Chapter 431: Barter Trades

Outside the room, Adrian followed behind the petite mage.

He walked out of the building and found himself standing in a pretty empty street. Compared to Oresfall’s bustling marketplace, this one was much cleaner. The roads were also much wider, and the stone pathways were nicely paved. But it was almost like there was no one actually living there, at least comparatively. There were a few people walking around, but compared to Oresfall, it was nothing.

Adrian looked at the buildings. They were pretty small, and unlike the shops in Oresfall which were mostly made of wood, these ones were made mostly of stone and mortar. They were also painted incredibly well.

It was a really colorful place. There were bright shades of green, blue, yellow, pink, red, purple, and many more. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the colorful buildings. It didn’t exactly look too tasteful, but it looked nice and lively nonetheless.

There were multiple apothecaries lining the streets. There were very few blacksmiths, but there were a massive amount of runesmiths. There were also a few small restaurants scattered around.

Adrian looked at the guide.

"This place... where do the people actually sleep?"

"They have their own dedicated hostels," the girl explained. "They sleep in their assigned rooms. The students who have good performance in their exams get individual private rooms. The ones who do not perform well get shared rooms, which they have to share with two, three, four, or even six people. It depends entirely on how well or how badly they do in the exams."

Adrian nodded. "Okay then."

The girl turned around to face him fully.

"Why did you want to leave so early? Wouldn’t it be better to rest here before going to the new continent?"

Adrian chuckled. "Yeah, it is definitely better to rest before going there."

She just blinked, feeling confused.

"What do you mean? You just said you wanted to go."

"Well, I said I wanted to go in front of the others," Adrian smirked. "I never really said that I am actually going to go. I was just bluffing."

He crossed his arms.

"I will let them go first. They can scout the area and do whatever they want while I just sit here with my people and relax, and after a good night’s rest, I will go there. They can get the advantage of being first, and they can stress themselves out for an entire night."

The girl stared at him. "Do you not care about winning?"

"Well, I have my own ways to win," Adrian said casually. "A single night isn’t really going to make that big of a difference anyway, considering the fact that your headmaster himself has gone there and failed to get what he wanted."

He uncrossed his arms.

"Also, forget about that. I have a task for you."

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean a task?"

Adrian looked behind him to see that Draven, Sigrid, and the other knights had already dispersed to look around the market. Only Aria, Claire, and Serena were still standing with him.

He looked back at the girl.

He tapped his spatial ring, took out a single, perfectly cut F-rank mana crystal, and tossed it to her.

She caught it, stared at the glowing crystal in her palm, and then looked up at him in shock.

"What’s up with the sudden generosity?"

"Like I said, I am giving you a task. Let’s say that this is the upfront fee for the task." He paused. "What? Is it that surprising?"

"Well, yeah," she admitted. "I mean, it is common to get tasks in the inner circle where they pay you with mana crystals, but in the outer circle it is mostly just gold coins. You are someone who is not even from the Magic Tower, so I assumed that mana crystals were extremely rare for you. This is basically throwing away a massive chunk of gold just for a small task. Or is the task incredibly important and dangerous?"

"Well, it is important, yes. But not dangerous at all," Adrian said. "All I want you to do is spread the word around that I am selling refined monster meat that is ready to cook and eat."

The girl just looked at him skeptically.

"People will not fall for scams if that is what you are planning."

Adrian shook his head. "No, I am being completely honest here."

He opened his palm, facing upwards. With a brief flash of light, a piece of meat appeared in his hand. It was basically a really thin, raw strip of marbled beef.

He handed it to her. "Why don’t you check it for yourself?"

She nodded cautiously. She extended her mana into the meat, and she could immediately sense the pure, untainted mana infused inside the muscle fibers. It was not an overwhelming amount, but the mana was definitely there, and there were zero toxins.

She couldn’t help but stare at Adrian wide-eyed.

"You really were being honest."

"Well, obviously I was," Adrian smiled. "So are you going to do it or not? I want you to spread the word that I am selling premium monster meat. I want you to do it for both the outer circle and the inner circle. Tell them that what I need in return for these things isn’t mana crystals."

He paused, resting his hands in his pockets.

"Like you said, monster meat is mostly traded with mana crystals here. I am pretty sure that not everyone will be willing to spend their precious mana crystals readily like that, no matter how much stock I have. And mana crystals are something I don’t exactly want or need either."

The girl blinked. "Do you want gold then?"

"No, not gold. I am not really in a position where I am lacking in gold either. Tell them that it is going to be strict barter trading. They will need to give me something of value, and I will give them a generous amount of meat based on whatever they give me. Spells, valuable research notes, enchanted items, runic plates, potions... anything of value."