The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Comb City is located at the easternmost edge of the Steel Ridge Kingdom, serving as the central metropolis of Marquis Zhilíng Benedict Gubuasu's domain, known as the Rooster Pheasant Hills, which is said to be even larger than Iron Hoof Island.

Of course.

The land is indeed so vast that the size of a territory doesn't mean much, as most of it is covered by primeval jungles, home to numerous magical beasts. Many of these jungles are no-go zones for humans, where not even Sky Knights dare to set foot lightly for fear of being attacked by advanced magical beasts.

Human societies on the continent are more likely to build large cities on flat plains and gather towns along roads between cities to ensure safety in living and communication.

Many long-distance trades require the escort of Knight Orders.

Ordinary merchants who cannot afford to hire formal Knight Orders will employ Mercenary Corps for protection. Therefore, the existence of Mercenary Corps is always legal.

"Gubuasu is a kind of fruit magic potion that tastes like a mix of chocolate and pineapple, an expensive specialty of the Gubuasu family. It's said to be a variant of the cocoa fruit, which is used to make chocolate, and all the chocolate in our country is imported from Comb City."

The one introducing this to Liszt was Captain Layden, who was once again assigned to the Knight Order under Liszt's command.

The Earl had already gone to Rooster Pheasant Castle to attend the welcome feast hosted by Marquis Zhilíng and to hold a war council on the side. He decided to take a tour around Comb City and buy some local specialties, "Chocolate has a high sales volume; why isn't there a landlord in our country growing cocoa trees?"

"Probably because the climate isn't suitable, or maybe there are no Elf Bugs for cocoa."

Comb City is much larger than Coral City, with seven-story wooden buildings on both sides of the street and residents ranging from superbly dressed nobles to ragged serfs, all mixed together. There are also many knights dressed like them, probably those participating in the Pioneer Mandate.

"Hey, Viscount Liszt." Soon someone took the initiative to greet Liszt; he was a young viscount from Golden Island who had attended a wedding on Coral Island.

Liszt recognized the man, having personally received him before, "Viscount Cyril, are you also visiting Comb City?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Haha, I'm not really interested in Comb City; I'm planning to go to the Elf Market to see if there are any suitable Elf Bugs. I intend to buy a few."

"Elf Market?" Liszt became interested, "I plan to take a look there too."

"Then let's go together."

Following Viscount Cyril, the group soon arrived at the Elf Market located in a corner of Comb City. It's a small wild Elf Market, selling not many Elf Bugs. Liszt owns a magic book called "Wild Elf Bug Market Sale Prices," which includes information about the Elf Market.

In the capital City of Steel of the Steel Ridge Kingdom, there is a large-scale wild Elf Market, where the trading prices of elves are clearly recorded in the book.

For example, a Venus Flytrap Spirit Worm sells for three thousand six hundred Gold Coins—it had cost him only seven hundred Gold Coins to purchase from Viscount Jonas.

However, in the City of Steel, mosquitoes are rampant, and every household likes to buy and breed Venus Flytraps at home, even though Venus Flytraps have very limited insect-catching abilities. As long as the cultivation scale is increased, they still have a decent effect on catching mosquitoes and flies.

On Coral Island, Venus Flytrap has almost no use; there are not many mosquitoes, and the commoners can't afford them while nobles have other means to repel them.

Walking through, Liszt gradually gained a clear understanding of the prices in this small Elf Market.

They were similar to those in the City of Steel, generally around one to two thousand Gold Coins; Elf Bugs of little use were priced at several hundred Gold Coins; those linked to magic potions had prices starting from two thousand Gold Coins; the most expensive Elf Bug Liszt saw was priced at three thousand eight hundred Gold Coins, a Mysterious Fruit Elf Bug.

The Mysterious Fruit is not a magic potion, but it can enhance the human sense of taste, making it an excellent accompaniment to meals.

"Too expensive. Buying it would not cover the cost," he shook his head, devoid of any intention to purchase. "There's a sparse population on Coral Island and not many nobles, with little demand for Mysterious Fruit."

However, he was interested in buying some grain-related Elf Bugs.

Unfortunately, the prices for grain-related Elf Bugs were not cheap either, none below two thousand Gold Coins. Considering the value of the increased grain production over ten years, it just wasn't enough to offset the cost of the bugs themselves. The main hope in purchasing them was that they would evolve into Little Minor Elves, at which point, the profits would be substantial.

After all, grain is a crucial component of human food, and the increased production brought by a single Little Minor Elf could save countless lives.

Liszt was in dire need of grain-related Elf Bugs. He only had one Barley Bug, one Millet Bug, and two Little Wheat Bugs. Perhaps the Corn Grass Bug could also be considered a grain-related Elf, especially now that there was Stick Corn and Grain Corn.

"The Little Wheat Bug is priced at 2,300 Gold Coins, which isn't worth it. I don't have that much money right now. Forget it, I'll just wait for my territory to breed its own. I have the Smoke Mission; obtaining Elf Bugs isn't a problem," Liszt quietly calculated before giving up on the idea of making a purchase.

He planned to continue looking around for Dragon Kui Bugs, Rubber Bugs, and Thorn Bugs. If the prices for these three types of Elf Bugs weren't outrageous, he would undoubtedly snatch them up without hesitation.

Unfortunately.

After making a round, he couldn't find any.

The Elf Market had less than a hundred Elf Bugs for trade, most of which were useless. Elf Bug trading was not very prosperous to begin with, with many being provided by smaller nobles unable to manage them. Nobles would buy but never sell—Elves were always scarce for nobility.

If Viscount Jonas hadn't encountered financial issues, he wouldn't have sold his Dragon Kui Bug and Venus Flytrap Worm in the first place.

...

Leaving the Elf Market, Liszt asked Captain Layden, "When does the serf trade take place?"

"It's not happening right now, but once the war starts, it won't be long before Mercenary Corps come forward to make contact... All we need to do is prepare ships by the seaside, and the Mercenary Corps will bring a large number of serfs for trade. The entire transaction might be completed within an hour, and then everyone leaves," replied Captain Layden, who had participated in several Pioneer Mandates and was very familiar with serf trading.

In fact, some serf trades were conducted on the same day they plundered villages, bringing the serfs for immediate exchange.

Captain Layden added further, "We could also contact serf traders who will buy slaves for us, they always have ways to acquire a large number of slaves. We would just wait for their ramshackle wooden boats by the seaside, and we could complete the trade without even going ashore."

This kind of indirect serf trading was obviously to prevent detection by Knight Orders during the transaction.

While this increased security significantly, it would incur a fee from the serf traders, making it less profitable than dealing directly with Mercenary Corps.

"On Coral Island, do we usually trade directly, or do we contact serf traders?" Liszt inquired.

Captain Layden smiled mysteriously.

Looking around to ensure no one was near, he spoke in a low voice, "Lord Commander, do you know how those small landlords frequently invaded by the coast survive? Their territories might not produce much, but the Mercenary Corps they foster are often larger than those fostered by some larger landlords... They are all secretly involved in the slave trade."

He added another sentence: "Rat will help us make contact with the Mercenary Corps, and we might even acquire a small port without having to fight."