Chapter 326 - 320: It’s My Loss If the Grave Isn’t Destroyed (Part 2)

Chapter 326: Chapter 320: It’s My Loss If the Grave Isn’t Destroyed (Part 2)

Akenis were known for being emotionally detached, but there were always exceptions. The student who received the third issue, Sedro, had a father who adored him, making theirs a rare family blessed with genuine affection. It was his father who had bought the issue for him from the Commerce Capital.

"Hey, everyone, come take a look!!"

Even in a society thoroughly corrupted by commercial interests, schools remained a sliver of sanctum. The bonds between classmates had not yet been washed away by the pursuit of money that awaited them.

It wasn’t just his dorm; students from nearby rooms who got the news all came over to join in the excitement.

"The young magnate and newly appointed honorary member of the Commerce Guild, Lord Pipi, will be speaking on behalf of the Guild at the upcoming Business Achievement Conference. His accomplishments and dynamism prove that the younger generation of Akenis are an indispensable part of our people. He once told our reporters bluntly, ’The future belongs to the young!’..."

After that passage was read, all the Ear-Piercing Monsters present were fired up. Compared to those old merchants who loved to flaunt their wealth, *this* was a true role model.

The influence of an idol is a powerful thing, and creating one is naturally an important tool. This strategy was already beginning to bear fruit.

One person read while the others listened. Whenever they came to an illustration, they would hold it up for everyone to see. With the sharp eyesight of Magic Creatures, it was perfectly clear.

Little by little, the contents of the journal were revealed.

Naturally, there were also stories marked as "True Events," ranging from tales of success to the downfall of failures.

An article titled ’Thoughts at the Time of Death’ was placed at the very end of the issue.

"I am a two-hundred-year-old Akenis, and my life is about to end. I am very happy that the famous *Business Opportunities Information Guide* has come to interview me at this moment. I know this is an honor reserved for important figures. Yes, I’m very happy. I’ve feigned happiness countless times in my life. This time is the exception."

Such an opening immediately captivated all the students.

What does an old merchant think about before he dies? His vast fortune? A lavish funeral?

"Over a hundred years ago, I met an Elf from Morgan Lake. Yes, one of the world’s most mystical Magic Creatures—an Elf! And for some reason, she really liked me. I don’t know if you, the reader, can understand this, but in short, she believed every word I said..."

An Elf? An Elf who liked an *Akenis*!

This was truly unheard-of. The Akenis were disliked by many magical beings; for an Elf to be so fond of one was as thrilling to these students as it would be for someone discovering their first fantasy novel, stirring a restless excitement within them.

"The next year, I sold her out. A careless boast during a business dealing piqued my buyer’s interest. They were Krotan Insect Beastmen, distant relatives of the Horned Demon Beasts. In exchange for the lake’s location, I received two shed horns from a Horned Demon Beast. That was the foundation of my fortune, worth 50,000 Crystal Shields! I used that money..."

At this point in the story, some students in the dorm were envious of the money, but most of them remained silent.

The story then went into the merchant’s rise to wealth, continuing until it picked up again several years later.

"I passed by that lake again, and she was still there! HAHAHAHA... Those Krotan Insect Beastmen truly overestimated themselves. They didn’t bring enough strength and dared to try and capture an Elf! At that moment, I was truly happy!!"

Reading this, all the students felt a strange sense of relief.

"I tricked the Lake Elf out of her Water Magic Power Pearl. It cost me nothing. I just said I had enemies coming for me and needed to borrow it, and she actually gave it to me! Heavens, are all Elves this stupid?!"

The story then described how he used the precious Water Magic Power Pearl to pioneer new trade routes, find his own passage to an Otherworld, and subsequently sell the pearl for a high price to a Secret Realm Fairy from Magson.

This Akenis’s methods, which maximized profit, were a textbook example of good business. Yet the students reading about it were completely silent.

The young women, in particular, wore very solemn expressions.

The story once again returned to his rise to wealth. More than a decade passed.

"I tore up the contract, leaving my partner to die at the hands of a Shadow Soulless. The witness to that contract was a powerful Weaver of the Saladin Demon Race from the Delan Garden World. My greed had truly gone too far, and now I was in trouble. He was actually right here in Lobelica! The moment the Contract Scroll burst into flames, I knew he was coming to kill me!!"

"I thought of Logan Lake. Of all the beings I knew, if anyone could stop that Weaver, it would be the Lake Elf. But I had already sold her Water Magic Power Pearl. She was like a Tree Shepherd without its Heart of Nature... What was I supposed to do?!"

"Perhaps there was one other way!"

"I waited for the Weaver to arrive. He seemed surprised by my calmness and didn’t attack immediately... I put my business talents to use, making a trade for my life. Thank the heavens, he was very interested in the Lake Elf!"

Reading this, all the Akenis in the dorm felt an unfamiliar impulse stirring within them, and a heavy sense of dread settled over the room.

"I led the Weaver to Logan Lake. The Saladin Demon Race are not the fools they once were; he had summoned several accomplices, each one exuding an aura of Magic Power..."

"She was so happy to see me, just like the first time we met..."

Here, the story didn’t describe the battle between the Elf and the Weaver, instead jumping ahead more than a decade.

"I passed by Logan Lake once more, but she wasn’t there... I knew she would never appear again. Still, I made a point of passing by here every few years..."

"Now I’m dying... and her image appears in my mind once more. Are Elves really that foolish? I ask myself this again. Or was it just her?"

"Now I’m dying... I once tried to find the Magic Power Pearl I had sold, but most Fairies are too proud and disdain any extensive contact with the Akenis."

"In this life, I gained so much... but it seems I lost just as much!"

"Are Elves really that foolish? Or was it just her?"

"—From an interview with the great merchant Kekyiru before his death."

The students’ mood was utterly bleak and frustrated. A simmering rage demanded release. Some of the female Akenis, in particular, found themselves moved to tears for the first time in decades.

The third issue of the *Business Opportunities Information Guide* spread like wildfire. And the first person to encourage the "pirating" of copies wasn’t some other Akenis seizing a business opportunity, but Pipi himself.

’Thoughts at the Time of Death’ in particular influenced the younger generation at an alarming rate.

As for the great merchant Kekyiru’s gravesite, on the very night the journal was published, it was razed to the ground by young and even some older Akenis. Waves of Akenis who arrived late scoured the utterly destroyed site, just so they could unleash their own most powerful magic on what little remained.

Pipi had long been hidden on a distant hilltop, watching the cemetery. Now, his Mentor’s words echoed in his mind.

"A fantasy romance the likes of which has never been seen, paired with a tragic and bleak ending—nothing creates a more powerful emotional impact. If Kekyiru’s grave is still standing tomorrow morning, then I lose!"

PS: Chapter two, for Tuesday.