Chapter Ten: The Mysterious Crystal

  It was unexpected that when everyone arrived outside the city of Farak, the representative of the town mayor was already waiting for them. He was a man in his 40s, dressed in a well-fitted suit, with a pleasant smile on his face.

  "I am Buda, the steward of Mayor Andrew. On behalf of the mayor, I welcome you all to Frakk." Buda bowed politely in front of Javier's carriage.

  "Haha, Mr. Buda, we meet again." Javier poked his head out and smiled: "How did you know we were coming?"

  Charlotte had previously come with Farah to re-establish trade relations with Javert, so they had already met.

  "We saw your carriage party from the watchtower on the mountain." Buda said respectfully: "I thought it was Mayor Charlotte, but I didn't expect it to be you."

  "Perfect timing, I was just thinking of seeing Mayor Andrew, would you mind announcing me?" Javier said.

  But Buda's face turned difficult: "This... the town lord is ill and it's not convenient to see guests."

  "Really?" Javier was surprised: "Then I should go take a look."

  "No, no, no, it's not necessary, the mayor needs to rest... I've already booked a hotel for everyone in town, please follow me." He said hastily and was about to lead the crowd into the city.

  Javier was no fool and could see that Buda's words were insincere. After a moment's thought, he understood why: Haidnton had fallen out with the Ravit Federation, and Farak, unlike Auston, had not been affected and did not want to risk offending Ravit by getting involved with Haidnton.

  But the three cities are close together after all, and it's not good to ignore them completely, so Andrew sent Buda out to make a gesture, hoping to get rid of everyone as soon as possible.

  Javier is a businessman who doesn't easily want to offend people, and since the other party didn't commit any offense either, he just laughed it off: "Then I'll have to trouble you."

  Buda finally let out a sigh of relief and led the crowd to welcome them into the city. But then, Freddy suddenly popped up: "Hmph, if you're so afraid we'll bring trouble, why pretend otherwise? We can find our own inn."

  "Ah..." Buda was taken aback, not expecting Freddy to be so direct.

  Seeing Buda's helpless appearance, Javier said to Freddy: "We businessmen have a saying that forcing is not doing business. They also have their difficulties, why force them?"

  "Please rest assured, Mayor Andrew, we are just passing by and will leave after staying here for one night."

  Buda's face turned red, knowing that the play had been seen through early on. He lowered his head and said, "Thank you for your understanding."

  Under Buda's lead, the group entered the city of Farak. Compared to Haidington and Auston, Farak was much more prosperous, with many shops lining both sides of the streets, mostly selling crystal-related products, and there were many more pedestrians on the street, presenting a bustling scene.

  "It's indeed luxury goods that make more money." Looking at what he saw along the way, the pedestrians' clothing was much more beautiful than those of Haiton residents, Raymond couldn't help but say.

  Suddenly, a crowd of people gathered in front, almost blocking half the street, and making a loud noise, as if something had happened.

  Due to the road being blocked, the horse carriage had no choice but to stop. Raymond was just about to ask someone to go and see what's going on when suddenly the crowd parted, and two small green things ran out from among the people.

  "Get out of here, you stinking bastards! This isn't a place for the likes of you!" A group of people followed after those two things, shouting and some even picked up stones to throw at them.

  Those two green things ran very fast, but because the road ahead was blocked by a horse-drawn carriage team, they had to stop. It wasn't until then that Raymond saw clearly that they were actually two short humanoid creatures.

  They were withered and small in stature, their skin was green, and they wore tattered clothes made of rags. They looked like beggars from a garbage dump. The two creatures had faces that resembled humans, but with sharp and hooked noses, disproportionately large eyes, bald heads, and pointed ears.

  Raymond had never seen such a creature, and Bastet was also staring at them with curiosity. Just as Raymond was about to ask what they were, he heard Hillnis say with disgust: "Ah, goblins!"

  Gnome? Raymond remembered that he had read about this creature in a book during his time in the Beastman Empire. Gnomes were the lowest and most despised tribe among the sub-human races, due to their living habits, appearance, and other reasons, they were always looked down upon by other tribes, just like the Dog-Headed people among the beastmen.

  But the continent of Mozina hardly saw any signs of the earth spirit, so this legendary creature that was said to be as common as sewer rats, Ramon had never seen one before, yet today he saw it in Farak.

  At this time, the crowd behind gradually surrounded them. The two earth spirits saw that their retreat was blocked and they were also obstructed by the horse carriage in front. They were so frightened that they hugged each other, their thin bodies trembling constantly, looking very pitiful.

