Chapter 353: Harp Inn — Selling Gems and Alien Animal Wooden Carvings

Afterward, Jier took out some other small, valuable-looking art objects from his backpack to let Mr. Xiao Simengsi take a look and provide a rough estimate of their price.

"You'd best melt this silver humanoid statue down for money. The Church has regulations: civilians are not permitted to privately cast images of deities, none of them."

Jier broke into a cold sweat at this.

"This necklace that looks nice is fake. Take your Dagger and cut a corner. See? It looks like a gold necklace, but it isn't gold; gold isn't this hard. You could give it to one of the girls at the Red House to win their favor for a moment. But you'd best not go to that Red House again afterward."

Jier was speechless; he never went to such places. You, a middle-aged man, don't seem like a family-oriented, loyal husband right now, and he is still just a young boy!

Regarding this fake jewelry necklace, surely the Bandits must have been able to tell it was fake, so why didn't they just throw it away?

"This Wooden Carving. Hmm, this scent." Mr. Xiao Simengsi held the last item, which was difficult to value, in his hand. It was an animal Wooden Carving, a doe carved from white wood with lifelike detail; its posture was expressive, slender, and nimble. Although the object looked fragile, it was actually very resilient. Jier had only wrapped it simply in a piece of soft cloth, yet he could safely put it in his Backpack without fear of it being damaged inside.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi closed his eyes and sniffed the white doe Wooden Carving carefully. After a long while, he said, "This thing is extraordinary, Jier. It was made using a material produced by an alien race. Smell it—don't you feel like you're surrounded by a Forest just by catching its scent?"

Jier hadn't known this Wooden Carving had such a significant origin, so he immediately closed his eyes and took a sniff as well.

Sure enough, even though it was a wooden sculpture, the fragrance it emitted made him immediately think of a vibrant, lush Forest. It seemed as if there were a herd of wild deer in the woods, rustling the bushes, and he seemed to see a gentle, nimble doe just behind the shrubs.

The two locked eyes, and the suddenly appearing Jier startled the timid animal; it leaped a few times and quickly fled deep into his mind.

Opening his eyes, Jier was full of admiration.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi patted Jier on the shoulder: "This thing is worth a lot of money. Not only does it have this magical fragrance, but it is also a rare piece of art from an alien race. If you want to sell it, many people will want it."

Jier smiled: "Then do you have any channels? I am in urgent need of money recently and want to sell them all for cash. Of course, that doesn't include the jewelry in the bone box. I will return that to the Church of the God of the Dead. By the way, should I return it to the Church at Bingxun Pass or the Church in Kendall City? Do you know, Mr. Simons?"

"Fool, of course it's the Church of the God of the Dead in Kendall City. The two are on different levels. Only by handing it over to the one in Kendall City will you have a chance to meet higher-ranking Church Priests, and the reward they give you will be better."

So that was it.

Afterward, Mr. Xiao Simengsi thought for a moment and told Jier that he knew a few wealthy Merchants who happened to be in Bingxun Pass at the moment. He could get busy today, go find them to discuss this matter, and sell these items tomorrow in the main hall of the Simons Chamber of Commerce.

A ruby of good color and size, and an animal sculpture with a mysterious fragrance.

These two items would surely be to their liking.

After agreeing to give Mr. Xiao Simengsi twenty percent of the final sale price, Jier packed the items away and arranged to come back before noon tomorrow.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi immediately went out with Jier; he was dressed neatly and brought an attendant to find his friends. Jier, meanwhile, headed to the main street of the pass and walked into a large shop.

As soon as one entered the shop, there were two thugs with Iron-wrapped Clubs tucked into their waists sitting behind the door. The rest of the shop was divided into several areas, with a Shop Assistant in each area responsible for different tasks.

Jier was not carrying a Long Sword and only had a short Dagger at his waist, so he did not attract attention upon entering. He found a counter responsible for currency exchange and quietly placed the small pure silver statue on the table.

"Good day, young man. Is there something you need?" The Shop Assistant, who was more than a generation older than Jier, looked up and spoke to him.

Jier pushed the small pure silver statue on the table forward: "Excuse me, I would like to exchange this directly for coins. You can take a look; it is pure silver."

The gray-haired Shop Assistant took the small pure silver statue, muttered something, but picked up the item to examine it carefully.

"Hmm, are you sure it's pure silver? If you want to exchange it for coins, I must remind you that privately casting statues without authorization will annoy the Church—all the Churches."

