Chapter 42: Burning Powder

Under Shaoke's hopeful gaze, the female mage shyly nodded. "Father, you don't need to come with me. After all, you have your business to attend to. I believe Mage Xueye will take good care of me on the journey."

"Good! That's my girl, now I can rest easy. I was just worried about a young woman traveling such a long distance alone—it's really not safe. As we head toward the imperial capital, bandits will start appearing. A mage all alone is in real danger. Those wretched bandits don't care if you're an imperial mage or not!" The merchant voiced his concerns, hoping his daughter would understand. "Thank you, Mage Xueye!"

Hearing that the mage had agreed to travel to the imperial capital with him, Shaoke was thrilled. Was his luck finally changing? It had to be! After all, he had been stuck in this icy, snowy place for nearly three years! "Mr. Wodun, it is an honor that Miss Woton—oh, I mean Mage Woton—has agreed to travel to the imperial capital with me. She makes me feel trusted."

The merchant secretly shook his head. *Feeling trusted? If it weren't for the fact that you're the only mage heading to the imperial capital right now, how could I entrust my daughter to your care? Sigh! Why did it have to be a daughter? Who knows how much suffering she'll endure for her future promotions!* "Hehe! Mage Xueye, please stay here tonight and set off tomorrow. Francis hopes to keep me company a little longer."

"Alright! Then I'll impose on your hospitality, Mr. Wodun. Is there anything else? I'd like to take a stroll around this small town to see if there's anything good I need to buy." Shaoke felt he had to leave, as he couldn't stop staring at the female mage's still-flushed cheeks. Fortunately, she was looking down and hadn't noticed, or it would have been too embarrassing—making him seem like he'd never seen a woman before. *Retreat.* Having made up his mind, Shaoke found an excuse to go out and cool off.

"Heavens! Mage Xueye, now that we're acquainted, why not buy some things from me? As your friend, I'm sure I can offer you a price that satisfies both parties." The merchant, not forgetting his profession even though the other had agreed to help his daughter, was very dedicated to hoping to close a deal.

Shaoke was somewhat amused and exasperated. "Mr. Wodun, I want to see the scenery of the small town and, by the way, check if there are any interesting items I need to buy."

At his daughter's tug on his hand, the merchant stopped his sales pitch after Shaoke's vague reply. "Mage Xueye, it's best not to buy things here. The area around this small town basically produces nothing of good quality. The only parchment available is the lowest grade, made from tree bark and ordinary tree trunks—not real parchment at all. And the wine here is also..."

"Father, Mage Xueye might really have something you don't that he needs to buy. If you keep this up, Mage Xueye will be unhappy." Mage Francis Peyton softly interrupted her father's incessant chatter, nodding apologetically to Shaoke.

"Mage Woton, Mr. Wodun, I'll head out now. I'll go to the tavern at noon. Thank you for your hospitality. I'll be back before dark." Shaoke gazed fixedly at the female mage for a moment. Although she noticed, she didn't blame Shaoke for his rudeness. After all, it wasn't the first time she had been stared at by a mage of the same rank, and she still needed his help!

Leaving the inn and sitting in a carriage that had just been hailed by an attendant, Shaoke still lingered on the image of the female mage from earlier. Fortunately, after long-term magic study, Shaoke quickly shook off the figure in his mind.

The merchants on the street had increased again, though most were in a hurry. They needed to transport goods to sell in surrounding small towns or travel to larger cities to purchase goods for trade. Shaoke had the coachman take him to the street in the small town with the highest concentration of merchants. The merchants here were like the large distributors Shaoke had seen in his previous life. They prepared ample goods and rented warehouses here to wholesale to smaller merchants.

To the coachman's surprise, Shaoke paid him ample silver coins.

Most of the people walking on the street were merchants, along with some local residents coming to buy daily necessities and groups of mercenaries—either preparing to leave or hoping to sell their prey for a good price—entering and exiting various shops.

Shaoke's arrival caused a slight stir among the people on the street. Fortunately, Shaoke hadn't activated the spell effect on his cloak this time; otherwise, these relatively bold merchants and mercenaries might have gathered to gawk at him! After all, this was the largest city near the border. There were still some mages coming to garrison the border or report back to the imperial capital. Although most of these merchants and low-level mercenaries couldn't clearly distinguish between the two, it didn't hinder their curiosity from starting to wane.

Carrying his staff, Shaoke strolled casually down the street, occasionally observing the signs of surrounding shops to decide whether to go in and look. After walking for a while, Shaoke noticed that most merchants here were either buying or selling specialties from the Misty Forest. Goods from the south rarely appeared here, and even when he saw one or two, Shaoke had no interest in inquiring or examining them.

