Ron returned to the shop and grew more than a dozen Nether Orchids before lunch.
He was getting more and more adept at using the Cultivation Space. Especially since he had been growing only one type of plant, he'd practically trained himself into a factory worker.
Now it took him only about ten minutes to grow one Nether Orchid. He skillfully used time acceleration to skip over all the stretches when he didn't need to do anything, saving himself a great deal of time.
After lunch, he opened the shop for business again in the afternoon.
Ron lounged in a chair behind the counter and took out a copy of Elven Epic.
This time, there was nothing else tucked inside.
Ron was genuinely reading.
Although Chaos City sat at the crossroads of the four great races, Ron had rarely seen elves or gnomes around.
The races most commonly seen here were humans, dwarves, and goblins.
The Human Empire lay north of Chaos City, and its territory covered the central-northern and northwestern parts of the continent.
The Dwarf Kingdom lay southwest of Chaos City, and was slightly smaller than the Human Empire.
The Gnome Race lived in the Bondless Mountains southeast of Chaos City. They spent all day in caves, studying subjects like metallurgy and astronomy, and rarely ventured outside.
The Elf Race lived in the Forest of Forest northeast of Chaos City, gathered around the Tree of Life.
Elves were rather proud and somewhat insular. They usually stayed in the forest and seldom went out.
Beyond these four great races, goblins were a special race without territory of their own.
It was said that they had migrated to the continent from a volcanic archipelago somewhere in the southernmost seas. Since every part of the continent had already been claimed by the various races, the goblins split into three branches and formed three great trade alliances. They traveled across the continent instead of settling in one place.
They were experts in business and born merchants. Most trade between the Elf Race and the Gnome Race and the outside world was facilitated by goblins.
There was also the Orc Race.
The Orc Race lived in the far north of the continent. They had the largest territory, but the land was barren, so their population wasn't particularly large.
They were separated from Chaos City by the entire Human Empire, so Ron had never seen a full-blooded orc in the city.
Half-orcs, on the other hand, were quite common.
The Human Empire and the Orc Race went to war every winter, so humans often captured orcs. Many of the female captives were divided up and abused by the nobility, and some eventually gave birth to half-orcs.
Because of their mixed blood, half-orcs were heavily discriminated against within the empire. Even the lowest-ranked commoners were considered more respectable than them.
Strictly speaking, Ron had orc blood too.
His mother had been a half-orc foxwoman.
That meant a quarter of the blood in his veins came from the Orc Race.
Perhaps Andre's bloodline had been too strong. Ron's body showed no orcish traits, though his pupils were a little pale red—
Orcs had crimson pupils, while half-orcs had pale-red ones. It was one way to tell orcs and half-orcs apart.
That was probably why Andre III had sent Ron away from the palace.
"Hey, Ron!"
As Ron was thinking about all this, Lyle's voice came from outside.
"Good afternoon!" Lyle called cheerfully.
"Good afternoon, Lyle." Ron put down his book, got up, found a stool, and offered it to him.
"Heh heh." Lyle sat down and rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Ron, you know what? I introduced meat skewers yesterday for the first time, and the customers all thought they were a novelty."
"After tasting them, they all said the seasoning was fantastic. The barbecue tasted ten times better than before!"
"Yesterday, my shop made several times more than usual, but I used about the same amount of meat."
"Ron, I don't even know what to say! You're just my... my..."
Ron smiled and cut him off. "There's no need for that, Lyle. We just made a simple deal. Don't forget, your Barbecue Shop is supposed to be free for me for life."
"Of course, of course!" Lyle rubbed his sparse hair and laughed heartily.
"By the way, you're free now, right? Nothing else to do at the shop?" Ron asked.
Lyle nodded. "Yeah, I've left the skewering to those two youngsters working for me. I'm free for now."
"Perfect. I've got a little something to show you." Ron's eyes lit up. He got up with a smile and headed upstairs.
When he came back, he was holding a stack of cards about two fingers thick.
"What are these?" Lyle asked curiously. He took the stack and flipped through the cards one by one.
"Cards I made myself," Ron said with a smile as he sat down. "I've named them Elemental Cards. We can use them to play games."
"Games?" Lyle looked baffled. "What's fun about that?"
He looked down at the cards in his hands and saw that they were all much the same.
There were images of flames, water droplets, yellow earth, and tornadoes in the upper-left and lower-right corners, along with numbers.
The middle of each card had a pretty picture, like some sort of magic spell.
Lyle also found two cards that looked different from the rest. Each showed a person, though he didn't know what they represented.
Ron gave Lyle a general introduction to some of the ways to play with Elemental Cards.
Most of the games needed three or four players. There weren't many options for two, but since Lyle was a beginner, they could start with some simple two-player card games.
For instance, Go Fish. Each player took turns playing a card until someone played one with the same number as a card already on the table. That player then collected all the cards on the table.
They continued according to those rules until one side had won all the cards.
The game was easy to learn and took almost no thought, making it easy to get hooked.
After playing just once, Lyle found it quite entertaining. He was practically reluctant to leave.
Ron hadn't had any entertainment for half a month either, so he was enjoying himself just as much.
It was a chance to relive the fun of his old world.
Before they knew it, a long time had passed.
By five in the afternoon, the two of them had tried several different games.
They played Texas Hold'em, 24 Game, and Fishing for 14 Lobsters, among others. Lyle was having such a good time that he couldn't stop.
It was only when Ron checked the time and realized it was already time to close the shop that they finally stopped.
"I really don't know how your brain works. How did you come up with such fun things?" Lyle said as he got up.
"Heh, as long as it's fun," Ron replied with a smile.
This was nothing yet.
He still hadn't introduced Dou Dizhu, Red Ten, or Shuangkou.
Two-player card games were actually the more boring kind.
Thinking this, Ron got up too and went with Lyle to the Barbecue Shop to have dinner.
A nobody's diary:
A couple of days ago, a big shot in our group who'd just started publishing a book got tips from two patrons. Everyone in the group was secretly green with envy while spamming, "666, the big shot is mighty!"
Then the big shot said glumly, "What a pain. Now I have to write extra chapters. I'm about to be drained dry..."
Me: I really want to know what it feels like to be drained dry... (hinting frantically)
Before you continue