"Then the main city you're going to, is it the First City?"
Ethan quickly asked. After all, he had been hearing Mr. White mention the main city again and again, but he still didn't know whether the main city counted as the capital of the Mist World.
If it did, then his next plans would become much simpler.
As long as he got the chance to take a trip to the main city, he would probably be able to understand the situation of this Mist World. At that point he'd have more ways to deal with things, and might even have a chance to return to his original world.
"The First City is far from here," Mr. White said, "The main city I'm heading to now actually has the full name Main City of the Frontier Lands."
"This place can practically be considered the farthest corner of the Mist Continent."
"It's extremely remote."
"And that's exactly why those Wilderness Witches live here. This place is actually a bit like a lawless zone. If you go further north, you'll walk right out of the Mist World."
"But other than the Wilderness Witches, nobody dares to go there."
"The world on the other side is called the Origin Land of the Mist World. Some people also call that land the Land of Nightmares. From that name alone you can tell just how dangerous it is over there."
"The frontier lands of the Mist World?", Ethan frowned, "Then you still want to open some kind of merchant alliance branch in such a remote place? Will anyone even come?"
"Heh! You'd be surprised."
The moment the Merchant Alliance branch was mentioned, Mr. White's eyes immediately lit up.
"Actually, it's precisely because this place is the frontier of the Mist World that I have a chance."
"In the other main cities, the branches are already everywhere. There wouldn't be any turn left for me."
"But this place is too remote, so it's not easy for merchant caravans to travel here. Because of that, they need a place like a relay station even more, somewhere they can stop to rest and also do business."
"That's where our chance to make money comes from."
"Can't they just rest in the main city?", Ethan asked what he didn't understand.
"The main city?", Mr. White laughed as soon as he heard that.
"Let's not even talk about how expensive everything inside the main city is. Just the commercial taxes and the caravan protection fees alone can make most merchant caravans bleed heavily."
"But if the Merchant Alliance branch is built outside the city, then the taxes are basically up to us to decide."
"As long as we're a little cheaper than inside the city, and we remove all kinds of taxes."
"Who do you think those caravans will choose to stop at? Us, or the main city?"
"If there's profit to be made, of course they'll choose us," Ethan frowned, "But if you do that, aren't you basically harming the interests of certain people? Are you sure the people in the main city won't come looking for trouble with us?"
"Hahaha! Do you think I randomly chose where to set up the branch?"
Mr. White glanced at the two Ice Gall piles that looked like small hills and said, "If it weren't for the fact that there's a Archmage sitting here, even if you had already opened the branch and asked me to be the branch president, I wouldn't dare take the job."
"That's what they call having no backing. If you don't have support behind you, you can't sit firmly in the seat."
"But if there's a Archmage stationed here, then if the people from the main city want to come cause trouble, they'll have to weigh their own strength first and see if they're capable of fighting a Archmage."
"So you've been planning to rely on my master this whole time, huh? My master the… tool man?"
Ethan said with a smile.
Mr. White burst out laughing even harder and wrapped an arm around Ethan's shoulder.
"How can you call it relying on someone? This is clearly a mutually beneficial arrangement, a great thing for both sides, isn't it? Hahaha!"
"Yes, yes, mutually beneficial!"
Ethan laughed along as well. The two of them were about to head back into the villa to drink a little wine and eat Ice Galls.
[System Notification: Regional exploration progress has reached 10%. The effect "No Dense Fog within 50 meters of the residence" has been activated.]
[PS: When exploration progress reaches 50%, the effect "No Dense Fog within 5,000 meters of the residence" will be activated. Exploration progress: 10/100]
"That fast?"
When Ethan heard the system notification, his eyes immediately lit up.
Earlier he had been running all over the place with the villagers, yet he still couldn't complete the task of reaching 10% regional exploration progress.
'But those two Archmage just went out to catch some Ice Galls, and the exploration progress suddenly hit 10%?'
'Just what exactly did those two Archmage do?'
Ethan suddenly felt a little uneasy.
However… As the fog near the villa was driven away, Ethan gradually began to see the scenery around his villa clearly.
And for a better view, Ethan simply climbed up onto the roof of the dormitory building. That was the highest spot in his entire villa.
Of course, Ethan climbed up relying on his exceptional agility and strength.
As for Mr. White, that guy naturally ran up as well to join the fun.
But he clearly wasn't relying on his own ability. Instead, he relied on a ring that was like Doraemon's treasure pocket. From it, he took out a pair of wings.
That's right.
A pair of black feathered wings, which he then strapped onto his back.
The wings immediately seemed to come alive and directly carried Mr. White flying up onto the roof.
[Demon Wings: After completely cutting a demon's wings from its back, special methods can be used to forge them into wearable equipment. When worn, they allow you to soar through the sky.]
[PS: Demon Wings cannot be worn for too long. Otherwise, tiny blood vessels will grow from the base of the wings and extend into your flesh, merging with your back. If they are not surgically removed in time, you will also become a complete Fallen Demon.]
"Uh…"
After Ethan read the description of the wings, he immediately didn't want them anymore.
This thing was practically like an indestructible cockroach, even a bit like some kind of immortal parasite. If you wore it for too long, it would merge with your body, and you'd even need surgery to remove it.
Just thinking about it felt terrifying.
"Whew!"
After landing, Mr. White immediately removed the wings from his back and put them back into his storage ring.
But Ethan noticed that blood vessels were actually pulsing at the base of the wings. There were even several tiny capillaries drifting outside the root of the wings. They looked like living worms, constantly waving around as if searching for an opportunity.
"These wings are almost worn out," Seeing Ethan staring at his wings, Mr. White spoke, "They've already started growing roots. I'll need to find someone to repair them. Those roots of sin have to be castrated before they can be worn again."
"They can actually be repaired?"
Ethan was a little surprised.
Mr. White smiled, "Of course they can! In the main city there are quite a few magicians who are afraid of leaving the city to face monsters, so they become repairers, appraisers, and other support professions."
"Then how long can a pair of wings like that be used?"
"If it's a brand new pair of Demon Wings, it can be used for about a month," Mr. White said, "But if it's Demon Wings that have already been repaired once, the usable time will drop a lot. At most it can only be used for a week before needing another castration surgery. And if you use it for too long, there's still the risk of being parasitized."
"Is it expensive?", Ethan asked curiously.
"Five million dragon coins for a pair. Fixed price."
Mr. White even added "fixed price" at the end on purpose, just to let Ethan know that this wasn't some exaggerated number.
Ethan nodded, confirming that this was a price he couldn't afford.
Then… He finally turned his gaze toward the fogless surroundings of the villa.
Only now did Ethan clearly see the scenery around his villa. Even though it was only the nearby view, it still filled him with deep shock.
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