Chapter 50 |
Because of the impact of the Coral Thorn City incident, matters on the Greenfield Trade Route were naturally postponed again and again.
Now that a week had passed, the Empire’s investigation results had also come out.
An unknown secret realm!
The Empire had now sent heavy troops to guard it, and was negotiating with the Treant clan about cooperation and exploration concerning the secret realm.
But none of that had anything to do with the forces of Coral Thorn City.
They did not dare, nor did they want, to get involved in the development of the secret realm.
History’s lessons had already proven countless times that without absolute confidence in one’s means of survival and escape, rashly entering an unknown secret realm meant that even if one did not die, it would still be difficult to return to the original world.
And many secret realms were unstable. At any moment, after a period of time, they might silently disappear just as they had appeared.
As for the fate of the people inside the secret realm, it naturally went without saying.
***
Zack’s progress in selling the salvaged materials was not fast, mainly because there were simply too few people who both needed these materials and could afford them.
And he was unwilling to sell them cheaply to the Chamber of Commerce, so he could only hang them up at the black market stall and slowly wait for buyers.
Still, by scraping things together here and there, he first made up O’Brien’s share of the payment.
As for the ‘intelligence broker’s’ reward, since there had been no news of the other party for several days in a row, he could only temporarily store the goods himself.
That person’s whereabouts were uncertain, and there had already been precedents before of long disappearances, so he was not surprised. It was only a pity that he could not thank the other party immediately, which always left him feeling oddly empty.
After O’Brien received the payment, he wasted no time in buying tools and materials related to Forgemasters.
He wanted to forge some equipment and weapons and rapidly spread his reputation. Then, through a new network of connections, he would join the Artisans’ Association. That way, it should not attract too much attention or suspicion, and it would be easier to carry out his and Kyle’s plan.
He rented, together with Dean, a blacksmith shop with a courtyard near the outskirts of the city. It had originally belonged to one of a gang’s subordinates, and was now being managed on behalf of the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce.
For the following period, everything remained uneventful. Dean continued his basic training, while O’Brien forged equipment and weapons. The more ordinary items were first entrusted to the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce for sale on his behalf, and occasionally he also sold some of excellent quality.
As for those with special quality, he kept all of them, preparing to see whether he could gather a complete set before the auction. If he could, it should become one of the key auction items.
Among Forgemasters capable of forging special attributes, even among elves and dwarves, the two races most skilled at forging, such people were uncommon.
And O’Brien was a Forgemaster most skilled at forging the two special attributes of light and spirit, making him even rarer beyond compare.
***
Time flowed like water, calm yet hurried.
In the blink of an eye, it was August. More than a month had already passed since Kyle left.
Bustling and prosperous Coral Thorn City once again fell into turmoil under a notice issued by the major hospitals.
But this time, the center of the storm was not the major powers, but the most numerous lower-class commoners.
Before the gate of Dawn Clinic, even before daybreak, the place had already been packed tightly with people.
Dock laborers carrying sacks, female workers from textile workshops, peddlers hawking goods along the streets, retired veterans hobbling over with old injuries, older orphans with anxious faces······ there were even some down-and-out wandering adventurers with empty pockets who mixed among the lower classes.
Without exception, every face was full of anxiety and helplessness.
“Suspending purchases?! Why?!”
“How could this happen? Didn’t they say they’d always keep buying?”
***
“Steward Mark! Please, have mercy and make an exception! My child’s medicine can’t be stopped! We’re relying on this little bit of money from selling blood to save his life!”
A sallow-faced woman knelt before the clinic gate, holding a frail child in her arms.
Mark, the clinic steward surrounded in the middle, had beads of sweat all over his forehead. Looking at the agitated crowd, his face was full of difficulty.
They were all the most ordinary commoners and simply could not afford the medical fees for certain expensive treatments.
But fortunately, the hospitals had always had a business of purchasing healthy blood, which could help offset a large part of the expenses for them.
Some who urgently needed money would even come to the hospital to sell their blood and ease their financial pressure.
But today they had received notice from above to suspend blood purchases.