  "The young master, they seem like dog-headed people." Even Bast said with restraint.

  "Then how did goblins end up here?" Raymond couldn't help but ask.

  Buda exclaimed in surprise: "How could you not know? Outside the city of Farak, there is a large village of earth spirits. Our crystal mines are almost all excavated by them."

  "What, they are miners?" Raymond was surprised, and then remembered that the book also introduced that the dwarves were excellent laborers and excavators, of course not as good as the dwarves who were born with mines, but won in number.

  Unlike the mainland of Mochina, dwarves are rarely seen in Veronica.

  "Of course, the crystal mine's structure is fragile and prone to collapse, so ordinary people are unwilling to go digging. But goblins are cheap, and even if they die, they can be quickly replenished, so Farak has always used goblins to dig for crystals."

  "Are they thieves or something, why are they being chased?" Bastet asked curiously.

  Those two goblins hastily said, "No, no, we didn't steal anything. We dug up a large piece of crystal in the small mine pit in our village and wanted to sell it here, then buy some things to take back..."

  Their voices were very sharp and had a strange accent, but their articulation was still clear, not difficult to understand.

  Before he had finished speaking, someone shouted angrily: "You scoundrel! Didn't I tell you earlier that you're not allowed to enter the city!"

  "Get out!"

  "As soon as you arrive, the whole city will stink!"

  The angry shouts rose and fell in waves, and those two earth spirits were even more frightened.

  Raymond looked puzzled, and Budda explained: "Although we hire dwarves, they are strictly forbidden from entering the town. Dwarves go to work in the mines, and there is a special road leading to their village. These two dwarves sneaked into the city, which is why everyone is so angry."

  "No," a dwarf said hastily, "the merchants who come to our village always cheat us. I only want to buy some flower garlands and necklaces because my sister is getting married..."

  As he spoke, he pulled out from his bosom a crystal as large as an egg, pure and transparent like glass. This beautiful crystal was flawless, obviously of the highest quality.

  Everyone's eyes widened as they gazed at the crystal. Suddenly, someone shouted, "This must be one of the ones they stole from our mine!"

  The rest were stunned for a moment, then reacted and shouted wildly: "That's right, this is our crystal."

  "Seize them and drive them out!"

  The crowd's jeers turned into physical violence, and several strong men rushed forward without warning, trying to snatch the crystal from the gnome's hands. The gnome desperately protected the crystal in his arms, struggling and shouting in a shrill voice: "Believe me, this really was found in our village's mine! I didn't steal anything, never have!"

  Just as the crowd was about to tear the two frail goblins apart, a gust of wind suddenly blew, and a curved knife spinning through the gaps between the people accurately inserted into the ground at the center of the crowd without hurting anyone.

  The crowd was startled and didn't dare to grab things anymore, they hastily retreated in a flurry. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was Bastet who had moved under Raymond's signal.

  "Are you crazy? Throwing knives at us!"

  "I just almost got chopped."

  "Who are they, after all?"

  As soon as they saw clearly who it was, the crowd erupted in angry shouts. However, although infuriated, they did not dare to do anything. There were more than 30 people on Raymond's side, all fully armed, and these people knew that they could not afford to provoke them.

  "What are you doing?" Buda stared at Raymond's actions in astonishment.

  But then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Raymond walked up to the two earth spirits. He stretched out his hand: "Let me take a look at that crystal."

  "It was originally intended to be monopolized." The crowd immediately understood and scolded the man for being shameless, daring to rob things in broad daylight, but forgetting the scene where they themselves had taken action just now.

  When Raymond spoke, the earth spirit who was holding onto the crystal tightly quickly withdrew its hand into its bosom.

  Raymond smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll decide whether to buy it or not after I've taken a look."

  "You...do you really want to buy it?" The earth spirit hesitated, raised his head and locked eyes with Raymond for a moment. He hesitated again, then actually handed over the crystal.

  "Ah..." The onlookers let out a collective sigh, while inwardly cursing: Idiots, you've been had!

  Holding the crystal, Raymond felt a cool and smooth sensation in his hand. The surface of the crystal was perfectly clean and flawless, just like holding a cluster of the purest water. The feeling was truly indescribable, it's hard to imagine that a natural crystal could be perfect to this extent.

  Originally, Raymond was going to buy the crystal regardless of its quality, because at that moment, he seemed to see the dog-headed man of the Beastman Empire again, and saw Dave's firm yet weak eyes.

