Free Web NovelChapter 294: Chapter 282: Ominous
The early morning market was already bustling. Roland squatted before a stall, picking up a bracelet strung with rare, local colorful stones and squinting as he examined it in the morning light.
"How much?"
His tone was casual.
The stall owner was a lean, middle-aged man. His eyes darted about, and he held up three fingers.
"You’ve got a good eye! Thirty Copper Coins. For this craftsmanship and quality, it’s an absolute bargain!"
Roland gently set the bracelet down with a faint clink.
"Five Copper Coins."
He countered, his face devoid of expression.
"Fi...five?"
The stall owner looked as if he’d choked on the word, and an exaggerated look of anguish spread across his face.
"Sir, you must be joking. That won’t even cover my costs! Twenty-eight Copper Coins, lowest I can go!"
"Seven."
Roland’s tone remained perfectly level, but his eyes scanned every subtle twitch of the man’s expression.
"Twenty-five. I really can’t go any lower!"
"Nine."
Roland turned to leave.
"Twe... twenty! Take it or leave it. Call it a friendly price!"
The stall owner shouted hastily.
Roland stopped, turned back to look at him, and fell silent for a moment.
The silence unsettled the stall owner. Just as he was about to speak again, Roland finally spoke, his words slow.
"Ten Copper Coins, and it’s a deal."
A look of conflict flashed across the stall owner’s face, but it ultimately gave way to a sigh of resignation. He threw up his hands in an exaggerated gesture.
"Sigh... fine, fine. I’m taking a loss on this one! You’re one hell of a haggler."
He paid the man, and the bracelet was his.
Just as Roland stood up, a steady voice called out from the edge of the crowd.
"Roland!"
Looking toward the voice, he saw Reggie pushing through the crowd toward him.
The Knight Academy instructor wore practical leather Light Armor suited for travel, a Longsword at his hip, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Still dawdling? The caravan is about to depart. Come with me, quickly."
"Yes, Master Reggie."
Roland slipped the bracelet he’d just bought into his pocket and hurried to catch up with Reggie.
The two of them cut through the bustling market, heading for the west gate of the Royal Capital.
Reggie walked quickly. After a moment of silence, however, he couldn’t resist glancing over and asking, his voice tinged with clear confusion.
"Roland, I think I just saw you haggling with that stall owner? If I remember correctly, you’re not short on money, kid. Why waste your breath and time over a few small coins?"
Roland kept his eyes forward, his reply flat and noncommittal.
"I just wanted to see what it was like. An... experience."
He paused, then added an unconvincing explanation.
"Besides, saving money is always a good thing, isn’t it?"
Reggie glanced at him and shook his head. Clearly unconvinced, he didn’t press the matter and simply quickened his pace.
"Let’s go. Don’t keep everyone waiting."
Roland gave a slight nod and kept pace, his eyes sweeping over the translucent panel visible only to him.
[You have successfully completed one Negotiation and gained one Experience Point.]
[Current Level: Lv.2]
[Analysis complete. Basic Profession: Merchant is now available.]
[Requirements: 0.5 Power, 0.5 Agility, 0.5 Spirit, any one Level 3 trade-related Skill.]
[Acquire Profession?]
During his days at the Golden Acorn, Roland had not truly been indulging in hedonism.
Besides constantly honing his Breathing Technique and studying the ancient codices on awakening his bloodline, he had been deliberately interacting with all kinds of people, all to test and trigger the hidden Rules of the mysterious Professional Panel in his mind.
The Merchant Profession information that now appeared before him was one of the fruits of these deliberate efforts.
With a mental command, he dispelled the text and refocused on the road ahead.
The student exchange between the Golden Valley Kingdom and the River Domain Knight Academy was a long-standing tradition, so the departure ceremony was remarkably simple, devoid of any great fanfare.
After handing Teresa the Colorful Stone Bracelet he had just bought, Roland silently blended into the column of students.
After Graham finished delivering his customary words of encouragement and admonition from the high platform, the troop of less than a hundred set off quietly, proceeding steadily to the west.
The caravan advanced, the crunch of wheels on gravel a monotonous, rhythmic sound.
Suddenly, a nimble figure detached from the group ahead and sauntered over to his side, a Harp cradled in his arms.
"Hey, Roland! Still reminiscing about the fine wines of the Golden Acorn?"
A lazy smile played on Galvis’s lips as he idly plucked the strings, producing a few discordant notes.
"But trust me, compared to the Royal Capital of the Golden Valley Kingdom, this place is nothing more than a backwater country market."