He also did not know what had happened. Whatever orders came from above, they could only obey, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.
“I’m sorry. This is an order that was just issued from above today. I have no way around it either.”
Mark could only try his best to calm them, but he knew this basically had no effect at all.
The higher-ups at the hospitals were also helpless. There had already been no news from that high-ranking figure for nearly a month, and the blood they had purchased according to that person’s requirements had already filled the warehouses.
And that person’s requirement had been that as long as the warehouses were not full, they could continue purchasing indefinitely, and that person would clear out inventory from time to time. But now that person seemed to have disappeared, and had not cleared out the inventory for a long time.
Fortunately, the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce had sent word that that person only had temporary matters to attend to. Everything only needed to proceed according to the rules.
Now that the blood banks were already full, they could only stop this line of business.
This also counted as something Kyle had inadvertently overlooked. Normally, whenever he had time, he would handle this blood, refining and optimizing it to make all kinds of blood energy potions or using it in various experiments.
But the world was unpredictable. He also had not expected to suddenly fall into slumber, and this item had not been included in the emergency matters he had arranged in advance.
As a result, the major hospitals of Coral Thorn City now had to face large numbers of patients who could not afford treatment, which could be considered a side effect of losing the blood donation business.
The hospitals reported the matter to the major shareholders, and the major shareholders then reported it to their respective superiors.
In the end, they discovered that there was not a single one who could make the decision…
That made things very awkward.
The major shareholders behind the hospitals were mainly the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce, the great noble families, and the missing Kyle.
Looking at the hospital report, Mills’s plump round face was also full of conflict.
He could advance the money for purchasing blood, but there was nowhere to store it! Those blood banks had all been personally designed by Kyle and could perfectly preserve the freshness of blood.
Even if he found a way to solve the storage problem, there was still no knowing when Kyle would appear. Continuing to purchase blood indefinitely was not a real solution either······
After thinking it over again and again, he decided to first advance two months of medical fees for the families of the current patients.
After all, Kyle’s departure had no small connection to him, so he had to bear some responsibility for this matter no matter what.
When the auction came around, even if Kyle did not appear, someone else should still be in charge of the auction. Then he could just tell the other party about this matter.
As for new patients, they could only count themselves unlucky. He absolutely would not pay out one more copper coin.
After the hospitals received the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce’s notice, they also let out a sigh of relief. So many patients’ family members kneeling in unison and filling the hospital entrance had placed enormous pressure on them.
When the notice was posted, only then did everyone learn what had happened.
That great figure who purchased fresh blood was temporarily away, causing the blood banks to become full, and the hospitals could no longer continue purchasing.
Right now, it was the president of the Silver Moon Chamber of Commerce paying out of his own pocket to advance two months’ worth of medicine costs for them. If after two months there was still no reply from that lord, then they would have to find their own way to solve things.
Naturally, this matter also quickly reached O’Brien’s ears.
Inside the blacksmith shop, while instructing Dean, he pricked up his ears and listened to people in the streets and alleys discussing the hospital matter.
“I wonder what that lord went off to do?”
“Sigh….. yes. Before, by relying on selling blood, we could still subsidize quite a bit of the household expenses. Now all at once, a good chunk of income is gone.”
“I had originally wanted to buy the child a new set of clothes, but now that hope is gone too.”
“We’re alright. The ones in urgent need of money are probably going crazy.”
“Two months….. hopefully that lord can come back quickly.”
“You think, why did that lord want so much blood?” someone in the crowd asked mysteriously.
“Shh! Keep your voice down! You want to die?!” The person next to him immediately looked around nervously.
“You don’t know even this? People have been secretly saying it for ages already. That lord might be a vampire!”
“Hiss—!”
“Really or not?!”
“What do you think! Use your brain and you can figure it out, right? Otherwise who would want that much blood!?”
“But I heard the hospitals also transfuse blood into badly injured patients, and they charge a fortune for it!”
“The fact that it’s expensive proves there’s a problem! Do you know how many people line up every day to sell blood?”
“And how many people actually need transfusions?”