Yulan City.
It was also something of a must-see destination for Jason.
The original novel had not said much about Yulan City, only that it was very old.
But even without having read the original novel, anyone living on the Yulan Continent ought to visit Yulan City.
As it happened, the caravan passed through Yulan City as well.
The caravan mainly dealt in luxury goods such as artwork. Though the Yulan Empire and the Rhine Empire were on bad terms, if they had the chance to buy some local specialties in the Yulan Empire, they could turn a profit reselling them in the Rhine Empire, even if the price was a little high.
"Meow."
"It tastes good."
"Even without you translating, I could guess what she was saying." Jason carried bags of all sizes.
With so many people around, Jason did not want to expose his Interspatial Ring.
"Let's find somewhere to eat first."
"There's nothing good to eat at those hotels. Let's get some barbecue from a roadside stall," Veronica suddenly suggested.
Perhaps because of her experiences in her youth, Veronica had no interest in grand, luxurious hotels. Instead, she pulled Jason over to eat barbecue by the roadside.
Linda also happened to be interested in the streets of human society.
Yulan City lived up to its long-established reputation. Magic streetlamps lined the streets, and a steady stream of pedestrians filled the city until midnight.
"These skewers are pretty good too." A small pile of bamboo skewers had already accumulated in front of the two of them and the cat.
They had eaten plenty of barbecue in Mist Valley too, but it fell somewhat short of these carefully grilled skewers with their special seasonings. That was not a gap cooking skills alone could bridge.
Veronica noticed Jason staring at her in the lamplight and glared at him.
To ease the awkwardness, Jason looked to the side.
"That's an auction house, right?" Jason spotted a luxurious building with a banner hanging outside. An auction seemed to be underway.
"Is there anything you want to buy?" Veronica looked over as well.
"The fun of buying things at an auction is finding something unexpected." Jason was eager to give it a try.
In the original novel, Linley had auctioned off his stone sculpture, Dream Awakening. Jason also wanted to go into the auction house and see if he could buy anything.
Neither of them nor the cat was hungry, so they paid the bill and headed straight for the auction house.
The auction had been going on for a while. It was merely the regular monthly auction, not the kind where tickets were hard to come by. Jason paid a hundred gold coins for two tickets, and they went in.
Jason led a slightly shy Veronica into an ordinary private room.
Ever since Jason had introduced Veronica to others as his girlfriend, the two had grown much closer.
On the auction stage was a Stone-Eater Rat locked in a cage.
Jason had wanted to try finding a Shadowmouse to make a contract with, but the Shadowmice and Stone-Eater Rats in Mist Valley were not very high-level, reaching the sixth level at most. They were really not worth making a contract with.
The Stone-Eater Rat cub being auctioned onstage did not have particularly high potential either. It would probably reach the sixth level at most, so Jason was not interested.
"Anything in particular you're looking for?" Veronica seemed to have been to an auction house before.
"There should be materials for forging weapons, right? You need a new weapon forged, and I need to replace mine too." Veronica's weapon was still the one she had "taken" from the town, while Jason's did not feel quite right in his hands.
Before breaking through to the Saint-level, a warrior's strength and fighting style changed with their level, so they needed to adjust their weapons to suit their own habits. Only after comprehending a profound mystery would their style become fixed. Those who advanced slowly had less trouble, but Jason had advanced relatively quickly, and his weapon urgently needed replacing.
His previous weapon had been forged after a sample to begin with. Now Jason needed to adjust it to suit his own circumstances.
"This dragon horn is pretty good. It could make a weapon handle, but it's a shame it only came from a Level Eight Flame Dragon," Veronica remarked.
There were many forging materials among the auction items, but most were not very high in quality-or rather, not very high for Jason and Veronica.
Any weapons they forged now would have to last them at least until the peak of the ninth level.
"We should have paid more attention back in Mist Valley. All the materials we have now are things like pelts and magicite cores. There's nothing we can use for forging." Jason looked through his Interspatial Ring.
The Interspatial Ring's previous owner had been a mage, and he had not had many valuable forging materials either.
Magic scrolls, precious potions, magical beast pelts, magical beast cubs, handicrafts-more than a dozen items came up in succession. There were plenty of good things, but Jason and the others had no use for them, and nothing was particularly stunning.
This was only a small auction held once a month, so that was to be expected.
Finally, among the last few items, the two of them spotted something they liked.
"A Silver Dragon horn."
"Should we bid on it?" Jason was a little torn.
There was only one Silver Dragon wing in his Interspatial Ring. Judging by its appearance, it had belonged to a Silver Dragon that had reached the Saint-level, but there were no other parts. The mysterious expert who had supplied the Baruch Clan with the wing might not have killed the Silver Dragon outright.
"A horn from a Level Nine Silver Dragon. Although there's only one, it is still a top-grade forging material! The starting bid is eight hundred thousand gold coins!" the auctioneer announced.
The final few exhibits needed no hype from him. Those capable of buying items of this level were either rich or influential, and had discerning eyes. A few words from someone else would not sway them.
The magicite core of a Level Nine Magical Beast was worth five million gold coins on average. Though a Silver Dragon horn came from a Peak Saint magical beast, it was still worth far less than a Level Nine Magical Beast's magicite core.
Veronica was also a little hesitant. She liked using longswords, but the Silver Dragon horn was very short and unsuitable as the main body of a longsword. It could only serve as an inner "sword core," with metal forged around it to make a longsword.
But that would prevent the Silver Dragon horn's own toughness and high magic conductivity from being fully utilized.
The price had already risen to 1.1 million, about what a Silver Dragon horn was worth, and the bids were starting to rise more slowly.
Silver Dragon horns were expensive partly for their medicinal value and partly because they could be used to make light-element magic wands. Of course, some great nobles had them forged into decorative shortswords to carry on their person.
"One million, one hundred and fifty thousand." Jason tentatively placed a bid. There were quite a few ownerless Magic Crystal Cards in his Interspatial Ring, all savings belonging to the Baruch Clan.
"One million, two hundred thousand." A voice immediately outbid Jason.
Jason looked in that direction. His Soul Probe could not detect the bidder, who was at least a mage of the seventh level.
"Don't compete. It's a Ninth-level Magus. Linda can sense it," Veronica said.
Moonshadow Flame Cats excelled at concealment and assassination, and were also highly skilled at sensing things.
Jason nodded to show he understood. He could take or leave a Silver Dragon horn; there was no need to pay too much of a premium for it.
In the end, the two of them bought nothing at the auction.
After leaving, they went to a shop and bought some clothes, then both went to a barber to have their hair trimmed.
They had spent five years in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Although they occasionally went to human villages and towns to buy things, the quality was nowhere near as good as in Yulan City.
The Yulan Empire and the Rhine Empire had been on bad terms for thousands of years, but because of that, the roads between the two countries were controlled by armies during periods of truce, making them unusually safe.
After leaving Yulan City, the road ahead was easy to travel.