He leaned closer, his voice filled with a showy enthusiasm, as if sharing some incredible secret.
"Imagine it, Roland! The city walls in the midday sun really look like flowing molten gold! The markets are piled high with spices from the Southern Islands, and the very air is cloyingly sweet."
"There are also intricate contraptions built by Dwarf Artisans, displayed along the widest white-stone avenues for all to see... And of course, you absolutely can’t miss the grand arena! They say there are duels every day, sometimes even involving Magical Beasts! It’s the very center where all the Kingdom’s wealth and Power converge."
Roland listened quietly.
Back in Black Water Territory, he’d heard bits and pieces about the Golden Valley Kingdom, but the vibrant, clamorous picture Galvis painted of the Royal Capital certainly surpassed anything he had imagined.
"It sounds... very different indeed."
"Of course it is!"
The slight interest Roland showed was enough to ignite Galvis’s passion for chatter.
On the long journey that followed, he felt as if he were trapped in a noisy, never-ending banquet.
The Minstrel’s incessant chatter, accompanied by the nearly tuneless, improvised plucking of his Lute, buzzed in Roland’s ears like a swarm of bees, annoying him to no end.
Once out of Avril’s sight, the Minstrel cast aside all restraint.
Even when Roland’s face darkened and he let out a sharp rebuke, the effect was minimal. Galvis would just pause for a moment with a cheeky grin before quickly relapsing into his old ways.
Seeing it was hopeless to get rid of him, Roland could only turn helplessly to the ever-silent Teresa beside him.
The two exchanged a look, and both saw the same deep sense of powerlessness in each other’s eyes.
At that moment, Roland found himself especially missing Hobbit and Freddy.
As new freshmen, they naturally hadn’t been qualified for selection to the exchange program.
If they were here, at least they could share in his "suffering."
Whether it was the earnest Freddy or the energetic Hobbit, both would have been enthralled by Galvis’s half-true tales of adventure, enough to draw all the Minstrel’s fire.
This torturous racket finally began to subside only when the party slowly crossed the border into the Golden Valley Kingdom.
It wasn’t that the Minstrel had finally run out of stories, but rather...
As the party traveled deeper into the Golden Valley Kingdom’s Eastern Province, the lush greenery of the borderlands began to fade.
An oppressive, almost stagnant atmosphere began to settle over the countryside.
Roland’s gaze swept over the stretching fields on both sides of the road, his brows unconsciously knitting together.
The brief report he had read on a Scroll from the Adventurer’s Guild was now materializing before his eyes in a much more startling fashion.
The blight here was no ordinary crop failure; it was more like a silent plague.
Vast swathes of farmland within view had lost all signs of life. The crops weren’t merely withered and yellow, but had turned a foul, grayish-black, a color verging on rot. They lay limply on the earth, as if some unseen force had drained them of all vitality.
The soil itself was unnervingly strange.
In the pale afternoon sun, the ground reflected an unpleasant sheen, as if it had been coated in a layer of cheap grease.
A faint, unidentifiable, metallic tang hung in the air, mingling with the scent of the soil to create a bizarre and oppressive sensation.
Even more unnerving, one could see fine Crystal Clusters, like bits of cheap Obsidian, near the roots of the toppled, decaying stalks and inside the cracked fissures of the fields.
They were far more widespread than the "discovery" mentioned in the report, and they refracted a gloomy light.
But more oppressive than the land itself were the people who lived on it.
The few farmers they saw were standing on the field boundaries, not working. They simply stared blankly at the dead earth, their faces etched with bewilderment and a weariness that came from having all Hope drained away.
A farm woman in a tattered headscarf clutched her child’s arm, refusing to let him take a single step toward the fields, her eyes filled with unconcealable Fear.
The small villages they passed were unnervingly silent. There was almost no smoke from cooking fires, and all the doors were shut tight, as if the inhabitants were hiding from the cursed land outside.
In stark contrast, the number of Golden Valley Kingdom Guards had suddenly increased.
They patrolled in groups of three and five and had set up simple roadblocks and guard posts at major intersections.
Their armor, no longer bright, was caked with dust. The deep weariness of long patrols and constant vigilance was etched onto every face.
With sharp, tense eyes, they kept a tight grip on their weapons, closely watching every traveler on the road. They would immediately shoot a harsh, warning glare at anyone who tried to approach or examine the blighted fields, waving them away.
A silent tension hung between the soldiers and the silent populace, as if a single spark could ignite the panic simmering beneath the deathly quiet.
The scene before them was far more widespread than the cold text of the Guild report had described. And far more...
Ominous.
