Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 442 Jiangbo Village

Did Todd go back to Pokai Village to seek revenge on the Tigrex...?

Lin Lin nodded, not particularly surprised.

After all, he had already guessed about Todd's identity during their previous interactions. If the game's plot were to unfold as it should, he might have to face the threat of the Black and White Gods, Tyrannosaurus and Uranus, after defeating Tigrex.

I just don't know how much time had passed in between.

Lin Lin quickly regained his composure and turned to look at Tolo in front of him:
"By the way, the commander just said you seemed to need to talk to us about something?"

"Ah...this..."

Tolo glanced unconsciously at the two high-ranking hunters behind Lin Lin, paused, and then said:

"Actually, it's nothing. I just wanted to remind you that it's best to add some restrictions to captured monsters, otherwise it will be troublesome once the effects of the tranquilizer wear off."

"But now it seems that I don't need to remind you anymore, you all know what I'm doing."

Lin Lin slowly typed out a question mark.

Capture? What capture? Didn't I capture a Brachydios once in Naguri Village?

Then he noticed Tolo's eyes constantly glancing back, paused for a moment, and then suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh, you were talking about Jumpy. It's alright. It's not some ignorant wild beast. It's my hunting partner, just like Palico."

Now it was Tolo's turn to slowly type out a question mark.

What are you talking about?
Could it be that Jiangbo Village is too far from the center of the mainland, and I've been here too long and fallen behind the times? That shouldn't be the case; water transport here is still quite prosperous... So what does "it is my hunting partner" mean? Or is it some kind of special code?

Tolo found it hard to understand, but at least judging from the attitude of the people on the ship, he didn't have to worry about that guy going on a killing spree after he woke up.

"I see."

Even though he didn't understand at all, he crossed his arms and made a "I understand completely" expression.

"I can rest assured that."

Tolo subtly changed the subject:

"Although I'd love to catch up, you're guests from afar, so let's find a place to settle down first..."

Tolo turned his head and glanced at the surrounding houses, a hint of unease creeping onto his face.

Although Jiangbo Village enjoys extremely convenient water transportation due to its geographical location, with ships from all over the continent docking here, this village, which has only been established for a few years, has developed extremely rapidly, with newly built houses springing up like mushrooms after rain. However…

Most of these huts are already occupied, and with such a large group of tourists, there's simply no way the vacant huts could accommodate them all! We can't very well ask the other villagers who have decided to settle in Jiangbo Village to give up their hard-earned houses for them to stay in temporarily…

Fortunately, Lin Lin spoke up in time, relieving his worries:
“We all have our own rooms on the ship. This trip to Jiangbo Village is just a temporary stop, so there’s no need to go to all that trouble.”

"My master and the others are planning to stay in Jiangbo Village for a while. But since they are both high-ranking hunters, they can just contact the Hunter Guild to arrange their accommodations... Hmm, there should be a branch of the guild in Jiangbo Village, right?"

Upon hearing this, Tolo couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth:
"Unfortunately, things like assembly halls don't exist here."

"Jiangbo Village is a very young village. Although it is developing quite rapidly, it is still too small in scale. The guild has not yet established a branch here. Most of the village affairs are decided by the village chief."

"However, if it's just two people, there shouldn't be any problem accommodating them. The village chief has always believed that hunters are the main driving force for the village's development, so he specially built several small huts for hunters who might come in the future."

"Shall I take you two seniors to see your accommodations first?"

As he spoke, Tolo cast a questioning glance at Kevin and Rachel, who were standing not far away.

Kevin simply waved his hand gently:

"No need, I'm going to find Rhys. He's been here for a while now. You young people can chat more, don't worry about me."

Upon hearing this, Rachel subtly nudged Kevin's waist with her finger, but smiled and nodded gently to Toro.

"The Ries he mentioned is Rickres, the Seven Star Flute Player. I heard he came to Jiangbo Village before, that should be right, right? Have you heard of him?"

So they knew Senior Rikers? Well, it makes sense. Such high-ranking hunters are bound to be brought together by various events, so it's not surprising that they would know each other.

