The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 159 Price War of Dimensional Reduction Attack
The Elf Kingdom, the Magic City of Moon Song.

This city, jointly ruled by several moon elf families, is a renowned high-magic city in the elven kingdom, and the entire city exudes an atmosphere related to magic.

The city is covered by a "locked" barrier, with magic item shops and mage towers everywhere, and many well-known large magic schools.

Under the crimson sunset.

Inside a magic academy, two elven magic students are complaining about something:
"Mia Li's robes are so beautiful! I'm so envious of her! They can clean themselves and even improve concentration when casting spells. I really want a beautiful robe too."

"Forget it, they're from noble families. We commoners can't afford robes. Even the most basic robe costs over 80 gold coins."

"I heard that the hero mage of the Radiant Family, Serka Radiant, will be coming to our school soon to give lectures and conduct interactive teaching. He's my idol! How dignified it would be to appear before him in a beautiful and proper mage's robe, it would be like a dream..."

"Stop daydreaming, Doron. I've already said that robes are a luxury item, far beyond the reach of poor students like us."

As the two elf students spoke, they couldn't help but sigh.

Dharma robes.

This is a popular magical item among elven mages.

Dharma robes generally serve two functions:

First, it will automatically release a "magical trick" to keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature, and it can automatically clean itself when it gets dirty.

Secondly, it can slightly improve concentration during magic tricks, which is very helpful for magic apprentices and low-level mages.

Higher-level robes often have more complex and varied magical effects, such as constant flight, protective force fields, defense against instant death effects, magic resistance, and so on.

However, even the most basic robe costs between 80 and 100 standard Elven Royal Court gold coins!

Ordinary magic students like them rarely have even 10 standard gold coins, let alone be able to afford such a huge sum.

Therefore, in the academy, robes are basically a luxury item for the noble children of the 24 great families to show off their status.

Just as the two elf students were lamenting how difficult it was to be broke, their equally impoverished roommate, dressed in a magnificent robe, walked past them.

"Just now, it seems that another rich young man wearing a beautiful priest's robe walked past me."

"Yes. He looks a lot like Maureen. But we all know that Maureen is just as poor as we are."

"Now that you mention it, it does look quite similar... Ah, wait a minute?"

The two suddenly turned around, called out to their roommate who had walked to the end of the corridor, and exclaimed in surprise:
"Morlin? It really is you!"

"Stop! Stop!"

The magic student called Morin looked bewildered and turned around: "What's wrong?"

Where did you rent your robes?

Morin looked confused: "It's not rented, I bought it."

"bought?"

"Can you afford a priest's robe?"

His two roommates stared wide-eyed at the same time.

Maureen answered very naturally:

"I bought it from a newly opened magic item shop in town. The price was very reasonable, so I gritted my teeth and bought it."

Can you afford the robes?

Is this a real robe?
Neither of my roommates really believed it:
"Wait a moment, Morin, let me check how the automatic cleaning function of your robes is."

They picked up a small amount of dirt from the ground and gently sprinkled it on Morin's robes. Morin seemed completely unconcerned and let them do as they pleased.

The mud was sprinkled onto the pattern of the magnificent silk robe, and the robe emitted a faint starlight.

A few seconds later, the dirt was cleaned off, making the robe look brand new.

—The automatic cleaning effect of [Magic Trick]!

This is a genuine robe, not a non-magical item that looks similar!
“A genuine robe…”

"Morlin, tell me quickly, how exactly did you manage to afford the robes? Could it be that you are actually a hidden nobleman?"

"Or did you save up for over a decade just to buy this robe?"

Morin shrugged, looking nonchalant.
"I already told you, I bought it from the newly opened magic shop in town. The prices there are very reasonable."

"Alright, you'll understand once you come with me and see for yourselves."

Morin led the two through the gleaming white brick streets, making several turns, until they arrived at a secluded magic item shop.

The store was packed with people.

Why choose such a remote location? Was it to save on shop rent?
But to attract so many customers in such a remote location, this shop is something else...

One of Maureen's two roommates suddenly seemed to remember something and whispered to the other:

"Doron, more than three months ago, our elven kingdom and the small human kingdom of Eldoron in the east officially began trade."

"I've heard that items made by humans, whether magical or not, are sold very cheaply. Could this be a shop run by humans?"

Human products!
Upon hearing this, Doron suddenly became alert.

