Trade Partners

Seeing Auna’s face filled with sadness, Serea instinctively placed her hand on her head.

“Don’t worry. At the very least, you still know where your family is, don’t you? As long as you have a direction, then you can become stronger step by step. When you gain enough power, you can change any situation that you find unsatisfactory—at least, that’s the way it is in this world…”

As Serea spoke, this statement was meant both for Auna and for herself.

“Mm, I’ll remember your words, queen Serea. One day, I’ll prove my own strength and make my grandfather acknowledge my father—I definitely will!”

Auna replied with great confidence. Hearing this, Serea gave her a vigorous rub on the head.

“Go for it. I’m rooting for you.”

After speaking, Serea turned to look at the now fully treated guards of the Xiyun Merchant Guild.

“Come on, let’s go check on your Uncle Julian and the others.”

“Mm.”

Serea led Auna over, and by then, most of the guards had already been healed and were expressing their thanks to the Elves.

However, it seemed their gold coins were not being accepted by the Elves…

Julian’s condition, however, still looked somewhat severe. Seeing Julian still being treated, auna asked worriedly.

“Uncle Julian, are you alright?”

Hearing Auna call out, julian did his best to hide the pain on his face and forced a relatively relaxed smile.

“Don’t worry, young lady. I’m fine.”

But judging by his slightly darkened skin, he hardly looked fine.

“What happened to him?”

Serea asked Lola, who replied with a rather serious expression.

“He’s been cursed—most likely a death-type curse.”

“So that means there’s an Undead mage?”

Connecting this with the earlier attack by the Undead forces, Serea came to this conclusion. Julian interjected.

“As you said, we really were attacked by an Undead mage.”

“Oh? Tell me about it.”

“I don’t know the reason, but that guy suddenly attacked us. He was a tall, thin man in a black robe—I didn’t get a clear look at his appearance. However, he was very strong and had extremely powerful Undead minions.”

“Powerful Undead minions, hmm… rather vague.”

“Just like those minions there.”

As Julian spoke, he pointed at the Skeleton Cavalry.

“How many were there?”

“Uh… just one, that one. Besides that, he also commanded many skeletons and zombies. Earlier, he ambushed us and we barely managed to escape, but he set another trap for us here. Our horses were slaughtered, so we ended up trapped.”

Julian explained, and from this, Serea could already estimate the enemy’s strength.

He could command a Skeleton Warrior over level 20, plus all those skeletons and zombies… Looking at it like this… His strength was respectable, it seemed…

“Alright, I understand now. Celia, sorry to trouble you.”

As Serea spoke, Celia understood what she meant, so she raised her hand and aimed it at Julian.

Holy Healing!

Golden light poured down. The moment the black miasma touched the light, it was instantly dispersed.

“This… this is!”

Julian’s eyes widened in shock. He could hardly believe that the masked girl before him was actually a Holy Knight. But what was even more astonishing was that a Holy Knight would actually be traveling with the Undead!

“All done.”

“Thank you, noble Holy Knight. I will remember your kindness for the rest of my life.”

As Julian spoke, fully restored, he knelt on one knee before Celia and performed the proper chivalric salute.

“It was nothing.”

After Julian’s treatment, Serea looked at their caravan.

“By the way, you’re part of a merchant guild, right? What kinds of goods do you normally sell?”

“Um… Most of our trade is with other races. Whatever our customers need, we deliver to their doorstep.”

“Do you charge money?”

“Gold coins are fine, but we generally trade for local ‘specialties.'”

“Oh.”

Serea nodded—she could already guess what ‘specialties’ meant…

For example, among the Elves: the rare elven cloth, the delicious Kakashi Fruit, the holy and sturdy Elf Tree, the rejuvenating Spring of Life—all of these were considered ‘specialties.’

Lola had previously mentioned that they would trade elven cloth for some grain. But even though elven cloth was common among the Elves, to humans, it was an extremely luxurious commodity—far more valuable than a handful of grain.

Still, the status of other races on the eastern continent was quite awkward. For them, so long as trade was possible, it was enough—why fret over minor profits? It’s not like they used gold coins. Being able to trade for food was perfectly sufficient; both sides simply got what they needed.

Yet, despite this, Serea’s evaluation of the Xiyun Merchant Guild—whose main business strategy targeted ‘non-humans’—could be summed up in four words:

No business is unscrupulous!

But speaking honestly, since she had abandoned the previous camp, the supply of food had become a pressing issue—and now, with over thirty extra mouths to feed, Serea needed to find a solution fast.

“Do you deliver food?”

Serea asked directly, causing Julian to startle for a moment.

“Food?”

But then, he quickly understood—this powerful “Master of the Undead” wanted to do business with them!

“Of course, as long as someone is willing to trade, our Xiyun Merchant Guild will provide delivery right to their door.”

“Will you accept these?”

As Serea spoke, she casually drew a piece of elven cloth from her spatial ring.

The instant he saw the spatial ring, julian’s pupils dilated slightly. When he saw the elven cloth, he was even a little excited.

“No problem! We’re happy to accept specialties from all races, but we’ll still need to calculate their precise value. Would you allow me to take a sample back with me?”

“It’s yours.”

Serea handed over the elven cloth—an excellent material for making mage class cloth armor.

“Thank you. Please also keep this; place it wherever you want our goods delivered. Our caravan will follow its trail to find you.”

As Julian spoke, he handed Serea a small red orb.

“This is also a small information transmitting device—it can only do long-distance communication once a month. Our branch guild will use it to notify you of the trading price. If you agree, we’ll deliver the goods.”

“Alright, and while you’re at it—let me ask, you really deliver anything, right? What about weapons?”

“We can.”

“Then, 200 swords or bladed weapons, 200 kite shields (wooden ones are fine), 500 iron arrows, 500 steel arrows, and one month’s food for 200 people. That will be my trade order.”

“Understood. We’ve noted this down. Once we return to the guild, we’ll confirm the prices and send everything to you immediately.”

“Alright.”

After she spoke, Lola asked with some concern.

“Your Majesty, are you going to trade with humans?”

“Mm. We need weapons, and we need food too. Since the Xiyun Merchant Guild’s main customers are other races, there should be basic integrity, right?”

Serea hinted at this, and Julian immediately understood.

“Of course. Your location and information will only be known to me and the core members of the guild’s escort team. Besides, putting guild regulations aside, since you are our benefactor, we absolutely wouldn’t dare betray you. I swear on the name of a citizen of the Holy Dragon Empire, and on the guild alliance’s reputation.”

Julian spoke up—the Holy Dragon Empire was a country dominated by humans but home to many races, so it was far less exclusionary toward non-humans than the Ailera Empire.

As for the matter of the Xiyun Merchant Guild being caught smuggling slaves over a decade ago…

Perhaps it was precisely because of ‘that incident’ that Xiyun Merchant Guild transformed from a human-centric to a non-human-centric business. Maybe this was Avril’s way of atoning for other races.

Of course, this was merely Serea’s conjecture, but now, with a guild willing to serve her, at the very least food and supply lines were no longer something to worry about.

(To be continued…)

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