Chapter 3161: Potion Merchant

"Mr. Mortis" did not deny Xia De's speculation:

"That guy has gone missing, so someone should look for him. Although I have sold many copies of the information, I only provide the most detailed details to high-ring sorcerers like you.

I can tell you whatever you want to know. If you can really find him, he will surely give you a generous reward as a famous local potion merchant, and I can also give you an extra reward."

Thus, Xia De instantly changed from an "information buyer" to someone "accepting a commission to find someone." However, since this matter was related to the so-called "Magic Sword," and he should take on more tasks to experience the local sorcerer ecosystem after arriving in a new city, he did not refuse:

"I am indeed a high-ring sorcerer, but I must warn you in advance that the price for hiring me is very expensive."

Mr. Mortis pushed a box containing two 【Lucky Coins】 to Xia De:

"I heard that you have a long-term commission at the Zhong Ta for purchasing coin-type relics? These two coins you want to buy happen to be mine. Besides that, I can help you get two more relic coins of other types from outside the region.

If you can bring my friend back, those two extra coins can count as the reward."

Xia De then pressed his hand onto the box:

"No problem, but I must emphasize again, I am really expensive."

Mr. Mortis did not tell Xia De the name of the missing mid-ring potion merchant, only saying that local sorcerers generally called him the "Potion Merchant," which was simple, direct, and highly indicative.

The other party was a thin man who looked to be in his forties. Because he liked to smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, he had a very strong smell of tobacco on him.

The activity area of the "Potion Merchant" provided by Mr. Mortis for Xia De was spread all over the island, and some were even on the other side of the island far from the City of Time Wheels. Because Xia De admitted his identity as a high-ring sorcerer, the information Mr. Mortis provided him was more detailed than what he gave others, and some information was known only to him:

"The bartender at the Zhong Ta said you are a new guest introduced by a thousand-year-old sorcerer family with deep ties to this black market, and someone guarantees you are completely trustworthy. Then I will also tell you about some of his secret hideouts, and please try not to damage my friend's property casually."

The "thousand-year-old sorcerer family" should be the lineage of the Space Great Witch. Even if Silvia did not come here often, there were still stories of the witches here.

Visiting and searching the marked areas one by one would certainly be troublesome, but Xia De was not annoyed, treating this as a way to familiarize himself with the map of the new area through a "find-person task."

His first stop was the black market shop of the "Potion Merchant" located at the pier. Xia De did not know if the most dangerous place was the safest, but he did not want to investigate all other locations and find no one, only to discover at the end that the other party had been hiding in his own shop all along.

Coldwater Harbor in the North and the "City of Wealth" Moon Bay were both typical port cities. The former possessed the best ice-free port in the northwest of the Old Continent. Xia De's impression of it was cold, damp, and ancient, an impression that might have been brought by the fish-men; while his impression of Moon Bay Port was the endless stream of ships during the day, and the crescent-shaped bay illuminated by both the starry sky and the city lights at night.

As for this port city on the harbor island in the south of the Old Continent, Xia De's initial impression was that it smelled of fish everywhere.

Because the north-south span of the city of Fatumunster was not large, he still chose to proceed on foot after leaving the black market. After entering the pier area according to the map, he found that after walking down a downhill road and turning left, he had actually entered the vegetable market in front of the pier.

Although there were vegetable vendors, blacksmiths, and butcher shops in the open-air market on the mudflats, there were more fishmongers that could be seen almost everywhere.

Live fish were packed in iron buckets filled with ice dregs, squeezing each other and desperately flapping their tails. Fish scales and blood could be seen everywhere on the ground. The whistling sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell through the stalls covered with dilapidated wooden boards. The fishy smell mixed with other odors in the air, causing even Xia De to feel a strong sense of nausea.

It was not the time for procurement, so although the vendors were setting up stalls, no one was shouting loudly. Xia De noticed that the fishmongers setting up stalls looked very similar, and there were several curved scale-scraping knives on the stalls, with residual mucus and fish scales stuck to the blades. In the winter afternoon, they wore old cotton-padded clothes, wrapped their lower bodies in black aprons stained with filth, had rough towels draped over their shoulders, and heavily worn black leather gloves could be seen on individual stalls.

Even after Xia De held his breath and walked quickly away from this market to the vicinity of the pier, the fishy smell did not dissipate from the surroundings.

And under the gloomy sky, most of the ships unloading at the port were fishing boats. Although Fatumunster was the largest island in the "Star Fall Bay," the scale of the port and pier here could not be compared with Coldwater Harbor and Moon Bay facing the New Continent. It was just that the city had silver-white snow-capped mountains as a background, so the scenery here was considered quite good.

