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| ← Ch.096 | Ch.098 → |
Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma
Of course, these two gifts were not really sent by Satan, but prepared by Ray with his own money. Satan had spent almost 10 years adventuring, but the money he obtained was not much. He followed the adventurer's principle: that money is useful only when used on yourself. He used most of his income to enhance his abilities. Even though he was absolutely not poor, it was impossible to say that he could make a decent gift.
Of course, Satan did not even think about that. In his opinion, the most important thing among friends was mutual respect and mutual help. As for gifts and money... Knight Parne absolutely didn't need them, because he was definitely not poor, although he was not a wealthy man. In his mind, what Knight Parne took to the heart was aristocracy. So when Sui wanted to find a secular lord for his holy place, Satan recommended Knight Parne. This was his gift to his benefactor.
However, Satan and Ray did not share the same ideas. As Ray had an aristocratic background, he highly valued etiquette and wouldn't go empty-handed on a first visit! So when passing a bustling town, he prepared a gift: that set of porcelain.
The level of the craftsmanship in this world was shoddy, and the price of porcelain was quite high; only grand aristocrats could afford especially fine porcelain. Aristocrats who had gone downhill, such as Knight Parne, could only afford some exquisite pottery. A gift of very exquisite porcelain not only showed respect and authority but was also helpful to Knight Parne. Imagine: in the future when guests visited Knight Parne's family, he would be highly respected for entertaining guests with a set of fine porcelain!
But Ray did not realize that Knight Parne had passed away, so on the basis of that set of porcelain, he added a bag of gems.
Knight Parne's family looked quite shocked. In particular, Liv's comment about payment almost let him guess the reason: nothing more than lack of money.
Well, thanks to those magical creatures that came to him, he had very much money these days!
This bag of gemstones was actually a sum of money he specially prepared. About half were aventurine, chalcedony, crystal and other low-grade gems priced around 50 gold coins. The other half were white pearl, agate, turquoise and other cheap gems priced around ten gold coins. The bag also contained a few gems priced around 100 gold coins, such as amber, coral, and spinel; although no higher grade gems. The total value of the bag was about 1, 500 gold coins.
This was of course for the convenience of cash back: after all, for precious stones worth thousands of gold coins such as beljuril jewels, diamonds, and Kings' tears, people couldn't find appropriate buyers in smaller towns. When in urgent need of money, they would often be sold for less than they were worth. In contrast, these mid to low-grade gems provided more convenience.
So Ray prepared several bags of such gems, so as to quickly change them into cash when needed. In fact, for him who had a large space bag, even carrying tens of thousands of gold coins led to no inconvenience. It just didn't fit his lifestyle.
Such a bag of gems was also relatively in line with etiquette. Covering a long distance to give a set of porcelain as the gift was sufficiently high-end; but it would have been too grand, and not fit the etiquette if matched with too high-end gems.
The two gifts carefully selected by Ray were welcomed by Knight Parne's family, and little Nice happily picked out the glittering gems from the gem bag. She looked at this and that, and she smiled so that her face flushed. Mrs. Teague and Liv's eyes were completely mesmerized by the set of beautiful porcelain.
"These gifts... are too expensive!" Mrs. Teague said, seeming overwhelmed. She was well aware of the value of this set of porcelain; this was the real treasure compared to the gemstones, which were colorful but not that valuable. Even if it was placed in the duke's drawing room, it wouldn't be out of place. Putting it in the knight's family who was in an abject state seemed to her almost degrading to the set of porcelain. Liv, who had been worried about money during this time was even more stunned. She could not help but mutter, "How much money is this worth!"
She often stopped in front of the upscale shops selling all kinds of gems and handicrafts and admired the finest items, so she was very familiar with these things. In particular, the lack of money during this period made her more sensitive to prices. For example, she easily estimated the price of the bag of gems. Still, she could not figure out the price of this set of porcelain. It was obviously high-end: not even generally known high-end goods, but truly exquisite! There were no goods of this level on store shelves. Only the private inner rooms of the store that weren't open to the public would sell goods at this level.
So what was the value of it?
2000? 5000? More?
Liv, who had been tortured for a long time by lack of money, often felt that her eyes would shine when she saw golden light of money. But this expensive porcelain was so dazzling that she even had a feeling similar to directly looking into the sun, and her eyes being burned.
She only realized tears were flowing down her face when her mother pointed it out to her. Ray and Steele did not speak. Instead, they sat there smiling, waiting for the family's mood to recover.
