Chapter 88: Chapter 87: An Unexpected Joy

Ronin stared at the white, oval “White Fruit” in his hand, utterly stunned.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this so-called White Fruit was none other than something Ronin had often seen back home on Earth, something he had even helped raise as a child: a silkworm cocoon.

“What’s wrong?”

Erin blinked, staring at Ronin, not understanding why he was so shocked. ’He can’t be this surprised just because the White Fruit is so delicious, can he?’

Ronin finally snapped out of it and hurriedly asked, “This White Fruit you mentioned, is it made by a worm? And when you said you peel it open, are you eating the pupa inside?”

“Is that thing called a ’pupa’? We’ve always called it a ’kernel’.”

Horn Knight spoke up. Compared to Jenny, who didn’t labor much, he often ranged outside and knew more about the White Fruit.

“My lord, just as you said, the White Fruit is indeed made by a worm. I don’t know if that worm exists elsewhere, but there are quite a lot of them here in the territory of the Purple Fruit Tribe.”

Ronin’s eyes lit up. “Quick, tell me more.”

Horn Knight said, “When Jenny and I first led our people here, we discovered the Purple Fruit Forest out there. Under the leaves, I saw lots of fat, gray worms, so I named them ’Big Gray Insects’.”

“Later, after we settled here, I observed them for a while. I discovered that these worms feed on the leaves of the Purple Fruit Tree, and once they mature, they spit out a white fluid to wrap themselves in. One day, out of curiosity, I peeled open the white shell and found the kernel inside.”

At this, he let out a chuckle. “Life was tough when we first settled here, and we didn’t have much to eat. I tried boiling and eating one, and found that not only was it non-poisonous, it was also quite nourishing. So, it became a unique food for our Purple Fruit Tribe.”

Ronin was now completely certain: the so-called White Fruit was a silkworm cocoon.

The “Big Gray Insect” Horn Knight spoke of had to be a silkworm. It was just different from the domesticated variety, as this kind grew in the wild.

As for the so-called Purple Fruit Tree and Purple Fruit, Ronin guessed they were what he knew as mulberry trees and mulberries.

The patch of yellow woods he had seen from the peak of Ring Mountain must have been a Mulberry Forest. Fallen mulberry leaves were, in fact, yellow.

Ronin’s heart pounded.

Silkworms were a treasure. The cocoons they spun could be unraveled into thread and woven into silk.

And silk was an even greater treasure.

In ancient China, that stuff sold for an exorbitant price. Only the families of powerful officials and nobles could afford to wear it, and when it was exported, it became even more absurdly expensive.

In this world, Ronin’s memories contained nothing related to silkworms or sericulture.

Here, clothing was generally made from only three materials: wool, leather, and cloth.

The cloth was primarily coarse or fine linen, made from flax.

Commoners generally wore clothes of coarse linen, while nobles displayed their status with garments made from fine linen, wool, and expensive furs.

Rumor had it that cotton cloth existed in the south, but it wasn’t widely cultivated and was thus extremely rare.

But silk was completely unheard of.

Ronin had never imagined he would find the means for sericulture here with the Purple Fruit Tribe. If he could turn these cocoons into silk, it would become Mountain Forest Town’s signature industry—far more reliable than the Black Iron Trees.

“How many of these White Fruits do you have?” Ronin asked.

“We still have lots!”

Erin gestured extravagantly. “Several more boxes!”

“Come on, take me to see them.”

With that, Ronin took Erin by the hand and hurried toward the hut she had just entered.

Jenny and Horn exchanged a glance. Horn was completely bewildered. “Why is the Baron so interested in the White Fruit? He didn’t even finish hearing your plan for the Grey Soil Tribe.”

Jenny shook her head. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling the Baron understands the White Fruit better than we do. We should go take a look, too.”

The hut was more of a storeroom, filled with numerous wooden crates.

Erin opened all four wooden crates, revealing them to be piled high with cocoons.

“My father sets aside one box every year for ’seeds.’ By next spring, it’s like the White Fruits sprout, and more of them are born!” she said.

