Chapter 142: The Mutated Griffin Egg, Part One

After some disguise, the two of them wandered around the commercial camp. Compared to over four months ago, it had almost grown into a small commercial town, complete with everything for food, drinks, and entertainment.

Half an hour later, Velin and Kyle arrived at the twenty-third stall.

Though called a stall, it was actually an open-air shop, crowded with a dense mass of people looking for bargains.

"How much for this?" Velin walked up to a wooden counter and asked the nearby clerk.

"My lord, these are mystery boxes launched by my master. It only costs six gold coins to pick one and take it home," the clerk said enthusiastically upon seeing Velin's attire.

"Oh, what kind of treasures could possibly be inside to make them so expensive?" Velin asked with a curious look at the carefully packaged wooden boxes.

Seeing that the customer was genuinely interested in buying, the clerk immediately promoted them: "My lord, you may not know this, but these boxes contain treasures restored from the Ashen Glow, specialties from the central regions, and magical materials from the eastern coastal regions. They are worth every penny, and I assure you that you won't lose out."

Velin gave Kyle a subtle glance. Understanding instantly, Kyle took out thirty gold coins and placed them on the counter.

"My lord, please state the numbers you want, and I will fetch them for you," the clerk said respectfully after pocketing the coins.

"The third, seventh, eleventh, fifteenth, and twenty-third boxes."

Upon hearing this, the clerk fetched the corresponding boxes one by one and handed them to Kyle.

"My lord, would you like me to open them for you?"

Hearing the clerk's offer, Velin politely declined: "No need. I don't like others opening things that belong to me."

"Forgive me, my lord. I have overstepped."

Seeing the clerk apologize, Velin said nothing more. Since their objective had been achieved, why linger here?

After wandering around the vicinity for another two hours, they entered an inn, removed their disguises, and handed the five boxes over to their subordinates waiting in the adjacent room, having them disguised as grain sacks and carried back to their own shop.

He didn't know if anyone would tail them, but caution was always the best policy.

However, it was clear that Velin was overthinking it. After Shop No. 23 reported its sales records, the young Hax noble in charge of the area merely smiled with disdain.

"Those duds were bought by someone?" Toma Hax asked the store manager while embracing a half-elf.

"Yes, my lord. That noble picked five mystery boxes at once, and three of them were the duds you brought back."

"Hahaha, what a complete fool. I really wish I could see the look of utter rage on his face."

"Alright, get down there. I have serious business to attend to."

"Yes, my lord."

The store manager tactfully retreated from the backyard and ordered guards to secure the courtyard gate, strictly forbidding anyone from disturbing Toma Hax.

Meanwhile, Velin bought a few more interesting items in the surroundings before heading back to his own shop.

A surging crowd of customers had practically packed the front yard, with numerous young nobles waving gold notes in their hands, eager to purchase the Ice Blue Potion.

Through promotion, coupled with several injured nobles personally testing the medicine, the precious value of this new type of potion had already been proven.

"My lord."

Seeing Velin enter, Duke, the commercial manager for this location, paused his record-keeping, placed his left hand over his right chest, and bowed.

"How is the situation?"

"A great many nobles are buying. Even though your subordinate raised the price to twenty gold coins a bottle, it still hasn't stopped their enthusiasm for purchasing."

Velin looked somewhat surprised upon hearing this: "So frantic?"

"My lord, it relieves pain while healing wounds at the same time. There are very few potions capable of achieving this effect. Coupled with the fact that these minor nobles lack other channels to purchase it, they are basically hoarding it at this opportunity."

"Very well, I'll leave it in your hands."

Duke was doing an excellent job, so there was no need for Velin to interfere. He could safely and boldly leave the handling of matters to him.

Returning to the backyard, Velin eagerly took out the five exquisitely packaged boxes.

He placed the three boxes containing mutated griffin eggs separately on the table, pointed at the other two boxes, and said to Kyle, "These two are for you. Whatever you open depends entirely on your luck."

"Really, My Lord?" Kyle asked with some uncertainty.

"Would I lie to you?"

Well aware of the rules behind them, Velin nodded indifferently.

Without further ado, Kyle impatiently opened the boxes on the spot.

The first wooden box was opened, and an utterly mediocre pearl appeared before their eyes.

Kyle picked it up for a closer inspection, only to find that this pearl was nothing more than a common coastal product with nothing special about it.

Unwilling to give up, he then opened the second wooden box, which contained a book.

Opening it, he found it wasn't transcendent knowledge as he had imagined, but merely an ordinary book of poetry, completely devoid of any value.

"Feeling disappointed?"

Hearing his master's words, Kyle said with some resentment, "Those scoundrels charge six gold coins a box, only to put these things inside. I can't believe people actually thought of doing this."

"You can say that again. The vision of the Hax family is just that shortsighted. No other family would actually stoop to doing such a thing, but for them, it's not surprising at all," Velin disparaged unceremoniously.

"Then why did you still go and buy them, My Lord?" Kyle asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

Velin smiled mysteriously and pointed at the three wooden boxes on the table. "Naturally because there are actual treasures inside. Did you really think I'd go buy such junk if there weren't? I'm not a fool."

"Later, have someone take the items out and store them properly. We'll deal with them after returning to the fief."

"Understood."

That afternoon, Velin took the three mutated griffin eggs and returned to the main camp of Brazia.

Two days later, the third transportation mission arrived as scheduled.

The Thirteenth Transport Battalion once again embarked on the road to deliver supplies to the Sixth Legion.

Half a month later, they arrived once more at the Sixth Legion's encampment. Compared to the solemn atmosphere from before, Velin distinctly felt that the Sixth Legion had relaxed a bit.

Just as Velin emerged from the office of the Sixth Legion's logistics director, he ran straight into Krell.

"Velin, I'm here." Krell hoisted the wine and takeout food in his hand and smiled at Velin.

"Kyle, take these first."

Velin handed the documents in his hand to Kyle and led Krell toward his resting tent.

As soon as the two sat down, Krell unwrapped the packaging and arranged the marinated beef onto a plate. Velin, meanwhile, uncorked the wine bottle and began pouring.

"Is the first phase of the war coming to an end?"

"Pretty much. In early July, frontline troops will begin to withdraw; by mid-July, the second-line troops will start falling back." Krell picked up a piece of beef with his hand and chewed on it.

"What are your plans for the future?" Velin took a small sip of wine and asked.

"I'll follow my old man's arrangements. Most likely, I'll stay on active duty and be responsible for the exchange student affairs involving the Aishi Magic Kingdom."

"That's a good gig!"

"It's good alright, but I won't have any leisurely days for the next three years," Krell said with a wry smile.

"Right, what about you? What are your plans?"