Chapter 28: Oknely

Hogen City, city square.

Every year, Hogen City holds its trading day in the middle of Awakening Month, at the city square.

The exact dates are the fourteenth to sixteenth days of Awakening Month, lasting three days.

Today is the first day of the trading day.

After leaving Pierre’s Grocery, Gao De immediately rushed here with all his belongings.

The city square is large, a broad expanse of blue brick, now crowded with people.

These people include commoners, petty merchants, impoverished noble scions, and some servants of noble lords.

Now, people of all these different statuses have set up small stalls along the perimeter of the square, like vendors.

The goods sold are bizarre and varied—everything imaginable. Gao De even saw someone selling a few oddly shaped stones picked up from the riverbank.

Before these varied stalls, one or two people occasionally approach to glance or ask a question, but actual sales are exceedingly rare.

Seeing this, Gao De couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

His sole purpose in coming here was to find hidden treasures.

To enhance his strength, besides strengthening himself, using external objects is also a method.

But Gao De’s current savings don’t support purchasing external items from official channels to boost his power—he can only hope for a lucky find.

Of course, in a small place like Hogen City, without proper connections or influence, you likely can’t buy any magical artifacts even with money.

Unlike big cities, in Hogen City, magical alchemical artifacts are absolute rarities! Gao De thought this as he kept walking, arriving at the center of the square.

The sky had grown dim, but the square was lit by magic crystal lamps, now glowing brightly.

Moreover, as the magic crystal lamps turned on, the crowd increased, and even a few more vendors appeared—likely workers just off their shifts from around the city.

Like everyone else, Gao De walked slowly along the square, examining each stall one by one, hoping to find something valuable.

Among the many people here, he was certainly not the first to hold this idea, nor the only one.

Yet clearly, finding hidden treasures does happen, and there are plenty of stories of obscure individuals stumbling upon something extraordinary at a street stall and striking it rich.

But the prerequisites are sufficient luck and sharp eyesight—most people usually come away empty-handed.

And Gao De had no such luck.

He wandered past many stalls without seeing any “suspicious” items—mostly just pottery jars, iron swords, and other everyday goods.

Until a stall surrounded by a dozen people caught his attention.

After wandering so long, this was the first time Gao De had seen such a crowded stall.

What good item were they selling?

Gao De couldn’t help but move closer.

The stall owner was a young man, wearing a slightly worn but clearly finely made robe, though the once intricate and beautiful patterns on it had faded into indistinct smudges.

He was almost certainly a scion of a fallen noble family.

Gao De made this judgment instantly, then scanned the goods laid out before the young man.

Some finely crafted pendants, several old books, and a few worn trinkets bearing the marks of age.

The reason for the crowd’s attention was a rusted, ivory-like copper object.

“Ten gold coins! Not a single coin less!” the young vendor shouted. He picked up the ivory-like copper object and pointed to the mark on its upper right corner: “See this mark? This is the mark of the Oknely Trading Company!”

Gao De had never heard of the Oknely Trading Company, but his eyes still instinctively went to the mark.

It was a six-pointed star, with a mysterious pictograph at its center.

But like the faded patterns on the young man’s robe, time had worn it down until the details were blurred and unrecognizable.

“Do you know the Oknely Trading Company? The most famous magical alchemical artifact merchant on the entire continent. Their products sell out everywhere—no matter how much money you have, you can’t buy them without connections!”

The young vendor continued boasting: “Since my treasure bears this mark, it proves it’s an Oknely Trading Company magical alchemical artifact.”

The young vendor’s confident claim of “magical alchemical artifact” drew even more attention.

Mages are synonymous with power; anything related to magic is unquestionably a treasure—mysterious and potent—who wouldn’t be drawn in? The man interested in the copper object was a middle-aged fat man.

He wasn’t fooled by the young man’s words. He calmly interrupted the boy’s boasting: “First, this mark is too faded to prove it’s definitely an Oknely Trading Company insignia.”

“Second, even if it were an Oknely mark, that proves nothing.”

“There are plenty of dishonest merchants across the continent who forge their mark. In a place like Hogen City, the chance of an Oknely product appearing here is extremely low—I don’t believe it for a second.”

“Finally,” the middle-aged man sneered, “this thing isn’t even a magical alchemical artifact—it shows no trace of magical energy at all. Either it lost its power due to damage, or it was never magical to begin with.”

The young vendor wasn’t embarrassed by the fat man’s exposure of his lies. He still insisted: “It’s just lost its magical energy—but it’s still an extraordinary magical artifact.”

“If you take it to a big city, find a skilled restorer to repair it, then resell it, you’ll easily get sixty or seventy Syen gold coins.”

“If it weren’t for an emergency, I’d never sell it!”

The middle-aged man clearly knew his stuff. He pointed to the mark on the copper object: “Kid, don’t think I’m ignorant. Judging by these wear marks, this thing’s been damaged for at least twenty years. Whether it can even be repaired is uncertain.”

“Even if it can be repaired, the restoration cost for this level of damage would be high, and we don’t know how much power it would regain afterward.”

“I’d have to pay a high price to buy it, then travel thousands of miles to find a master restorer in a big city, just to gamble on a perfect repair—you think I’m a fool?”

“If it were really this good a deal, why don’t you do it yourself?” the fat man said with a sly smile.

The surrounding crowd laughed merrily.

The young vendor’s face turned red. “Then how much will you offer?”

“Two Syen gold coins,” the fat man held up two fingers.

“Impossible! Just the material alone is worth two Syen gold coins!” the young vendor protested.

“That was when it was new. Now it’s this worn down—the material’s worthless,” the fat man said truthfully.

“Not selling! Go find some fool elsewhere—I don’t want you here!”

The young vendor, first insulted by the fat man, then slapped with such a low offer, and now fueled by resentment, lost his temper and started shooing customers away.

“Young people are so hot-headed,” the fat man said calmly, eyes half-lidded with a smile. “Fine, I’ll leave. See if any fool will pay that price. I’ll come back on the last day—if you still haven’t sold it and change your mind, my offer still stands.”

“Even if it rots in my hands, I won’t sell it to you!” the young vendor snapped.

The fat man shook his head and walked off, chuckling.

With the commotion gone, the crowd gradually dispersed.

To be honest, the young vendor’s goods held little appeal.

With no spectacle left, no one had any reason to linger.

(End of chapter)