Chapter 106: Magic Materials Acquired, Returning, and the Old Elf Stealing Things

"Has the Young Master finished choosing? Let me see: one kilogram of Red Copper, twenty Gold Coins." The Butler began to count the Magic Materials Jier had placed in the center of the room.

"Five kilograms of Black Iron, fifty Gold Coins. You certainly have a generous hand."

Confirming that Jier wanted a whole box of Black Iron at once, the Butler remarked with a sigh.

Next was the 【Sunlight Iron】 in the small box: "Half a kilogram of 【Sunlight Iron】, twenty-five Gold Coins."

"And one box of 【Vitality Wood Plank】, thirty pieces, thirty Gold Coins."

"【Blessing Coin】, fifteen pieces, worth seventy-five Gold Coins. It seems you have taken my advice to heart; please rest assured, it will not disappoint you." The Butler said to Jier earnestly.

Jier shrugged; even if this item couldn't be used on weapons or equipment, as long as the Merchant Guild was willing to pay to buy it, Jier would still profit later. Although, it didn't seem like he was particularly short on money right now.

"And the final two pieces of 【Death Half-Face】, ten Gold Coins. Lord Jier, the total is two hundred and ten Gold Coins for the Magic Materials; your calculation is very accurate."

After confirming, the Butler took out two blank sheets of paper, writing down the fact that Jier had exchanged for Magic Materials, as well as the types, quantities, and values of the materials. Finally, he signed the time and his own name.

He handed the two sheets to Jier: "Lord Jier, please sign; it would be even better if you could leave your personal Knight mark as proof."

Jier was stunned for a moment before realizing the other party was talking about Life Energy.

After taking the paper and pen, he signed his name on the documents, then concentrated his spirit, letting a bit of Life Energy seep from his fingertips, leaving it on the paper bit by bit to form his name.

Watching Jier leave his Life Energy on both sheets, the Butler could roughly gauge the young Knight's level of control and understanding of Life Energy based on the time Jier spent on this operation.

Generally speaking, the more proficient a Knight is at manipulating Life Energy, the less time they spend leaving their personal mark, and thus, their strength is clearly higher.

Seeing Jier's laborious effort, the Butler estimated that Jier had been undergoing Knight Life Energy Training for no more than two years and was still at the Apprentice Knight stage. However, his own young master—Young Master Bell—had been undergoing Knight Training for several years, and there wasn't much difference between him and Jier in this regard, so he didn't feel it was appropriate to say much about it.

After both documents were processed, the Butler kept one, Jier took one, and at this point, the Magic Materials at Jier's feet belonged to him.

"Then, this gentleman, have you chosen the items you want?"

The Butler looked at Bawei, who was currently nervously identifying the text on the wooden boxes. He didn't recognize many of the obscure terms and could only guess what the Magic Materials in each box might be.

"You still have a spending limit of six Gold Coins; please choose after careful consideration," the Butler said.

Bawei cast a look of help toward Jier, and Jier sighed helplessly: "State your needs, then choose the Magic Materials according to those needs. You're looking at them one by one; how long will it take you to finish looking through this treasury? Besides, some items are clearly suitable for defensive gear, while others can only be used on weapons."

"My Lord, I just want an axe, a powerful axe!" Bawei said, looking on eagerly.

Jier patted his forehead, walked around the treasury, and scanned the metal plates outside the wooden boxes, choosing suitable materials for Bawei: "An axe, an axe. You already have Red Copper and Black Iron as the foundation for the weapon; now you need to give your axe some special ability."

"And generally, special abilities come from special Magic Materials. Let me see, how about this? 【Scarlet Iron】, a Magic Material from a type of pigment mineral produced in Sasi County, which carries inherent toxicity; enemies injured by it will bleed continuously, and the wounds will be difficult to heal on their own."

Jier pointed to a section of wooden boxes and said that this Magic Material produced in Sasi County occupied at least one-fifth of the entire treasury, with box after box containing this 【Scarlet Iron】 material.

"The price is also relatively inexpensive, two Gold Coins for fifty grams. If you use this material mixed with Black Iron on the blade of your axe, it will cause the enemies you injure to bleed continuously. This makes it difficult for the enemies you face to engage in a protracted battle."

Bawei hesitated: "My Lord, my battles usually don't last very long..."

