What's wrong with me, a mage, loving to farm?

Chapter 198. The First Deal

In the sky, a chubby-looking rat with yellowish-brown fur was piloting what appeared to be an airship.

Its fur fluttered in the wind, looking quite elegant, and even its somewhat chubby body didn't seem so bulky anymore, giving it a dashing appearance.

"this……"

"It's a groundhog, isn't it?"

The two elves exchanged glances.

In the Elven understanding, rats should be creatures that live underground, yet they actually saw rats flying in the sky...

They were still flying in the sky using a flying magic device.

Even the two of them couldn't help but be surprised.

"What an amazing little creature."

Elf Ellie asked somewhat eagerly, "Can I take it home?"

"By the way, can I buy its airship?"

Nina blinked.

She recalled the lessons Chloe had taught them: for some wealthy people, price is not the obstacle; the only obstacle is whether such things are becoming too abundant.

This is why unique and rare items are so expensive.

She actually felt this deeply. Back in the circus, those high-ranking officials and nobles all acted this way. They would even spend a fortune—in gold coins, of course—for a deformed monster.

Magic crystals are not something a small country lord can just throw away.

So she looked a little embarrassed: "Gentlemen, this groundhog is the only one in our shop that can pilot a living weapon."

"The only one?"

"Living weapons?"

Ellie and Maine noticed different things, and when they looked at each other, a hint of eagerness appeared in their eyes.

But before they could speak, Nina suddenly looked to the side and smiled slightly, "Welcome, Archmage Celeste."

They were quite familiar with the name Celeste.

Although the human archmages still couldn't affect the elves, level six wasn't low in a world where the maximum level was twelve.

Moreover, this mage is quite famous, and it is said that he has some connections with the Holy Spring Merchant Guild. Once he has enough strength, he can leave the continent and travel to the Star Realm at any time.

They turned to look in the direction Nina was looking and, sure enough, saw the archmage lady dressed in a light blue robe and holding a staff.

The archmage still had lingering magical energy emanating from him, as violent as a torrential downpour, clearly indicating that he had just experienced a fierce battle.

"Hello, Ms. Celeste."

Hello.

After the two elves greeted the archmage, the latter looked at Nina and asked with interest, "Do you recognize me?"

Nina nodded respectfully: "The lord specifically instructed us on this."

"Oh? He recognizes me?"

Celeste was even more surprised now.

As a high-ranking mage, her appearance and looks were actually not well-known on the mainland, and besides, there were no cameras or similar things in this world.

Even high-ranking mages would deliberately conceal their appearance, because there were simply too many evil mages and enemies—some skilled at creating golems would even use the appearance and physique of their enemies to create golems, and then do things that were inconvenient to talk about every day.

This is especially true among female mages. Celeste once encountered such a disgusting enemy, so she is very concerned about this aspect.

"Our lord has made sure we remember your crest," Nina explained.

Celeste then realized what was happening and looked down at the "Moon Under the Light" emblem on her chest.

It must have been when his apprentice went to Han Reef that Kroya remembered him.

To be honest, she felt quite happy.

She might not care much about ordinary people, but as for Chloe, both his grandfather and Chloe himself were enough to make Celestie look at him with respect.

So she felt she should help the younger generation solve some small problems, and said to the elf next to her, "This is the shop of one of my juniors."

That one sentence is enough.

The two elves pursed their lips helplessly. They didn't intend to do anything. They knew that anyone who ran a shop at the Papacy's front-line base must have some skills.

The prestige of the human race is partly due to the terrifying expeditionary forces of the Papacy.

No normal person would oppose the Vatican like this. Those lunatics couldn't beat them, so they actually cried out to God, and the key point is that they actually managed to get it down!

Seeing this, Nina quickly invited, "Please come with me, let's talk in a quiet place."

As he spoke, he led the group to a quiet room with extremely elegant decor that made the two elves feel somewhat familiar. Inside, calming incense burned, and the surrounding walls were decorated with patterns of vines and branches, forming a grand and exquisite decoration.

These elegant decorations also conceal a warm white light that helps people enter a meditative state more quickly.

Ellie, the elf of the Orpheus family, became even more certain that the shop owner here must be related to her family, and judging from the style of these patterns... it seemed to have been designed by Beorelle, the councilor of the long-lost Great Wisdom Palace.

In her family's heritage, Ellie had seen the plant magic circle designed by this ancestor, a councilor of the Great Wisdom Palace, and the dimensional environment modification project he oversaw.

Even now, the books he left behind are still being studied and practiced by his family, which has truly created many miracles.

It is said that... his lineage comes from the Elf Elemental King, the chosen one who oversaw the construction of the Life Spring natural magic array.

