Once the gnome shopkeeper finished the appraisal, he set the metal sphere on the table. xX_ShadowBlade_Xx scooped it up and cradled it in his arms like it was his own precious property, not caring in the slightest about the fact that the thing had just been licked all over by the shopkeeper.
"So this thing's actually a key to the Ancient Ruins — this might be the prerequisite quest for an instance we'll be running later. Can't believe it triggered for the two of US."
Cradling the metal sphere, xX_ShadowBlade_Xx babbled on at Arthur beside him:
"I've GOT to add this to tonight's guide."
The gnome shopkeeper had clearly gotten used to the two goblins' gibberish by now; without missing a beat, he went on:
"It may be a key to the Ancient Ruins, but since we don't yet know WHICH ruins it opens, I can't possibly offer too high a price — there's no way to liquidate it right away. I'll offer five thousand magic stones!"
After hearing the gnome shopkeeper out, Sharlock called to xX_ShadowBlade_Xx and Arthur and made to leave. Normally, if you could actually locate the ruins, a key alone would fetch no less than fifty thousand magic stones — selling for a mere five thousand would be a straight-up loss.
Seeing Sharlock about to walk, the gnome shopkeeper panicked, hurried over to him, and said with a smile:
"My lord, the price is absolutely still negotiable! I'll go up to six thousand magic stones, plus a complimentary little gift."
Sharlock was just opening his mouth to refuse when the gnome shopkeeper raised one finger and rapid-fired:
"I know exactly what you're going to say, my lord. You're planning to hunt down these Ancient Ruins yourself! But pinpointing the ruins with nothing but the key is a seriously thorny business — unless you're a master of BOTH archaeology and magic, you could search a hundred years without finding it. You'll absolutely need a professional. And professionals? Their fees alone would run higher than the key itself! However you crunch the numbers, it's just not a profitable deal. Better to sell it to me — and if I do find the Ancient Ruins, I'll gladly SHARE the exploration rights with you, Your Lordship the Demon Lord! Six thousand magic stones, one little gift, and the exploration rights to the Ancient Ruins — this is the very furthest this shop can bend!"
Sharlock ran the numbers. As the shopkeeper said, hunting down the Ancient Ruins himself would cost a bit too much — better to let the shop do the hunting. Then he could still swing by the ruins for a stroll, and if he managed to snag anything valuable, no harm done.
"I can live with that — but I want to see this complimentary gift of yours first. If it's just some ordinary thing that doesn't satisfy me, I'll be asking for ten thousand magic stones PLUS the exploration rights to the Ancient Ruins."
"SHARED exploration rights to the Ancient Ruins, my lord." The gnome shopkeeper, apparently very worried about Sharlock playing word games, stressed that point, then headed toward the back of the shop. "One moment please, I'll bring out the little gift right now — cost me a small fortune to get my hands on it."
Before long the gnome shopkeeper wheeled out a cage, and inside the cage was a little pixie with a pair of translucent wings. The pixie was about the size of a goblin, gave off a faint soft glow, and wore an outfit stitched together from flowers, grass, and green leaves — clearly a female pixie. At the moment she was huddled in the corner of the cage, terror all over her face — though honestly, the cage wasn't much bigger than she was; even scrunched into the corner, she took up nearly half the space.
"A pixie of the Tree of Life! A master of herbology and potionology. The herbs they grow work miracles eaten raw, or serve as materials for high-tier alchemy — with the crudest raw materials, they can brew the highest-grade potions. A simply outstanding return on investment. The only trouble is, this particular pixie is a bit... stubborn. Ever since she arrived, she has refused to speak a word, let alone grow herbs or brew potions for me. Lately she's started a hunger strike — planning to starve herself to death, I'd wager. Rather than let her die hungry in my shop, better to give her to you as a gift, my lord. A dead pixie, after all, is worth nothing."
As he said all this, the gnome shopkeeper wheeled the pixie over right in front of Arthur.
The little pixie looked at Arthur, xX_ShadowBlade_Xx, and Sharlock before her, and the terror in her eyes deepened. Two goblins and a Demon Lord — with possibly an entire dungeon full of monsters waiting for her on top of it. She couldn't even imagine what horrors her life from now on would be lived in. She closed her eyes and trembled. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
By Sharlock's aesthetic standards, this pixie wasn't much to look at — all multicolored and kind of weird-looking. But a pixie who could grow herbs and brew potions? Sharlock figured he'd have a use for her eventually.
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Arthur and xX_ShadowBlade_Xx, naturally, had never seen a pixie before. xX_ShadowBlade_Xx especially was bursting with curiosity, circling the little pixie round and round several times.
Sharlock and the owner of the 【Welcome Wagon Magic Goods Shop】 formally reached an agreement. The gnome shopkeeper quickly drafted a contract, both of them signed it, then clasped hands — a magical sigil bloomed where their hands met, and with that, the deal was officially sealed.
Sharlock took his copy of the contract and left his address so the gnome shopkeeper could contact him later, and the shopkeeper transferred six thousand magic stones onto Sharlock's personal little card. Arthur took the cage with the pixie in it, while xX_ShadowBlade_Xx — visibly reluctant — handed the Ancient Ruins key over to the gnome shopkeeper. The shopkeeper stored the key away with the utmost care, then enthusiastically saw Sharlock's group out of the shop.
