A Bloody Incident Caused by a Winter Thorn Grass

The Half-Elf girl ran very fast and slipped into a house in the blink of an eye.

Moira glanced at the gate but didn't run inside immediately, after all, it was someone else's house.

She hung on the courtyard wall with both arms and peeked into the yard.

The yard was very clean. It was a small yard with a date palm tree in one corner and a swing hanging under it. When the wind blew, the leaves hanging from the date palm tree danced incessantly.

The door was open, and the house was well-lit.

The Half-Elf girl poured the medicinal liquid from the small pot into a wooden cup. Even from more than ten meters away, Moira could smell the bitter aroma of Hemostatic Herb emanating from the liquid.

Moira crouched against the wall, hidden by the shadow of the eaves.

Miss Tiffany caught up from behind and called softly to Moira, who was perched on the wall like a tabby cat, "Hey, Moira, get down here right now..."

Moira turned around, put her finger to her lips, gestured for Miss Tiffany to be quiet, and with a mischievous smile on her face, she leaped into the yard.

Miss Tiffany bit her lower lip in anger, vowing in her heart that she would never go shopping with Moira again.

Moira hung from the roof tiles, her hair cascading down like a waterfall, followed by her full forehead and large, black, crystal-like eyes.

Through the window, she saw a middle-aged male elf lying on the bed, looking sick and somewhat weak.

Moira then noticed the bruises on the male elf's face and realized that he might be injured.

Hearing a series of soft noises, the Half-Elf girl carefully carried the cup from the outer room into the bedroom. Standing by the bed, she fed the medicine to the unconscious male elf. Some medicine spilled from the corner of his mouth, which the girl quickly wiped away with a handkerchief, then whispered:

"Dad, you must get better soon."

Looking at her adorable appearance, it was as if a finger had touched Moira's softest heart, reminding her of an experience from her childhood. During that time, Jillian was very ill, and Moira was only a little girl herself. During that time, she felt that the whole world was gray.

Fortunately, Sabrina was there for her at that time, and Sabrina held up her sky.

The little girl fed the middle-aged elf the medicine, washed the cup and small pot, and placed them on the table in the outer room. Then the little girl ran to the yard to wash clothes.

While washing the clothes, she squatted in the corner and secretly wiped away her tears.

Moira wanted to help, but didn't know how. She secretly slipped off the roof and ran back to the street, feeling dejected.

Miss Tiffany was leaning against the wall, holding the water bag above her head and pouring water over her head.

Seeing Moira return looking dejected, he asked with concern:

"Moira, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little homesick..."

After Moira finished speaking, she took Miss Tiffany's arm and walked out of the alley.

Woods walked through the Free Market, his heart filled with conflict. He never expected that the biggest market tycoon in the market would be Roy.

This market isn't actually that big; it's only about 200 meters long from one side to the other.

The stalls set up by outside merchants and Half-Elf gatherers were clearly separated in the market, forming two completely incompatible areas.

Especially at the intersection near the Prisoner of War Camp in the Free Market, there was a stall selling poison horn bison meat. Bloody iron hooks were hung with lots of bright red flesh, which made Woods frown as he passed by...

Like many elves, Woods is extremely disgusted by the killing of animals.

However, many Half-Elf hunters don't care about this. Although they don't eat animal meat, they don't mind hunting these beasts.

In order to obtain some precious magical materials, the elves would enter the forest to hunt magical beasts.

In the eyes of the Half-Elf, herbivores like the Unicorn Wild Ox and argali on the plains are no different from the magical beasts in the forest; they are all prey.

Woods squatted in front of a Half-Elf gatherer's stall, which displayed the roots and stems of various plants. Although there were no Magic Herbs, Woods was curious about the species of these plants.

"Look how well these roots of the Lantern Fruit are preserved. As long as they are buried in the soil and watered, they will come back to life. By this time next year, the new branches will be covered with clusters of Lantern Fruit."

The Half-Elf vendor at the stall enthusiastically introduced Woods to the exhibit.

