Chapter 150: Trade

Leon and Elara both swallowed.

Seeing their expressions, Ethan smiled and nodded.

The two no longer stood on ceremony, they picked up their chopsticks, grabbed a piece of the omelet, and put it into their mouths.

"This is too delicious..."

The sweetness of the egg, the savory saltiness of the bacon, coupled with the crispness of the vegetables — the various flavors blended together perfectly, leaving an endless aftertaste.

Just as the two were immersed in the delicious food, other dishes were successively brought to the table.

"Everyone, dig in, no need to be polite."

"How could we start without you? Let’s all eat together."

"I can’t let my guests eat by themselves, Zharok, come over and sit down too."

"Alright."

Seeing Zharok, Liora, and Pearl all sit down and start feasting, the other elves also took their seats and dove into the delicious lunch as well.

"Wow... this is incredibly delicious."

"These vegetables are so fresh."

"Just picked, of course they’re fresh, so crisp and tasty."

"The roasted meat is even better than last time, Mr. Ethan, your cooking truly keeps getting better and better."

"Haha, people always have to improve, after all."

Ethan sat down and enjoyed lunch with everyone.

After eating and drinking to their hearts’ content, everyone slumped back in their chairs, they sipped the coffee Ethan had brewed while chatting casually.

"We should have helped with the dishes," Leon said, a bit embarrassed, glancing at Walter, Zharok, Liora, and Pearl busy in the kitchen.

Ethan shook his head. "You brought so many ingredients; that was already a huge help, speaking of which, it’s been a long time since I’ve had such delicious mutton and cheese."

"I’m glad you like it."

"Phew... this coffee is wonderful." Elara breathed in the steam.

"Brewed with the beans you recommended last time, how does it taste?"

"I brought some good beans this time as well, it seems you’ve already mastered the roasting techniques."

"I’ve been practicing controlling the temperature with it." Ethan set his cup down.

"Alright, let’s continue with our previous topic."

"Our previous topic... Ah, right, Marquis Karloitz."

Leon brought up Marquis Karloitz — the elven noble who had clashed with Ethan in the Elven Kingdom last time — and his expression turned somewhat grave.

He fell silent for a moment, as if unsure where to begin, then, as if making up his mind, he spoke. "Marquis Karloitz... he wants to invade the Great Forest."

"What?" Ethan stared.

’What kind of nonsense is this?’

Elara also nodded, she had heard about this matter as well, moreover, she had even received an invitation from Karloitz.

"The cause of all this is the Mana Grass you brought, Mr. Ethan."

To elves, Mana Grass was invaluable, not only could it serve as a medium for powerful magic, but it could also be used to craft magical items, since humanity’s disappearance, the elves had been unable to cultivate it and could only rely on substitutes.

Recently, however, news that a massive supply of Mana Grass existed in the Great Forest had spread like wildfire throughout the Elven Kingdom.

And Marquis Karloitz had set his sights on exactly this.

"He began spreading rumors, saying there’s a massive natural growing ground for Mana Grass inside the Great Forest."

"Not only that — he also claimed the forest produces special crops like honey sweet potatoes."

In the past, the trade volume of such crops had been very small, but once Ethan began cultivating them on a large scale, the supply had grown significantly, Marquis Karloitz seized on that fact and publicized it far and wide.

"Marquis Karloitz also has some understanding of agriculture, he knows that although humans can grow crops, it takes a long time to harvest them, yet the crops you provide, Mr. Ethan, have astonishingly high yields, and they’re harvested unbelievably fast."

"Therefore, he doesn’t believe the Mana Grass and other crops were grown by you."

Marquis Karloitz did not know that Ethan possessed Green Thumb, Growth Acceleration, or the blessings of Goddess Gaia, that was why he had come up with such an idea.

He believed there was a massive natural growing ground somewhere inside the Great Forest, and that Ethan had simply discovered that place and brought the crops out to sell.

"Although the claim is rather far-fetched, the temptation of Mana Grass is simply too great, many elves believed his words."

"They say that if they invade the Great Forest and occupy it, they can obtain massive amounts of food and Mana Grass."

All along, the elves had been indifferent to the Great Forest, believing it to be nothing but a worthless wasteland, but now, they had suddenly discovered that this wasteland actually held such immense wealth, naturally, they started scheming.

"That’s absolute nonsense."

"Yeah..." Ethan and Leon, both well aware of just how dangerous the Great Forest truly was, sighed in unison.

Elara gave a wry smile. "I used to be like them, thinking the Great Forest was just a barren wasteland, it wasn’t until I saw it with my own eyes that I understood how dangerous it truly is."

"Now that they’ve learned this wasteland supposedly harbors such massive wealth, crooked thoughts are inevitable."

Ethan smiled wryly and shook his head, it seemed that whether human or elf, none could escape the temptation of greed.

He picked up his coffee, which had already grown a bit cold, and took a sip. "So what is the situation now?"

"Currently, it’s still in the discussion phase, but I’m afraid it won’t be long before they organize an expedition."

"Can’t you talk some sense into them?"

"I’m afraid that will be very difficult... Although we don’t yet know who the captain of the expedition team will be, it’s highly likely to be one of Marquis Karloitz’s people, if that’s the case, it will be very hard to resolve the issue through negotiation."

"Furthermore, there is the issue of the World Tree."

The elves had once personally caused the World Tree’s withering, to them, that was an unerasable shame and sin.

"If they discover the World Tree exists, what happens? Will they use the excuse that we can take better care of it to try and seize it?" Leon asked.

"They already failed once, would they really make the same mistake?" Ethan said.

Elara’s voice was steady but hard. "It’s precisely because they failed once that they’re even more desperate to succeed."

Ethan let out a long sigh, these people were truly out of their minds.

To actually set their sights on the World Tree — that was nothing short of suicide, one had to remember, this was the giant dragon’s territory, no matter how powerful the elves were, they could absolutely never be a match for her.

"Once the expedition team arrives, I’ll go and explain things to them personally."

"I hope they will listen." Leon’s expression was serious.

"However, I worry they won’t let it go at that, when the time comes, I’m afraid they will cause trouble for you." He didn’t care about his compatriots who were blinded by greed, what worried him was that Ethan would be implicated in this matter, and consequently abandon his trade with the elves.

Ethan saw right through him and smiled. "Even if I clash with them, it won’t affect trade between us."