When Silvia first brought Xia De to the snow-capped mountains, she said that the economic pillar here before the steam age was the traditional fishing industry. In the morning, Xia De saw many local watch shops symbolizing the new era in the city, and in the afternoon, he could be considered to have seen the traces of the fishing industry remaining from the old era.

"It's a good thing I didn't bring Little Mia; she would definitely hate this fishy smell."

The "Potion Merchant" operated a not-so-large fishing gear shop on the pier. When Xia De found the shop between a local freight company and a warehouse rental company, the door was indeed closed. Although he felt very embarrassed about breaking into someone else's house on his first day in the local area, after wandering around the neighborhood twice, Xia De still slipped into an unmanned alley.

After closing his eyes to perceive the space and taking a step forward, he entered directly into the interior of the fishing gear shop.

Compared with the outdoors filled with the fishy smell, the smell in the deserted shop was normal. This shop was only a single-story building, and the goods such as fishing rods, landing nets, and oars placed on the metal shelves could be seen at a glance. Xia De did not rummage through other people's things, closed his eyes again to determine the underground structure of the shop, and stepped into the locked basement.

The door lock leading to the basement had been reinforced by the shop owner with sorcery, but unfortunately, Xia De did not need to pick the lock at all. The area of the basement of the fishing gear shop was larger than the ground part. At first glance, this was just an ordinary storage room, and Mr. Mortis had just told him that there was a space hidden by illusion behind the basement.

"Truth Crystal."

He raised his right hand to hold up the glowing white transparent crystal. After the crystal rotated, the light it emitted illuminated the wall, causing the wall to "melt" and reveal the potion workshop hidden in the back.

The shelves against the wall were filled with bottles and jars, and materials that could not be stored were frozen in an artificial ice room in the corner. The stove with red fire was still heating the potion in the big pot at this moment, but this did not mean that the shop owner was here. It was not uncommon for potion brewing to take weeks or even months.

Xia De still did not rummage through other people's things; he just looked around, hoping to find a suicide note or other clues left by the "Potion Merchant."

What was brewing in the pot was a potion for transformation and disguise, and the glass test tubes with labels on the table were all medicinal potions for treatment. Xia De even saw a bottle of No. 3 holy water raw slurry on the shelf. Although this was something that the four members of the group could buy from Priest Ao Gu Si with money, in fact, No. 3 holy water raw slurry rarely flowed into the market:

"Did he assist the church in completing a task? Yi Lu Na said that this kind of thing could only appear through this channel."

The notebook on the experimental table only had alchemy notes and experimental records. The Principality of Lagson had never been conquered by Karsenrick; there was its own language and writing here, but Karsenrick was also a common language, and the writing on the notebook was "Lagson."

This language was actually very similar to Karsenrick, and they were both classified as the Southern language family.

The only valuable clue after careful investigation was a piece of cotton cloth stained with black stains found in the trash can. Xia De initially thought it was just a rag that was intended to be thrown away after being dirty, until he finally turned on "Blood Echo" to look for bloodstains, and found that those black stains were actually blood.

But except for the red halo seen by the eyes at this moment, that pile of things did not look like blood at all in terms of smell, texture after drying, or color.

Finally, Xia De endured the nausea and touched it with his finger, actually feeling a very, very slight whisper element:

"Could this be left by that potion merchant after treating his wounds? What kind of relic can pollute blood like this?"

Even if blood polluted like this was obtained by the enemy, there was no way to use it to curse the owner of the blood. However, although the blood itself had deteriorated, it was not toxic or polluting.

Xia De took some and put it into a small bottle, intending to find someone to help take a look after leaving here in the evening.

There were no other clues in the shop, and Xia De confirmed it again before leaving from here. It seemed that he should be the first person to break in here, or the previous intruders were as "civilized" as him.

After the fishing pier, the second location provided by Mr. Mortis was a steam bath located in the west of the city. However, this was not because the "Potion Merchant" liked to go to the steam bath to soak, but because he had a small cargo warehouse in the warehouse area nearby.

Mr. Mortis did not know the specific location of the cargo warehouse, only providing Xia De with a rough range. Xia De went to the warehouse area and wandered around, and after finding that there were really no clues, he left.

The third location that followed required Xia De to continue westward until leaving the urban area. The coastal area on the south side of Fatumunster Island was relatively flat. Except for the snow-capped mountains in the north of the city, the iron ore area in the northwest, and the fishing villages truly along the coast, most of the other areas were rural farms, orchards, or continuous forests.

PS: Seeking votes at the beginning of the month!!!

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3162 =====