"Yes, I know him. Senior Rickres has helped the village a lot during this time, it's just that..."

After a moment's thought, Tolo gave an awkward, helpless smile.

"He's not in the village right now, just like the village chief. It seems like something's happened."

Ah this...

Kevin and Rachel exchanged a glance, and Kevin could only nod.

"Then I'll have to bother you."

Tolo's smile became much more relaxed. "It's alright. Now, I'll show you around our village."

……

To be honest, there aren't many interesting places to visit in Jiangbo Village. They had already seen a general view of the scenery from the sky, and the facilities, such as the tavern, workshop, and training ground for hunters, were all places that the hunters were quite familiar with.

More interesting than these sights were the villagers who, after watching the excitement, went back to their work. Although they were sweating profusely and their work seemed quite demanding, almost without exception, each of them wore a satisfied smile.

"Brother Lin Lin, why do they look so happy?"

Ye Zi quietly tugged at Lin Lin's hand.

"Well, it's probably because they're building the village better now so they can enjoy more benefits in the future. With a promising future and hope, they can still smile despite their hard work."

"After all, no one will seize the fruits of their labor or exploit their surplus value; the results of their work belong entirely to them."

Hearing several completely unfamiliar and incomprehensible words in a row, Yoko was somewhat confused, but she was still able to understand them to some extent by considering the context.

Would anyone steal the fruits of someone else's labor?

Hearing Ye Zi's somewhat naive question, Lin Lin couldn't help but smile:
“There definitely are, but there won’t be many people like that in this world.” Ye Zi stared at Lin Lin’s eyes strangely. “This world? Brother Lin Lin, you’re making it sound like there are other worlds. Those are just things from novels and storybooks!”

Lin Lin thought for a moment, then chuckled softly:
"Yes, I came from another world; I'm a 'time traveler'."

Ye Zi couldn't help but chuckle, and lightly tapped Lin Lin with her little fist.
"How annoying, you're always joking."

"Just tell me, did you laugh or not?"

……

Jiangbo Village is not very big, and it doesn't take long to walk around. Apart from the lush palm trees near the edge of the dense forest, watching the villagers work is the only novel thing to do.

However, the above whirlwind tour experience was limited to a few hunters; the other members of the group still felt that this trip was very rewarding.

For example, when the blacksmith and Gemma visited the weapon workshop in Jiangbo Village, they were filled with boundless enthusiasm.

According to them, the old human woman in the workshop was apparently the disciple of the legendary craftsman, the Dragon Craftsman.

It is said that the original "decorative ornaments" were beads. Once they were set into the armor, they could not be removed, otherwise they would be damaged. The "hot-swappable" process that can be replaced and removed at any time is the result of the old woman's research.

In response, Lin Lin and the other hunters could only exclaim how great and convenient the creation was. But for the blacksmith and Gemma, seeing this old woman was almost like a pilgrimage. Perhaps what would excite them even more was seeing the old woman's master, the legendary Dragon Craftsman.

Soon, as darkness fell, Lin Lin and the others arrived at the village tavern, ready to sample the local specialties of Jiangbo Village.

Just as Lin Lin raised his oak wine glass, a dragon-human with sharp features and carrying a large bundle made of tough leather walked over, led by a villager.

(As shown in the picture, the village chief of Jiangbo Village is a young dragon-human with a strong pioneering spirit. He is enthusiastic, has excellent geographical knowledge, business acumen, and management skills, and is deeply trusted by the villagers. He is also the older brother of the senior monk of Xinade Village in the fourth generation of the story.)

Upon seeing this, Tolo, who was introducing the unique features of Jiangbo Village to the group, immediately stood up and greeted them:
"village head!"

When the village chief of Jiangbo Village arrived, the brigade leader naturally stepped forward to negotiate. Lin Lin would at most glance over a few times, then continue eating and drinking as usual, and then whisper to Ye Zi and exchange experiences with Tolo since they parted ways with Lokrak.

"Hey?! That's the village chief of Jiangbo Village? He's so young!"

Ye Zi stared in shock at the Jiangbo Village Chief, who looked completely like a young man.