’So many!’

Ronin crouched beside the crates to observe them carefully.

A small number of the cocoons were grayish-yellow, but the majority were pure white. There wasn’t a speck of debris, like bits of leaves, on them; Horn must have cleaned them.

These cocoons were at least half again as large as the ones Ronin remembered from domesticated silkworms. Based on Horn’s description of them as gray worms, they had to be a different species.

“Horn, do you know how to raise these?” Ronin asked, turning to the knight who had followed him in.

“I suppose… I know a little?”

Horn scratched his head. “My lord, as you know, life in the mountains can be quite dull. I started studying them when I had nothing else to do. The Big Gray Insects form these shells and hide inside them to get through the winter. Then, come next summer, they emerge from them!”

He grew excited, as if he had reached the climax of his story.

“My lord, you might not believe this, but when they come out, they’ve turned into moths! The moths don’t live long—they die right after laying their eggs. But they leave behind a massive number of eggs, and every single one grows into a new Big Gray Insect.”

He said, pointing to one of the crates in the room, “We only need to leave a small portion from one crate, and by the next year, it’s enough to harvest several more crates of White Fruits!”

Ronin’s mind worked as he listened.

He had already confirmed that these were silkworm cocoons and that what they had been eating was the pupae inside.

However, these silkworms were different from the ones he knew.

The domesticated silkworms he was familiar with typically had two generations, one in spring and one in autumn, and they overwintered as eggs.

But the Purple Fruit Tribe’s silkworms were different. They spun their cocoons in the autumn, pupated inside, and overwintered as pupae, not emerging until the following summer.

Ronin guessed this difference was likely due to the climate.

Mountain Forest Town was located in the northernmost part of Wushan Territory, where the climate had four distinct seasons.

Spring and autumn temperatures were roughly 5–15°C, which was not suitable for silkworm growth.

Only the summer, with temperatures between 20–30°C, was suitable for the silkworms to hatch and grow.

Ronin had felt the temperature dropping since September, though as an Intermediate Knight, he wasn’t as sensitive to the change.

In any case, under natural conditions here in the Purple Fruit Tribe’s territory, they could only raise one generation of silkworms per year.

They could only raise multiple generations if they could control the ambient temperature and create a suitable environment in the spring or autumn.

But that was clearly impossible for now.

Ronin remained crouched by the crates. He picked up a few cocoons, turning them over in his hand as he asked, “Horn, how much breeding stock—er, how many of the White Fruits that you use as ’seeds’—do you set aside each year?”

Horn thought for a moment. “About a dozen or so, I’d say. No more than twenty.”

“Why not set aside more?”

Horn spread his hands. “My lord, I’ve thought about it, but there aren’t enough Purple Fruit Trees on the mountain. If we keep too many, they’ll starve.”

Ronin nodded slowly. ’Right, I’d forgotten about that.’

He held up a single cocoon and explained to Horn and the others, “What you call a White Fruit is actually a silkworm cocoon, and the ’kernel’ inside is a pupa. The pupa is edible, but the cocoon itself has other, more wondrous uses.”

“Oh, and by the way, the Purple Fruit Tree is actually a Mulberry Tree, and the Purple Fruits are mulberries.”

Jenny and Horn couldn’t help but exchange a look. Just as they’d suspected, the Baron before them knew a great deal about these things.

“We are in awe of your knowledge, my lord!”

Jenny smiled. “From this day forward, we will correct our terms.”

Erin blinked from the side, a little surprised. “Does that mean we should call ourselves the Sangren Tribe now?”

Ronin couldn’t help but smile at her question.

“What you call yourselves doesn’t really matter.”

He said, “I was originally planning to relocate all of you to live in Mountain Forest Town, but I’ve changed my mind. Since the Purple Fruit Tribe has silkworms and mulberry trees, this is a resource we must put to good use!”

Ronin had already made up his mind. Here in the territory of the Purple Fruit Tribe, he would have them switch from growing wheat to cultivating mulberries.

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