Chapter 1921 Elephant Man Island (Ⅱ)

Elephant Man Island covers an area of ​​about 180 square miles. There are many volcanic hot springs on the island. It is one of the famous tourist attractions in Asa Bay. It always attracts visitors from Midgard, Jotunheim and even the Old World in winter and summer. Tourists come to the island for vacation and recuperation.

The destination of Joan and his party is a volcanic lake closest to the pier. The local lake water is rich in various minerals. Drinking this natural mineral water is said to be good for health.

The climate on the island is hot and humid. Sinbad was already fat and carried a big bag. After walking a short distance, he was so tired that his forehead was sweating. The faint sweet smell from the backpack attracted a large swarm of bees, buzzing and circling around the cook. .

Sinbad couldn't bear the harassment, and kept waving his arms to drive away the bees.

Seeing this scene, Dory the parrot, instead of sympathizing with the poor fat cook, stood on Hailar's shoulder and let out a teasing laugh.

"Bear! Bear!"

Hailar glared at Dolly angrily, and asked, "Silly bird, I remember you used to love bees the most. There are so many bees here, why don't you catch them for snacks?"

Dolly stared back with eyes full of contempt, and waved her wings emphatically: "The hornet! The hornet!"

"Huh? Was the one you ate before was a wasp? I really can't tell the difference between a wasp and a bee, but they are all bees anyway, so don't they all taste the same?"

"Fool! Fool!"

Dolly was heartbroken at the hostess' ignorance, and then explained why she didn't eat bees.

"Beneficial insects! Beneficial insects!"

When Joan heard Hailar and Dolly bickering, she laughed secretly. Waving his sleeves, he helped the fat cook disperse the bees, and casually asked, "Mr. Sinbad, what's in your backpack? It smells like honey. No wonder it attracts so many bees."

"Oh! There are good things in this bag! You can see for yourself!"

Just as Captain Odysseus called everyone to rest for a while, Sinbad sat down in the shade of a tree, unloaded his backpack, and untied the tightly bound mouth of the bag, and a strong sweet fragrance gushed out immediately.

Joan, Hyrule, Holden, Audrey, and Dolly all leaned over curiously and looked into the bag. It turned out that it was filled with moisture-proof oiled paper bags the size of a fist. When a piece of oiled paper was opened, brown-yellow crystals were revealed.

"It really is sucrose!" Hailar's lips curved into an unexpected smile.

Audrey poked the candy lightly with her fingertips, and licked it on her lips, her sapphire-like eyes immediately bent into small crescents.

"It's so sweet! How strange, shouldn't sucrose be as white as snow? Why is this kind of candy brown..."

Hailaer gave her a white look: "As expected of a princess from the royal family, I don't know the sufferings of the people! This kind of brown sugar is simply processed and condensed crystals after sugarcane juice is squeezed, also called raw sugar, and then purified, filtered, bleached and many other processes. process to get refined white sugar, the kind of sugar cubes used to make coffee."

"Refined white sugar can only be afforded by the upper class, and sucrose, which is a bulk commodity for maritime trade, usually refers to barreled syrup or raw sugar."

"From Pico Bay to Asa Bay, and then to Maple Leaf Bay in the north, the three major offshore areas on the east coast of Wilnoa, there are millions of islands, large and small, among which there are large islands with indigenous settlements. Thousands."

"The aborigines who have lived on the island for generations are usually not very civilized, and their business model is still at the stage of bartering. If you give them gold coins, silver coins or even gem magic crystals, they don't care about them, they just regard them as beautiful decorations. Indigenous people prefer commodities with practical uses, such as ironware, sugar, spirits and slaves, all of which are popular hard currencies in the coastal islands.”

"Sinbad worked so hard to carry such a big bag of raw sugar, just to go to the market on the island to trade with the Elephant Man in exchange for lemons and peppers."

Audrey frowned slightly when she heard that Hailar counted "slaves" as a kind of currency.

Hailar saw her thoughts, shrugged his shoulders and smiled wryly: "I just objectively describe the status quo of maritime trade, which does not mean that I support slave trade. My dear lady paladin, don't judge me based on this!"

"From the first day I set foot on the New World, I realized that this is a slave owner's paradise. I don't like this kind of atmosphere, and I can't change anything... Forget it, if I talk about it, it will only make me appear hypocritical. Let's talk about other things." That's it." Audrey said in a dejected manner.

"Then tell me something that makes you happy!" Hailar's face reproduced a smile, "Most of the islands on the east coast do not reject the slave trade, and the local aborigines even sell the hostile clan members captured in the war to Slave merchants are shipped to the mainland for sale, and the final destination is nothing more than the mines in the north or the plantations in the south."

"However, the Elephant Man Island we are on at the moment is a rare exception! Most of the Elephant Man Clan are followers of the 'Sun God' Pelor. Slavery is forbidden, and they are also very disgusted with the slave trade. Go to the event."

After listening to Hailar's narration, Joan gained a little affection for the people, and Audrey's face changed from cloudy to sunny.

Everyone sits in the shade and chats while resting. Dolly the parrot stared at the piece of coarse sugar with the oiled paper peeled off, gulping her saliva with her round eyes, and finally couldn't help shouting.

"Eat candy! Eat candy!"

Hailaer turned her head and gave her a sneaky smile: "This is a good thing to exchange for pepper, and I can't give it to you for free, unless you promise to help us eliminate the harassment of bees."

"Deal! Deal!"

Dolly fluttered her wings excitedly, and sprayed a colorful cone of light at the swarm of bees circling around the sugar cube.

The weak vitality of the bees couldn't hold the "colorful spray" at all, as if the fallen leaves swept by the cold wind fell one after another and fell into a coma.

Dolly walked over with graceful steps, like a chicken pecking at rice, pecking at the bees on the ground, and eating them all in the blink of an eye.

Hailar rewrapped the candy in oiled paper, held it with both hands and squeezed it lightly, crushing the hard candy, then opened the wrapping paper, and placed a pile of crushed candy with even grains, like corn, in front of Dolly.

Seeing the parrot buried in the candy, Holden couldn't help complaining: "Dolly! Before you said you wouldn't eat beneficial insects like bees, but you didn't eat them just now? It can be seen that your principle of being a bird is very fragile, as long as a piece of candy I can buy you off!"

Faced with Mr. Poet’s criticism, Dolly twisted her neck in embarrassment, and was speechless for a while. When she accidentally saw Joan sitting opposite her, she suddenly had an idea and remembered the words Mr. Mage often said, just right Can be used to refute Holden's accusations.

"Ecological balance! Ecological balance!"

"Oh! I really didn't see it, Dolly! You are quite knowledgeable!" Holden smiled and gave the parrot a thumbs up.