Chapter 66: Small Wooden Cart

But as luck would have it, Doya had barely left that place when she ran into a ferocious beast.

Fortunately, the beast didn’t notice her. Unfortunately, it was blocking the only way out.

By all rights, Doya—already in poor shape after being trapped for several days—shouldn’t have had any chance of escaping the beast. But at that moment, the white ermine darted out alone, drawing the beast away...

And that’s where the story ends...

Wait, no!

It actually doesn’t end there.

Looking at the last part of the story, Su You couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

Given Doya’s personality, she had risked her life to save a strange white ermine, nearly dying in the process. Would she really just abandon her own ermine after it lured the beast away, escaping on her own without a second thought?

If she really did run away, then the story would indeed end here. But if she instead chased after the beast, hoping to rescue her own ermine, then things were definitely not that simple.

Something else must have happened between Doya, the beast, and the ermine.

If this was just Su You’s speculation based on Doya’s NPC settings, then what she discovered next could be considered definitive proof of her theory.

In the section listing talents, Su You found something that hadn’t appeared on the tavern’s recruitment panel before.

[Doya]

Talents: Archery (88), Combat (70), Divine Archer (Not Activated)

...

Just as Su You was pondering what this “Divine Archer” talent could be, Doya suddenly patted her on the shoulder.

“Lord Su, what were you just thinking about?”

Snapping out of her thoughts at Doya’s question, Su You shook her head slightly and replied offhandedly, “Oh, nothing. I just remembered there’s someone else... That’s Lake. The one you were talking to earlier was Lyle. Lake is over at the mine digging up stones. I need to go over and bring them back now.”

“Then please go ahead, I won’t keep you.” Doya paused, as if recalling something, and added, “Oh, right—about that black-striped tiger, I’ve already discussed it with him. We’ve both decided to contribute the spoils to the territory.”

Lyle did this because he wanted the territory to develop quickly, and also hoped to become something like a “founding hero.”

As for Doya, her reason was much simpler—she wanted the Dragonbone.

Su You glanced at her, but didn’t refuse their “contribution.”

After that, Doya returned to Residence 1 to rest... Although she seemed able to move around normally now, that was only because her fracture was in her hand. Her legs were fine, but her hand would still need some time to heal.

...

...

Afterward, just as she’d told Doya, Su You really did head out to the mine. But before leaving, she stopped by Crate 3 and took out all the wood Lyle had chopped.

Flipping through the recipe list, Su You grabbed some wood and started crafting.

[Consume Wood*8 to craft Wooden Wheel*4?]

[Crafting Wooden Wheels. Estimated time: 30 seconds.]

[3 Wooden Wheels remaining. Estimated time: 90 seconds.]

...

Once the four wooden wheels were finished, Su You took out some more wood and, together with the wheels, put them all on the workbench.

[Consume Wooden Wheel*4 and Wood*10 to craft Small Wooden Cart*1?]

[Crafting Small Wooden Cart. Estimated time: 300 seconds.]

Five minutes passed quickly, and Su You obtained a small wooden cart with ten inventory slots.

[Small Wooden Cart] (Upgradeable)

Category: Tool

Quality: Common

Durability: 100/100

Description: A small wooden cart with average capacity, containing ten inventory slots. Stack limits are the same as the backpack. No restrictions on who can use it.

Although this small wooden cart wasn’t as convenient as Su You’s personal backpack, the backpack was unique to her, and she couldn’t always be the one hauling materials back and forth. So the wooden cart became the best option.

Especially since it could be upgraded: the small cart had ten slots, the medium cart had twenty, the large cart had fifty... and there was even a deluxe cart with a full hundred slots, plus increased stacking limits.

However, because the higher-level carts required too many materials—including some rare ones—the cost-effectiveness was very low. Besides, under normal circumstances, there was rarely a need to transport as much as two level-one warehouses’ worth of supplies. So, most people would only upgrade the cart to the large version at most.

...

With the cart finished, Su You took it and headed to the mine.

The journey was uneventful. When she reached the area with the ghostly skeletons, Su You pushed the cart forward while using the wooden fences she’d just crafted to fence off a safe path.

Fencing as she went, she eventually reached the spot for digging stones. But Lake was nowhere to be seen—only piles of broken stones and a pickaxe with almost no durability left.

Su You: ?

She frowned slightly, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

She left the cart where it was and searched the area. Not finding any obvious bloodstains or signs of struggle, her anxiety eased a little.

Still, Lake’s disappearance left her worried.

After waiting for about five minutes without seeing Lake return, Su You circled toward the left side of the mine. Logically, she should have gone back to fetch Lyle and searched together, since she herself had little combat ability.

But the mine wasn’t close to the territory—a round trip would take over an hour. With no idea what had happened, she couldn’t be sure that time was the only thing at risk...

...

On the way to the mine cave, Su You looked tense.

She reasoned that since there were no signs of struggle or blood, and since NPCs—unlike stone monsters—would leave traces if killed, Lake had probably left of his own accord.

If that was the case, there were only two places he could have gone: back to the territory, or into the mine cave.

There were several routes back to the territory, but only the one they’d cleared that morning was safe. Su You had just come from that path and hadn’t seen Lake, so the only possibility left was that he’d gone into the mine cave.

And, most likely, something had prompted him to go there.

(End of chapter)"

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