The Horse Ranch 1
Ryan stood silently, looking at the large area enclosed by fences—it was the so-called "horse ranch." The whole place covered only a few hundred acres, and there were just a dozen or so horses inside. The ranch was located on a hillside at the back of the town. The journey was only a few dozen miles, but since the roads were narrow and unsuitable for carts, it was difficult to transport supplies. Moreover, riding horses was out of the question—each horse was worth more than ten gold coins, equivalent to the value of a dozen slaves. Common folk and slaves were not allowed to ride them.
Earlier that morning, Captain Tori had sent two guards to bring Ryan to take over his new duties, accompanied by a few commoners who were also tasked with delivering supplies while checking the condition of the ranch's fences. When Ryan and the group arrived at the ranch on foot, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had already suspected that if a large wooden house could be called a "castle," then this small ranch with a dozen horses could easily be called a "horse ranch."
One side of the ranch was a sheer cliff, another side bordered a small stream, and the third side had a mountain peak. On top of the peak was a stone house, which would be Ryan's new residence and workplace. The fence ran along the stream and the path Ryan and the group had used to arrive. There were no fences along the cliff or the mountain peak. On the opposite side of the stream was a dense forest, towering hundreds of meters high. Ryan was amazed; after all, he had prepared himself for the unusual nature of this world. As expected, this was an unfamiliar land, and there was a gentle slope leading up to the ranch, which provided a clear path. Ryan also saw the horses. They looked like Earth horses but were slightly larger, with scales on their legs. However, Ryan didn't feel like paying much attention to their differences.
The journey had left Ryan exhausted, feeling like a dead dog. He had carried a sack of grain on his back. If it hadn't been for the seven shiny gold coins hidden inside the sack, Ryan would have thrown it off the cliff long ago. He had hidden the coins by wrapping them in cloth and stashing them inside the sack. As for the book he couldn't read, he simply left it behind. Meanwhile, the others quickly went about their tasks since they had to return to town soon.
"Such a beautiful view," Ryan muttered as he watched the others leave. He sighed and glanced at the small town below. The town was situated on a gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, and from the road that ran through it, Ryan could make out the distant shape of a city shrouded in mist—this was the nearby town of Harry.
Ryan entered his new residence and looked around. Aside from a wooden bed, an iron pot hanging from the ceiling with cold ashes beneath it, a wooden table with a few wooden bowls, and a dusty wooden barrel, there was nothing else. It seemed that Holman's nephew had never been here.
"Ah, if only I had a notebook... that would be great," Ryan muttered as he lounged in the sun, occasionally glancing at the horses below. The truth was, there wasn't much to manage here. Most of the time, Ryan simply basked in the sunlight and prepared for the winter since it was already late autumn. The leaves had turned yellow, and although the trees were quite different from those on Earth, Ryan found himself still marveling at the view. At night, two enormous moons appeared in the sky, or rather, they looked more like giant planets. Ryan could clearly make out lakes on their surfaces, much like how one would see Earth from a spaceship. There were also enormous trees hundreds of meters tall, hornet-like creatures the size of fists, and ant-like creatures as big as small cats. Ryan had been on this mountain for a month, and during this time, he had collected a large amount of firewood, which he had carried up with the horses. Despite their size, the horses were surprisingly gentle. If Holman knew, Ryan would probably be beaten to death.
Not far from his residence, Ryan had also discovered a cave, about thirty meters deep. Inside, there was a good amount of firewood for the winter, and it had been lined with thick grass.
"Ugh... this is just too good." Ryan was lying awkwardly on a large stone, with his right palm against his left knee, his left foot against his right knee, and his left hand resting on his right arm. He felt a tingling sensation, like little ants crawling around inside his body, and it eventually concentrated on his forehead.
"Good thing I watched a lot of stuff back on Earth. I've been practicing
It turned out that Ryan, feeling incredibly bored, decided to try out meditation and Qi Gong, although he had no idea if magic or martial arts existed in this world. Still, Ryan wasn't about to let that stop him—after all, if you're stuck doing nothing all day, you'd try anything, wouldn't you? He had little food, no wild fruits to pick (and he wasn't sure which were poisonous), and he was a "homebody" who was terrified of hunting. The rabbits here were about the size of dogs, and Ryan had no way of dealing with them. He preferred to minimize movement, focusing only on the essentials.
After completing his daily chores, Ryan spent most of the day basking in the sun, practicing Qi Gong, and occasionally checking on the horses. The day passed quickly. He then made his way down the mountain and arrived at the stream, which turned out to be quite a fruitful spot. Ryan had noticed a peculiar creature in the stream that resembled a gecko, except it was covered in scales. Unsure of what it was, Ryan caught one, cooked it, and tested it with some insect-like creatures. When he confirmed that it was not poisonous, he used sturdy vines to weave a rough fish trap, setting it up across half of the stream. The stream was only about two meters wide, and with the onset of winter, the water level had dropped to just above ankle height. In the past few days, Ryan had caught several of these creatures, dried them out, and stored them for later.
Oddly enough, it was only by chance that Ryan discovered these creatures in the stream. He had never seen them in the water itself, only in the trap. After checking the trap, he found about seven or eight of the creatures inside.
Ryan quickly gutted them, threading them onto a wooden stick, and set the stick up by the fence. Then he climbed over the fence and ventured into the forest. The area was home to several plants with edible tubers and mushrooms. Some of the mushrooms were small, just like those on Earth, but others were over a meter tall. Ryan was no longer surprised by the size of things in this world. He wandered around for a while and picked two large mushrooms, each weighing several dozen pounds. These were the first mushrooms he had found in this size, so he decided to take them back and plan to use them for food. He even watered them with a wooden bucket before sitting down under the fence. The fence was about three meters high, with narrow gaps in between.
Ryan skillfully tied the mushrooms with vines, then climbed up the fence. He hoisted them over, placing them inside. This routine, however, left him winded—his previous poor diet had made him physically weak. But when Ryan saw the small fish (he assumed they were fish, given their scaly appearance) alongside the large mushrooms, he knew he had secured two more days' worth of food. He couldn't afford to be lazy. With his meager supplies, if he didn't gather enough food, he would be in serious trouble.