Jier smiled casually: "I know, that's why I intend to exchange it for coins directly."

The Shop Assistant rubbed the statue with his hand: "What I mean is, since it is a privately cast statue, should I lower the value I give it?"

Jier immediately stopped smiling: "Why don't you break it in half to see and confirm whether the inside is all pure silver?"

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure. Please, go ahead."

Having received Jier's approval, the old man called over a younger Shop Assistant. The young assistant took a pair of thick iron pliers, clamped the middle of the small statue, and exerted force to snap it.

The small statue, indeed made of pure silver, was snapped in half by the pressure of the iron pliers.

The interior of the deformed statue was a uniform silver color. Jier picked up the two pieces of the fallen statue and handed them to the Shop Assistant.

"You see, the inside is indeed pure silver. And now that it is no longer a complete statue, it has no other use besides being melted down." Jier raised an eyebrow and said with a smile.

The gray-haired Shop Assistant glared at Jier: "Clever kid." In fact, an experienced Shop Assistant only needed to weigh a silver product in their hand to judge whether it was pure silver; there was no need to cut it open to check.

Immediately after, the Shop Assistant carefully wiped the two halves of the small statue and placed them on the scale to weigh them. After calculating the weight, he called the Steward of the shop, who checked it and took a small bag of Silver Coins from the safe in the back of the shop.

In front of Jier, he counted out thirty-three Silver Coins and pushed them toward Jier.

After thanking him, Jier took some Silver Coins from his own purse and pushed them together with the newly received Silver Coins toward the other party, asking him to exchange them for Gold Coins.

The old Shop Assistant patted his forehead: "What a redundant thing to do." Jier shrugged, not worried that the other party wouldn't accept it; after all, when a shop performs currency exchange, no matter how you look at it, they are actually making money. After all, when a shop performs currency exchange, they don't look at the number of coins, but only calculate the weight of the coins.

Finally, after Jier added two more Silver Coins, the other party gave him five Gold Coins.

The losses caused by the wear and tear of some Silver Coins were all borne by Jier himself; the shop only calculated based on the standard weight. They never lose out, that's for sure.

Tightly securing the five Gold Coins and declining the Shop Assistant's offer to show him around the shop, Jier walked out of the shop quickly.

After hurrying back to the room in the inn he had rented, Jier carefully put his things away, kept the important items on his person, and then went to the backyard to clean and feed his horse.

He even rode the horse without a Muan or Jiansheng, lying on the horse's back and hugging its neck, walking around the inn's backyard for a while to let the horse take a stroll.

However, it seemed that compared to the freezing cold outside, his horse preferred staying in the warm stable.

In the evening, Jier borrowed the inn's kitchen, started a fire himself to cook some food, and ate with the inn's Shop Assistant. Jier's cooking skills from his previous life were still decent; there was nothing he could do in the wild, but in a kitchen with sufficient cookware, he could still show off his skills a little to satisfy the dietary needs of himself and the inn's Shop Assistant.

The next morning, Jier brushed his clothes clean, wiped his warm Boots dry with a dry cloth, and after tidying up the wolf-fur Cloak on his body, Jier put the two items he was going to sell to the Merchants today into a cloth bag at his waist.

Then he rode his horse out of the inn and soon arrived at the Simons Chamber of Commerce, operated by Mr. Xiao Simengsi's family.

The Chamber of Commerce was as lively as yesterday; it seemed the Merchants' enthusiasm for business had been completely ignited recently, and everyone wanted to take advantage of the time when there were no Bandits on the road to safely conduct big business.

Jier couldn't understand: since they needed safe Shanglu so much, why didn't they just hire a group of professional mercenaries from out of town to forcibly suppress the Bandits so they wouldn't dare to stir up trouble on the Shanglu?

As soon as he greeted the people at the Simons Chamber of Commerce, he was taken to the main hall by a Shop Assistant who recognized him.

"The Vice President said the matter he agreed upon with you has had some changes. Wait here, I'll go call the Vice President over." The Shop Assistant asked Jier to wait a moment, and he went to the warehouse on the other side of the Chamber of Commerce to find Mr. Xiao Simengsi himself.

Jier was baffled, not knowing what changes could have occurred to the matter agreed upon yesterday, so he had to wait where he was.

After a while, Mr. Xiao Simengsi's busy figure walked over. He was followed by two Chamber of Commerce Stewards, each holding a notebook and various paper receipts and wooden tokens. The three of them were checking various things as they walked.

