Five Hundred and Fourth Chapter – Offerings
Inside the train carriage of the Desert Arrow, Dorothy looked at the neat printed words on the table in front of her, her eyes widening in disbelief. She fell silent, her heart filled with confusion, wanting to curse.
‘Rent is ten thousand pounds, deposit is thirty thousand pounds. Why don’t you just rob us? This divine blessing object isn’t something you’re keeping forever, why do you need so much money? Were all of you guys poor in your past lives?’
After hearing Beverly’s price, Dorothy immediately cursed inwardly. The rental fee for the divine blessing object was ten thousand pounds, and the deposit was thirty thousand pounds. That meant she needed to raise at least forty thousand pounds to get her hands on it. As for her current cash… well, after checking her assets, Dorothy found that she didn’t even have two thousand pounds.
Her recent major expense was to join the envoy group heading to Adis, where she spent seven hundred pounds buying supplies in Kankdar Port and disguised herself as a merchant to board the Desert Arrow. After this, her once ample cash had dwindled to around eleven hundred pounds, which was far from the forty thousand pounds she needed.
Dorothy had only spent about a thousand pounds to buy the Prince of Stone’s holy emblem, and suddenly the price had skyrocketed to tens of thousands of pounds, which was overwhelming for her. In an era when a small villa could be bought for five hundred pounds, tens of thousands of pounds was equivalent to the cost of some military orders between countries. This was not a sum that an individual could easily afford.
Moreover, Dorothy strongly suspected that Beverly had raised the price temporarily and then claimed to have lowered it because Dorothy had taken care of Garib. It was like during the Double Eleven shopping festival on a certain e-commerce platform, where the price seemed to drop but the actual savings were minimal.
Looking at the quote given by Beverly, Dorothy remained silent for a long time. Then, after careful consideration, she picked up a pen and wrote on the page:
‘This price is still too high; it’s getting unrealistic.’
‘High? This is already cheap. This is a divine blessing object blessed by a deity. How could it be cheap? In the past, those who rented divine blessing objects were usually large societies or nations. When they needed such an object, there must have been significant special purposes involved. Even at the original price, they would consider it acceptable. You see, a divine blessing object not only possesses extraordinary abilities but is also a key tool for many rituals. If used correctly, it can produce influence comparable to an army. In a sense, we treat these objects as critical military equipment. Tens of thousands of pounds are nothing compared to that.
‘What’s truly expensive you haven’t seen yet. The divine gift on top of it, just the rent alone exceeds the cost of a main battleship. The total expenses could burden a powerful country like Prith Faraluo, affecting their national finances. That’s what real luxury looks like.
‘If you doubt my price, you can ask other big city artisan guilds if this is already the most discounted price. Of course, renting a divine blessing object requires direct approval from the central guild. Regular customers don’t have this qualification, so you’d likely need to spend several thousand pounds more to become a VIP customer locally before this business opens up to you.’
Beverly straightforwardly responded to Dorothy, looking at the rapidly appearing long string of Prith letters. Dorothy was stunned, thinking that given Beverly’s character and status, she wouldn’t lie to her. The divine blessing object indeed should be priced like this, and Dorothy had really gotten a good deal.
From Beverly’s words, Dorothy roughly understood that the clients for divine blessing objects were not ordinary individual extraordinary beings, but nations and large societies. For crucial ceremonies, they could afford such prices. However, when it came to Dorothy, the price was truly too high, even with a significant discount.
Looking at Beverly’s response, Dorothy fell silent again. After pondering for a while, she wrote on the page:
‘Alright, I know the price now. But I don’t need this thing urgently right now, so I’ll hold off on renting it for now. When the need arises, I’ll contact you.’
‘Sure, divine blessing object rentals aren’t exactly a hot commodity. You can come anytime, and there should always be stock available. Just contact me directly when you want it.’
After saying this, Dorothy and Beverly exchanged farewells. Then, Dorothy closed the book ‘Navigation of the Literary Sea’ and leaned back onto the sofa behind her with a deep breath.
