Chapter 132: Pass This Message to Your Brother

Chapter 132

Pass This Message to Your Brother

What the Rhea Kingdom sought in exchange was for Gaia to produce potions for beasts. Meanwhile, the Hestia Kingdom had limited capacity, barely able to produce enough potions for humans.

The people of Hestia Kingdom were different from those of Gaia Kingdom, where over 90% focused on learning and researching potions. In Hestia, the division was 70% and 30%, which this group of 30% was the hunters, and they were the primary consumers of the kingdom. Therefore, coupled with the demands of other kingdoms, they didn’t have enough people to produce potions for sale, let alone for beasts.

Unable to reach an agreement with Hestia Kingdom, Rhea turned to Gaia. Here, there were only a handful of hunters, as most people preferred research and potion concocting. However, this also imposed significant limitations.

They rarely hunted for resources to develop their kingdom, resulting in their potion formulas being of lower quality than those of Hestia Kingdom. With less than 10% of the population being hunters, they didn’t have sufficient strength. Often, they had to hire hunters from the Ares Kingdom, which came at the cost of higher exchange rates.

It’s no wonder the Max family was eager to collaborate with the Setter family. With just a small group of hunters, they could gather abundant resources, like the Sapphire Dragon Scale. No matter how much they desired this herb, the chances of obtaining it were 0 because the hunters wouldn’t give them such a valuable resource.

Collaborating with the Rhea Kingdom seemed promising, as they were willing to send beasts to Gaia Kingdom to strengthen their forces. However, it was unfortunate that the people in Gaia weren’t interested in entering the Tower of Eternity, so they didn’t value the beasts as much as they should.

Most of the beasts they chose were those that enhanced their potion-concocting abilities, not combat-oriented beasts. Therefore, if one were to buy beasts here, they wouldn’t find strong combat beasts...The Rhea Kingdom wouldn’t be foolish enough to send high-level beasts, which were costly to maintain, knowing they wouldn’t sell.

Nevertheless, Ellie wasn’t here to look for high-level beasts.

She already had one in her care, a fluffy little “Nocturnal Rabbit.” Although she could buy a beast storage ring in the Ares Kingdom, its price was exorbitant compared to the Rhea Kingdom, or even in the Gaia Kingdom, it was still cheaper. Not to mention other goods with skyrocketing prices, such as beast recovery potions. While Ares sold them for over 100 gold coins, Gaia sold them for 1 gold coin, and Rhea for about 50 silver coins.

Even though the Gaia Kingdom was a base for producing potions for beasts, their contract stipulated that 90% must be sent to the Rhea Kingdom. This naturally increased the price of the remaining 10%. The low demand among Gaia’s people made these potions a niche market, so it’s no surprise that shops had no reserves left.

After knowing her objective, Ellie slowly made her way towards it. There weren’t many shops related to beasts in the Gaia Kingdom, but they were quite distinctive. Surrounded by shops dealing in potions and herbs, their symbols were typically various herbs or colorful potion bottles. With so many of them, the scene became a blur. In contrast, shops selling beast-related goods used eye-catching symbols of exotic beasts, making them easy to spot at a glance.

Previously, shops related to beasts weren’t very busy, but with the upcoming competition, people from different cities showed interest in these shops. Though they were a minority in their own kingdom, there were still people like Ellie who had come to own beasts by chance, or others who had always intended to raise beasts.

“Professor Lily, will this place really have potion to heal my beast?” asked a young girl fully cloaked. Her words and demeanor caught Ellie’s attention as she walked by.

The name “Professor Lily” the other girl called was very familiar to students at the Ares Institute.

“This place is a hub for producing potions for beasts. You need not worry. If we still can’t find it, I’ll have our family contact the Rhea Kingdom directly. Your injured beast will get the treatment it needs,” replied a middle-aged woman to her student.

The conversation reminded Ellie of a certain professor at the institute, a renowned hunter in the Ares Kingdom. Unlike others who used their own magic powers for hunting, this professor used beasts, similar to the methods of the Rhea Kingdom. She was often teased about possibly having Rhea Kingdom ancestry due to her unique hunting style.

According to her history, this professor encountered her bonded beast while still a student. Like other students, she was performing missions in the outskirts. During one such mission, she unexpectedly faced fierce enemies in the form of tiger-type beasts. After dealing with them, it turned out that the reason for their aggression was their cub.

The mother tiger had brought her cub outside the forest for safety. In search of meat to feed her cub, she encountered villagers. In the mother tiger’s eyes, humans were no different from other animals; they were just food. After killing humans to feed her cubs, a distress call was sent to the institute.

The cub was supposed to be killed as well since it was considered a threat. However, somehow, the cub came to see Professor Lily as its mother and followed her, becoming her pet to this day.

