Chapter 980: A Stroll by the Sea, Treasure Hunting at a Street Stall

Seventon, Old City District.

During a rare moment of leisure before the festival, Xia Duo brought Niya to the beach north of Giles Tower, wandering there and listening to the sound of waves crashing against the shore, feeling as if time itself had slowed down significantly.

The winter sea breeze blowing against his face actually carried a hint of warmth, which surprised Xia Duo, who had never spent a winter by the sea.

This also caused him to gradually slow his pace until he finally stopped, turning to face the northern sea and lifting his head to better feel the warmth of the sea breeze.

Seeing this scene, Niya couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle, "Don't tell me your hometown doesn't have an ocean!"

"Of course it does, but my home isn't by the sea. Strictly speaking, this is the first time I've been this close to the ocean!"

Xia Duo stretched his foot forward to probe, touching the surging spray before quickly pulling back. In truth, he had had opportunities to come to the seaside before today, but for various reasons, he had never managed to do so.

Actually, if he hadn't happened to come to Seventon, he wouldn't have thought about looking at any ocean at all; after all, he had too many things to worry about, and the ocean didn't even make the list.

Perhaps when the Floating City is built in the future, he could take his family on a long-term world tour to see the strange sights of various places; as for now, there was no need to force it.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo couldn't help but feel a bit dispirited. He glanced at Niya and then continued to stroll westward along the beach.

"By the way, has anything happened in Seventon these past few days?"

"What could happen? Isn't it just the challenges from the Cormanthor Elf mages? A few Netherese Mages have already made fools of themselves on the spot these past few days, but no one from the Seven Towers has participated. The Cormanthor Elves are so arrogant right now!"

"Hmm."

Xia Duo nodded without continuing to press the matter. He had no intention of sticking his neck out; he was only thinking about how the Princess was planning a special ritual involving many people and events.

And with the Cormanthor Elves acting like this, did they know something and were deliberately causing trouble? Or did they know nothing and were just being their usual rampant selves?

Associating this with the Mythallar and Murloc Tide that inexplicably appeared in Maihete Lake in the Nan Jing, the Cormanthor side shouldn't be completely ignorant, but they might still be some distance away from the true key point.

Xia Duo pulled his perspective away and thought from a higher angle; perhaps the Cormanthor Elves doing this was a final madness born of knowing but being unable to stop it.

It all depends on the festival the day after tomorrow; everything will be clear then!

……

Just as the two were walking silently in the sea breeze, Niya suddenly asked, "Are you worried about the festival the day after tomorrow?"

"Worried? How could I be?"

Having his thoughts called out, even by his own wife, Xia Duo still felt a bit flustered inside. More importantly, he didn't want to show his weakness in front of Niya.

However, the two had been together for a long time and were very familiar with each other. Niya did not confirm or deny Xia Duo's words, but instead spoke her own thoughts:

"I am very worried. Actually, ever since you Pioneers were left in the Semi-plane, I have been worried."

"There was no such New Year Festival in previous years. Look at Seventon now; although there are many more people than usual, where is the festive atmosphere?"

"The closer it gets to the festival now, the more worried I become, worried that something unpredictable will happen!"

Having said this, Niya stopped and looked at Xia Duo with a serious expression, "I really regret coming to Seventon now!"

Xia Duo sighed in his heart, knowing what Niya meant, and felt a warmth in his heart.

But some things are not so easy to escape. If it were before coming to Seventon, perhaps there would have been a chance to escape, but now that the rehearsals were over, if he dared to run, the Princess would likely want to kill him!

"Don't worry too much. Do you trust your teacher? Do you trust the authority of the Seven Towers in Netheril? If you trust them, then there's no problem!"

These words were actually Xia Duo comforting himself, but there was one more sentence he didn't say to Niya: if something unexpected really happened, it would surely be earth-shattering, something the Seven Towers couldn't contain, and it wouldn't be impossible for Netheril to be overturned as a result.

However, the probability of that situation occurring was too small, and the consequences and impact were too severe, so Xia Duo didn't say it.

"Alright, let's not talk about these mood-spoiling things!"

He lightly bumped his arm against Niya's and pointed toward the city area not far to the south, "Didn't you say you wanted to stroll through the Old City District? Let's go there now!"

"Aren't you going to look at the sea anymore?"

"Looking at the sea can be done anytime, but if a treasure is bought by someone else, it will be gone forever!" Xia Duo joked.

In fact, he wasn't very interested in so-called treasure hunting.

Generally speaking, Adventurers who can explore deep into ruins are sponsored by Spellcasters, or even have them participate personally. Any ruin items that flow out have likely been sifted through countless times already.

Where would there be any high-quality gems left for a treasure hunter to find!

Even if one could find some high-quality items, they would only have an extra layer of "ancient" filter, and they might not be better than current things.

The probability of actually finding a ruin item that is considered high-end even by today's standards is not much higher than winning the jackpot in a lottery on Earth.

However, rumors of someone finding a treasure often appear in Seventon. Niya is inexperienced in the world, so hearing them often naturally makes her think, "I can do it too," but Xia Duo doesn't think so.

……

Following Niya all the way from the beach to the southwest corner of the Old City District, the two stopped in front of a small shop that didn't even have a sign.

The doors and windows of this small shop faced west, and the narrow storefront was almost crowded with small stalls belonging to Adventurers. Calling them stalls, they were actually just gray cloths two or three feet square, covered with all sorts of trinkets.

However, since it was a place Niya had found for treasure hunting, even without using Magic Vision, Xia Duo discovered quite a few Magic Items, though of course, there were more ordinary items.

But, were there too few people here? Except for the two of them and five or six Adventurer stall owners, there were almost no other customers.

"Niya, are you sure someone has found good things here?"

"Of course I'm sure. Beilaila bought a Mithril ornament here, and she discovered a brand-new Element Unit from that ornament, and because of that, she created a new Spell!"

Of course, it was impossible to say such things directly in front of the stall owners. Niya told Xia Duo via Sending, and her words even revealed a hint of excitement.

So that's how it is!

Xia Duo suddenly realized; there is a big difference between having someone around you who has experienced it personally and just hearing gossip.

Of course, this was still a game of probability; perhaps the probability was higher, but he still didn't like this kind of game that relied on probability.

However, as long as Niya was happy, it didn't matter; they weren't short of this little bit of money anyway.