  So, with hardly a second thought, Ramon had Basitar give those shameless people a lesson.

  However, it wasn't until Raymund actually held the crystal in his hand that he realized its astonishing allure, and even if not out of sympathy for the earth spirit, this thing was worth buying.

  While Ramon was playing with the crystal, the dwarf had been watching his movements nervously. Finally, he heard Ramon ask: "How much?"

  "50 gold coins... no, 30 will do." said the delighted earth spirit.

  Wow!

  The people present were immediately shocked and exclaimed, "How can it be so cheap!?"

  Many people with discerning eyes in the audience had already recognized that this crystal was of the highest quality, and when they heard that this foolish spirit had actually quoted such a low price, many of them immediately felt regretful. If they had known it would be so cheap, they should have spoken up at the time, not only could they have gotten their hands on a high-quality crystal at a bargain, but also gained a good reputation.

  A group of people looked at Raymond with envy and hatred, if not for the 30 pairs of tiger-like eyes behind him, someone would have come out to buy it eagerly.

  Under various complex gazes, Raymond took out a small bag of gold coins and tossed it to the earth spirit: "Exactly 50 pieces, count them yourself."

  "No, I just want 30 coins." The earth spirit said hastily.

  Seeing this scene, many people immediately showed a look of extreme anger and frustration.

  "Never mind, just stick with the price you gave me at first."

  He said, turning to Buda: "Can you give me some face and let this earth spirit go buy what he wants before driving him away?"

  "This..." Buda wiped away the sweat on his forehead with a look of difficulty.

  "Hey, didn't you hear what our boss said?" Harlotte unexpectedly spoke up in discontent.

  He drew his sword and brandished it in front of Buda's eyes, then turned to the two goblins and said, "Don't be afraid, I've got your backs."

  "Raymond was puzzled when this guy became so righteous? Harlot's next sentence exposed him: 'Also, is there still crystal? Sell me one too?'"

  "This... I only have one piece." The earth spirit said with a shrinking tone.

  "Hmm..."

  It seems that Buda finally decided not to provoke Raymond and the others too much, so he said to the two goblins: "Go ahead, you can leave after buying what you want."

  The two goblins cheered: "Thank you, sir! I promise we'll leave the city soon."

  They turned and ran to a nearby store, running for several steps. The goblin who sold the crystal to Raymond suddenly came back, bowed deeply to Raymond: "I am Gubi from Balk village, I... I will always remember you."

  Having said that, he turned around and ran away.

  "Hey, what about me? Have you forgotten I also helped you speak up?"

  Watching the dwarf disappear into the crowd, Harlot said with a scowl: "He's really ungrateful."

  Although that was a thousand thanks and gratitude to the locals, for Raymond, it was just because he missed his hometown and made an impulsive move, which wasn't worth paying attention to.

  After a brief interlude, everyone continued on their way. At this time, Basute came up and said: "Young master, that crystal is so beautiful, can I touch it?"

  "Filthy things of the earth spirits. What's good about them?" Hillnis said with a look of disgust: "I really don't know why you're speaking up for them."

  No matter how coarse Hillnis was, some things couldn't be changed. The elf's innate aversion to the dwarves still manifested in him.

  Raymond handed the crystal to Bastet, and as soon as the cat woman took it in her hand, she was immediately fascinated by it like a new toy, and couldn't put it down.

  Raymond had never seen Bast like this before, remembering how she resolutely followed him out of the Beastman Empire, drifting to this strange continent without a single complaint, while he himself had never done anything for her.

  "Thinking of this, Raymond said: 'Since you like it so much, I'll just give it to you then.'"

  "Meow, really?" The cat girl exclaimed in surprise.

  Because Raymond was so delighted with a casual little gift, it can be seen that Bastet has unreserved trust and dependence on Raymond. And her unaffected demeanor, all the more reveals the preciousness of an innocent child's heart.

  "Ah, from now on, it's yours." Looking at the beaming cat girl, Raymond felt a pang of emotion in his heart.

  "Meow, young master, I knew you'd be the best!" The cat girl excitedly jumped into Raymond's arms.

  "Hey, isn't it just a crystal? Do you have to be so dramatic?" Harlotte said with a sour tone, watching from the side with envy.

  "This is the first thing Master gave to someone else's home." The cat girl nestled in Raymond's arms, sticking out her tongue at Harlot: "Anyway, I just like it."