Chapter 2880 - 1101: Ripples on the Spring Lake

Chapter 2880: Chapter 1101: Ripples on the Spring Lake

The investigation results of the Lin Zhong Lake incident still haven’t come out.

By evening, yet another breaking news story grabbed most of the students’ attention.

The Northern District Wizard patrol squad that went into Silent Forest to "scavenge" (this term came back from Alpha Academy) got into a clash with the Beta Town Merchant Group’s Hunting team — apparently the two sides fell out over who owned a litter of little Houdou — the rumors don’t say clearly who threw the first punch, but the final outcome was that someone from the Beta Town Merchant Group’s Hunting team was seriously injured, while the Northern District Wizards’ patrol took away that litter of Houdou.

"—The Merchant Group over there flew into a rage, dragged out a Magic Carpet, put that badly wounded Hunter on it, and a huge crowd of Wizards just went straight to block off the North District Street Corner. The North District side obviously refused to back down; even though Jini Cottage didn’t step out, a whole bunch of Wizards still showed up. When I came back, I heard the standoff between the two sides still hadn’t ended. Trident Sword and the teaching assistant group both sent people over to maintain Order, terrified that one careless Spell might set everything off and the situation would spiral out of control."

In dorm 403, Xin Fat Man wiped the sweat off his forehead, talking with animated gestures, his face full of regret that the school had to impose a curfew, keeping him from staying on scene to keep "collecting material."

"No Big Wizards showed up? The school’s just going to let this thing keep snowballing?" Xiao Xiao lifted his head from the textbook Standard Potions · University Third Year, asking curiously.

The Fat Wizard’s expression instantly drooped.

He still hadn’t fully forgiven the Doctor’s "unauthorized Escape" — like just now, when talking about the conflict between Northern District Wizards and the Beta Town Merchant Group, he insisted on only looking at Zheng Qing as he spoke, as if the person sitting opposite across the table was nothing but thin air.

Zheng Qing cleared his throat.

"I think I roughly know why Sister Korma didn’t show up."

He guessed the Witch had probably gone to meet her "Primordial," but at the same time, he also found the school’s near-indulgent attitude a bit strange: "—But there’s no way the school can’t send out even a single Big Wizard, right?"

Faced with Zheng Qing’s question — which was almost identical to Xiao Xiao’s — the Fat Wizard’s attitude was completely different.

"I don’t know if the school’s short on manpower or not."

He answered Zheng Qing very enthusiastically: "But I do know that Trident Sword only sent Andrew alone to the scene, and the teaching assistant group only sent three Black-robed... put together, both sides don’t even make up the basic headcount of a Hunting team, so what are they using to mediate the conflict between both sides? The fact they can at least keep the situation from breaking into a fight is already pretty good."

The basic number for a Hunting team is five Hunters.

From that perspective, the personnel sent out by the school and Trident Sword really is slightly inadequate.

After a brief pause, the fatty brought up the attitude of most shopkeepers in Beta Town toward this incident: "—Right now, public opinion in town is very unfriendly toward Northern District Wizards. A lot of Elder Wizards privately use ’locusts’ to describe those Northern District Wizards, saying that wherever they pass through, nothing grows, and they’ve seriously damaged the business environment on Buji Island..."

"Have they really damaged it?"

Zheng Qing scratched his head, looking confused: "I don’t feel Beta Town is any different from before? Star charts at Green Grocery are still Five coppers a sheet, Green Bee is still two Silver Horns a bottle, roast spring chicken is twenty-four copper coins, the prices of Dragon bone powder and Dragons Blood Ink haven’t gotten more expensive either... it’s only standard Talisman prices that went up a bit, but isn’t that a good thing?"

"What’s changing is the raw materials market."

Xin Fat Man fished a bottle of coconut water out from who knows where, gulped down a couple mouthfuls by himself, then started talking again: "Northern District Wizards are stronger now, they dare to go deeper into the depths of Silent Forest to gather materials, and bring back a huge amount of Magic raw materials. They sell them really cheap, directly squeezing the profit margins of those shopkeepers in Beta Town who used to make money lying down — you just said most goods haven’t gotten more expensive? Pfft, at the current level that the North District is shipping stuff out, everything on the market ought to be dirt-cheap! If prices haven’t dropped, that only means there are still way too many shady merchants selling star charts, Green Bee, roast spring chicken!"

He fumed with indignation.

The bottle of coconut water in his hand had quietly reached the bottom.

"—In the words of some Elder Wizards on Pedestrian Street, the times have changed. Back then, those Northern District Wizards who went to Silent Forest to gather, whenever they saw a Merchant Group’s Hunting team, would proactively give way, even ’hand over’ the prey they had just collected. But ever since the Northern District Wizard Group started to take shape, Merchant Group Hunting teams have discovered their earnings getting smaller and smaller..."

"Serves them right." Zheng Qing drawled.

You didn’t even need to ask to know how brutally those Merchant Groups used to exploit Northern District people who went into the forest — including that bit about "handing over prey" the fatty just mentioned. Back when anyone had the guts to go deep into Silent Forest with only a Trickster’s level of skill, which of them wasn’t a hard case? To make that sort of hard case "willingly" hand over their catch, is that even possible?

If you look at it charitably, that’s strong-armed sales; if you look just a shade darker, it’s probably outright robbery, even murder for loot! Remember, Magic interference is extremely strong in the depths of Silent Forest; ordinary Diviners find it very hard to observe what happens deep in the woods. Unless the one in trouble is a student, if a Trickster or two goes missing in there, it would cause basically no ripple at all on the island.

Northern District folks might not even care.

"Even so."

Xin Fat Man shook his head, clearly worried about the hidden conflicts behind this clash: "Remember how the Beta Town Post analysis mentioned that the Northern District Wizard Group would squeeze the interests of the established Wizards in Beta Town? This is the most direct manifestation. Places Northern District Wizards couldn’t reach before, they can go now; prey Northern District Wizards used to sell off cheaply, now they sell at fair price or even dare to raise it... the fact that those Merchant Groups in Beta Town held back until now before making a move already exceeded my expectations."

"And then got the crap beaten out of them." Zheng Qing curled his lip.

He turned his head to look at Xiao Xiao.

Only to see that at some point Xiao Xiao had taken off his glasses, pinching a piece of red velvet cloth, absent-mindedly polishing the lenses, his eyes staring blankly ahead, obviously chewing on something.

"You see a problem?"

After two years as partners, Zheng Qing could tell at a glance that Doctor Xiao must have spotted something off.

"It’s right before finals, and the Edge Academy is about to be founded... at such a sensitive time, all these things suddenly pop up... the timing feels way too subtle."

Xiao Xiao pinched the glasses’ leg, thoughtful: "You know how when wind blows across a lake, you get ripples on the surface? Circle after circle, never-ending. But most people’s attention gets caught by those pretty ripples on the lake, and they ignore the wind that caused everything in the first place."

"You mean someone’s messing with things from behind the scenes?" Zheng Qing narrowed his eyes; the first suspects to flash through his mind were those creepy, elusive crows.

Xiao Xiao neither confirmed nor denied, slowly putting his glasses back on: "—I just think, if there really is a gust of wind blowing over the lake, the ripples it raises definitely won’t stop at just these two rings."