Chapter 114:

Chapter 114: Chapter 114:

Chapter 114:

"How may I help you?" a store clerk asked Osborne.

Seeing the fully armoured man standing in front of her, with several signs of dried blood scattered across his armour, the woman felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Although some knights rarely visited shops in town, most of them would at least clean themselves up before entering a store, especially when they wanted to purchase something, but the man standing before her seemed completely unconcerned about his appearance, making it difficult for her to decide whether he was simply an unusual case or someone she should be careful around.

Osborne, however, had no intention of wasting time on unnecessary pleasantries, as he had already spent enough time travelling through the forest and wanted to finish selling his herbs before returning to Nicholas’s farm.

Without bothering to answer the woman’s greeting, he reached into the pouch attached to his waist and secretly summoned a blade of Moonlight Grass from his sub-space, making sure that the herb appeared inside the pouch before taking it out and placing it on the counter.

"I’m looking to sell some herbs. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in buying, now would you?" He asked, his voice coming out slightly muffled through his helmet.

The woman glanced at the herb lying on the counter before looking back at the armoured man, and although she initially thought he was probably trying to sell some ordinary plants collected from the forest, her expression changed slightly when she noticed the unusual appearance of the silver blade.

She leaned forward and squinted her eyes, carefully examining the herb from several angles before her expression finally changed to one of surprise.

"Moonlight Grass?"

"Price..." Osborne said but one word.

The woman turned silent, realising how serious he was.

She turned silent, continuing to examine the herb, as if trying to gauge its worth.

Because although she had seen Moonlight Grass before, she had rarely encountered specimens that looked as clean and well-preserved as the one resting on her counter.

’Judging by its colour and overall condition, this is at least high grade, and possibly even better than most of the specimens I have seen.’ She furrowed her brows a bit.

Osborne saw how engrossed she was, so he didn’t interrupt.

She carefully turned the blade between her fingers, examining its surface and the way the silver colour reflected the light, before secretly glancing at the man standing on the other side of the counter.

’He looks like a knight, but I doubt he is one, because no proper knight would walk around with such dirty armour unless something unusual had happened, and his behaviour makes him seem even more suspicious than his appearance.’

The woman had worked in the shop long enough to recognize that appearances could be misleading, especially when dealing with people who spent most of their time travelling through dangerous areas, but there was still something about Osborne that made her reluctant to accept the situation without asking a few questions.

After all, Moonlight Grass was not something that ordinary people could easily obtain, and the quality of the herb in front of her suggested that the person who collected it had either found an excellent source or possessed access to someone who could supply it.

"Where did you get this?" She asked, trying to keep her voice casual while watching his reaction.

Osborne stared at her through his helmet for a moment before slowly reaching toward the counter, his fingers closing around the edge of the pouch hanging at his waist.

"That’s not what I’m looking to hear."

He had expected the woman to ask a few questions, but he had no intention of explaining where he had obtained the Moonlight Grass, especially when doing so would only give her another reason to become suspicious of him.

Besides, he was not asking her to investigate his background or help him find more herbs, and if she was not interested in purchasing what he had brought, then he would simply take it somewhere else.

Seeing that Osborne was about to retrieve the herb, the woman’s expression changed as she quickly realized that her questions might cause her to lose an opportunity that would not come around again anytime soon.

"Wait!" She called out, raising her hand to stop him.

Osborne paused and looked at her without saying anything, giving her a moment to decide whether she wanted to continue questioning him or conduct the transaction he had originally proposed.

’I can’t just sit back and let such an opportunity go. It’s not every day that someone walks into my shop carrying Moonlight Grass this pure, and there’s no guarantee that I will find another seller like him anytime soon.’

The woman knew that purchasing rare herbs always involved a certain amount of risk, especially when the seller refused to explain where they had obtained them, but the quality of the specimen in front of her was too good for her to dismiss simply because its owner appeared suspicious.

Even if she could not determine the exact location where the herb had been collected, she could still purchase it, examine it properly, and sell it to someone who needed it, provided that she offered a price that left enough room for profit.

"I’ll buy it," she finally said, her expression becoming more serious as she placed the herb back on the counter.

Osborne raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet, because he had expected her to negotiate over the price rather than agree so quickly, especially when she had been so reluctant to accept his offer just moments earlier.

"How many are you looking to buy?"

"As much as you have, I’ll take everything," the woman answered firmly, making it clear that she was no longer interested in wasting time.

’With purity this high, I could probably sell them for more than five silver each, and if I can find the right buyers, the profit might be even better than I expected.’

Osborne remained silent for a moment as he considered her request, because although he had brought plenty of Moonlight Grass with him, he had already decided that selling everything to a single merchant would be a mistake.