I Really Was Just Here to Run Errands

"What do you want me to do, my lord?"

"I want you to... buy seasonings."

"Huh???"

Xiao Qing had seen Ye Qing looking like he was about to reveal some major secret and had assumed it would be a difficult mission. She had not expected this.

"What, how did you think all that food you ate before was made? You can find some things in the forest, but there's far too little. Here's the list. I've already drawn what they look like for you. Go on, I believe in you. I even prepared transportation for you." As Ye Qing spoke, he patted the handcart behind him.

"My lord, did you just draw these?" Xiao Qing looked at the yellowed paper, which already bore faded marks, and could not help suspecting that this list had been made a long time ago.

"Ahem."

"Don't sweat the details. Buy a few pots while you're at it. If you see anything you like, buy that too. When you get home, I'll make you something tasty."

Hearing Ye Qing's temptation, Xiao Qing cast aside her suspicious gaze. Cheerfully taking the Gold Soul Coins he gave her, she pulled the handcart away. As for where the Gold Soul Coins had come from...

The Star Dou Great Forest was a wonderful place. There were plenty of humans who got lost, could not find their way home, and then fell into an eternal sleep. Ye Qing could not bear to let them freeze, so he would generally help prepare a little home for them or something. Naturally, he collected their belongings as moving fees.

At that moment, the leader of a certain group was telling them something novel.

"They say there's a wild man in this forest. Whenever he finds a corpse, he digs a pit and buries the person, then takes everything except the clothes on their body. So don't sleep too deeply. There was once someone who nearly got buried alive because he slept too soundly."

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest lay a buffer zone between the human world and the world of Spirit Beasts. Because it was close to the cities, few Spirit Beasts lived there. Yet because it was also close to the forest, no humans were willing to settle there either.

However, with the rise of Spirit Masters as a profession, more and more humans entered the forest to hunt Spirit Rings. Gradually, trading settlements appeared here, which slowly developed into towns with permanent residents. Most of those who settled here, though, were people who lived with their lives on the line.

Hunting Spirit Beasts had never been an easy job. Even a minor mistake could lead to irreparable consequences. Thus, hunting groups emerged as well, using teamwork to improve the odds of success. Of course, some people formed temporary parties here, but entrusting one's back to someone one had just met was a dangerous thing.

The Lone Wolf Hunting Group differed from other hunting groups. Besides helping people obtain Spirit Rings and capture Spirit Beasts, their targets included lone Spirit Masters, other hunting groups that had just suffered severe losses, and even their employers. They were a group willing to do anything for money. Moreover, because the group was skilled at disguising itself, its evil deeds had never been exposed. Today, they had set their sights on a new target: a young girl pulling a little handcart.

"Boss, do you really think that girl is heading into the forest?"

"Her behavior is strange. Everything she bought is useless, but she's obviously a rookie, the kind who has never left home before. She can't be more than fifteen. If she's exceptionally talented, she's probably here to hunt her third Spirit Ring."

"But if that were the case, whether she was from an academy or a clan, someone would definitely be escorting her. She also wouldn't be buying all that stuff herself. She just bought an entire sack of Devil Peppers. Is that something a normal Spirit Master would do?"

"What if she's just buying supplies for a nearby restaurant?"

"Would you send such a delicate-looking girl to do the purchasing? And give her that many Gold Soul Coins? Besides, that girl clearly doesn't know market prices. Everything she bought cost more than ten times what it should have. So it's obvious—she's a rich young lady who sneaked out on her own. She's probably here to hunt her first Spirit Ring."

"So, are we kidnapping her?"

"Idiot. Wouldn't that expose us? She'll definitely hire guards soon. We'll follow her. Once we get into the forest, what can a little girl like her do but let us handle her as we please?"

"Brilliant. As expected of our boss."

"Let's go. We'll wait for her at the forest entrance." With that, he led the five men behind him toward the forest. Yet he had been careless. If he had sent someone to watch her a little longer, he would definitely have abandoned this idea.

Inside the trading town, the one pulling the little handcart was Xiao Qing. She was comparing items against the list, while the merchants around her looked at her with blazing eyes. The reason was simple: there was a fat sheep.

Yes, Xiao Qing was the fat sheep in their eyes. Since she did not know the prices, Ye Qing had simply given her a bag of Gold Soul Coins, roughly three or four hundred of them. When the merchants saw that she knew nothing, they casually quoted outrageous prices. To their surprise, Xiao Qing paid without a word.

A whole sack of dried peppers had sold for two Gold Soul Coins, an astronomical price. Under normal circumstances, it would sell for at most two Silver Soul Coins. In terms of prices on the Douluo Continent, two or three Gold Soul Coins were enough to cover an ordinary family's expenses for a year.

(Although the original work said the currency was decimal—1 gold = 10 silver = 100 copper—it later said one Gold Soul Coin was Tang San's salary for three years at the academy. His daily salary was 10 Copper Soul Coins, which came to over ten thousand in three years. So it should be based on hundreds: 1 gold = 100 silver = 10,000 copper. I chose the result inferred backward and used the hundred-based system, since it is more realistic.)

As for why everyone was watching so obediently, the green-faced man lying on the ground nearby was the reason. Greed was like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Everyone else had only earned one or two Gold Soul Coins, but he had opened his mouth and demanded one hundred. Xiao Qing might not have understood market prices, but she was not stupid. The man before her was obviously trying to rip her off, so naturally she refused.

Following Ye Qing's instructions, she tried not to cause trouble, so she planned to go elsewhere. But just as she pulled up her handcart to leave, the man actually tried to force her to buy it.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Those earlier sacks only cost two Gold Soul Coins each, and you want to sell me one barrel of soy sauce for a hundred?"

"You tasted it, so you have to buy it."

"If you sell it to me at the real price, I'll buy it."

At that moment, someone tugged at the stall owner. Everyone understood that even the "real price" mentioned by the girl before them was still hundreds of times above market value. Even three Gold Soul Coins would not make her suspicious. That person did not want the soy sauce seller to cause trouble, since three Gold Soul Coins were already a huge sum. But the soy sauce seller's heart had already been consumed by Greed. Not only did he ignore the warning, he even revealed his Martial Soul.

"If you don't buy it, I won't be polite."

Xiao Qing looked at his Martial Soul and Spirit Rings. His Martial Soul was an utterly ordinary stick, while his Spirit Rings were the common configuration of one white and one yellow. Then she recalled Ye Qing's words.

"You know human ranks too. If they have fewer Spirit Rings than you, reveal yours and scare them a little. If they have the same number as you, leave quickly and don't get tangled up with them. If you truly run into danger, don't hesitate. Crush that little ball of light directly, and I'll come to you. Understand? Try not to cause trouble, but don't be afraid if trouble comes."

Xiao Qing was no kindhearted innocent. Even after living with Ye Qing for decades, the cold-blooded slaughter of her previous centuries remained carved into her bones.

You're asking for death.

A faint fragrance drifted into the soy sauce seller's nose. In just a single breath, his face turned blue-green and he collapsed. The onlookers looked toward Xiao Qing, only to see five Spirit Rings floating behind her.

"Sp... Spirit King..."

"A Spirit King so young? This guy really kicked an iron plate."

Then Xiao Qing said coldly:

"I already held back. Go find a... uh... what was that word again? Right, a doctor. Go find a doctor now, and he might still make it. Also, which one of you sells soy sauce? Give me a barrel."

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