She silently observed the area, deciding to quietly inquire with Nina when no one was around. If it really was a member and heir of the Orpheus family, that would be wonderful!

Of course, we should relax for now.

Miss Elf is holding a milk tea cup made from the shell of a pure white sea coconut. She is happily sipping the milk tea with her cheeks puffed out, occasionally chewing on the "pearls" made from thick potatoes and the coconut jelly made from real coconut meat.

It was clearly enjoying itself, just like a giant hamster.

Celeste, standing nearby, also took a sip of the milk tea and exclaimed in surprise, "The taste and the ratio of magic in this are much better than in the capital."

She had drunk the milk tea that her apprentice had sent through the Holy Spring Chamber of Commerce. Even though it was underground, surrounded by cultists and the surrounding space was sealed off, she still managed to drink the fragrant and delicious milk tea.

As a level four member of the Shengquan Chamber of Commerce, she naturally enjoys such treatment, and if there is any real danger, she can even use the Chamber's channels to escape directly.

However, the milk tea back then was really not as good as the one here.

"I'll be staying here for at least a few more years, so buying some calming lily of the valley here wouldn't be a bad deal. The environment here is quite nice too..."

With her extremely high standards for food, she rolled her eyes and, without waiting for Nina's reply, said directly, "How much is the 'calming lily of the valley' you have here? I'll rent one."

And that rat I just saw…”

Before she could finish speaking, the elf Ellie couldn't help but interrupt, "Lady Celeste, you can't be with us young... uh."

She couldn't continue her sentence and fell silent.

According to the rules of the Orpheus family and the concentration of her bloodline, she was already three hundred years old when she was allowed to leave her ancestral land to enter the main plane for training.

Although she was only a teenager by elf standards, she was old enough to be Celeste's great-grandmother by human standards.

Sure enough, Celeste was looking at her with a half-smile.

The latter's face immediately turned red.

Fortunately, there was a companion nearby. Mayne said, "Lady Celeste, let us have this one. Our price is definitely reasonable."

"Oh well."

Upon hearing Celeste's words, Nina, who had been observing the situation, quickly added, "Its price is three thousand level-one magic crystals, plus its favorite soil and that living weapon."

It can pilot living spaceships, help with housekeeping, and even knows how to cook over a hundred kinds of food, including elven dishes…

However, it needs to return to our store for inspection and maintenance every so often. We have to sign a contract provided by the Temple of Order, stipulating that if it dies, we must compensate one hundred times the amount.

She paused for a moment, then continued, "The monthly rental fee for An Shen Ling Lan is three hundred magic crystals. We will provide you with a quiet room like this, milk tea, and some of our own homemade pastries every day for free."

Quiet rooms also offer a variety of decor options for you to choose from, absolutely tailored to your requirements.

The lily of the valley can't be taken away, but you can buy more decorations for it here, and if you'd like, it can be engraved with your emblem and fly through the sky.

This is truly unheard of.

Once a battle pet is sold, it becomes the private property of the buyer, who is free to kill or discard it.

And now you're asking us to protect its life?

To be honest, it's very illogical and strange, but sometimes illogical things are more likely to make people imagine and speculate—why would they dare to do this?

Do they really have confidence in the Warcraft they sell?

If it were someone else here, they might object, but it just so happens that there are two elves here.

The elves have always regarded monsters as partners and comrades-in-arms, and some even consider them family members and lovers.

So they didn't raise any objections, only saying they wanted to see how the groundhog behaved and what the living weapon actually looked like.

As for the calming lily of the valley, it was pitifully overshadowed by the groundhog.

Nina immediately summoned the earth thief and the living weapon.

When the groundhog came over, it was already wearing a strange-looking but very neat outfit—a suit that Kroya had specially made for it.

After bowing to the two elves and the archmage, it began its performance.

It manipulated the soft, clean mud, like a human hand, and began to quickly cook and prepare dishes.

Whether it's the fire used for cooking or the airflow that guides away all the smoke, it creates them all through the small magical devices on its body.

Its movements are extremely crisp, clean, and skillful, and it cooks very quickly, just like a master who has been immersed in this art for many years.

In just half an hour, three dishes and a soup were served to the astonished guests.

However, whether it was intentional or not, these dishes all had very obvious red chili peppers, which certainly looked very appetizing, but the taste was also very strong.

After a brief hesitation, the three guests still tried the dishes made by the groundhog—stir-frying is a rather rare practice at the bottom of this world.

Although there are also high-level researchers, they don't have enough resources for research and development, so the dishes they make are barely edible, and they generally make more stews and boiled dishes.

This is because there weren't enough containers that could heat things up quickly, and iron ore was still too rare for ordinary people.

After discovering this, Kroya simply added various tableware items to everyday items, leaving the residents of Han Reef to figure it out themselves.

