblin scratched his head, a look of puzzlement crossing his face.
"Strange, I distinctly remember it being right here."
He seemed worried that Gauss would think he was deceiving him.
He led his tribe around the campsite, trying to find any clue about the goblins.
But no matter how wide-eyed the little goblins were, no matter how they observed, they couldn’t spot a single goblin.
Gauss gently flared his nostrils.
The goblin scent in the air was already faint.
It seemed there should have been a group of goblins living here, but at least now, they had left some time ago.
"Were they exterminated earlier, or killed by other demons?" Aaliyah stepped beside Gauss, tiptoeing to inspect the clearing outside the shrubs.
"Probably not." Gauss shook his head. "There’s no trace of bloodstains around."
His bright green phoenix eyes glanced around.
Within his field of view, the earth’s color was normal; there were no pits from large-scale combat, nor were there any deep brown congealed soil from blood sinking into the ground.
"Like they migrated away, or perhaps they were conscripted."
Gauss surveyed the surroundings, increasingly confident he was getting closer to the mission’s target.
Normally, a goblin settlement of equal or larger size is hard to be peacefully annexed.
If annexation is achieved without a blood conflict, it can only mean one side’s strength far exceeds the other.
"Sorry." The little goblins returned with drooping heads. "We made you come here for nothing."
"No worries." Gauss waved his hand cheerfully. "This in itself is valuable intelligence."
Rather than killing an additional ten or twenty goblins, gaining similar intelligence from their departure might even be more valuable.
"Let’s head to the next stop."
No one in the team was tired of this yet.
....
Late night.
The campfire scattered the darkness in the woods.
The flickering flame cast a warm glow over everyone’s faces.
Dried branches emitted crisp crackling sounds, and sparks occasionally flew up, quickly extinguishing in the cool night air.
After a day of rushing and fighting, the tranquility of the night seemed especially precious.
Gauss also wanted to relax and cooked a steaming pot of stew for his comrades.
The method was simple, just like any ordinary traveler outdoors, he took out a small iron pot and placed it over the campfire.
First, sauté the chopped onion with a little grease, jerked meat, and other spices, then pour in the creek water collected earlier, add hardy potatoes, and edible plant roots.
With that, the soup base was prepared.
Next, whenever anyone wanted, they could add the pre-prepared ingredients from the basket into the pot.
The inspiration came from Gauss’s past life’s hot pot method.
Aaliyah, Serdur, and Ying were stunned when they saw this novel way of eating.
The cooking styles in this world primarily consisted of roasting, pan-frying, and stewing.
Even the closest method, stewing, involved putting all ingredients into the pot at once, unlike hot pot which cooked ingredients instantly.
"Use this spoon, put the meat slice in, dip it a few times, and it’s ready to eat."
"I’ll try."
Aaliyah took the specially designed perforated iron spoon from Gauss’s hand, placing the thin slices of prepared meat in it.
Then, as Gauss said, she dipped it several times and watched the meat change color.
Only then did she distribute the food to several people.
"This is the seasoning."
Despite Gauss’s efforts to replicate it, it was difficult to achieve perfection.
Soy sauce was substituted with a savory fermentation sauce from fish.
Sesame sauce was replaced with nut sauce.
Then there were other seasonings like salt, black pepper, garlic, onion, vinegar, lemon juice, and wasabi for spiciness...
But his favorite satay sauce from his past life was hard to find a suitable substitute.
Just had to make do.
The others mimicked Gauss and made bowls of sauce, consuming it with the meat.
"Mmm~ Really nice." Aaliyah was surprised. She didn’t expect Gauss to bring such a novel eating method innovation. "How come you haven’t done this before?"
She couldn’t help but ask curiously.
"Been preparing these seasonings," Gauss smiled bitterly, shaking his head.
Finding so many seasonings took quite an effort on his part.
Now that he was no longer part of the impoverished class, he could find them.
Because many seasonings are quite expensive for ordinary people, without economic backing, even a flash of inspiration wouldn’t lead to inventing such a way of eating.
Serdur and Ying were silent but seemingly content.
Of course, Gauss didn’t forget the other members of the team.
He prepared plenty of ingredients, plus the ample meat from hunting during the day, enough for the team to have a hearty meal.
Ulfen and Aik received plenty of meat.
As for the little goblins, they got some vegetables, which they enjoyed tremendously.
Gauss watched his companions and thought, maybe when he retired, he could open a restaurant.
After eating, everyone worked together to clean up the cooking utensils and tableware.
Then they lay down to rest at the camp.
Gauss sat by the campfire, watching the flickering flames, his eyes slightly lost in thought, his consciousness sinking deep into his mind.
"Total monster kills: 3940"
Despite encountering another few vanished goblin settlements during the day, efficiency remained high.