Looking at the card in his hand, Sharlock felt a little moved. At the very least, Simba's wages were covered — he could even buy some food to bring back. The Eternal Kingdom did have a hundred goblins to feed, after all. He'd already opened up the Spider Nest for them so they could hunt their own game, but those goblins had zero combat experience. Getting a stable food supply out of the Spider Nest was clearly going to take some time.
Six thousand magic stones — that was no small sum! Life really was dramatic sometimes. Who could've guessed there was treasure like this in the spider nest next door? With money in hand, Sharlock strolled the market with a whole new confidence: first he finished buying essentials like food, then picked up a bunch of teleport scrolls, and then walked into a shop whose doorway was crammed with all kinds of rotting plants. The sign out front read 【The Secret Garden】.
It was a gardening shop. On the surface, at least.
Sharlock walked into the shop, while Arthur and xX_ShadowBlade_Xx, hauling way too much stuff behind him, were ordered to wait outside — the goods weren't convenient to lug in, and frankly it was for their own safety. Even with Arthur and xX_ShadowBlade_Xx both visibly sulking about it, a direct order from the Dungeon Lord was not something the two of them could refuse.
"Aww, and I wanted to go in and see the story content..."
As Sharlock entered 【The Secret Garden】, xX_ShadowBlade_Xx said wistfully.
As a gardening shop, 【The Secret Garden】 was naturally stocked with all kinds of floral art. A plant covered in tentacle suckers coiled in an enormous flowerpot; a huge bloom as tall as a person chewed away endlessly, red blood slowly seeping out where the root met the stem; green vines bristling with sharp barbs were wrapped around a goat, their flesh-spines sunk into its body — you could see something slowly squirming through the stems...
What a peaceful, heartwarming scene! Sharlock gazed at these adorable, beautiful plants and couldn't help but marvel.
"Welcome, welcome! We've just gotten in lots of new varieties — plenty of medium-to-large potted plants too, absolutely perfect for admiring over a leisurely afternoon tea!"
A burly minotaur in an apron was grooming the goat-eating vine plant with shears, chatting warmly all the while. With one snip he cut off a stray length of vine, and the plant immediately curled in on itself, crushing the goat it was holding into a whole new shape — thankfully the goat was long dead, or it would've suffered that much more. As for the little section of vine that got snipped off, it thrashed and writhed on the ground in agony, just like a snake with its head cut off.
"My dungeon needs a new flowerbed built — big area, impressive layout. I'll also take some herb seeds — lots of variety, your very best!"
Once Sharlock finished, the minotaur pulled out some paper, scribbled away for a bit, then presented it to Sharlock:
"A good flowerbed demands premium soil — especially if what you're growing is the finest herbs, which are even pickier about soil. Nothing suits better than soil from the deepest layer, the Realm of the Dead! For watering and fertilizing, ordinary groundwater and fertilizer simply won't do — I recommend the two-for-one well water from the Well of Eternity beneath the Tree of Life. A single drop irrigates a whole swath of flowerbed and field. Naturally, the price is higher as well. As for seeds, we carry many high-grade herb seeds — the most popular here in the Underworld being..."
The minotaur was still droning on over his paper when Sharlock raised a hand and cut him off. Sharlock said: Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
"Everything else is fine. The seeds need a bit of special attention, though — because the one doing the planting may be a pixie."
The minotaur shopkeeper had a sudden realization, lifted a hoof to his chin, pondered a moment, and said:
"In that case, we definitely do need to be careful — Underworld plants really might treat a pixie as a snack. The seed side of things may take a little extra time; smuggling herb seeds out from the World Tree is a rather delicate business. But rest assured, the quality of those seeds is absolutely guaranteed. It's only the price that..."
Sharlock gave a magnanimous wave of his hand. "Price is no issue! Any problem magic stones can solve is no problem in my book!"
"What a generous customer! Your total comes to one hundred thousand magic stones!"
The flowerbed deal got done in the end — though the soil wasn't from the deepest-layer Realm of the Dead, just the Underworld's more ordinary kind. Nor would they use Well of Eternity water for watering and fertilizing; that stuff was saturated with mana, and mana isn't necessarily a good thing for ordinary soil. A proper groundwater well setup could draw sweet, fresh groundwater — perfect for watering and drinking alike. For fertilizer, one top-shelf compound fertilizer would more than suffice. As for the seeds, Sharlock went with the World Tree herb seeds — the quality of the seed directly determines what kind of thing actually grows, after all. Skimp anywhere you like, but NOT on that!
Once everything was settled, it came to five thousand magic stones — a good deal less than a hundred thousand, sure, but still a hefty purchase. The minotaur shopkeeper enthusiastically saw Sharlock off all the same, then arranged for a stonefolk construction crew to follow Sharlock back to his dungeon.
Sharlock's card now held less than five hundred magic stones. Rich one minute, poverty-class the next — what a rollercoaster. Sharlock felt deeply moved.
But this was an investment in the dungeon, after all — spending some magic stones on it was entirely necessary.
Returning through the portal reception hall to the Eternal Kingdom dungeon, the group got a rousing welcome from the otherworldly players, loaded down with hauls as they were. The stonefolk were pushing through the crowd to scout out a construction site when xX_ShadowBlade_Xx hollered at the top of his lungs:
"My lord! The little pixie passed out!"
══════════════════════ DUNGEON LORD'S NOTE ═══════════════════════
Rich to broke in one trip: banked six thousand selling the ruins key, dropped five thousand at a man-eating plant shop, and a hunger-striking pixie came free.
Was the pixie a bargain or a trap?
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