Leo was too young, so Eric didn’t plan to take him. He entrusted the boy to Luci. It just so happened that Thomas and Max both had to go with him, so they let Luci come to his house to stay with Leo.
There was also a lot of food in his cellar; Luci didn’t need to bring anything and could just move in.
Leo, with teary eyes, clung to the luggage Eric had prepared, trying to stuff himself inside.
Eric was exasperated and amused. He picked the boy up in front of him to coax him.
"I’m going out to trade for delicious food for you and everyone in the tribe. I won’t be gone long; I’ll be back quickly. You be good at home with Luci and watch the house for me, okay?"
Leo looked at him pitifully with tear-filled eyes, making Eric feel as if he had returned to his very first day here.
Back then, Leo had also looked at him with that same longing gaze, and it had immediately touched his heart.
Eric’s heart softened, and he felt a little distressed. He really wanted to bring Leo along.
But the weather was cold, and the journey was long.
This time, he also hadn’t told the tribe members that they needed to go to the coast to refine salt, not just simply go to the Ox-Head tribe.
It was very far from their tribe to the coast, and the road was extremely dangerous.
According to Max, they also had to bypass a forest called Misty Moon, where high-level magical beasts were as common as ox hair; even the Snow Wolf people didn’t dare to step in rashly.
Bypassing that forest would increase the journey by half. Bringing a beast cub was completely impossible.
Eric could only harden his heart, roughly tousle Leo’s hair, and then hand the boy into the arms of Luci, who was seeing them off.
During winter, the tribe members had a lot of free time. When they set off, many people came to see them off.
Everyone thought they were just going to the Red Grass Tribe to exchange food as they did every year, so they all said goodbye happily.
After tasting the various delicious dishes Eric made from grain, the tribe members were extremely eager for them to bring back even more types of grain.
Among the Dwarves, only chief Joseph was going. The other Dwarves repeatedly urged him, asking him to remember to trade for more sorghum, even if it meant forging many more farm tools.
After seriously bidding farewell to everyone, the other warriors transformed one by one into giant snow wolves. Everyone worked together to tie the luggage and goods onto their backs.
Eric sat properly on Max’s back, surrounded by various pieces of luggage. Luci had even prepared a thick animal hide for him, which could be used to block the cold wind when the snow wolves ran fast.
Not wanting to make the tribe members too worried, the only person who knew Eric, Max, and Michael would split off from the others to refine salt was Luci. She watched their departing figures with worried eyes.
Eric was afraid that the more he hesitated, the more reluctant he would be to part with Leo. He lightly patted Max’s fur, signaling him to set off, while tightly gripping his fur and waving goodbye to Leo.
At this moment, he hated his overly sensitive hearing.
Leo’s sobs reached his ears, making his heart heavy. Since coming to this world, Leo was his only family, his companion day and night. Suddenly having to part, he truly couldn’t bear it.
Max’s voice became even deeper after transforming, resounding from beneath Eric.
"Don’t be sad; we’ll be back soon. Besides, my mother will take good care of him."
The snow wolves ran incredibly fast. As the biting cold wind slapped his face, Eric silently admired Luci’s foresight.
If not for this thick animal hide, with his small body, he really couldn’t have withstood the assault of the fierce winds.
"I know. Max, you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine in a moment."
Eric burrowed under the animal hide, his voice responding somewhat dejectedly.
Beside them, Joseph sat on Thomas’s back, the cold wind blowing his beard straight up. It was bone-chilling. Even though he had circulated all his *yuan qi* to resist, he still felt he couldn’t bear it.
Fortunately, Luci had also prepared an animal hide for him, and the surrounding luggage blocked most of the wind. He imitated Eric’s posture, wrapping himself tightly in the animal hide. Coupled with the *yuan qi* circulating in his meridians, only then did he avoid freezing into a block of ice.
"The bodies of you Snow Wolf people are really good, running so fast yet not feeling cold."
Wrapped entirely in the animal hide, Joseph still didn’t forget to praise the Snow Wolf people’s physique to Thomas.
Thomas laughed heartily, completely ignoring the cold wind blowing into his mouth. His laughter shook his entire body, making Joseph even more envious.
He could only continuously comfort himself that the gods were fair. Although they didn’t grant the Dwarves such strong bodies, they gave them intelligent minds and skilled hands.
But when he thought of Eric also cowering in the animal hide next to him, Joseph still couldn’t help but feel defeated and didn’t want to say anything more.
On the vast continent, tribes were very far apart.
Since arriving, Eric had never been outside. He originally wanted to admire the scenery along the way, but unfortunately, the Snow Wolf people’s speed was too fast, and the wind ahead was bone-chilling. He really didn’t have the courage to stick his head out.
Throughout the journey, he could only listen to the others’ discussions to guess the surrounding scenery. Afraid he would be bored, Michael and Max would tell him what scenery they saw or what magical beasts they encountered.
Except when stopping to hunt for food, they would usually speed up and go around the territories of magical beasts, not engaging them easily to avoid wasting time on the road.
At the speed of the Snow Wolf people, they still had to run for three full days to get near the Red Grass Tribe.
Only then did they slow down, not because they were tired, but because they had reached the farming area surrounding the Red Grass Tribe. They were afraid that running fast would trample and damage the people’s land, angering the Ox-Head tribe.
Although these giants had gentle temperaments, if their fields were harmed, these Ox-Head tribesmen would undergo a major personality change, becoming belligerent warriors when angry.
Therefore, they were extremely careful to avoid these fields. Years ago, when the Golden Lion tribe came to persuade the Ox-Head tribe to join the war, the dispatched envoy was too arrogant and trampled several hundred plots of fields. As a result, he was hunted down by the Ox-Head tribe for a long distance, fleeing frantically.
At this time, Eric and Joseph finally dared to poke their heads out to look around.
They saw that the land where the Ox-Head tribe lived was also a vast, boundless plain; mountains could only be seen very far in the distance.
As expected, a race that knew farming would prioritize choosing plains. The Snow Wolf people got such a flat land by chance, but one look at the Ox-Head tribe’s land, and it was clear they had chosen very carefully.
All around were straight, neatly planned fields stretching as far as the eye could see, making Eric feel extremely nostalgic.
Although they were still on the outskirts of the Red Grass Tribe’s territory, they could already faintly see the houses of the Ox-Head tribe.
One could see how tall their houses were.
A visual estimate showed they were even larger than the hide tents and houses of the Snow Wolf people; after all, their stature was much larger.