"Jier, sorry about that. We agreed yesterday to help you sell those two items here, but my friends are all very busy, as you can see, and I am also very busy here. Everyone is constantly moving all the various goods that have been accumulated for a long time, taking advantage of this opportunity. You buy, I sell; you sell, I buy. Every Chamber of Commerce is conducting large-scale material exchanges and shipping out large quantities of goods for which they have channels. It's not even the busiest time yet; when goods from all over are transported to Bingxun Pass via the roads in a month or two, it will be even busier here."

Jier waved his hand: "I'm the one who should apologize for coming to you so suddenly for help. But what about this matter now?"

"Ah, look at me, I've become muddled with all the work, only complaining." Mr. Xiao Simengsi patted his forehead: "It's like this: they can't get away, so we discussed it, and it just so happens that someone has a long-term room rental at that luxury inn on the main street of the pass. We put our heads together and decided to just sell your items there. It just so happens that after your business is finished, we can gather together to discuss the recent situation and each of our affairs. Hey, thanks to you, my friends and I can just happen to meet up; maybe we can even reach some deals."

Jier smiled; as long as the items could be sold, he didn't care where the place was.

After the two finished speaking, Jier waited a short while for Mr. Xiao Simengsi, and once the other party had temporarily finished his work and cleared some free time, the two walked out of the Merchant Guild.

Jier led his horse, while Mr. Xiao Simengsi brought his attendant Shop Assistant, and the three of them walked together toward the luxurious hotel in the very center of the pass.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi looked Jier's horse over: "Jier, you're doing alright. This horse looks very docile in temperament, just right for a beginner like you. But horses are very expensive; when did you get your hands on this one?"

Jier told Mr. Simons about how he had performed meritorious service while dealing with a Magic Beast, and that Knight Lanisha had rewarded him with three horses seized from the bandits.

"In that case, you've really had it tough. You must pay more attention to your safety. Magic Beasts—is that thing really so terrifying? I've only heard Bards talk about them since I was small, but I've never seen one. You know, although Kendall County is remote, it's actually quite safe inside the pass and in the Kendall County area to the north. I don't even know how long it's been since the last report of a Magic Beast appearing."

Jier then spoke of how, when dealing with the Magic Beast back then, the beast had released Magic, blowing away a large area of snow and land in the surroundings, and had even leveled everything in front of the Magic Beast for several hundred meters in one go.

Jier spoke lightly, but Mr. Xiao Simengsi and his attendant Shop Assistant were terrified. Of the two, Mr. Xiao Simengsi had been personally rescued by Jier from the bandits' lair, so he knew Jier's character and that he was not a person to talk nonsense.

Hearing that a Magic Beast could release Magic and actually destroy several hundred meters in front of it, he was naturally given a huge fright.

"Is it that terrifying? That Magic Beast?" Mr. Xiao Simengsi's voice was a bit raspy, he spoke very slowly, and his complexion had turned somewhat pale.

Jier slapped his forehead: "You're overthinking it. Although we were fighting the Magic Beast in the Forest at the time, we happened to be on a flat patch of land in the woods without any trees. The Magic Beast's Magic had nothing to block it, which is why it could hit so far. I checked afterward; once the power it emitted hit the trees, it was blocked very quickly. If you want me to give you a comparison, if the Magic Beast used that move in the city again, it would probably destroy half a street at most. No more than that."

"Half a street is not short either. However, since the Magic Beast has already been killed and exterminated by the Knight Lanisha you mentioned, I won't worry about it. After all, the next time a Magic Beast appears, it probably won't be until I'm old. Haha." Mr. Xiao Simengsi came back to his senses, did the math, and felt that the probability of him encountering a Magic Beast in his lifetime was infinitely close to zero, so he stopped worrying.

As the group talked, they soon crossed streets and alleys, arriving at the most luxurious and largest hotel in Bingxun Pass—the Shuqin Lüguan.

Jier did not know why a hotel would use a musical instrument as its name. He asked Mr. Xiao Simengsi beside him, and although the other party did not know either, he did know that this hotel had branches in every important trade hub in the Kingdom, and the power behind it was unfathomable.

Jier handed his horse to the hotel attendant and took the metal-plated voucher tag the other party gave him. Then he followed Mr. Xiao Simengsi into the hotel.

Compared to other hotels, the luxurious decorations here even made Jier think of the descriptions of hotel environments in the fantasy works of his previous life. The floor was paved with precious stone, and in places where no one was walking, one could even see the floor reflecting light.

