Chapter 61

Iouli took a sip of honey wine, threw a Silver Shield to each of the two dancing girls in front of her, and waved for them to retreat.

Then she turned to her personal maid, "How is the competition going?"

"Baier-ta already took people to pull those iron ores out of the city overnight last night. It is said that they didn't sleep all night and have been on the road. As for that alchemist named Mali..."

The maid paused.

"Where has he reached?"

Iouli yawned. Even for a messenger of the gods like her, drinking and having fun all night would make her body unable to bear it. Looking at it this way, spending money is also a physical job.

"He hasn't set off yet. He is learning Flame Art from that old alchemist," the maid said.

"Oh," the priestess's eyes flickered, "Is he planning to win the competition by killing people? That would be too stupid. Although the rules don't prohibit it, I said it very clearly: the Wealth Trial is to please the goddess. Proxi is the patron saint of merchants and thieves, not the patron saint of robbers.

"The Rose Guild will also not accept someone who murders a Rose Merchant."

"It shouldn't be," the maid said, "Anyway, he told others it was because of the rain."

"Rain?" The priestess was stunned upon hearing this, and subconsciously looked out the window.

It was indeed drizzling in the sky at this moment. If she remembered correctly, this rain started at dusk yesterday, and now it has become much smaller. It looks like it will stop before long.

It is indeed uncomfortable to be on the road on a rainy day, but the problem is what time it is now, and who cares if it is comfortable or not?

She continued to ask the maid, "What about Baier-ta's side? Did he make a move?"

The latter nodded, "He sent out carrier pigeons before setting off, used the secret order of the Duchess, and required Rose Merchants in other cities to cooperate with him to dump honey wine to Sheng Xia Ting, and promised to compensate for the price difference of the losses afterward."

"As expected," Iouli supported her chin, "But that would cost a large sum of money. Hehe, although there are loopholes in the rules of the Wealth Trial, the losses and profits caused by other commercial activities conducted at the same time will not be included in the competition results, but spending such a high price, if he fails to win the competition in the end, there will be fun to watch.

"People, in the face of huge interests, are always accustomed to ignoring risks."

The maid didn't answer, just added some honey wine to the priestess's cup, and the latter took the opportunity to take her into her arms.

"Have you picked out the new clothes I asked you to buy?"

"Priestess, please respect yourself," the maid said with a trembling voice, "I can find other ways for you to have fun..."

"I was just joking," Iouli giggled twice, let go and released her, "I am a priestess of the Wealth Goddess, not a priestess of the God of Desire. What are you afraid of?"

The maid breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and smoothed the folds on her skirt, looked back, but unexpectedly saw a look of worry on Iouli's face.

"There is going to be a war," the priestess muttered, "Why is it that in this world, there are always people who don't want to do business and live a good life."

…………

Time always passes quickly. Baier-ta returned to Yingzui City on the morning of the twelfth day.

Everyone in the caravan looked dusty and haggard. They had suffered a lot to rush on the road these days, and even Baier-ta had lost a circle, but there was a clear look of joy on his face.

Because the harvest of this trip was even greater than he had imagined. Not only did they arrive at a city close to the front line, but they also received news shortly after they entered the city gate.

The Northern Empire had officially declared war on the Menia Kingdom and its affiliated Jiadelan Gongguo, and even tried to cross the Sancha River that day. They even used mages to freeze a small piece of the river surface, but were eventually repelled.

Stimulated by this news, the price of iron ore rose again. In just a few days, Baier-ta earned more than double the profit, which was also a very good result in past competitions.

In addition, he received another good news on the way back. Things went very smoothly in Sheng Xia Ting. Although the city was still in celebration, the price of honey wine had fallen to 27 Silver Shields per barrel.

Thinking of Mali and the others working hard to send the wine there, only to find that it was not as profitable as selling it directly in Yingzui City, Baier-ta wanted to laugh.

However, he also had to pay nearly 300 Gold Eagles for this. Baier-ta was a bit unable to laugh again.

But if he could win the competition, according to the bet, he could get 360 Gold Eagles from Mali, enough to cover this part of the expenditure, and also compensate for half of his previous losses.

Although he still lost 60 Gold Eagles, the important thing was that his brother could use this opportunity to join the Rose Guild. In this way, a family would have two Rose Merchants.

The benefits that could be brought would far exceed these 60 Gold Eagles. Not to mention that he could also show his face in front of the Wealth Church's priestess.

Baier-ta became happier the more he thought about it, and he was refreshed after returning to Yingzui City, until he heard the apprentice report that Mali and the others had returned two days earlier, and was stunned for a moment.

But soon he laughed even more brightly.

Gave up, they must have given up halfway!

It is estimated that because they arrived too late, they went to Sheng Xia Ting and found that they could only sell at a loss, and it was too late to go to other cities, so they could only return in a dejected manner.

If he had known, they wouldn't have had to rush so much, just find a place to sell it.

Baier-ta was in high spirits, even went home to take a bath, changed into new clothes, and then returned to the guild station to see the priestess, waiting for the other party to announce the competition results.

Iouli came down from upstairs and saw Baier-ta grinning there, and she also smiled slightly, "What are you so happy about?"

"Thinking of being able to see the beautiful and moving Priest Iouli again makes me happy from the bottom of my heart," Baier-ta flattered.

"Hahahaha," the priestess said meaningfully, "I also hope your good mood can be maintained."

Baier-ta felt that this was Iouli's hint to him, meaning that he had indeed won the competition this time.

"You wait a moment," Helun said, "I have sent someone to invite Mali and Master Lievre. They should be practicing magic, and should be here soon."

Hearing the last sentence, Baier-ta finally put away his smile, frowned and said, "Should we... find more guards?"

"No need to worry, I am here," the priestess said, "But it's just Zero-ring Flame Art, I can still handle it," she paused and added with a strange face, "Besides, he hasn't practiced it yet."

Mali indeed hadn't practiced it.

After Lievre got the alchemy instruments, he was eager to do a big job, and he wasn't very happy when Mali told him he wanted to learn a spell first.

However, considering that they had no alchemy materials other than Lizardman tails, the old man finally agreed reluctantly.

But he really put all his skill points into alchemy and only learned a few Zero-ring spells when he was young.

Mali was also relatively partial, his affinity for other elements was too poor, and he was barely okay with the fire element, so he actually had no choice. Even if he already had a lighter and felt that Flame Art was useless, he could only pinch his nose and practice it first.

At least he could personally feel the magic power of this continent.

It was just that the twelve days were still too short, and after deducting the time for driving, eating, and trading, there was not much time left to allocate to the practice of Flame Art.

According to this progress, Mali felt that he would need at least another half a month to produce a small flame.