Chapter 74: The Traveling Hat-Wearing Merchants
“Don’t be angry, I was just kidding. You’re such a grown-up, you shouldn’t be so petty with a child like me.” Diana didn’t want to lose her current support, so she had to lower her proud head…
Wait, Lena didn’t have any magic power now, why should she lower her head?
How strange?
“Hey! I’m tired!” Diana stopped, spreading her arms, and whispered, “Carry me…”
“What?” Lena turned around.
“I said carry me! I’m the Imperial Princess, and you’re just a noble. You wouldn’t want to miss such a flattering opportunity, right? I’ll let you take advantage of me, even though you’re just a weakling! Hmph!” Diana puffed out her cheeks, raising her arms, waiting for Lena to bend down so she could jump on her back.
But Lena didn’t obey, instead holding out her hand, refusing coldly. “Sorry, I can’t.”
“Why, why, why, why?! I’m the Imperial Princess!”
“Right now, you’re just a brat, it’s that simple.”
Lena continued walking, finally finding the colorful mushroom house at the end of the night market.
This was the territory of the Hat-Wearing Merchants. These foreigners had access to goods that other merchants couldn’t match, and Lena was looking for something specific.
“You want to buy a spatial scroll?”
A red mushroom poked its head out from the dark mushroom house. “We do have those, but do you have enough money? You can also trade with mushrooms, but it has to be Golden Mushrooms from the Vassa Rainforest. One Golden Mushroom for ten scrolls, a great deal, do you have any?”
The Hat-Wearing Merchants loved mushrooms; even their houses, bodies, and lifestyles were intertwined with mushrooms.
They were originally Spore Mushroom people, living in humid rainforests, but they loved traveling and seeing new sights, so they carried their mushroom houses and embarked on journeys around the world.
To resupply, they would purchase local specialties at each destination and sell them in other countries. Over time, their mushroom houses became filled with rare items, quickly sold out upon arrival, earning them favor in many isolated countries, where they were affectionately known as the “Hat-Wearing Merchants.”
They were a relatively neutral race.
And the one Lena encountered now was just one of many, let’s call him Red Mushroom Head.
“He’s asking you, do you have any money?” Diana whispered. “If you try to steal, the Hat-Wearing Merchants will cut off your little finger, it’s super painful!”
As if reliving a traumatic experience, Diana’s face scrunched up, looking adorable.
“I don’t have any money on me,” Lena shrugged. “Who carries around a bunch of cash? It’s too troublesome…”
“Ah? Then what do we do?” Diana was disheartened; she desperately wanted to go home, her feet aching from walking so much.
“Use your Word Spirit Magic.” Lena offered a mischievous suggestion, a wicked smile on her face. “Command him to hand over the spatial scrolls, then we use them to escape. Even with all their abilities, they can’t chase us back to the empire…”
“Good idea!”
Diana eagerly rolled up her sleeves, ready to act.
Lena quickly stopped her, sighing and rubbing her forehead. “I was just kidding, you’re actually going to do it…? Can we even afford to offend the Hat-Wearing Merchants?”
“Why not?”
Diana clearly didn’t realize the gravity of the situation, her large eyes blinking innocently. “Aren’t they just a bunch of smelly mushrooms?”
“Quiet, you little devil!”
Lena’s heart almost leaped out of her chest. She hurriedly pulled Diana aside.
“Do you even know their average rank before saying such things? Each one of them is rank four or above, and they have connections with each other. If one is harmed, all the Hat-Wearing Merchants within a thousand miles will know. Do you want to be targeted by an entire race and placed on their blacklist?!”
Not only that, the Hat-Wearing Merchants also spread deadly spores that clung to objects and people. If someone tried to rob them, the spores would activate, resulting in mutual destruction.
The finger-bone necklaces they wore, made from various races, served as a warning…
“So, why would we break a rule that has stood for centuries? Stop your nonsense, this isn’t the Imperial City.”
Lena’s tone was slightly harsh, revealing information Diana had never heard before.
She comforted the almost-crying Diana. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any money, but I have something else to offer.”
“What is it?”
Diana rubbed her red eyes, the darkness of the night making her instinctively lean closer to Lena, hugging her arm. “Senior Weakling, don’t disappear on me, what if you get lost? You’re so unreliable…”
“Silly, just say you’re scared.”
Lena chuckled, holding up a shimmering crystal card, her lips curving into a smile. “This is a Gemstone Obsidian Card, issued by the Falmouth family. It’s accepted worldwide, with a maximum credit limit of two hundred thousand gold coins. There are only thirty in circulation, and as the heir to the Falmouth family, my father gave it to me as a birthday present.”
“So pretty!”
Diana was captivated by the card’s crystal-like appearance.
A translucent black, intricately crafted with magic runes and engravings.
Exquisite, like a work of art!!
Was the designer a genius?!
Diana forgot her fear, toying with the Obsidian Card, seemingly mesmerized. “How did the Falmouth family get this?”
Lena chuckled. “It seems Your Highness is still quite ignorant. The Falmouths are the largest import and export company in the Almeria Empire. Our business isn’t limited to domestic minerals, scrolls, mercenaries, magic technology…”
As one of the empire’s three pillars, they naturally had some influence.
If the General hadn’t retired and withdrawn from politics, the Falmouths would have been on the empire’s impeachment list long ago.
Diana gasped. “Isn’t that monopolization?! You’re so evil!”
Lena smiled noncommittally. “Don’t say such things, Your Highness. Just understand that money is money, dirty, black, or clean, it’s all the same, no shame in it…”
Returning to the Hat-Wearing Merchant’s mushroom house, Lena presented the Obsidian Card.
Red Mushroom Head’s previously indifferent attitude changed instantly. He respectfully accepted the card, placing his business card on it with his cylindrical hand. “One group teleportation scroll, one disposable energy shield. Besides these, do you require anything else, ‘Good Thing’?”
“Good Thing” was the Hat-Wearing Merchants’ term for valued customers; the opposite was “Bad Thing.”
“Good Things” were worth befriending, “Bad Things” had to be eliminated!
The moment Lena pulled out the card, Red Mushroom Head had classified her as a high-value client, his attitude naturally changing.
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