"Oh, that's true, an axe—either you defeat the enemy, or you are defeated by the enemy. A Two-handed Axe indeed doesn't need this. Let's try another one."

Jier pointed to another Magic Material and introduced it: "How about this? 【Blue Cobalt Crystal】, sturdy, with sharp edges; it can be used on the blade of a weapon, and it can easily tear through tough flesh."

"This is good, this is good!" Bawei nodded quickly.

"The price, however, is one Gold Coin for one small piece. You have a spending limit of six Gold Coins left, so you can only exchange for six of these 【Blue Cobalt Crystal】s," Jier reminded him.

"That's fine," Bawei said excitedly.

Jier nodded, thinking the name was not bad, at least better than the names he came up with.

The Butler brought over six identical 【Blue Cobalt Crystal】s and received six Gold Coins from Bawei's hand.

Afterward, just as before, he wrote two documents detailing the types and values of the Magic Materials Bawei had purchased. However, unlike Jier, Bawei could only simply write his name on his purchase document.

Each carrying a different number of wooden boxes, the two walked out of the Magic Material treasury together. Then, just as when they arrived, the Butler walked into the hidden small door to the side and pulled a mechanism to close the treasury gate.

Then they returned the way they came.

On the way, Jier brought up the previous topic again: "You mentioned the riots in the countryside and towns earlier; I roughly understand what you mean, so what does that have to do with this war?"

The Butler walked at the very back, needing to activate the defensive mechanisms in the passage they had walked through behind everyone else, and he explained: "It is like this, Lord Jier. The war was decided and initiated by the various Noble Lords above, because the invasion by the neighboring country infringed upon the interests of these Lords."

"The scale of the last war and this one is growing larger each time, and the root cause is not because the territory was subjected to violent aggression. I must make this clear to you first."

The Butler's expression was casual, as if he were not talking about a very significant matter, but rather a trivial, small war record that happened in some year and month recorded in a book.

"It is because large quantities of mineral veins have been discovered throughout the Southern Mountains. Only for this one reason did the various Noble Lords gather together, pool their strength, and discuss the distribution of these mineral veins to be reclaimed. I have heard that in this past year, the neighboring country to the south has prepared and initially built many mines and Mine shafts on the newly discovered mineral veins."

The Butler rubbed his fingers together: "These are all vast amounts of money and resources. And regarding this point, Lord Jier, you must understand that money and resources themselves represent a portion of power. For every mine captured, the Noble Lords can harvest continuous income for the next hundred years or more from the war, as well as the materials needed for the construction and development of their territories."

He pointed to the surrounding buildings: "Even for vital underground buildings, metal materials are used for connection and reinforcement during their construction. Not to mention ordinary houses on the surface, where a large number of wooden pillars and beams are precisely assembled together relying on Iron Nails and metal connectors."

Jier interjected: "Wood is everywhere, but the metal tools to reinforce them are not produced by every territory, right?"

"That is the logic. Those newly discovered mineral veins and the mines and Mine shafts above them each determine the future development of the Southern Province, or rather, the development of the neighboring country to the south. Iron can be used to forge weapons and equipment, to equip Soldiers so they can maintain their rule. It can be forged into various useful and sturdy farm tools to increase crop yields without increasing land, feeding more people. Iron can be made into tools to build new towns, and can be sold to Merchants in exchange for money."

"So the Lords on both sides started the war for these things, not simply for invasion and resisting invasion. If the Ophirine Kingdom to the south wanted new land, why would it take such a huge risk to invade our Saint Hors Kingdom?"

The Butler smiled disdainfully: "After all, anyone with eyes, as long as they have looked at the territorial maps of the two countries and can run their brain smoothly, would know that the scale of the two countries is not on the same level."

"The land area of the Saint Hors Kingdom is nine times that of the Ophirine Kingdom, and currently, the only one fighting it is our Southern Province, a single province alone."

The Butler spread his hands: "Invading for the sake of territory—the Ophirine Kingdom could completely go south or west to attack other countries with much smaller scales, couldn't it? Therefore, from the very beginning, the cause of this war has been those newly discovered mineral veins."

Jier nodded.

Carrying the boxes containing the Magic Materials, they walked out of the underground passage under the escort of the Soldiers. The Butler closed the metal gate they had entered, then dismissed half of the Soldiers and took the other half to escort Jier and the other person away.

