Chapter 102: Warehouse

Ethan sighed in agreement. "Having spice seeds really is wonderful."

"You’ve bought up the majority of the spice and seasoning seeds," Leon remarked.

"It seems we’ll have to trade for different things in the future."

"Wool, meat — plenty of things can be traded, besides, I didn’t manage to buy every single type of spice."

Leon shrugged, seemingly unbothered, although the spice shipments would decrease, wool, meat, and fermented foods were all specialties of his territory, trading those would actually be far more convenient for him.

"I look forward to our continued partnership, let’s call it a day here; we’ll set off tomorrow."

"Meow, are we not auctioning the Mana Grass, meow?"

"We’ll offer the Mana Grass to the royal family." Auctioning it could fetch a fine price, but their most pressing task was obtaining the World Fragment, that had to come first.

Pearl accepted the explanation without fuss, resting its chin on Ethan’s shoulder, Leon watched the two of them with a warm smile and led them down a corridor to a guest room.

"You can rest here for the night." The room was richly furnished, polished wood furniture, thick carpets, every amenity in place, at a glance, it was clearly meant for entertaining important visitors.

"I’ll be right next door, if you need anything, call for me anytime."

"Alright, sorry for the trouble."

"Not at all, get some good rest."

After Leon left, Ethan sank into the soft sofa, he ran his fingers over the woolen upholstery, turning over his next steps in his mind, and his gaze drifted to the window.

The sun was setting, the sky had begun to darken, two days had passed since he stepped out of the Great Forest, he watched the last of the light fade along the horizon, and something stirred in his chest, a tangle of feelings he couldn’t quite name.

Pearl patted his hand with one paw. "It’s time for dinner, meow~"

"Let’s go."

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock at the door, who could it be at this hour?

Ethan opened the door in confusion, the sight on the other side drew a wry smile from him.

"Oh hahaha, you really are here." It was Elara.

Hearing her voice, Leon stepped out from the room next door. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to invite you to dinner, how about it?" Hard to refuse that kind of hospitality, and Ethan was indeed hungry, he nodded.

"Let’s go together then."

"Great."

’Leon probably doesn’t like Elara much.’ The thought crossed Ethan’s mind, but Elara didn’t seem to notice — or care, she led Ethan and Leon to a restaurant, ordered the most expensive dishes on the menu, and then turned to Leon with a curious look.

"Leon, I didn’t expect you to have ties with a human, I heard humanity went extinct long ago, where did you find him?"

"I met him in the Great Forest."

"The Great Forest?! You live in the Great Forest?! That must be incredibly grueling..."

"It’s alright, I get along pretty well with the beastmen."

"But the Great Forest is dangerous, do you want to move out and live here?"

Ethan had already built his own home in the Great Forest, moving out now would be a waste, he shook his head and politely declined Elara’s offer.

She looked a touch disappointed, she took a sip of fruit wine and asked, almost too casually, "By the way, Leon, you brought all that porcelain, didn’t you? Could it be that Dwarves are living in the Great Forest?"

"Dwarves? Why bring up Dwarves?"

"Only Dwarves, renowned for their exquisite craftsmanship, could fire such magnificent porcelain, I don’t know what other rare fruits and crops the Great Forest holds, but a luxury item like this can only be made by a Dwarf."

Leon looked troubled and turned to Ethan, his gaze was asking whether he could reveal the truth, Ethan had no intention of hiding it anyway, he took a sip of his fruit wine and said calmly, "I made that porcelain."

"I see, oh hahaha... Hmm?" Elara had been nodding along, then Ethan’s words caught up to her, she froze, her eyes went wide.

"Unbelievable, you can actually fire such exquisite porcelain?!"

Ethan nodded.

"This... is truly unexpected... But, that’s wonderful, your name is Ethan, right? I said it before — my Voss family wants exclusive sales rights to the porcelain, what do you say, Ethan? Are you willing to cooperate with my family? As long as you agree, you can name your price!"

"Exclusive rights..."

"Yes, if you’re willing, our family can send someone to the Great Forest to negotiate with you, ten pieces a month — no, twenty pieces, as long as you agree..."

"I’m very busy with farm work, I don’t have time to fire that much porcelain."

"Farm work... that’s right, humans can farm." At the word farming, Elara’s eyes lit up even brighter.

"But, farming in the Great Forest—"

Before she could finish, the door burst open, a fully armed elf rushed inside.

"Bad news!"

"What happened?! Can’t you see I’m entertaining an esteemed guest—"

"Monsters are attacking!"

"Monsters?!" Elara’s face went pale, Ethan was stunned too; he turned to Leon, only to find him looking equally surprised.

"How could there be monsters nearby?"

"This area is protected by a barrier, monsters shouldn’t be able to get close, for them to appear so suddenly... it’s too strange." Despite his confusion, Leon drew the sword at his waist.

It had happened without warning, but since enemies had appeared, they had no choice but to fight.

Ethan followed Leon outside, several elves already stood in tight formation.

"Mr. Ethan, you should go inside and take cover, leave this to us."

"If there are too many enemies, I can help." Ethan had the Scythe of Gaia at his side, and if necessary, he could rely on Pearl’s magic as well.

Leon smiled and shook his head. "The strength of our elven race is not to be underestimated, how about you help us guard the warehouse instead?"

The auction house warehouse stored all the auction items and every guest’s luggage, it had the tightest security and was easily the safest place in the entire building, Leon asking Ethan to guard the warehouse was clearly a way to keep him out of danger.

"Alright, Pearl, you stay here too."

"Got it, meow~" Pearl’s magic could play a devastating role in a large-scale battle, Ethan placed it on Leon’s shoulder, Leon couldn’t well refuse again, so he accepted the arrangement.

After parting ways with them, Ethan turned and walked back into the auction house.

’The warehouse is on the innermost part of the third floor, right?’ He glanced at the floor plan on the wall and headed toward the warehouse, walking up to the third floor at an easy pace.

An angry voice cut through the corridor. "Unforgivable! How dare you attack this place!"

All the elves capable of fighting had already gone outside to engage the enemy, who could still be here fighting?

Heart full of doubt, Ethan broke into a run, the sight that greeted him stopped him cold, several elves lay crumpled on the ground, their fates unknown.

Elara, wielding a magical spear, stood blocking a set of large doors, fiercely facing off against several black-skinned elves.

"A human? There are actually still humans in this world?!" Seeing Ethan, the black-skinned elves stared in open shock, one after another, they turned their weapons and pointed them at him.

Sensing their hostility, the Scythe of Gaia expanded in Ethan’s grip, he glanced at the massive blade in his hand and asked coldly, "Who are you people?"

"We are the Children of Chaos, believers of Chaos..."

’The Children of Chaos, they possess Fragments of Chaos, exactly what I need for the World Tree.’

No reason to hesitate.

"Wrath of the Earth."