Woods gently brushed away the moss covering the roots, and sure enough, the roots inside were still moist and looked full of life. Woods decided to buy the roots of the Lantern Fruit and plant them under the windowsill outside the hut that Roy had prepared for him.

"How much is this?" Woods asked curiously.

"Five Kole".

The Half-Elf stall owner gestured with his hand.

Woods selected six well-preserved roots and paid the stall owner thirty Kole.

Seeing how readily he paid, the Half-Elf stall owner smiled and told him that he could look at other items, as he had many good things at his stall.

"But you don't have any Magic Herbs here. Judging from your attire, you must be a gatherer, right?" Woods said casually as he picked through the herbs on the stall.

"Of course, how much money can you make just from these plant roots?" the stall owner said smugly. "But it's impossible for you to buy Magic Herbs from me. To be honest, if you're a Magic Herbs merchant, you'd better not expect the Pagisto Plateau to buy much herbs."

"Almost none of the gatherers here will sell Magic Herbs in the market; this is an agreement we all made long ago."

"... Was someone coercing you to sell the Magic Herbs to the Mine Guard Regiment?" Woods asked in surprise.

"Why would you think that? If you had experienced the darkest period on the Pagisto Plateau and understood what Boss Roy was doing in the Plateau City, you probably wouldn't have any doubts about these transactions," the Half-Elf stall owner said with some emotion.

"He led us to defeat the Highland Slavers!" the elf stall owner next to him added.

"Hey, Tonis, are you trying to steal my business? We're having a chat, why are you interrupting?" the Half-Elf stall owner grumbled in annoyance.

The stall owner next door completely ignored this conversation, instead sticking his head over and saying mysteriously:

"Have you heard? That traitor got a severe beating from a group of Silvermoon Elf Merchants and is now bedridden at home!"

The Half-Elf stall owner stood there, stunned, and asked in surprise, "Is it that serious?"

The stall owner next door nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yesterday his daughter, Little Aisli, was looking everywhere for Hemostatic Herb. She must have been badly injured. I don't know if she found any."

The Half-Elf stall owner sighed and said, "Well, I do have some hemostatic plasters here too. I'll go take a look tonight!"

The stall owner next door widened his eyes and warned, "Hey, don't do anything stupid. Stay away from that traitor, or people will misunderstand you and it might be difficult for you to join the herb-gathering group in the future."

"Is it that serious?" The Half-Elf stall owner was speechless.

The stall owner next door said in an even lower voice, "That traitor broke our agreement. I heard that last night, the leaders of more than a dozen herb-gathering groups gathered together and added his name to their blacklist..."

"A single Winter Thorn Grass... has it caused such a stir?"

The stall owner next door covered his mouth with his hand and said in a barely audible voice, "I heard he's damaged the reputation of all the herb gatherers on the Pagisto Plateau!"

The Half-Elf stall owner hesitated for a moment before saying, "You mean... his Winter Thorn Grass is fake? But he showed it to me before, and it definitely has all the characteristics of Winter Thorn Grass!"

The stall owner next door stubbornly insisted, "But in all these years, have you ever heard of... anyone finding Winter Thorn Grass on the plateau?"

"No, not at all!"

"..."

Woods squatted in front of the booth and did not participate in the conversation.

He selected several roots of Sand Date, intending to Sand Date some in the courtyard. These trees are drought-resistant and highly adaptable, and can survive even without watering.

He won't be staying in this Plateau City for long. The houses here are usually empty, and the yard probably won't be maintained. Buying some Sand Date and planting them under the yard wall would be a good option.

While Roy was selecting these tree roots, he also roughly figured out what the two stall owners were talking about.

The Half-Elf gatherers were unwilling to sell their Magic Herbs because they wanted to sell Magic Herbs to Roy. Therefore, the Mine Guard Regiment practically monopolized the Magic Herbs industry in the Plateau City.

Anyone who sells Magic Herbs to a herb merchant will be considered a traitor who has broken the agreement by the Half-Elf gatherers.

