Early October.
Newburg, a famous trading city located on the border between the Sika Kingdom and the Soma Alliance, ushered in its annual gathering.
The rally lasted for five days and reached its most lively state on the third day.
Not only merchants from Sika and Soma, but also merchants from other regions came smelling the smell of money, trying hard to sell their in-demand goods in an attempt to make huge profits.
In addition to merchants peddling goods, there are also various speculators, with shrewd eyes, walking throughout the city's large bazaars, observing the quality of the goods, thinking about the profits after the acquisition, and hesitating whether to take action.
Amidst the noise, the air of the entire city smelled of interest.
Miss Anne with short ear-length hair, Anne Pangbo, was walking on the streets of the city with a frown on her face.
She walked very fast, looking like she was in a hurry, and kept squeezing through the crowd. After walking for a while, he will suddenly stop again, stay for a few seconds, change direction, and then move forward quickly again.
This is what she uses to prevent someone from following her.
For Anne Pangbo, it was clear that she had made many enemies along the way. Although it was logically impossible for these people to pursue them all the way to Newburgh, it was better to be cautious - in the past experience, it was better to be cautious. It has helped her get out of several dangerous situations.
In this way, Anne walked continuously in the city for nearly half an hour, repeatedly confirming that no enemy was following her, and then she felt relieved.
"call-"
After letting out a breath and straightening her damp bangs, Anne looked up at a small special market in front of her where many single goods were gathered - this was part of the annual Newburgh market.
Although it is said to be a small market, it is actually not small in size, occupying an entire street nearly 100 meters long. The shops on both sides of the street and the stalls on the street are all filled with goods—all kinds of ores.
That's what she came to Newburgh for.
I hope I can find something this time... Anne thought silently in her heart, and briefly scanned the goods on several nearby stalls. After confirming that they were all ordinary goods, she walked into the first shop next to her.
The floor of the shop is covered with thick wool carpets, which are extremely soft when stepped on, and the decoration is also extremely elegant.
There are more than a dozen red-painted wooden frames standing against the wall. Each wooden frame is divided into dozens of grids of different sizes, and ores cut like works of art are placed inside.
Obviously, these are samples for exhibition. If you are selected, someone will naturally contact you about mass supply.
Speaking of which, the amount of money involved in ore-related business is not low. After all, it is hard to believe that someone came all the way here just to spend a silver coin to buy a stone weighing ten pounds and transport it home as a whetstone.
The profits from the ore business are very high, which makes most of the stores that operate the ore business extremely luxuriously decorated, and the service staff in the stores are also extremely enthusiastic.
So, as soon as Annie walked in, a clerk from the store came up to her and asked enthusiastically: "Madam, what do you want to see? Do you need the latest sapphire ore, or something else..."
While the store clerk was talking, Annie quickly scanned all the exhibits in the store and determined that there was nothing she wanted.
The next moment, he interrupted the guy unceremoniously and responded coldly: "No need."
As soon as she finished speaking, Annie turned around and left, leaving the waiter on the spot. The waiter couldn't help but have a stunned expression on his face.
"You... don't even need it, why did you come in here!" After a few seconds, the guy came to his senses and said something.
But Annie didn't hear it at all and had already entered the second store at this time.
The decoration of the second store is not much different from the first one. It is also extremely luxurious, the staff is also extremely enthusiastic, and the types of ores on display are also similar.
There was no accident. After a while, Annie walked out again and entered the third store.
Then the fourth store, the fifth store...
Ten minutes later, Annie had efficiently browsed nearly half of the shops on the street, and her face became slightly ugly.
With her two thin eyebrows raised slightly, Annie stood on the street and pursed her lips, adjusting her mood before walking into the next store.
This store is located at the back of the street. Compared with the other stores, it looks a bit bad. It seems that it is on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management. The decoration is extremely shabby, and it can even be called shabby.
The carpet on the floor was washed white, and the corners were severely damaged, with cracks like the openings of a baby's mouth.
The seven or eight shelves placed near the wall are also shaky, with peeling red paint, half of the wooden shelves are empty, and the remaining half of the ores are extremely rough, some have not even been cleaned, and still have traces of the time they were mined. There is soil.
The owner of the shop, an elderly white-haired man, was sitting behind the counter, closing his eyes and concentrating. There was a unique indifferent expression on his face, as if he had already determined that the store was going to close down, and he didn't want to struggle anymore, and he didn't even bother to greet customers. Annie walked in the door, and the white-haired old man just opened his eyes for a glance, and then closed them again, not wanting to bother with it at all.
Annie was also happy. She stood in the shop and carefully looked at the few ores in the wooden grid.
Shake his head.
Shake his head.
Shake his head again.
Looking at one kind of ore after another, Annie shook her head again and again, and was sure that none of them were her targets.
It seemed that this trip to Newburgh was destined to be disappointing... Anne sighed in her heart.
Lifting her legs, Anne was about to go out when her eyes suddenly glanced at a silver-gray lead box more than 20 centimeters square placed on a wooden shelf nearby. It looked a bit like a decoration, but it looked too weird.
"Hey, old man, what is this?" Annie asked, pointing to the lead box and asking the store owner.
The white-haired old man was disturbed and opened his eyes unhappily. He glanced at Annie and hummed: "You rude girl, can't you call me polite? Are you talking about that box? Huh, what could it be? Could it be a jewelry box?" -This is not a jewelry store. As long as you are not stupid, you should understand that it is a box for ore exhibits."
"Then why are the ores packed in here?"
"How do I know!" the white-haired old man replied in a irritable tone, "This is not mine, it is consigned to others. Anyway, the money has been paid, so she can do whatever she wants. If you are willing, give me two gold coins, and I will You are also allowed to put such a box here. If the box is small, a gold coin will do."
"Forget it." Annie rejected the white-haired old man's proposal and then asked, "Then I can open it, right?"
"Whatever." The white-haired old man waved his hand impatiently, "I have already said that this is not mine, it is for consignment. Giving money only means that the goods can be placed here. As for whether it was stolen or robbed, it has nothing to do with it. I have nothing to do with it.”
Annie: "..." Her eyebrows raised slightly, and she couldn't help but feel speechless in her heart. She somewhat realized why the store's operating conditions were so miserable. That is to say, her temper is much better now than before, otherwise she would be able to break the white-haired old man's neck now. The other customers who walked into the store are probably in a similar mood.
"Hoo-ho-"
Taking a deep breath, Annie adjusted her mood, planned to ignore the white-haired old man, and reached out to open the lead box.
In her opinion, ninety-nine percent of the content in the lead box was an ordinary ore, but the moment she opened it, her eyes shrank.
The ore in the box, as he thought, was indeed of average quality. It was just the copper ore from the street, which did not look very pure. It also contained other miscellaneous ores and was of low quality.
But this copper ore of ordinary color exudes a weak corrosive energy.
The energy was both familiar and exciting to her.
Because that's exactly what she's looking for.
Now, I finally found it.
Annie clenched her fists.