On the carriage, Anna sat upright, maintaining the poise and demeanor of a lady, which was quite a challenge for someone like her—a mage who had been an adventurer for several years.
But as the daughter of a former wealthy merchant, she still retained a faint trace of natural grace, preventing her movements from appearing awkward or stiff.
Anna had already changed out of her adventurer’s attire into an elegant gray long dress.
She had even taken a bath and carefully applied a bit of makeup to adorn herself, all of which had taken quite some time.
Used to going barefaced, she was almost forgetting how to dress up properly.
As an adventurer, she was always exposed to the wind and sun, making it difficult to maintain fair and delicate skin.
Coupled with her merely decent natural complexion, the beautiful dress on her seemed a bit out of place.
Fortunately, as a seasoned fourth-tier mage, her aura was unlike that of ordinary people.
Opposite Anna, Enya sat sideways.
Her long tail lazily draped over the seat, and her silver-white armor covered her body, obscuring her appearance.
At this moment, Enya appeared quite relaxed.
She was even humming a little tune in her mind.
After a while, Enya withdrew her gaze from outside the carriage and, through the slit in her helmet, cast a scrutinizing look at Anna sitting opposite her.
Anna noticed this gaze, swallowed hard, and her heart began to race.
She quietly spoke to Enya.
“…I don’t even know how to address you properly, senior.”
The golden-red vertical pupils behind the helmet blinked, narrowing slightly.
Anna felt the atmosphere grow heavy and worried she had said something wrong.
Just as she was about to say something to make amends, Enya spoke first.
“Ain, hmm, a traveler of the Dragon race.”
“Dr-Dragon race!”
Though Anna had always suspected as much—after all, both the horns and tail were visible.
The horns could be explained away as decoration, but the lively tail at the tip definitely didn’t look fake.
Anna’s gaze fixed on Enya’s tail as it swayed gently.
A Dragon race, really!
The northern mountains divided the northern and southern continents.
The Dragon race lived on the northern continent, while on the southern continent, dragons were rare, with demons being more common.
Anna grew increasingly curious about this senior.
When she was first rescued, she thought Senior Ain was secretly protecting Estelle from behind, but unexpectedly, Estelle acted as if she didn’t know Ain at all.
“May I ask, what is the relationship between the Dragon race and Draconic Beasts?”
“…”
Enya mentally consulted Pandrak, then relayed part of the response to Anna.
“It’s roughly like the relationship between humans and monkeys.”
Dragons, Draconic Beasts, and the Dragon race are actually related.
The Great Dragon is the origin of all.
The Dragon race and Draconic Beasts are like branches.
Pandrak’s meaning was that at the top of both the Dragon race and Draconic Beasts hierarchy is the Great Dragon.
So Enya might indeed have enemies among them.
Enya extended her hand, palm up, and a golden book appeared.
Anna’s eyes were instantly drawn to it.
Enya handed the book to Anna, who accepted it before Enya spoke again.
“This contains one hundred thousand gold coins.”
Anna immediately felt the weight in her hands and nearly dropped it.
The book wasn’t heavy—it weighed about the same as a normal paper book—but the real weight was in Enya’s words, as if the book had been enchanted, giving it a visibly tangible heaviness.
Anna’s forehead broke out in a fine sweat.
She couldn’t believe that this small book in her hands represented one hundred thousand gold coins!
What kind of scale is one hundred thousand gold coins?
In Redwood City, a commoner family’s total income and expenditure in a year, including taxes, didn’t reach a hundred gold coins.
Adventurers could earn money, but they couldn’t land big jobs every day or always find good loot or hunt high-tier monsters.
Anna had struggled for decades earning money in the northern mountains, maybe accumulating just over ten thousand gold coins.
Damn, this senior really is rich!
Anna’s legs weakened from the shock of hearing “one hundred thousand gold coins.”
Enya wondered if she had approached the wrong person and cleared her throat lightly.
“Ahem.”
Anna snapped back to reality, realizing she had been staring at the money in front of her, utterly lost.
Embarrassed beyond words, she suddenly stood up, only to bump her head against the carriage roof before sitting back down.
Her face flushed crimson.
She was mortified, itching all over and shrinking into herself, wishing she could find a hole to hide in for a while.
After a moment, Anna whispered faintly.
“I’ve made Senior Ain laugh at me…”
“It’s nothing.”
Enya twitched the corner of her mouth and continued, “I will conceal myself beside you. You take this money, and I’ll tell you exactly where to buy.”
“Understood.”
Anna nodded solemnly.
The North Gate of Redwood City was newly constructed.
The land here had been sold off before, but later was bought back by Henna and hasn’t been sold again since.
Enya planned to purchase some properties here.
Including some undeveloped plots of land…
The northern mountains separated the northern and southern continents, connected only by sea routes, which were not very convenient, so exchanges between north and south were limited.
Antiros had told Enya that Vivienne planned to build a port here.
When Enya was by Vivienne’s side before, she had heard a phrase.
Northern Route Project.
The Western Wind Empire—or rather, Vivienne—had already mastered and realized aerial transportation.
Antiros and Vivienne had a cooperative relationship.
The route from Redwood City to the Elven Kingdom was very short, with no overly powerful monsters along the way.
And now Vivienne was located in the Elven Kingdom.
This meant Vivienne intended to establish close contact between the northern and southern continents through the sky.
As for why…
Enya did not know, having never paid attention before.
But knowing this now, as a border outpost, Redwood City’s future traffic would increase significantly, and land around the port would become more valuable.
So Enya planned to invest here.
She wasn’t worried that Henna would refuse to sell, because Henna desperately needed money now and didn’t want to be chained by massive debt, so she could only sell some assets to get pure cash.
Before long, the carriage stopped in front of a mansion.
The coachman came over, opened the door, and respectfully addressed Anna as “Lady.”
Anna’s heart skipped a beat.
She looked at Enya.
Enya nodded at her.
Anna clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and then stepped out of the carriage.
At this moment, a twilight glow settled over Enya.
She had entered the layer between dream and reality, making her neither perceivable nor touchable.
Enya’s silver armor melted into a ball of white light, condensed into a silver water-drop earring hanging on her ear.
She stepped down from the carriage and followed behind Anna as they entered the mansion together.
Anna was greeted by a young and beautiful maid.
The maid gave Anna a once-over, then showed a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
To her, Anna’s skin was rough, and her complexion wasn’t fair or delicate—she didn’t look like a noble lady deserving respect.
No point flattering someone with no profit.
“Good day, madam. May I ask who you are…?”
“I intend to purchase property and land. Whom should I speak to?”
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