‘Whew… forty thousand pounds. How am I supposed to gather that?’
Rubbing her forehead, Dorothy looked out the window at the passing scenery, starting to deeply think in her heart.
Dorothy’s primary source of income had always been robbing various heretical societies, which brought in decent returns. However, compared to what she needed now, it was far from enough. She needed to find other ways to make money.
First, Dorothy thought about selling the storage items of “Enlightenment” on the market. With the current high price of “Enlightenment,” she could make a profit quickly. But the critical issue was that the technology to make “Enlightenment” storage items had long been lost. Despite her spirituality, she couldn’t produce them. Even if she could, selling them now was risky because the resurgence of the Judge of Heaven Church might attract too much attention to the “Enlightenment” market.
‘Hard to handle…’ Dorothy sighed, scratching her head, and couldn’t help but lament the difficulties of the world.
…
On the coast of Northern Ufeiga, Kankdar.
At noon, in a beautiful residential area surrounded by an oasis in the suburbs of Kankdar, many villas stood here. Many of these villas had different flags on their doors, almost all belonging to countries on the Main Continent, symbolizing the nobility and identity of their owners.
Among these villas, one stood out prominently with its large scale, private courtyard, water fountains, and meticulously trimmed garden sculptures. Like a garden, it was the most eye-catching. The courtyard entrance of this villa, like others, had a flag, but it wasn’t any country’s flag. Instead, it was a green flag with the silhouette of Kankdar.
In this large villa, a white man in his fifties, with graying hair and wearing a proper suit, sat on the balcony. He held a cigar in one hand and spread a newspaper with the other, gazing at the news with a serious look in his eyes.
On the newspaper he was reading, a headline read prominently in large font:
“The Adis talks have concluded; the envoy group led by Sister Vania has set off for home.”
Below the large title were subtitles and the main text, detailing more content.
“The outcomes of the Adis talks remain unclear. Neither side has made any statements about the content or results of the talks, leading to endless speculation. Renowned critic Yorg stated that from the grand memorial ceremony held by Shadi, the leader of the Adus Revolutionary Army, to commemorate the heretics who died in natural disasters, the talks may not have gone smoothly. Shadi might not abandon his heretical beliefs, and the war clouds over Adus might not have been dispelled by the arrival of the peace nun. The sudden thunder disaster might be a key variable in these talks…”
The man smoked his cigar while flipping through the newspaper. On the table in front of him, several newspapers in different languages were spread open, all carrying the same news about the Adis talks.
Unanimously, these newspapers reported that the church envoy Sister Vania had left Adis and was returning to Kankdar. The biggest point of interest was what the outcomes of the talks were and what both sides had agreed upon. However, due to no press conference being held after the talks, outsiders were curious but knew nothing, relying on subsequent actions of both parties for speculation.
Due to Shadi’s grand memorial for the heretics who died in natural disasters and the silent departure of the church envoy, many people felt that Shadi still favored heresy, the talks had failed, and large-scale conflict between Adus and the church was inevitable. The peace nun seemed merely superficial.
However, these feelings were only for the general public who only had surface-level information. For those who could grasp deeper details, including many countries and extraordinary institutions’ middle and upper echelons, their feelings were completely opposite. Upon learning that the highest leader of the Savior faction, Muhetar, had died in the thunder disaster, they knew the Savior faction in Adus was finished. Shadi’s actions were just a performance targeting domestic members of the Savior faction. The lack of any statement from Shadi and Sister Vania after the talks did not mean they had failed but rather that they had reached some kind of understanding. Many countries and societies’ decision-making levels foresaw that when the time was ripe, both Adus and the church might release shocking news simultaneously.
And this man was one of those who knew deeper secrets.
‘I never expected this negotiation to actually succeed. The Judge of Heaven Church… who would have thought that this ancient relic, which had been dead for thousands of years, could still bounce back and cause such a stir.’