It's quite rare to see so many different kinds of stir-fries.

They tasted the fish-flavored shredded pork, cumin lamb, spicy stir-fried chicken skin, and the only dish, pine nut and corn sweet soup, and suddenly felt that they had been eating the wrong food before.

Especially the two elves.

They used to eat light and delicate foods. When have they ever eaten something so oily and spicy?

Since one is a bard and a magician, and the other is an elven magic warrior, there's no need to worry about their poor stomachs and mouths having problems; they can enjoy these delicacies to their heart's content.

It's fair to say that these flavors struck a chord with them immediately.

Celeste also narrowed her eyes slightly.

She really can't cook, and her daily meals are all from communal kitchens. She can't bring a dozen or twenty cooks with her, so she's been having a pretty bad time eating lately.

After swallowing a piece of mutton, she elegantly wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and said, "I'll buy this rat. We can sign the contract now."

After saying that, she took out a crystal card engraved with the emblem of the Holy Spring Merchant Guild. Whoever gets this card can withdraw three thousand magic crystals from the Holy Spring Merchant Guild.

The two elves were still eating elegantly and slowly when they heard this and were immediately dumbfounded.

"Hey, Ms. Celeste, we were here first!"

Ellie said angrily, "Can't you be a little more considerate of your junior? I'm only level three!"

Celeste glanced at her, seemingly realizing that her act of stealing was a bit excessive.

Fortunately, Nina spoke up in time: "We have other earth-stealing rats here, but it's the only one that can operate living weapons."

Only then did they finally remember the flying vehicle lying to the side. Looking over there, they found that the flying vehicle had turned into a silver puppy that was fast asleep.

Living weapon, does that mean it's a monster?

However, all three of them possessed considerable mental strength, and they couldn't sense any life force on the puppy at all. Instead, they sensed magical energy flowing through it like a golem.

In other words, this is a golem, a golem that can change shape!

If what we just discussed was about convenience in daily life, then what we're seeing now is the curiosity of the monks and researchers at work.

The three of them stood up together and touched the little silver dog, seemingly trying to sense its magical structure, or at least its external magical structure.

However, Kroya designed it himself and used the magic runes of the Holy Spring Merchant Guild and his eternal magic power as the lock for the magic circuit, which even legendary mages might not be able to crack.

Not to mention them.

They couldn't even detect the external magical structure, and gained nothing.

The puppy seemed to get a little annoyed by being petted, and it transformed into a silver longsword, letting out a low growl as if threatening the three of them not to come closer.

Seeing this, the groundhog quickly jumped to its companion's side, stroked it with its little paws, and chirped for a while before finally calming it down.

"What an amazing thing!"

"It actually has feelings?"

"How strong is this weapon?"

The three of them expressed different sentiments.

Nina maintained her professional smile and demonstrated its abilities to the three of them in detail—steel and wood were easily cut through, even when magical protection was added.

In terms of sharpness alone, it even surpasses the standard weapons issued by the Vatican. Most importantly, it is intelligent, can be kept as a pet, and can even fly!

They finally understood why this thing was so expensive.

Celeste was particularly disappointed. She regretted not taking it regardless of her status, as she was genuinely interested in this wondrous creation!

……

In the end, Ellie and Maine managed to capture the ground thief and the silver puppy together. Then, at Nina's urging, they bought a series of trinkets such as a ground burrow made of seabed mud and an identification tag.

Even their food comes from here.

These little gadgets are exquisitely crafted and made with top-quality materials, but they cost at most a few dozen magic crystals to make, yet they were sold for two hundred magic crystals.

Even more outrageous, Ellie and Maine kept asking if there were better materials, and they even planned to use natural jade collected from the Emerald Forest to make a custom order.

What Nina found even more absurd was that Chloe had actually anticipated these events and had informed them well in advance that they could accept custom-made materials.

When the two elves left satisfied, they had spent a total of five thousand magic crystals here.

Three thousand of the money was used to purchase groundhogs and live weapons, while the other two thousand was for miscellaneous pet supplies and processing fees for natural jade.

Keep in mind that the total value of the raw materials for these items would never exceed one thousand magic crystals, yet the price has increased fivefold.

Not to mention Nina, even Kroya, who had been observing the area, was somewhat astonished; this stuff really was profitable.

Whether the elves are simply wealthy enough to spend money like this, or whether they can maintain this level of spending indefinitely, remains to be seen.

Nina watched the two elves leave and was just about to go back inside when she suddenly saw a large group of people walking towards her.

Moreover, judging from their attire, they were dressed as paladins in extremely neat silver armor, and there were more than twenty of them!

Thank you all for your monthly tickets and recommendations. I've been busy these past few days, so I apologize for the irregular update schedule...

(End of this chapter)