Compared to other buildings that used a lot of wood, the lobby of this luxurious hotel was towering and built mostly of solid, refined stone.

The hotel lobby upon entering was spacious and vast.

The walls of the lobby were hung with landscape paintings from various distant places; although the style was realistic, it also held the painter's personal emotions, clearly not the work of an unskilled artist.

While walking, Mr. Xiao Simengsi saw Jier noticing the paintings on the wall and asked Jier: "You also have an understanding of these art paintings?"

Jier shook his head: "I don't understand them, but I can see the emotions the authors of each painting left on their work. Regardless, compared to simply depicting scenery, works containing intense emotions are at least more outstanding, aren't they?"

Mr. Xiao Simengsi blinked and gave an awkward smile: "It's truly shameful to say, but I've never been able to see the various emotions the painters left on them. If there's a chance, you must tell me about them so I can deeply appreciate these paintings."

"Alright, no problem." Jier nodded.

The group entered a corridor from the side door of the lobby, went up one floor, and knocked on the door to enter a room on the north side of the second floor.

The room had a ceiling several meters high, the interior was entirely walled with elegant, bright yellow natural wood, and the windows facing the inside of the hotel were actually small glass windows.

Jier's eyes narrowed when he saw the windows. Only then did he realize that in a magical world with things like Magic, many things might not be non-existent, but rather not supplied to the lower classes; a vast amount of wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few upper-class people, such as the lords of various places, or high priests and Mages, or else in the hands of great Merchants.

In the middle of this room was a massive, low wooden chair with a backrest, covered with a thick layer of spotted deerskin; to accommodate this long chair, it was clearly stitched together from many deerskins.

At this time, several pot-bellied Merchants were sitting on the chairs talking. They were dressed very formally, and behind each wooden chair stood their respective assistants.

When Mr. Xiao Simengsi brought his attendant Shop Assistant and Jier into the room, they all stopped talking. Several people stood up to welcome Mr. Xiao Simengsi, and Mr. Simons guided Jier to introduce himself to everyone present.

"My friends, this young man is the seller who has treasures to offer today." Mr. Simons introduced Jier, and Jier bowed and introduced himself: "Honorable gentlemen, I am Qiao-Jier, a warrior from Kendall City."

"Qiao-Jier? I've heard this name. You seem to be very good at dealing with all kinds of Monsters?" a fat Merchant wearing bright clothing spoke up.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi took over the conversation: "Yes, this little friend of mine is very good at dealing with all sorts of enemies, it's just that today he isn't wearing his full, full-coverage Hard Cowhide Armor. That's what it's called, right, Jier?"

"Yes, you didn't call it wrong." Jier replied. He was a man of few words; before coming, Mr. Simons had already agreed with him that the matter of dealing with his Merchant friends would be left to him.

"Not only that, Jier is even better at dealing with those bandits hiding in the mountains." Mr. Simons continued viciously: "For example, the Thieves of Luodai Cave!"

Jier said softly: "Please relax, I have already wiped out all those bandits with Knight Kela. I even personally killed a leader of the Thieves of Luodai Cave. It's a pity that it seems the other leaders held their ground in the lair until the end and didn't come out, so they were all choked to death in the Shandong by fire under Knight Kela's orders."

Hearing this, Mr. Xiao Simengsi laughed "hehehe": "Good lad, you really vented my anger for me, that was done perfectly!"

The other Merchants only then realized that the young man Mr. Simons had brought had actually participated in the Militia team that had gone to clear out the bandits and had not yet returned, yet he had returned a step early. They either didn't believe it or couldn't suppress their curiosity, so they asked Jier one after another how the Militia had cleared out the bandits.

Mr. Xiao Simengsi had not heard Jier tell this story in detail either, so he figured that before the formal sale of the treasures, he would talk about this matter that everyone was interested in. Anyway, there was still one person who hadn't arrived, and waiting idly was just waiting, so it was better to listen to this young man talk about what happened on the front lines of the Militia's bandit clearing.

Seeing that everyone was interested in this matter, he began to talk about how he joined the Militia Yingdi and was taken under Knight Kela to join in the bandit clearing.

The story began from the time he was seeking support with Knight Lanisha's Hunter team and walking from the deep mountains toward Bingxun Pass; Jier and his Hunter teammates had encountered a squad of forward-deployed Melee Militia near the lair of the Thieves of Luodai Cave, and how they had an encounter with a small squad of Refining Qi bandits in the snow-covered Shulin.