Chapter 79: Statue

Hearing Pearl say that even with frequent cleaning, it was impossible for there to not be a single speck of dust, Ethan also felt that this was indeed the case.

"True, but I don’t sense anything unusual..."

"Meow! Look, meow!" Pearl cried out.

Ethan followed where Pearl was pointing, in the corner, there was a faint glimmer of light, looking closely, it was shining through a crack in the wall.

Ethan walked over and knocked on the wall, the wall crumbled down, revealing what was inside.

"Is this... a Goddess statue?" Ethan recognized it at a glance; it was a Goddess Gaia statue, it looked very similar to the one in his farmland, but smaller, the silvery-white Goddess statue emitted a soft glow.

As Ethan picked it up, the light gradually dissipated.

"It makes me feel very uncomfortable, it must be a holy relic." Walter looked at the Goddess statue in Ethan’s hand and spoke with a look of disgust, although his personality was mild, he was ultimately an undead, therefore, he strongly detested items with holy attributes.

He pointed at the statue. "It looks very precious, it could definitely be called a treasure."

Walter was right; this thing was definitely not an ordinary item, Ethan carefully observed the Goddess statue in his hand. "Why would there be a holy relic here?"

"Who knows... I don’t know much about temples and ruins." Walter shook his head.

What a pity Zharok wasn’t here, Ethan scratched his cheek and stowed the Goddess Gaia statue away, he decided he would ask Zharok about it later.

Right now, the most important thing was whether the stench in the mine had disappeared. "I feel like the smell has faded a lot, Pearl, what do you think?"

"There’s still a smell, meow," Pearl answered.

"That means there are still Minions of Chaos in the mine," Walter said.

As soon as he finished, three clumps of grayish-white mist appeared around the temple.

Ethan tightened his grip on the enlarged Scythe of Gaia. "Here they come!"

But just a few minutes later, the battle was over, they had eliminated all the Minions of Chaos.

Pearl finally breathed a sigh of relief, took a deep breath, and said, "Meow-meow, the smell is finally gone, meow~"

The air was still stale, but far better than before, Ethan sheathed the Holy Sword and turned to leave, he would leave the rest to the Fox Beastmen.

Ash and the other Fox Beastmen were gathered near the mine entrance, having sensed that the stench had vanished.

"How is it?" Ash asked.

"The source of the stench was Minions of Chaos," Ethan answered.

"What...? Why would there be Minions of Chaos here?" Ash asked in surprise.

Ash’s question was also Ethan’s question, but he didn’t know the answer, nor did he know the reason why.

Ethan pondered for a moment "I know a friend who is very good at investigating these kinds of things, can I introduce him to you?"

"Who is it?" Ash asked.

"His name is Zharok..."

"...Zharok? You mean that cunning and sinister werewolf who likes to trespass on other people’s territory and rummage through things?" Ash said through gritted teeth.

’Their relationship is truly terrible.’ Ethan smiled awkwardly.

Pearl, lying on his shoulder, wagged its tail. "Meow, although Zharok is indeed very cunning, we have to investigate the cause of this incident, meow? Even if you hate him, we have no choice but to ask for his help, meow."

"That may be so, but..." Ash still hesitated.

"I’ll go get Zharok, I’m quite curious myself," Walter offered.

"Can you help? That would be wonderful," Ash said.

"Anyway, the mine can be used again, so we can now obtain a stable supply of iron ore," Ethan said.

Ethan was also curious about the matter regarding Chaos, but what he cared about most right now was whether he could get iron ore.

Hearing Ethan’s words, Ash’s face immediately lit up with joy, "We will start working right now, in a month at most, we will be able to dig out a lot of high-quality iron ore."

"Will it take as long as a month?" Ethan asked.

"That’s a worst-case scenario, if things go smoothly, we can dig it out in two weeks, don’t worry, before then, you can go somewhere else and handle any business you have," Ash said.

’Handle business?’ Ethan snapped his fingers.

"Does the Northern Region have any local specialties? Like medicinal strawberries or things like that..."

"Medicinal strawberries and the like... Ah, right, Alaric, bring the things we picked yesterday and give them to our friend here," Ash instructed.

Alaric ran into the village, after a while, he came out holding a small cloth bag.

"What is this?" Ethan asked.

"It smells very fragrant when roasted, eating it can enhance night vision and willpower... What do you think?" Ash said.

Ethan opened the bag. Pale yellow, round granules.

"Are these... soybeans??" Ethan asked in surprise.

"A long time ago, when fairies still existed in the world, we received these beans from them, therefore, we call them Fairy Beans," Ash explained.

Ethan examined the Fairy Beans, they looked exactly like soybeans, regardless of the name, this was great news.

’Soybeans can be used to make many things... I have to plant them.’

"Should we call Zharok over right now?" Ethan asked.

"It’s best to call him over right now, meow," Pearl said.

’If Zharok knows what he’s doing, they probably won’t end up fighting, right?’ Ethan took out the crystal ball.

"Are you busy?"

—No, I’m reading a book, what’s wrong?

He was free, Ethan told Zharok everything.

Zharok fell silent for a moment before saying excitedly, —How could I miss out on something like this! But, on the Fox Beastmen’s side...

"It’s no problem," Ethan said.

—Then I’ll go find the Minotaurs and ask them to keep an eye on your house. I’ll head over right away, wait for me.

"Alright, sorry for the trouble," Ethan said.

The crystal ball’s light faded, Ethan pocketed it, then went to find Ash.

The Fox Beastmen, having learned that the mine could be used again, were excitedly bustling about with preparations.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"May I borrow some of your land?"

"Land? What do you intend to do?" Ash looked at him.

Ethan looked at the Fairy Beans in his hand and smiled. "I want to farm here."