The topic of their discussion was that a Half-Elf gatherer risked incurring public wrath by selling a Winter Thorn Grass to a herb merchant, only to have the merchant claim the Magic Herbs was fake. The merchant not only took back the money but also beat the Half-Elf gatherer so badly he couldn't get out of bed. The Half-Elf gatherer's daughter was now searching everywhere for the medicine, but none of the other Half-Elf gatherers wanted to help.

After all, it's Winter Thorn Grass, which is almost never seen on the Pagisto Plateau.

Woods, squatting in front of the stall, was a little curious about what the fake Winter Thorn Grass actually looked like... Normally, Winter Thorn Grass is quite easy to identify.

With the roots and stems of the few Lantern Fruit and Sand Date he had bought, Woods left the stall and wandered around the market for a while.

Many stall owners are talking about this. It's not just the Half-Elf gatherers who are discussing it; some Elf Merchants are also talking about it. They're mainly talking about the swindlers among the Half-Elf gatherers. The Magic Herbs business is really tough these days! The Half-Elf gatherers are quite united, making it extremely difficult for herb merchants to buy Magic Herbs from them.

However, these gatherers also reject some Half-Elf who break their covenant...

As Woods listened, the story became more and more complete in his mind.

The Half-Elf gatherers believed that this gatherer had betrayed them. After the herb merchant beat him up, not only did they refuse to stand up for him, but they also planned to kick him out of the group.

Herb merchants were all saying that the gatherer had taken a Thorn Vine looked very much like Winter Thorn Grass and sold it to a herb merchant after freezing it. They claimed that the Winter Thorn Grass was a complete fake and that it was a carefully planned scam by the Half-Elf gatherers.

These remarks damaged the reputation of the Half-Elf gatherers, leaving many gatherers furious but powerless to refute them...

Woods neither saw the herbalist who had bought the fake Winter Thorn Grass in the market nor the beaten Half-Elf gatherer.

He spent the afternoon wandering around the market before returning to his lodgings.

The next morning, in a courtyard next to the City Hall.

Roy, Moira, Sabrina, Miss Tiffany, Woods sat together having breakfast.

Only Woods and Sabrina had a Breadfruit and a cup of Lemon Tea in front of them, Roy, Moira, and Miss Tiffany had salt-baked seafood in front of them.

Roy planned to visit the North Black Iron Mine in the Gaxi Mountain Range.

The Forging Workshop is currently forging Iron Chains for the docks of Sun Island Bay. These Iron Chains will be used to secure the stone seawall. Since the Forging Workshop has yet to deliver the Iron Chains to Plateau City, Roy plans to go and inspect the workshop.

Moira and Miss Tiffany also wanted to go out with Roy.

"Sabrina, do you want to come along?"

"Me? Forget about me. Mulin asked me to go to the military camp. I'm going to give the new recruits of the Mine Guard Regiment a Elementary Martial Arts training lesson!"

Sabrina popped a soft Breadfruit into her mouth and said as she ate.

"What about you, Woods?"

Woods shrugged and said, "I'd like to go upstream Tollai River and see the scenery of the riverside wilderness..."

After breakfast, Roy went outside to check on the warhorses that Mulin had prepared for him, and saw a group of Elf Merchants escorting a Half-Elf towards the City Hall.

The group of Elf Merchants reached the steps in front of the City Hall before being stopped by several half- Half-Elf guards wielding spears.

When Roy saw the Elf Merchants arrive in front of the City Hall, he didn't rush to the Forging Workshop.

The Half-Elf guard saw a middle-aged Half-Elf covered in wounds and bound by ropes, and asked:

What brings you to the City Hall?

"There is no Silvermoon Elven Council of Elders in the Plateau City, so we brought this swindler to the City Hall. We hope the City Hall can give this swindler the punishment he deserves!" a Silvermoon Elf Merchants shouted.

The guards exchanged glances, frowning but not looking at the wounded Half-Elf. Elf Merchants, "Wait here for a moment, I'll go report to my superiors."

After saying that, one of the Half-Elf guards turned and ran into the City Hall.

A little Half-Elf girl chased after him up the stone steps. She had run such a long way that her face was flushed and she was covered in sweat. When she saw the middle-aged Half-Elf who was tied up with ropes, she pounced on him.