Chapter 115: Guest-starring As The God Of Wealth
Tonight was a family-style dinner, not a traditional banquet of “separate courses served one by one,” with almost all the dishes served at once.
The dishes were very abundant, almost filling the dining table; it was clear that the castle chef had put in a lot of effort today.
The staple was hand pie, the castle chef’s signature was Sambia honey-glazed ribs and Dulag wild game stew, with meat dishes taking up more than half.
This was perfect for Anse’s taste; he had been craving meat lately and had been hungry all day, so he didn’t hold back and ate freely.
However, since it was individual serving style, many dishes were far away, so whatever he wanted to eat had to be cut and brought over by the waiter, making the waiter serving him exceptionally busy.
The old woman ate very little, just quietly watching him eat, her expression increasingly satisfied.
Seeing him eat so happily, Illyas’s mood inexplicably improved a lot, and the worry between her brows faded considerably.
Once Anse had almost finished eating, Illyas spoke softly: “Anse, do you have any magical items for resurrection?”
Anse drank the last sip of wine and shook his head slightly: “No, do you want to save Stol?”
“Yes.” Illyas was slightly disappointed, propping her elbows on the table with her slender fingers pressed to her brow, “He can’t die; without him, Dulag would have changed hands long ago…”
Dulag was a free town, also known as Adventurer City, because it bordered the resource-rich Toothed Forest and trade routes, attracting numerous adventurers and guilds.
Jacqueline Castle was built during that period by Illyas’s grandfather.
Dulag was once very chaotic until Illyas’s parents died unexpectedly, after which a warrior named Stol appeared in the town.
Any creature daring to harass or covet Jacqueline Castle was nailed to a cross stake at the edge of the Toothed Forest by him, without exception.
As Illyas’s sorcerer talent gradually manifested, no one dared to provoke Jacqueline Castle anymore.
But Stol didn’t leave; instead, he established a federation to jointly govern Dulag, with a total of seven seats, one of which was Jacqueline Castle.
But untilled wasteland breeds no strife; once tilled, it invites contention!
Amn took a fancy to this town; after failing to conspire and turn the federation, they switched to a direct assault, but they underestimated the determination and strength of a professional at mortal peak.
After suffering several major losses, Amn stopped pressing the attack and had been quiet in recent years.
A few days ago, an adult green dragon flew over the town, no one provoked it, but for some reason, yesterday that green dragon suddenly appeared and madly attacked Dulag, killing many people.
Stol had lived here for over twenty years, with all his acquaintances here; how could he let it go, chasing the green dragon relentlessly to the death.
After Illyas returned from outside and learned of the situation, she immediately rode a flying carpet to pursue it, but unfortunately it was too late.
“Now most magic scrolls have failed, and magical items are problematic too; even seeking to buy from major guilds probably won’t be in time.” Anse sighed.
“There will be a chance.” Illyas pursed her lips, “I sealed his body in a special magic array; as long as we find an item with raise dead effect within half a year, he has hope of resurrection.”
“Half a year.” Anse smacked his lips, suddenly feeling that this hope was indeed quite substantial.
“I haven’t told the federation this news yet, afraid of causing panic, but this matter probably can’t be hidden for long.” Illyas leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling mural.
Anse didn’t respond; he was powerless too.
This incident was clearly premeditated; Amn resorted to any means, stabbing in the back during internal and external troubles, which was indeed quite disgusting.
But their strength was formidable, so no matter how unconvinced, one could only swallow it.
He suddenly thought of his dragonhide pouch, which was full, but only two or three magical items were decent; the others weren’t worth wasting his blood on.
Unpurified, they couldn’t be used; throwing them away would harm others, but keeping them took up space.
Better to dump all these things on the Amn people, spreading the vault curse, so he wouldn’t have to worry about some dragon coming after him as the “thief” one day.
After all, he had no curse on him, nor treasure, so it definitely wasn’t him who stole it.
“Have the Amn people left?”
“No, they withdrew ten kilometers south, might come back.” Illyas looked at him strangely, not knowing why he asked this.
From her shallow understanding of Anse, this person was decent but quite pragmatic, unlikely to risk himself or play savior.
“Mm.” Anse’s gaze flickered, having some idea in mind, “By the way, do you know how to handle dragon meat? Do you know any master who processes such materials?”
This was Adventurer City, so it should not lack such talents.
“I knew it!” Illyas said irritably, her purple eyes staring straight at him.
Anse remained composed: “I thought you wouldn’t care; besides, it’s not easy to take. If you want, I can give you some.”
“Heh.” Illyas sat up straight, her expression serious, “Dragon meat, dragon blood, dragon scale and the like are premium materials, very useful for brewing potions or crafting magical items.
You keeping them is useless; how about I find you a buyer?”
“Sure.” Anse agreed decisively; investing to build Hollewen required money.
“Have you processed them? They will spoil.”
“Processed them.”
“By the way, I want to procure a batch of meat; quality doesn’t need to be high, but quantity large. Where can I buy?” Anse had eaten his fill, but Hollewen still had over three hundred kobolds hungry.
Illyas was puzzled but pointed her index finger toward the lights down the mountain: “Dulag doesn’t lack meat; go to the Hunter’s Guild, they sell large quantities of unprocessed meat every day.”
“Good.” Anse stood up, “I’ll go take a look, might come back late.”
“Now?” Illyas raised a brow, feeling Anse was off.
“Closed?” Anse asked doubtfully.
“Not at all.”
“Then I’m off.”
“I’ll have the butler send you.”
Illyas watched Anse’s back disappear through the door, remaining silent for a long time.
Beside her, the old woman said nothing from start to finish, not interfering in their conversation; only after Anse left did she stand, stroke Illyas’s hair, full of affection.
“Make your own decisions, no need to consider others; many things aren’t your responsibility.”
Illyas turned and hugged her grandmother, burying her head in her, mumbling, “What are you saying.”
Grandmother smiled without speaking.
——
Anse politely declined the butler’s carriage, and after exiting the gate, unfurled butterfly wings and flew toward the town below the mountain.
The distance between them was several kilometers; he arrived quickly.
Before entering the city, he used a spell to disguise himself as a short, fat human merchant.
The situation in the city was bad; many houses were burned or destroyed, numerous bodies not yet collected, everywhere filled with cries and sighs, few shops open for business.
‘Amn, oh Amn…’
If a nation falls into merchants’ hands, it’s truly doomed; seeming prosperous, but either harming their own or others, all for money.
Anse grumbled a bit, didn’t linger, and following the old butler’s directions, found the Hunter’s Guild in the west of the city.
There were still people on duty; after he stated his intent, the person in charge grinned ear to ear and quickly led him to a warehouse half-embedded underground.
As the gate opened, a thick stench of blood and rot assaulted the nose; the place was full of animal carcasses, small ones sheep-dog sized, large ones bigger than bulls, over a hundred in quantity.
Near the entrance were slaughtering tools laid out; under the lights, a dozen butchers were busy segmenting corpses, looking utterly exhausted and listless, operating purely on instinct.
These were all common animals, worthless; valuables would be prioritized.
In the end, Anse bought out the entire warehouse of “wild game” for two hundred fifty gold coins.
This price wasn’t low, after all, the heat meant they wouldn’t keep.
If he were running a restaurant, processing and storing in the ice cellar could yield several times the profit.
‘Too bad, all to feed the dogs.’
He cleared everyone out, sent all the carcasses to Hollewen, then quietly slipped away.
Outside the city, he hid in a tree, quietly waiting.
‘Next is time to guest-star as the god of wealth; hope the Amn people are too excited to sleep…’
