Veronica finally closed her mouth.
The "steam sumr sale" ticulously prepared by Laine didn't last long, as the promotion of goods and the shortage of rchandise made this event destined to be short-lived. It ca quickly, leaving the citizens who managed to buy sothing smiling, while those who waited in line for half a day were displeased. They noisily ca in waves, cursing and trying to squeeze to the front to see if there was anything left, so wanting to reason with Laine and inquire about the next sumr sale.
Laine seized this opportunity. He addressed the crowd surrounding him: "Ladies and gentlen, most of my goods are sold out. I do have a little left, and I'm willing to continue selling them to you. But before that, would you allow to make a request?"
"Speak up!" "What does the greedy rchant want to know?" Many people shouted loudly upon hearing that the fat rchant had a little more goods to sell, everyone's face filled with hatred and greed.
"Well, I'm a rchant. I ca to Musillon this ti intending to do business. I don't want to return to Marinburg empty-handed. I've always heard Musillon produces top-quality hardwood and excellent stone material. Could anyone tell where I can buy these?" The fat rchant Gabriel Newell spread his hands, speaking sowhat unclearly, his facial beard shaking back and forth.
"Hey~ Marinburg rchant, where did you hear Musillon is abundant with hardwood and stone? This is Musillon! This is swamp land. Our specialty here only includes various crops from fertile swamps, along with snails and frogs from the swamps." A citizen scoffed, his face filled with disdain and ridicule: "Perhaps you could buy so snails and frogs to take back to Marinburg? If they don't spoil on the way back."
Musillon has two distinctive professions: Swamp Man and Frog Wife. Swamp n are professional snail catchers and frog hunters. Their profession na stems from an obscure dialect aning swamp people or frog hunters. Legally, all creatures in the swamps belong to the Lord. To beco a Swamp Man requires at least the local noble's permission. So nobles require a long apprenticeship and an oath before allowing one to hunt within the Lord's swamp. They are usually resilient individuals adept at finding snails and frogs, with their work being tedious and ti-consuming.
Swamp n are typically male, but so nobles allow particularly keen-eyed and agile girls to marry skilled hunters to hunt, these girls being called Frog Wives.
Having lived long in a corrupted environnt, Musillon's human nature has been twisted in depravity—whether Chaos Corruption or Vampire Corruption. The residents here are filled with malice, bloodthirstiness, and depravity. They often conduct forbidden dark rituals, invoking dark deities banned by the outside world. Laine thought if Musillon's residents were judged in Brittania, nearly eighty percent would likely be sentenced to hanging.
"Oh, my friends, snails and frogs may be your specialties here, but I don't need them. I don't know how to preserve them or how to sell them, Marinburg doesn't have a tradition of eating these." Laine seed rather helpless: "This isn't a good business, I think I don't need them."
"So you definitely must find hardwood and stone then? Foreigner?" So citizens impatiently shouted.
"No no no, I buy everything; I'm just asking. You know, I don't get many chances to co to Musillon. I don't want to return empty-handed. Listen, I pay a hefty tariff every ti I co here, I…" The fat rchant's incessant chatter was irritating, and soon soone interrupted him: "Enough! Foreigner, we don't have ti to listen to your incessant talk here. If you want to purchase hardwood and stone, you should find Old Dike. He specializes in this business."
"Old Dike?" The fat rchant imdiately motioned everyone to quiet down.
"Sell the goods, or I won't tell you!" the person speaking exclaid.
"Deal." The plump hand extended out, shaking hands with that person.
This person seed to be under forty, already showing signs of middle age. He led Laine to a street corner, then whispered: "Listen, foreigner, you need to find Old Dike. He is specifically responsible for buying and selling these items. Musillon is a swamp region, lacking many resources, so our undead masters appointed people specifically responsible for these trades, Old Dike being one."
"Alright, continue, I'm listening, speak, I'm listening." Laine quickly put his hands on his waist, lowered his head indicating he was listening.
"Old Dike's shop is across three streets and then turn right, when you see a giant bat sign, that's it. Rember, don't say I told you." This middle-aged man's speech seed particularly trained, able to speak as clearly as he did was rare: "But you may be disappointed, foreigner, soone recently has been making large purchases of these."
"Hmm~ It's alright, we can discuss other matters," Laine extended his hand: "Thank you very much, brother."
"Who is your brother? I just want the goods, quickly sell them to ." The middle-aged man slapped away Laine's extended plump hand. Laine didn't mind, he signaled Gerald who followed to take out a bag: "Your gold coins?"
"Hey! Isn't my information worth that much?" The middle-aged man grumbled, pulling out a bag of gold kron from himself.
"That bag wasn't ant to be a gift, it was ant to sell, sir."
"Oh, alright, alright, or perhaps you'd like to trade your life instead?" Suddenly, the middle-aged man drew a dagger from his sleeve, the dagger's tip lunging straight toward Laine's face.
The dagger's cold reflection already shone on Laine's face.
Laine instinctively retreated, a look of surprise on his face, his plump body losing control and about to tumble, screaming miserably several tis, having no training look.
"Clang!" Gerald's sword was faster, the Kingdom Knight disguised as a steward thrust the sword through the middle-aged man's chest as the dagger was barely raised, the spurting hot blood splashing on the ground, the middle-aged man looked incredulously at Gerald once, dying.
"Hey, don't randomly kill people!" Laine complained unsatisfied: "Harmony breeds wealth!"
Then the fat rchant imdiately signaled two Demon Hunter guards to strip the middle-aged man bare, taking away all valuable items from him, anwhile patting off the dust on himself and continued saying: "Let's go, let's et Old Dike."
After Laine and others left, the depths of the alley were instantly filled with Dark Creatures and those low-level vampires erging to scramble for the blood, feast on the flesh.
In Musillon, murders frequently happened openly on the streets, everyone accustod to it.
In the alley's depths, two figures clad in black robes were watching the fat rchant's selling motions, whispering: "You still suspect him? He's just a rchant, from his recent behavior he's never undergone training."
"But I just feel sothing's off about him, this rchant, Gabriel Newell's timing of arrival is too coincidental." Another black-robed figure revealed his true face, he was Mathew Bade, this young Ranger Knight hadn't chosen the hasty transformation into a vampire, his human identity was still of use.
Akhan left a massive dark magic ritual on him, which will be key to his future plan to destroy Brittania: "Don't you find it strange? The Red Duke and his army set out not long ago, and this rchant appears, disappearing for several years and now he's back roaming around, gathering information."
"rchants not wanting to return empty-handed is quite normal, my sir." Another black-robed person retorted: "He is a trade partner of the von Castain Clan, Manfred is now collaborating with us, if we act rashly, the fragile relationship between the master and Manfred will be ruined by your recklessness!"
"I know!" Mathew Bade impatiently replied, focusing his gaze on the fat rchant's silhouette: "I will reveal his true colors!"
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