Chapter 23 They Represent Friendship

  The existence of the Blood Blade Thieves' Guild has caused Aslart's decline to exceed Rovi's imagination, so he was unable to find the spell materials he wanted to buy on the street.

  To be honest, it made Rovin a bit regretful to leave Felicia and Corpse alone at the Bull's Inn and go out on his own.

  Without the spell materials, Luo Wei wouldn't be able to desecrate the corpses of those two bronze knights even if he found them, unlike normal necromancers who would do so at the first opportunity.

  Then Rove saw the fat face of slave trader Colenwi again, emerging from the opposite direction.

  "Ah, what a coincidence, Mr. Lovi the wizard!"

  It seems like Kolren Wie is deliberately manufacturing a chance encounter, saying "what a coincidence" with a serious expression.

  "Ah, what a coincidence."

  Luo Wei replied in a bad mood, noticing that slave trader Colenwi was still followed by only two ordinary guards.

  "Mr. Luo, how's the procurement of materials for the spell going?"

  Luo Wei didn't directly expose himself, and the slave trader, who was secretly delighted in his heart, asked again with a smile all over his face.

  "We didn't get anything." Lovi didn't hide it either, he spread out his empty hands: "It seems that Aslart is a bit too small, and the influence of the Blood Blade thieves on trade is also greater than I imagined."

  Rovin had previously inquired of the merchants still open for business on the street and learned that Asrat once had a not-too-large shop specializing in spellcasting materials, but after Lord Nelson's defeat at the hands of the Defeated Blood Blade thieves' guild, that shop never opened again and its owner quietly left Asrat without a trace.

  "Mr. Luo Wei, actually you have another choice to obtain the required spellcasting materials."

  Just wait for Luo Wei to answer the slave trader who didn't buy it, and almost at the same time, he spoke up.

  "What? Mr. Colenweil, you're leading a slave trading caravan and also selling spellcasting materials on the side?"

  The words of the slave trader piqued Rovi's interest, or rather, hit his weak spot.

  "Please do not spread it around, Mr. Lovi the wizard." The slave trader, Korun Wyl, leaned in close to Lovi and said in a hushed, mysterious tone: "Although our caravan has a slave trading license, serving esteemed spellcasters like yourself, Mr. Lovi the wizard, and bringing some lower-priced spellcasting materials along the way is also an encouraging act of goodwill, isn't it?"

  "Indeed." Rove nodded in agreement, and then asked immediately: "So, Mr. Colenwe, what spell materials did you bring along the way that are suitable for me to use?"

  A list of spellcasting materials that a slave trader had apparently prepared in advance was handed over to Rove by his two hands.

  Dark Soulstone Powder, Ghostface Beetle Amber Fragment (5 Years), Water Ghoul Heart, Evil Water Ghoul Heart, Vampire Fingernail, Vampire Viscount Fingernail, Black Screaming Grass (Live), Man-Eating Flower Mucus, Demonized Man-Eating Flower Mucus, Blue Acid Liquid Flower Stem, Firefly Tail Sac, Bloodthirsty Bat Stomach Sac, Bloodthirsty Bat Eyeball, Glowing Corpse Moss, Ghostly Graveyard Soil, Spirit Cat Paw, Black Pupil Magic Cat Fang, Demon Baby Blood...

  "How much does this kind of material cost?"

  After roughly scanning the list of about a hundred kinds of spell materials, Luo Wei seemingly randomly pointed out a few to inquire about prices, and these randomly pointed out ones naturally included the black soul stone powder, black pupil magic cat dog teeth, and bloodthirsty bat stomach sac that he needed.

  "Black Soulstone Powder 90 silver Galdon per gram, Black Scream Grass sold by the size of the plant, averaging around 2 gold Galdon per plant, Blue Acid Liquid Flower Stem 50 silver Galdon per gram, Blood Bat Stomach Sac 70 silver Galdon each, Black Pupil Magic Cat Fang 60 silver Galdon each..."

  Korvus, the slave trader, was apparently not doing this for the first time, so almost as soon as Rove had finished pointing out the items on the list, he rattled off their prices.

  Expensive!

  It's bloody expensive!

  After hearing the slaver's quote, Luo Wei's first reaction in his heart was this.

  At the time of Nasserre Mine Village, Rovi collected a total of 7 gold coins, 38 silver coins and about 300 copper coins. Most of these gold, silver and copper coins were minted by the Kingdom of Gadon, which is not large in size and the amount of precious metals contained is not very high. Only a few are slightly higher in precious metal content, which are the gold and silver coins of the Kingdom of Tuo Ya.

