Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.
Over the past six months, the situation outside Silver Crown City had descended into utter chaos. The war between Orenda and Baris had grown increasingly brutal, the front lines were under pressure, and prices in the Free City-State changed by the day as a result.
Even livelier was the commercial war within the city.
Those short-legged shopkeepers from the Goblin Chamber of Commerce had truly mastered the art of looting a burning house.
While the Elven Merchant Association's experts had all rushed to the border to profit from the war, the goblins went mad poaching their staff. Price cuts, home delivery, credit accounts—a full string of moves that stole more than half of the Elven Merchant Association's longtime customers.
By the time the Elven Merchant Association's upper ranks realized what was happening and Grand Elder Elvin transferred people back to rebuild their business, it was already far too late.
To seize territory, the two sides fought in ever-changing ways across every major district. Today, you offered buy one get one free; tomorrow, I rolled out top-up cashback promotions. It became a complete mess.
Su Li had no interest whatsoever in this nonsense.
For the past half year, he had faithfully followed the art of lying low. Every so often, under cover of night, he would put on that dull gray coarse-cloth cloak and take a stroll through the black market in the eastern district.
He only brought two or three enchanted daggers each time.
Once they were sold, he left immediately, never lingering.
Rare goods commanded high prices. The mercenaries and smugglers in the black market, people who lived with their tongues on knife edges, drooled over the iron-slicing treasures in his hands. The price climbed