The merchants on the street quickly grew accustomed to the news of a mage arriving. Although they very much hoped this mage would come to their own shops to buy some magic materials, none dared to actively pull the mage in to select items. After all, everyone knew these mages often had many peculiar temperaments.

After searching for a while, Shaoke finally saw a magic powder shop in the middle of the street, which greatly relieved him. After all, he still needed these things for the return journey. The magic powder he had purchased on the way here was now completely gone.

The attendant at the door excitedly welcomed Shaoke's arrival. The shop owner warmly received the cloaked mage before him. "Honorable Mage, please instruct me on how I may assist you!" After performing a courtesy, the merchant of this shop waved for the somewhat curious, fearful, and envious attendant to prepare tea for the mage.

"Hello! I need some magic powder for some spell experiments, but I'm not sure if you have what I need." Shaoke nodded slightly, glanced at the items on the shelves, then looked at the merchant and stated his request: "Do you have combustion powder?"

"Yes, Honorable Mage. Our magic powder here can be said to be the most comprehensive in this small town. Please wait a moment; I'll fetch it for you." The shop owner said somewhat proudly, then moved his somewhat corpulent body to get the combustion powder for Shaoke. "Honorable Mage, this packet of powder is primarily made from fire crow feathers, which is somewhat better than the commonly used combustion powder. You can test it." The merchant ingratiatingly introduced the special features of this powder to Shaoke.

Shaoke carefully opened the packet of powder. Of course, he didn't need to test it here, as the place was filled with various low-grade magic powders. If any accident occurred, given his current financial resources, he couldn't cover the losses. Unless, of course, he sold his already diluted empty stone liquid.

This magic powder was quite different from what Shaoke had purchased from his own academy: the powder was ground very finely, was a deep red in color, emitted a faint fragrance, didn't stick to the touch, and felt slightly warm.

Carefully repackaging the powder, Shaoke said, "No need to test it. I feel this powder is much better than the kind made from fire spiders. Fire crows, rank-zero flying magical beasts, are quite rare! Did you discover this formula yourselves?"

"Honorable Mage, it's not something us small folk could have created. To be honest, it's quite enviable. It's said that a Third Rank mage accidentally created it during one of his experiments. Really lucky! Now the entire empire uses this kind of powder! Of course, the price is twice as expensive. Here, I need four silver coins for one packet!" The merchant said somewhat enviously, revealing the origin of this material. If it weren't for the fact that the person before him was a mage, he probably would have already cursed that lucky dog of a mage.

"Thank you! Give me five packets!" After hearing the shop owner's words, Shaoke also envied this mage. Just think about it! How many novice mages in the entire Blue Feather Empire would need this kind of supportive magic powder! If other countries used it too, that would be an even larger population. After all, combustion powder was a favorite among low-level mages, with demand more than double that of other magic powders. Even if the mage who discovered this powder only earned one copper coin per packet, it would still be a substantial fortune.

Shaoke also purchased several other types of magic powder from the shop owner that could be combined with special incantations to form attacks before leaving. Weighing the small packets of powder in his bundle, Shaoke understood even more why that merchant worked so hard to earn money. Just these lowest-grade magic powders had cost him one gold coin!

After buying the materials he wanted, Shaoke wandered around the street a bit more. Last time he came, he hadn't carefully observed this small town. Now that he was about to leave, likely never to return, Shaoke decided to take a good look around, lest his future memories of this period consisted only of endless snowfields and forests.

At noon, Shaoke found a tavern on the street for a meal. Since he had snacked on some pastries at Merchant Wodun's place in the morning, this time he only ordered a few slices of honey-buttered bread to fill his stomach. He had the attendant pour the transparent snow wine into the silver drinking cup he carried with him. While savoring the food, he listened to the conversations in the tavern, hoping—like in the novels he read in his previous life—to encounter a beautiful female mercenary group in the tavern, smoothly join their ranks for a mission, and finally win the beauty's heart.

Unfortunately, most of the mercenaries in the tavern were men. Even the few women present held the same status as the women in the mercenary group he encountered during his last mission, not worth his attention. Shaoke hurriedly ate his lunch. For the first time having leisure to visit a tavern, he hadn't considered how much impact a mage's presence would have on the people dining there. The tavern patrons only occasionally asked their companions for condiments and otherwise didn't speak a word, leaving Shaoke, who had fantasized about discovering some treasure, utterly speechless.

————————Yesterday the internet was down, so I couldn't update those three thousand words. It only connected again at noon today...