After a while, the mother and daughters were finally calmed down, and Mrs. Teague took the gift, leaving Liv to carefully collect the set of porcelain, taking extreme care not to break it. As for the gems, although they should have also been carefully collected, they were overshadowed by the porcelain and went hardly noticed.
Although there was some uneasiness in her heart, one of the most important elements of aristocratic etiquette was that you could not refuse gifts. Especially now: these gifts were given by mage Satan as a symbol of the gratitude and grace of salvation, so it was impossible. If she had rejected them, it would have meant not taking the grace of salvation seriously, and with the subtext of the salvation of her own life. That would have been too rude!
"I am very sorry to let you see this rudeness." Mrs. Teague did not hide her family's current predicament, and said with a wry smile, "Thank you very much for your gifts. If you do not mind, would you have dinner with us together in this shabby house?"
This was also etiquette which Ray and Steele were familiar with, so naturally, they would not refuse.
However, when Sui Xiong smelled what was coming from the kitchen, even at a great distance, he could not help but frown.
"Steele, do me a favor, " he said quietly.
His taste had been polished up by Steele, who had great cooking skills, since she joined the team. At the moment, he sensed some bad smell coming from the kitchen, and suddenly he felt a little worried about encountering dark dishes in the legends.
Sui Xiong did not understand the aristocratic etiquette. To him, nothing was more important than his stomach. He thought that abusing oneself by eating foods that even dogs disdained while forcing a complimentary smile, all for vanity, was something he saved for chasing his girlfriend on earth. Unfortunately, he failed in this; not because of diet problems, but because the girls hated men who played games. Apart from abusing his taste buds and stomach, she could not tolerate small hobbies such as playing games. Just do what your highness has to do as a princess, while I, brother Xiong, can't serve you!
Mrs. Teague was astonished when Steele said she was going to the kitchen - it was different than what she was used to. But she quickly realized the reason and nodded and smiled bitterly. If she herself sat in the living room now, who would be busy in the kitchen? She, even as a mother, was very aware of Liv's awful cooking skills! She had no choice but to accept Steele's request: after all, she could not let her guests eat Liv's food. Your guests traveled a long distance to visit you, so it couldn't be justified to disgust your guests with your dark dishes! Mrs. Teague thought.
When Steele came to the kitchen, Liv awkwardly smiled. Her face was full of restlessness while she struggled with all kinds of cookers, all the while making the food stranger. She knew she had done a bad job this time.
"Wash your face and hands, and I'll be ready soon, " Steele said. She did not laugh at Liv, but smiled, still as warm as a spring breeze. Then she occupied herself with the cooking.
Her culinary skills were superb. Even her movements while cooking were full of rhythm. Her enchanting appearance always aroused men around her; she had especially perfected this, and it was obvious. Liv, who looked envious, was helping alongside her. She unconsciously mimicked Steele's actions. But when she realized the difference in their physiques, her envy turned to frustration.
As a girl with a quarter elven blood, Liv was also considered somewhat beautiful. However, the elves of Moon had never been known for being sexy, and almost all of the female tribesmen had flat breasts, which was not obvious with her mother. However, Liv's body clearly reflected the style of the elves of moon maybe; because of their ancestors. Although she was taller than Steele, in terms of the charms of women... Alas! Don't mention such a sad topic! She looked at Steele's hot body and looked at her own which could be a juvenile knight's body if she wore a helmet and another set of clothes. This made her sad, and she returned to the living room.
Seeing the eldest daughter coming back from the kitchen, Mrs. Teague frowned, a little dissatisfied with the faux pas. But seeing her daughter's look of frustration, she quickly guessed the reason. Mothers know their daughters best, and she could not help but shake her head. Elves never cared about boring issues of stature, but the problem was a headache for mixed-race children living in the human society. Her daughter seemed to inherit her father's talent, so she performed well in fencing, riding, shooting, and academics. But in terms of women's special abilities, she understood almost nothing.
... Perhaps this time, it is not a bad thing for her to be upset.
Mrs. Teague told Liv to entertain the guests and take care of Nice so that she wouldn't make trouble. Then she went to the kitchen.
Perhaps Miss Steele can cook alone very well, but it's not hospitable to leave guests busy with cooking.
When Mrs. Teague went to the kitchen, Ray asked, "Miss Liv, I just noticed one thing. May I take the liberty of asking?"
Of course Liv did not mind his 'presumptuous question, ' but when she heard the exact content of the question, her face turned sullen.
He had asked about the origin of the crossbow arrow on the corner of the door.
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