‘Hmph… lucky little nun. By chance, she stumbled upon such good fortune. Those who don’t know might even think she is the Judge of Heaven’s kin…’
Looking at the newspaper in his hand, the man thought to himself, then lay back in his chair after putting down the paper, frowning as he smoked his cigar, a look of distress on his face.
‘Trouble… I didn’t expect the situation in Adus to develop this way. Now, the Sacred Summit and Adus probably won’t go to war… all previous plans are wasted…’
Puffing smoke, the man frowned, deeply pondering. At this moment, the door to the luxurious room behind the balcony opened, and a knock sounded. Hearing the knock, the man sitting on the sofa turned his head toward the door and said:
“Come in.”
After the man spoke, the door opened, and standing behind it was a well-proportioned maid. She bowed to the man and said:
“Mr. Robert, Prince Ma Aide requests an audience and is waiting in the parlor. Shall I let him in?”
“Ma Aide… him again…” Listening to the maid, Robert Brown, the mayor of Kankdar, thought for a moment and then said:
“Let him come up. I’ll meet him here.”
Hearing Robert’s words, the maid nodded and turned to walk away. Soon after, the sound of footsteps going up and down the stairs echoed outside the door. Shortly after, a figure appeared at the opened door in front of Robert.
It was a tall man with a thick beard, dressed in a magnificent traditional North Ufeiga noble robe, wearing a feather-adorned thick hat, seemingly around the same age as Robert. After entering the room, the maid behind him closed the door. The man glanced nervously around the room and focused his gaze on Robert sitting in the balcony chair. He hurried over and bowed, saying:
“Respected Mr. Robert, I greet you here.”
Using somewhat clumsy Faraluo language, the man named Ma Aide greeted Robert respectfully. Listening to Ma Aide, Robert took a puff of his cigar and nodded, then gestured for Ma Aide to sit down. Seeing this, Ma Aide sat down on a side seat and continued speaking with a flattering look in his eyes.
“Mr. Robert, this time I’ve brought another precious gift from Adis, a chariot passed down in Baruch for over four hundred years, left by our great founding monarch, King Rahman Baruch. It possesses extraordinary power and is very valuable, though it’s a bit large and inconvenient to bring up. So, I’ve placed it downstairs. Please come down to admire it…”
The man named Ma Aide said to Robert. After listening to Ma Aide, Robert’s face showed no obvious change. He simply looked at him and quietly said:
“Rahman’s chariot? What a generous gift, Your Highness… For the descendants of Baruch, such things are extremely important heritage. I cannot accept this.”
“No, no, no… You can accept it. Absolutely. You are the master of Kankdar, the Faraluo… no, the representative of many countries on the Main Continent in North Ufeiga. You certainly deserve this item. Actually, in a sense, this isn’t a gift but rather compensation.”
Listening to Robert’s words, Ma Aide quickly responded. Hearing Ma Aide’s words, Robert raised an eyebrow and asked with interest:
“Compensation? How so? You haven’t caused me any loss. How does this count as compensation?”
Robert curiously asked Ma Aide. Hearing Robert’s words, Ma Aide smiled and explained:
“Haha… What do you mean by that? We have definitely caused you losses. Think about it, we governed Adus poorly, failed to suppress rebels, allowing heretics and bandits to take over the country. All the treaties signed with your countries in the past—preferential tariffs, priority development rights for railways and mines, dispatch of labor forces, land leases… etc.—were all abolished by the bandits. Isn’t this a huge loss to your countries?
“Now that we no longer control Adus and can’t provide the legitimate benefits your countries should have, we can only use the accumulated wealth of Baruch over hundreds of years to compensate for your losses. Although these things are insignificant compared to what your countries should have gained in Adus, they represent our heartfelt intention, always standing by your side. Please accept them.”
Ma Aide said with exaggerated smiles to Robert. Listening to Ma Aide’s words, Robert paused slightly, his cigar suspended in mid-air. He stared at the sycophant’s squinted eyes and seemed to have already seen through his purpose.