It's no wonder she was surprised, since the number of dragon people is much smaller than that of pure humans. Among the dragon people she had seen, apart from the beautiful Sister Huoya Shuiyun, the youngest was the village chief of Jieyun Village.

Aside from the three mentioned above, most of the time, the dragonmen she encountered were either old men or old women. Especially in management positions such as village chief and guild leader, apart from the village chief of Yuyun Village, almost all of them were old men. Sui Fengren looked much younger, but his body had begun to shrink, indicating that he was aging. On the other hand, the drunken guild leader of Yuyun, the lecherous guild leader of Lokrak, the guild master of Barbare and the guild manager of Dongdoruma were all old men!

“I believe he will definitely get along well with the village chief of Yuyun.”

Ye Zi lowered her voice and whispered in Lin Lin's ear.

Lin Lin, however, felt that this might not be the case. Although both were young dragon people, the village chief Jieyun naturally possessed the elegant demeanor of a noblewoman, while the village chief Jiangbo had a warm smile on his face, and the optimistic and cheerful aura emanating from him seemed to be able to infect others—strictly speaking, the two had quite different styles.

"Village Chief Jiang Bo doesn't know, but I remember there's a female scholar from the Ancient Dragon Observation Bureau who's very good at drinking. She'd definitely be able to chat with the village chief."

Lin Lin was quite certain of this, because during the last Heroes' Celebration in Jieyun Village, he had inadvertently glimpsed a dragon-human woman dressed in a crimson robe sitting on the bench that was usually occupied by the village chief. The two were drinking and chatting, and the atmosphere seemed very harmonious.

Later, Lin Lin made some inquiries and learned that the village chief's friend had come with a fleet of boats that had departed from Jiangbo Village. Based on this, Lin Lin finally managed to find the other person's figure from his vague memories.

That's a scholar from the Ancient Dragon Observatory. In 2DOS, the game's protagonist can have a drinking contest with her, and if you win, she'll tell you some information about the Ancient Dragons. It's worth mentioning that when the protagonist has the drinking contest, he uses a normal-sized wine glass, while the female scholar uses a huge bowl that's difficult for one person to hug.

(It's rare to find a picture like this. The person on the far left is Petty, the village's resident woman. The person in the middle is a dragon-human scholar. The person who is drunk is the boatman leader of Jiangbo Village, whose identity is suspected to be a seaman.)

Wow, that's an amazing alcohol tolerance...

"what are you guys saying?"

Tolo curiously came closer.

"I'm guessing which village chief is younger, the one from Jiangbo Village or the one from Jieyun Village."

Lin Lin spoke fluently without hesitation.

Ye Zi gave him a gentle push, and Lin Lin had no choice but to change his mind:

"Well, I was wondering if the two of them could get along if they met, since we don't think we've ever seen another dragon-human clan member become a village chief this young."

"So this is ah……"

Tolo took a sip of his mead and joined the conversation:
"Speaking of which, I met the village chief of Jieyun once before. It seems that Jieyun Village was holding some kind of celebration at the time, and I went to join in the fun."

"Speaking of Lin Lin, I remember you're from Jieyun Village, right? Did you attend that celebration?"

Then Toro noticed a subtle change in Lin Lin's eyes, while Yoko beside him wore a strange smile.

Tolo: "?"

What kind of riddle are we talking about?
"Well……"

Lin Lin was about to speak when Ye Zi spoke first:
Do you know why that celebration was held?

"Well..."

Troy pondered for a moment:
"I think it's called the Heroes' Celebration. If that's the case, it's probably because a hunter solved a particularly big threat near the village, restoring peace and tranquility to the village."

"So, it was held to repel the threatening hunters?"

Ye Zi snapped her fingers, and then looked at Lin Lin with a hint of pride:
"That's right, but it's not detailed enough."

"The one threatening the peace of the village is a powerful ancient dragon called Lanlong. Brother Lin Lin made a great contribution in that battle!"

Lin Lin: ...

His face, unusually flushed, turned red.

"What contribution? I was just lucky to survive. Even so, it was all thanks to you and my master who saved me."

(End of this chapter)