Professor Lily became a professor at the Ares Institute, overseeing about 7 to 8 students. Although this number seemed small, it was still more than the students who used botanic power. Her students were those interested in fighting alongside beasts. Even though they hadn’t yet made a significant impact, they were invited to participate in the annual beast-fighting competitions, adding some excitement to the institution.

It seemed that there had been a beast-fighting competition before this major tournament, and during the fights, some students’ beasts had gotten injured.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Mmm, follow me. Don’t let anyone know we’re from Ares. I don’t trust the people of Gaia. If they find out, who knows how they’ll exploit us.”

“Yes, Professor, I will try my best.” After agreeing, the student and professor walked inside gracefully, as if they were native to the Gaia Kingdom. However, their demeanor couldn’t completely conceal their aura as hunters.

Even though both of them were beast tamers like the people of Rhea, their lingering killing aura made it easy to deduce that they were from Ares. If the people of Rhea wanted goods, they would buy them in their own kingdom, wouldn’t they? On the other hand...people from Gaia exuded an aura of knowledge. Just by walking by, one could smell the herbs they carried. In contrast, the only scent clinging to these two was the blood of hunters.

She noticed that as soon as they entered the shop, the beast at the front sniffed the air and signaled to the staff, revealing their true status. It was no surprise that the staff displayed a rather cunning smile.

“Is there anything specific you are looking for? I can bring out the items you need to view before making a purchase.”

“Uh, I need potions for beasts. What kinds do you have in this shop?” Professor Lily did not specify that she needed potions for severe internal injuries, as that would easily reveal their identity.

However, she didn’t know that the attendant already knew. Upon hearing the customer’s request, the attendant immediately understood what they were looking for.

“Potions for beasts come in various types. Growth or power restorative potions for beasts are priced at 10 gold coins. Potions for enhancing attributes like speed, strength, or others cost 30 gold coins. But if you’re looking for healing potions and other remedies for beasts, they start at 50 gold coins. What type of potion do you need?”

Hearing the prices, the female student’s eyes lit up. Compared to the healing potions in the Ares Kingdom, these were much cheaper. Only 50 gold coins here, while in Ares, potions for beasts cost 100 gold coins, making them unaffordable for the average person. No wonder beasts weren’t popular there...

Ellie didn’t follow them inside, but from her observations, if it were Gaia’s people who enter this shop, they would pay only a few gold coins. The profit margin on sales like these was over 40 gold coins, making it quite the rip-off.

Initially, Ellie wanted to follow the two inside to eavesdrop, hoping to gain some useful information. However, after seeing they were also struggling in this situation, she decided it might be better to take her chances alone.

She stopped at a shop selling magical equipment. The items here weren’t high-end, but they were certainly magical equipment. Ellie wasn’t particularly interested; she was just killing time. While browsing, a man walked up beside her, casting a long shadow. Ellie wasn’t inclined to pay attention, but she felt his gaze on her.

“Are you staring at me?” Ellie asked directly.

The young man wore only a woven hat, his face completely uncovered. Fortunately, he wasn’t wearing any official attire, or it would surely cause a commotion.

“Ah...you noticed.” She wanted to roll her eyes. Did he really need to ask? It was obvious she would notice his intense gaze, practically lifting her veil with his eyes.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Really, you don’t recognize me?”

"............." Ellie remained silent while the young man nodded to himself.

“You must be from the Gaia Kingdom? Or perhaps Hestia? I can smell the herbs on you.” It wasn’t surprising that the scent of herbs lingered on her, as she had been busy concocting potions for the competition. This was a characteristic of people from Hestia and Gaia.

“Ah...but I doubt that. You...must be from the Ares Kingdom.” The young man smiled cunningly. He leaned in closer to Ellie, causing her to step back.

“You’re probably wondering how I know, right? It’s because I’ve met your elder brother before.”

“My elder brother?”

“Yes...your brother is a hunter. I met him at the Tower of Eternity. His frame is just like you. At first, I was confused. If I hadn’t realized you were a girl, I would have thought he was here too.”

Ellie remained silent, realizing that the man before her was overly fixated on the status of "Luke." And yes...he was the prince she had hoped to avoid.

This prince was indeed observant. Despite there being many small, inconspicuous girls around, he had zeroed in on her and revealed himself with such confidence, certain that a countryside girl like her wouldn’t recognize him as a prince.

“Aren’t you going to ask anything? You’re just like your brother. He didn’t like talking to me either. Do you also dislike talking to me? But I would like to speak with your brother too.”

“Pass on a message to him for me. Tell him I will no longer follow him. He doesn’t need to avoid me. I now have reliable members in my hunting party. If he ever wants to join me, he can always tell me. I’m ready to give him a chance, but by then, he won’t be a fellow hunter but one of my subordinates.”

The prince spoke proudly. Seeing that Ellie didn’t want to talk, he didn’t let her get a word in, merely expressing his own thoughts. These were, of course, sentiments Ellie had no desire to hear from him.