"Continuing from just now. Therefore, after the Lords learned of the output and estimated scale of the mineral veins of the newly opened mines and Mine shafts of the neighboring country to the south through spies, they still had to carefully and properly distribute these things after the war's victory internally in advance."

Jier was a bit puzzled: "But didn't they lose the war last year? Are they so sure they will win this year? Distributing the benefits of a war victory before the war..."

He didn't quite understand, and vaguely felt it was a bit ominous.

"Lord Jier, you don't understand this; it is precisely for the sake of victory in the war that the Lords must confirm the benefits after the war's victory before the war, and distribute these benefits in advance."

"Because only by clearly and explicitly laying out the benefits after winning can the various Noble Lords who join this war bring out their true strength. If you want more benefits, you provide more support. And with the support of the Lords from all over, the scale of the coalition will be larger, and there will be a greater possibility of winning."

Jier hesitated: "But I heard that the defeat last year was because the neighboring country to the south had a special army. They could set fires on the battlefield, and yet they themselves were not afraid of being burned by fire."

"Uh, regarding this..." The Butler paused; clearly, he knew this news, but his own knowledge was unable to solve this troublesome problem.

"I think the Lords will always be able to find a way to solve it. Anyway, as long as the scale of the army is large enough, the probability of winning will increase. And as the probability of winning increases, everyone involved will invest their share of resources."

"Just like a snowball!" Jier said suddenly.

"My apologies, Lord Jier. It almost never snows here in Sasi County, so I have never seen this 'rolling a snowball' thing you speak of." The Butler looked apologetic, while Jier was somewhat surprised: "What! It has never snowed here? I, uh, well, that's true, Sasi County is already located in the southwest of the Southern Province; it is normal that the temperature drops and rain or snow have never reached here. But I still recommend that you go visit the north sometime, especially in winter; it is very interesting."

Jier then introduced some of the interesting activities of the northern winter to this elderly Butler.

Bawei and the surrounding Soldiers listened curiously; many of them had never seen snow in their entire lives. They had heard of such a thing, but they could not imagine the scene of the entire world being filled with this white, fluffy substance.

Those who have never seen it naturally cannot imagine things they have never seen.

After returning to the Yingdi in the backyard of the Caimen Inn, Jier sent the Magic Material he had just obtained into the Lady's dream Yingdi.

But as soon as he entered, he discovered that the situation around him was not right.

It was not that there was danger, but that in the originally quiet and dark Forest, there were many things that should not have appeared there!

A large number of various tools and furniture that would appear in the homes of rural Farmers!

Wooden chairs and tables of all sizes were overturned randomly on the ground around, a wide wooden door was even laid across the stream of Memory Water, turning into a small Wooden Bridge, and unwanted farm tools were piled together, tied and bundled up with hemp rope.

There were Mushroom Boys walking around with wooden tools on their heads, trying to transport these things into the distant Forest.

"Sigh..."

Jier sighed deeply; he finally understood what the Warriors under his command were discussing after he woke up in Momona Village yesterday.

That old sprite had actually moved away the furniture from half the houses in Momona Village. Hey! It was quite clever, knowing that items with owners could not be touched, and only secretly moving away the items of the villagers in Momona Village where no villagers survived.

"But the problem is, how on earth did you manage to bring so many things in, you guy? Won't the Lady be angry if she finds out?" Jier found the exhausted old sprite in the Yingdi by the Pond and questioned it.

However, the little thing, which was obviously exhausted, ignored Jier's questioning entirely, turned around and burrowed into its tin house, snoring loudly, while a large number of Mushroom Boys around it held small wooden sticks and boards, using these powerless little trinkets as weapons to guard their master.

"You guys... sigh, forget it, it's ownerless stuff anyway, and you're the one who wore yourself out. I'm just warning you, try not to cause trouble in towns with people. If you provoke someone we can't afford to offend, then it's all over."

When Jier said this, the snoring in the tin house paused for a moment; after Jier finished speaking, that fake-as-can-be snoring started up once again.

Jier could do nothing about this guy, so he had to let it do as it pleased, provided it did not harm his own interests.

He carefully put away the newly obtained Magic Material and made some corresponding modifications to the new armor design he had drafted on paper, according to these new materials.

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