Chapter 270: The Decision of Silver City

After all the elders had inspected everything, Derrick volunteered to step forward as the first person to taste the food.

He sat cross-legged directly on the ground, imitating the actions of the man in the scene Mr. Fool had shown him, opening several lunch boxes one by one, then taking out a bottle of something called rum, uncorking it, and pouring the golden-yellow liquor into a glass.

The somewhat pungent smell of alcohol instantly filled the entire room; he froze for a moment and looked at the Chief somewhat helplessly.

Chief Colin sensed it slightly and detected no negative effect from the scent, so he turned his gaze toward Elder Lovia, who was most skilled in flesh magic.

Lovia shook her head gently, then spoke in a somewhat halting, uneven voice, as if choosing her words carefully:

"There's no problem, but don't drink too much. This is somewhat like the wine described in records—drinking too much will make you 'drunk.'"

After receiving the Chief's and Elder Lovia's confirmation, Derrick finally relaxed completely. He hadn't expected this thing called rum to have such a strange taste, completely different from the normal food he had imagined.

He picked up the glass filled with golden-yellow liquor and gulped down a large mouthful.

"Cough, cough!" The taste and sensation that stimulated his mouth made him unable to hold back from coughing; most of the liquor was swallowed into his stomach, while a small portion was coughed out.

His expression twisted slightly, the stimulating sensation in his mouth rushing straight to his brain. Under the worried gazes of the crowd, he said in a hoarse voice:

"The taste is so strange, somewhat stimulating to the throat and brain... after a while, there's a strange sweet sensation in the mouth."

Derrick struggled with his wording; in his everyday vocabulary, there was no word or expression for "sweet aftertaste."

Once the taste in his mouth settled down, he began trying the other foods.

He could only rely on the knowledge from his General Knowledge textbooks to identify which animals some of the better-preserved ingredients came from.

Although the man in the explanatory scene had introduced them, many of the words he heard were stitched together, and Reckton and Klein had prepared a great variety of dishes, so he only remembered a small portion of them.

This is fish? This should be bird... the rest I completely don't recognize what animal this meat comes from, and those remaining things that are green and yellow are vegetables?

He first tried a bite of roasted fish. Although these dishes had basically gone cold from being tossed about for too long, the rich and colorful flavors still made him pause for a moment—this was a deliciousness he had never tasted before.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in Silver City, he quickly finished all the opened food, then glanced somewhat reluctantly at the remaining dishes beside him.

No, I can't finish them all by myself.

Silently admonishing himself, he stood up from the ground. Savoring the taste of the food from just now, he couldn't help licking the corner of his mouth and said:

"Chief, there's no problem with any of these foods, and they're quite... mm... delicious."

Derrick racked his brains and could only come up with the adjective "delicious."

Colin nodded gently, then turned his gaze to the remaining dishes.

"Let me taste them as well."

Perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps out of caution, Lovia proposed the idea of tasting them again herself.

The others had no objections, so Lovia imitated Derrick's earlier actions and casually opened several lunch boxes.

Just like Derrick, she first paused for a moment, then quickened her swallowing.

Aboard the Golden Dream, Reckton was writing a letter to Prak Eggars of the Spirit Order.

When the other party left Backlund, he had expressed a desire to lead some members in leaving the Spirit Order, dedicating himself to developing the Southern Continent's economy and shaking off its colonized state.

A Sequence 3 Ferryman—if I could get his help, then I think establishing a new faith system in the Southern Continent would become much smoother.

Reckton, who was deep in thought, suddenly saw a great deal of grayish-white mist surging around him. Within this mist, deep crimson light rose up, and the light coalesced into the image of Little Sun Derrick praying:

"Respected Mr. Fool, please help me pass a message to Mr. White Tower—I agree to his trade. Apart from the food exchanged for the Druid formula, if we have further needs, can we exchange them for things like Beyonder materials?"

Heh... a stable channel for obtaining materials... Reckton sighed in admiration in his heart.

Immediately after, he heard Little Sun Derrick begin to recite the Druid potion formula:

"Main materials: the heart of a silver-white war bear, one complete set of characteristics of a Lake Spirit;

Supplementary materials: 20 milliliters of golden Sonia spring water, 10 milliliters of crown jellyfish toxin, one golden crown sunflower, one pair of silver-white war bear eyes;

Ritual: master the living habits and physical structures of multiple ordinary animals and three types of Beyonder creatures."

Reckton memorized the entire Druid formula, then prayed to request Mr. Fool to relay his agreement to the food trade with Silver City.

Afterward, he summoned his book messenger, waited for it to finish praising the God of Knowledge, wrote down the Druid potion formula, and then tossed it into the Spirit World.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, he picked up his fountain pen again and continued writing the letter to Prak Eggars:

Dear Mr. Prak, hello!

I'm sorry for not replying to your letter for so long. A lot of things happened in Backlund recently, and I think even you, who are in the Southern Continent, should have heard about them.

During that Great Smog incident, I met the Mr. Azik you mentioned in your last letter. He didn't look to be in very good condition and had forgotten many memories of the past, but he is currently gradually recovering them.