  According to the intelligence from Felicia, 1 Gold Turqa is roughly equivalent to 2 Gold Gald, and 1 Silver Turqa is equivalent to 1.5 Silver Gald, so in the end, after calculating the total assets that Rove almost scoured up from Nefaria, it was only around 8 Gold Gald, 43 Silver Gald, and 300 Copper Gald.

  Since arriving in Aslat, the total cost of ordering clothes was almost 2 gold Galds, and the expenditure on making shoes was 75 silver Galds. Adding to that the expenses for staying at an inn and eating... The remaining assets when Rovin left Aslat would not exceed 5 gold Galds.

  But these 4 pieces of Golden Gear if all bought as spellcasting materials for Reviving the Dead, can only barely buy enough for two uses!

  Luo Wei is now deeply regretful, regretting that he did not thoroughly search the corpse of the necromancy apprentice he had strangled to death. He felt that the necromancy apprentice must have had materials for summoning the undead on him.

  At the same time, Luo Wei finally understood why the deceased spirit magic apprentice he had strangled to death was so poor that apart from a long gown representing his identity as a spirit magic apprentice, there were no other magical items on him.

  "Mr. Colenwe, I wonder if your merchant caravan still needs to recruit mercenaries?"

  But now it's too late to think about anything, so Luo Wei could only reveal a bitter smile and looked at the slave trader as if asking.

  Of course, this was exactly what Lovi had expected. He had been thinking hard about how to become a mercenary for the slave trading caravan, but he didn't expect that the slave trader Colenwe would come knocking on his door himself.

  Having the opportunity to get close to the black-robed, masked woman Cynthia who owns the Book of Gradual Death and being able to earn some silver coins as a reward in the process, why not?

  "Three meals a day, and fifty silver Gilders paid in cash every morning. If you agree now, Mr. Lovie, I can pay today's mercenary fee immediately. As for the formal contract, we can supplement it at the Mercenary Guild in Kandia later... how about it?"

  The slave trader who doesn't care about anything but the transaction of magical materials replied like this.

  "How did the mercenary's pay rise so much?"

  If Rovin wasn't mistaken, the wage offered by slaver Colenwe yesterday was only ten silver Gilders per day.

  "Yesterday, I thought you were just a first-circle spellcaster, Mr. Lovi, but now I know that you are actually a second-circle wizard with an affinity for ice elements."

  Korin Wei replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

  He looked at Luoluo for a moment, then he smiled.

  Got it, first find a reason to give me more mercenary pay, and then if something unfortunate happens, I will be even more motivated to fulfill my mercenary duties because of this "kindness", and even if the journey is safe, I can still gain some friendship from it?

  And what's more, this employment fee was paid with... public funds.

  This slave trader is really good at arithmetic.

  "Then, give me two of each... Black Soulstone powder, Blood Bat stomach sacs, and Black Pupil Magic Dog teeth." As he said this, Rovie pulled out four gold coins from his pocket and handed them to the slave trader: "Short forty silver Gilders, make up for it with mercenary pay."

  "No problem!"

  The slave trader smiled slyly, then snapped his fingers as if he had been prepared all along. The guards behind him stepped forward and handed Rove a wide leather belt from their waists.

  Taking the wide belt handed over by the guard, Luo Wei found that inside this wide belt, a circle of compartmentalized inner lining was sewn in, just enough to insert thumb-sized glass tubes. The compartments between the linings were also filled with soft materials to prevent compression and collision.

  Five thumb-thick glass tubes, already secured to the inside of a wide belt, yielded one that Lovi drew out to discover it was pre-loaded with the mixed casting materials he needed - curved and tapered were the black pupil magic cat canine teeth, at the bottom a dark brown meat clump was the blood bat's stomach pouch, filling in before the first two was the black soul stone powder.

  "Mr. Colenwe, what is this?"

  After examining the five glass tubes and finding that each one contained a spell to awaken the dead, Rove's puzzled gaze fell on the slave trader.

  "I noticed that you, Mr. Lovi the Warlock, didn't have a spell component pouch with you, so I temporarily prepared this one for you. As for the three extra spell components... well, they represent my friendship towards you."

  The slave trader bowed his head to Luo Wei and said that he would not tell Luo Wei that the cost of purchasing these spell materials was only two gold coins.

  BOOM!!!!!

  Luo Wei didn't have time to say anything else, a loud explosion came rolling in from the not-too-distant southeast direction.

  Southeast?

  It's... Run Cow Inn!

  Asrat's narrowness allowed Rovi to easily guess where the explosion would occur.

  "Damn it! Something's happened at the inn! Mr. Rovin, we have to go back right away! Those damned thieves must be trying to steal my goods! It has to be!"

  Kolunwei, the slave trader who had also guessed the explosion point, suddenly changed his face and shouted like a dead father and mother, then turned around and ran away on horseback.