Elisa’s green eyes were full of vigilance, but not so much that people would notice. She was currently walking on the main street of West Sun City, looking at the bustling crowd coming and going. People were talking and laughing, and she hadn’t seen this kind of atmosphere in a long time.
After the Elven Forest was destroyed, Elisa escaped from the forest and moved into the human kingdom, where all she saw was deceit, with everyone wanting to capture her in exchange for money. However, she found a sense of ease here, as the people around didn’t have grim expressions. Their eyes don’t seem to show any signs of scheming. Maybe this is because they had enough food to sustain a proper life. They all have more than enough food to eat, so why would they scheme on how to fill their stomachs? Elisa thought as she looked at the wheat drying on the sides of the road.
“Hmm? There are so many people over there.” Elisa saw a long line of people ahead and couldn’t help but walk over to take a look.
“It smells so good!” As she got closer, Elisa smelled a strong aroma. She could clearly smell vegetables, meat, mushrooms, and other stuff from the scent. “What could it be? Why does it smell so good?”
Elisa’s green eyes sparkled. She could feel her stomach rebelling, and just as she decided to go over and take a look, she saw three female beastkins walk toward her, which startled her.
The three beastkins were all very beautiful, and she knew- or rather, recognized- one of them from when they were in North Wind City. These three female beastkins are only slightly below me in terms of beauty. They are much more beautiful than those so-called most beautiful songstresses in the capital.
Their beauty was the reason Elisa was surprised. Those corrupted nobles will definitely buy these beautiful beastkins at exorbitant prices and lock them up in dark rooms to play with. How come these beastkins are walking out around openly in crowded places and aren’t afraid to be kidnapped by slave merchants to be sold?
“Wait, there’s another possibility.” Elisa slowed her pace and thought of something. These beastkins must be the slaves of the nobles of West Sun City. Only this explanation can justify them openly walking on the streets without fear- the commoners all knew these three beastkins.
The three beastkins were Anri, Weya, and Tess. The beastkins that Elisa recognized was Tess as she had seen Tess eating grilled fish when she had previously hidden on a ship.
“Anri, weren’t we going to buy buns? Why did we come here?” Weya asked, puzzled.
“We rushed out in a hurry and didn’t bring any copper coins…” Anri said, shaking her fox ears helplessly.
“I did, Young Master gave me a silver coin, saying it’s my pay for the month,” Tess said, raising her head.
“Young Master also gave me my salary in advance, also a silver coin,” Weya added, a bit embarrassed. I already receive free food and housing, and I can still receive a high salary of a silver coin a month. I haven’t even worked for a month yet, and my lord already gave me my pay.
“…” Elisa was frozen in place as she listened to their conversation. Am I hearing things? A silver coin a month? Even the elite of the kingdom, the royal knights, may not even have a salary of a silver coin a month.
“Silver coin? You two idiots, buying buns with a silver coin, do you want to slowly count copper coins in front of the bun store?” Anri rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to count a thousand copper coins in front of the bun shop!”
“It’s okay to count them.” Tess didn’t mind at all.
“Um…” Weya shook her head, thinking of the people waiting in line to buy buns, and said softly, “We can’t, it would make the people behind us wait for a long time.”
What are buns? Is that what the long line was for? Elisa followed the trio, now very curious about them. It is a bit conspicuous to buy something that costs a few copper coins with a silver coin.
“Then what should we do? I only have a silver coin!” Tess was a bit anxious. She had come out with Anri and Weya to taste the delicious buns that Mina had spoken highly about.
“Don’t worry, let’s go to the money depository and exchange the silver coin for copper coins. Remember to ask Nicole to exchange the silver coin for copper coins next time you go out,” Anri sighed.
Weya was going to return to her tribe tomorrow, so Anri had come out to accompany Weya with shopping, especially the buns Weya loved to eat. They could have just told the castle kitchen to make some buns, but Weya insisted on buying buns from the bun store, saying something about how its buns were the first buns she had eaten.
Anri understood what Weya meant. Like Weya, Anri had some sentiment toward her favorite food, egg-fried tomatoes. Even though she had tasted tastier than egg-fried tomatoes, she couldn’t forget the feeling when she first ate egg-fried tomatoes.
“A money depository? What kind of place is that?” Weya asked, confused. Why have I never heard of it before?
“It’s a place where you can exchange money,” Anri said lightly. “For example, steel coins are kept in the money depository. If someone needs steel coins, they can go to the money depository to exchange for them.”
Anri remembered that the money depository was a place that Liu Feng had secretly set up, telling her that its purpose was to pave the way to open a bank in the future, though she didn’t really understand what he meant.
“Oh? There’s such a place?” Weya exclaimed.
The corners of Anri’s mouth slightly lifted, and she said softly, “There will only be more and more magical things in the future.”
“What are you girls saying?” Tess asked, confused. She tilted her head, causing her hair to whip.
“Uh…” Anri and Weya glanced at each other Why does Big Cow seem a bit stupid and cute?
Elisa, who was following them, was also in a daze. What are steel coins? Since arriving in West Sun City, Elisa kept hearing unfamiliar terms, making her feel like she was a stupid, inexperienced elf. The thing that she did at noon made her feel like her intelligence had dropped. Looking at Tess, Elisa felt like she was looking at herself at noon when she had been acting a bit stupid.