I've also left Backlund recently and am currently drifting at sea. Perhaps after some time, I'll head to the Southern Continent.

I don't know how your plans for developing the Southern Continent's economy are progressing. If you're not averse to the spread and popularization of knowledge, I think we'll have much in common.

I wonder what your views are on the issue of those Southern Continent colonizers.

Your friend, Al Thones.

Folding the letter neatly, Reckton simply set up a ritual and summoned the messenger belonging to Prak Eggars.

That messenger, which looked like a writhing mass of waterweed with limbs, soon appeared. Those waterweed-like tentacles rapidly twisted and coiled together, forming the figure of a woman with long loose hair, holding a fluffy long dress.

After it lifted its skirt hem in a curtsy to Reckton, a rift tore open in its chest and abdomen, and a pale, corpse-like arm extended out to take the letter from Reckton's hand.

This messenger miss transformed back into writhing waterweed, her figure swiftly vanishing into the Spirit World.

Watching the messenger miss depart, Reckton's gaze turned distant for an instant, then returned to normal, and he murmured in a low whisper:

"I wonder whether that Prak Eggars has any ambition to unify the Southern Continent—probably not... this kind of establishing a nation is best left to the Black Emperor..."

The Raging Sea, aboard the White Agate.

Klein, in the guise of Gehrman Sparrow, quietly glanced at Daniz, who was chattering incessantly before him. His gaze swept around the room, finally landing on his leather suitcase, then he lifted his chin in that direction:

"Wash the dirty clothes inside."

Daniz, who had been in the middle of a lengthy speech, had his expression freeze in an instant... Shit! Being angered every day by a deadpan face and a rabbit is bad enough, but now you want me to do your laundry!

He felt his reason was about to be swallowed by surging fury, and he wished he could set fire right now and burn this entire ship.

He stared at Gehrman's cold, utterly expressionless face, took a breath, opened his mouth, then took another breath.

In the end, reason triumphed over the fury in his heart. His flushed face gradually calmed down, and the corners of his mouth twitched, but ultimately he couldn't manage to produce a smile:

"Is that all of them?"

"Just the dirty ones. The outerwear just needs a brushing."

Klein was almost amused by Daniz's expression management, but he maintained his persona and replied in a cold voice.

He then turned to look at the desk beside him. Tu Ba Ge was holding a pitch-black quill, continuously writing and drawing on a sheet of pale yellow paper. He had no idea where this rabbit had pulled the paper and pen from.

Taking a light breath and getting his own expression under control, he asked:

"Do your clothes need to be taken for washing?"

Hearing this, Tu Ba Ge stopped writing. It turned its head and glanced at Daniz, then looked down at the high-end custom suit it was wearing, and shook its head with hesitation:

"No, I brought cleaning scrolls for that. This is specially tailored clothing. What if he ruins it with rough washing?"

Daniz, who had just gotten his expression under control, felt it freeze up again, twisting for a brief moment.

Klein's mouth twitched, and he quickly suppressed the smile. He looked at Daniz with some sympathy—if Tu Ba Ge had taken the Hunter potion, the Provoker stage could be digested easily by Daniz alone.

Calm down, don't lose control. Calm down, don't lose control. Daniz kept repeating these two sentences in his mind, keeping his head down and averting his gaze from Tu Ba Ge, otherwise he would not be able to resist burning this rabbit to death with a fire.

He walked over to Gehrman Sparrow's suitcase with gritted teeth, opened it, and took out the clothes that needed cleaning.

He had barely started bustling about in the washroom when he heard the doorbell ringing incessantly.

Klein opened the door and found it was the siblings Donna and Denton. He stepped aside to let the two little ones into the room.

Then they saw Tu Ba Ge, wearing a suit and a top hat, holding a black quill and writing, as well as Daniz in the washroom laundering clothes.

"What a pretty rabbit!" Donna looked at Tu Ba Ge with delight.

"Where's the servant?" Denton looked at Daniz and asked subconsciously, but then his gaze was also drawn to Tu Ba Ge on the desk, and he no longer paid attention to Daniz, who was busy laundering clothes.

"A handsome rabbit!" Tu Ba Ge stood on the desk, hands on its hips, correcting them.

"It—it can talk!"

"How amazing!"

Donna and Denton widened their eyes, looking curious yet afraid to approach.

Seeing that Tu Ba Ge showed no expression of disgust, Klein turned to the siblings and said with a smile:

"You can go over and chat with it, but you can't just touch it randomly. You have to ask for its permission—that's polite!"

"Really?"

"Can we chat with you, handsome Mr. Rabbit?"

Donna widened her eyes and looked cautiously at Tu Ba Ge as she asked.

Denton also nodded and promised:

"Mm-hm, we won't touch you randomly."

Tu Ba Ge tilted its neck, then stood up on the desk. With practiced ease, it removed its hat and bowed, then rubbed its paw against the brim. Mist rapidly welled up in the room.

The white mist quickly gathered together, forming the image of a large rabbit.

"You two go play with it. I still have letters to write."

(End of this chapter)