As a moon elf, Doka actually had no animosity towards humans.

However, he wanted to buy the robes so that he could approach his idol—the hero and legendary mage of the Sun Elves, Serka Radiant—in the most glamorous and dazzling manner.

As far as Doron knew, this hero of the Radiant Family was a typical hawk, vehemently opposed to outsiders. Three years ago, he had led troops alongside Princess Lia and the legendary priestess, Guirasser Goldfleck, to attack the human kingdom of Eldoron. How embarrassing it would be to meet this idol who was hostile to humanity while wearing robes made by humans!
"Let's wait and see, it's not like we're definitely going to buy it," Doron said.

The two followed their roommate, Morin, and managed to squeeze their way to the front of the magic shop.

Doron breathed a slight sigh of relief after seeing that the "shopkeeper" selling the goods was a moon elf with pointed ears and fair skin.

It seems to be an elf's shop after all...

“I brought two friends with me, and they seem to want to buy the same robes. Let me show them the style I bought before,” Morin said to the elven shopkeeper.

The elven shopkeeper pointed to the row of robes and other magical items hanging on the wall:

"The pricing is all on the label."

Doron's gaze fell on the price tags in front of the robes.

60 gold coins.

It doesn't seem very cheap... A basic mage robe usually costs around 80, and if it's from a well-known magical item family, there will be a markup of about 30%...

This one is indeed cheaper, but it's still not something I can afford...

Doron sighed inwardly and decided to abandon the idea of ​​"wearing a priest's robe to meet his idol".

and many more!

He looked up again and carefully examined the price tag.

That is……

6.0 gold coins?

"A basic robe for only 6 gold coins!?"

Doka's eyes widened in surprise.

How come this price is less than 1/10 of the market price?
How can you make money selling at this price?
"Yes, that's the price."

The shopkeeper said, then, seemingly worried that the two customers might doubt the quality of the items, immediately added his assurances:

"Don't worry, the magical items in our store are of excellent quality and there are definitely no quality issues."

"They were all made by the most skilled craftsmen, with meticulous care, stitch by stitch."

No, no, that's not what we're worried about...

Even if there are quality issues, I'll accept it at this price, okay?

Doka's heart pounded, as if he could see himself wearing that magnificent robe adorned with star patterns, looking incredibly radiant.

"Please sell it to me, please."

Without a second thought, Doka immediately took out his money, pulled out six gold coins bearing the emblem of the Sun and Moon Elf royal family from his bag, and handed them over.

"Elf Coins"

As the dominant power on the continent, the Elven Royal Court's gold coins are the most widely accepted currency. Even in the eastern kingdom of Eldorlon and the southern kingdom of the Dwarves, the Elven Royal Court's currency is the primary means of trade.

The elven shopkeeper smiled as he accepted the gold coins, then let Doron choose a basic robe that fit him perfectly before bidding farewell to his new customer.

As he and his roommate turned to leave, Doron couldn't help but take one last look at the other items sold in the magic shop.

Wands, staffs, crystal balls, spellbooks, spell kits, magic rings...

The price of each magical item was much cheaper than the market price that Doron knew.

"I just don't understand how this store makes money."

On his way back to school, Doron shook out his newly bought robe, stroking the delicate, flowing silk patterns and the exquisitely crafted starry designs, finding no trace of shoddy workmanship.

"Those who can produce robes are basically professional robe-making elven families. It requires the cooperation of multiple tailors, embroiderers and seamstresses with magical knowledge to ensure that the embroidery patterns and textures of the robes perfectly match the principles of arcane magic, so that the magical power will not be lost after enchanting."

“Even this basic style of robe takes 4 to 6 months to produce. The production cost is frighteningly high.”

"This kind of luxury item only costs 6 gold coins, isn't that practically a loss-making proposition?"

Doron found it hard to understand and was prepared for "various malfunctions to occur after wearing this robe for a while."

……

Twilight Quadruple.

Night fell over the entire City of Moon Song.

At midnight, the moon elf "shopkeeper" of the magical items shop closed the store.

"Business is booming every day!"

The moon elf spoke, joyfully welcoming the two figures approaching from the end of the street—

Antonio, a round-faced businessman with a top hat and shrewd eyes.

Joseph, an older mage carrying a bottle of wine and wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

Two humans!

“Mr. Antonio, Mr. Joseph.”

The moon elf shop assistant greeted her employer with a smile.

(End of this chapter)