Chapter 182: An Unexpected Change of Plans

“Hello, I’m looking for Toby.”

Lance stepped forward and answered politely.

“Looking for that kid Toby?”

The worker immediately revealed an honest and friendly smile upon hearing the name.

“Then come with me. That kid’s been behaving himself lately. He’s been following our ranch crew over at the back hill learning how to feed pigs.”

The worker set down the repair tools in his hands and enthusiastically led Lance deeper into the ranch.

“Young man, are you Toby’s friend? An adventurer, maybe?”

The worker chatted familiarly with Lance while leading the way.

“Looking at the way you walk, you’re definitely not like us farmers. More like Toby’s old man.”

Lance smiled and nodded without denying it.

“Ah, you young people just love causing trouble.”

The worker smacked his lips, his tone carrying a trace of emotion.

“That kid Toby was practically possessed a while ago. Insisted on going out to become some adventurer.”

“Nearly lost his life in the forest too. This time he’s finally settled down completely.”

“He’s no longer thinking about running into forests fighting and killing every day. What’s wrong with coming back and raising pigs properly?”

“Life’s stable, your heart’s at peace, and you don’t have to live every day with your head hanging from your belt.”

“He’s almost at marriage age already. It’s about time he settled down and properly learned this craft from his father.”

Lance quietly listened to the uncle’s rambling.

“Toby’s old man was a true tough guy.”

At this point, the worker proudly slapped his chest hard.

“Back then, he was the one who took the lead and brought more than twenty old brothers together to establish this ranch.”

“Now the families of all us brothers depend on these wild boars to survive.”

“Seeing Toby finally come to his senses and become willing to inherit the family business, us uncles are genuinely happy from the bottom of our hearts.”

While speaking, the two arrived at the other side of the hill.

A burst of chaotic noise echoed from afar.

Lance focused his gaze and found the scene before him so ridiculous it nearly made him laugh.

Toby was currently carrying a large wooden bucket filled with bean cake soup in both hands while being chased all over the hillside by several half-grown Ironhide piglets.

Although those little pigs had not matured yet, their charging force was obviously not weak. Every now and then they would viciously ram Toby’s butt with their hard snouts.

“Ow! Uncle Cook! Uncle Martin! Stop just watching!”

“Hurry up and help me drag these little bastards away! They ran out again to steal the big pigs’ food!”

Toby’s miserable cries for help continuously echoed across the hill.

His pathetic appearance immediately triggered bursts of good-natured laughter from the surrounding workers.

With the combined efforts of several uncles.

Those energetic piglets were finally driven back into the sturdy pigpen.

Sweating profusely and panting heavily, Toby climbed up from the ground while grumbling and vigorously dusting off his pants.

The moment he looked up, he saw Lance standing not far away, his face obviously suppressing laughter.

At first, Toby actually did not recognize him.

Because Lance had gone out this time wearing a very ordinary gray-black outfit and was not wearing his hood.

However, Lance immediately understood. He casually reenacted the forceful shield-throwing motion he had used in the forest previously.

Toby saw the familiar movement and froze for a moment before immediately realizing who it was.

“B-Big Brother?!”

Toby’s eyes instantly lit up, looking even more excited than if he had seen his own father.

He threw aside the dirty wooden bucket in his hands and rushed over in several large strides, his face full of enthusiasm.

“Big Brother! Why did you suddenly come all the way here?!”

“Come, come, come! I absolutely have to treat you properly today!”

“The secret roasted pig head our cafeteria makes is absolutely incredible! The meat’s tender and fragrant! I’ll go prepare it immediately!”

Without waiting for a response, he reached out with his dirt-covered hands, intending to drag Lance toward the cafeteria.

“Wait, Toby.”

Lance smiled and stepped back half a pace, avoiding the enthusiastic hands while stopping him.

“I didn’t come here just to freeload a meal. I actually have something important I need your help with.”

“Big Brother, what are you saying?! You’re the benefactor who saved all three of our lives!”

Toby immediately dropped the joking expression and loudly guaranteed while pounding his chest.

“Whatever it is, just say it! As long as I, Toby, can do it, I absolutely won’t refuse!”

“It’s actually not anything troublesome.”

Lance quickly considered his wording internally, making sure the excuse sounded reasonable enough.

“It’s like this. Recently, I’ve been independently training in a very special combat technique. I need to slaughter large pig-type magical beasts in huge quantities to practice my feel for it.”

“So I wanted to help out at your family’s slaughterhouse for a few days while also learning your professional techniques for processing Ironhide Boars.”

Lance felt this excuse was extremely reasonable.

Adventurers undergoing all kinds of bizarre isolated training to improve their strength or master certain specialties was an everyday occurrence anyway. It would not arouse suspicion at all.

“Hah, I thought it was going to be something serious!”

Upon hearing the request, Toby immediately relaxed and waved his hand grandly while agreeing without hesitation.

“Big Brother, you can practice for as long as you want! Our ranch doesn’t have much else, but we’ve got more than enough Ironhide Boars! Even if your hands go numb from slaughtering, we’ve still got enough!”

While patting his chest, Toby proudly began introducing the daily operations of their slaughterhouse in detail to Lance.

However.

The more Lance listened, the stiffer the smile on his face became.

He suddenly realized he had made a very serious mistake born from habit and experience.

Subconsciously, he had used the production scale of those massive meat-processing factories from his previous life.

To estimate the production scale of a slaughterhouse in this fantasy world.

So this was the actual situation...

Lance could not help releasing a bitter laugh inwardly.

According to Toby’s detailed explanation just now.

Although this ranch that survived by relying on Birchwood Town already counted as one of the largest operations in the surrounding regions in terms of land area.

The maximum number of Ironhide Boars they could slaughter daily hovered at only around fifteen.

And just that tiny amount of meat production.

Was already enough to steadily supply the daily meat requirements of all Birchwood Town and several surrounding affiliated villages.

Only during that special period at the end of autumn each year.

When they needed to prepare smoked meat reserves for the approaching long winter, would they recruit large numbers of temporary workers and increase slaughtering volume, barely raising the daily slaughter count above thirty.

“Big Brother, look, our process here is this simple and straightforward.”

Completely unaware that Lance’s expression had already become somewhat unnatural, Toby continued gesturing enthusiastically with his hands.

“Every morning before dawn, we drive the selected pigs over to the slaughterhouse.”

“Bloodletting, scalding off the hair, manually cutting them into sections. By afternoon, we can load the fresh boar meat onto carts and deliver it on time to the butcher shops in town that signed contracts with us.”

But Lance’s heart slowly sank lower and lower.

If they could only slaughter fifteen a day... then wouldn’t he have to stay here nearly ten days?

This completely disrupted his originally tight schedule.

He had originally planned to finish grinding out the talent in one go today.

Then return to Graystone Town tomorrow for full-day closed-door training, max out the remaining proficiency, complete the class advancement ritual, and immediately enter the Underground Dungeon to earn money and repay his debts.

Wasting ten entire days here was simply too long.

This was troublesome. Did he really have to spend that much time stuck at this pig ranch?

Looking at Toby’s face filled with anticipation and enthusiasm, Lance suddenly did not know how to refuse.

At that moment.

A burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came running from the small road outside the ranch.

Hearing the sound, Lance turned to look.

A group of children around seven or eight years old came running over.