Chapter 262: Shady Merchant

While his orc army was having their final preparations for the upcoming battle, Tristan made his way back to Caerleon City. After all, he also needed to take care of other things on his list.

When he reached the town hall, he was surprised to find that someone was waiting for him - an unexpected guest.

"Lord Tristan!!"

A loud voice of a woman was heard, making him turn his head toward the direction it came from. The moment she noticed Tristan was looking at her, she immediately ran and jumped at him like some kind of band groupie. 

Knowing who the woman was, Tristan didn't even try to stop her action.

Left with no obstruction, the woman successfully found herself clung onto Tristan's body. Smoothly landing on her objective, she proceeded to stick her cheek on the latter's chest very tightly, as if they would be separated the next second. How the woman currently acted was exactly the same as those who hadn't seen their significant other for ages.

"I missed you.. I truly did. I really don't want you to send me away, ever again." said the woman in a pitiful tone.

Hearing it, Tristan could only shake his head and smile wryly. He really couldn't believe this woman was still like this. This behaviour of her even made him wonder what he actually did to her to turn her like this. She didn't even show the slightest hint of care at all, even though his wife, Serene, was clearly watching the scene standing next to him.

The woman who acted coy with Tristan was none other than Hererra, the fire magician who Tristan gave a mission to go to another town with Seth. Apparently, they had returned and even brought with them some guests.

Under the gazes of everyone on the scene, Tristan slowly walked toward his seat. He sat down and looked at the people who Hererra had decided to bring here.

In front of him stood three figures. The one standing on the left was a half-human half-tiger man with muscular build who had two sabers on his back. On the right was a lizard-like figure with green scales covering all of his body whom he assumed was a man. The last one standing in the middle of the two of them was a man wearing luxurious clothes with two horns protruding on his head - the unique characteristic of a goat hybrid.

The man looked surprised for a moment as he locked eyes with Tristan, but he quickly recovered his composure. "Greetings, Lord Mayor, this one's name is Faunt. I believe that you were looking for me?" He said while glancing at Hererra.

When the goat hybrid introduced himself, both Uriel and Serene looked surprised. If what the former said was true, then this man was that person. The one known as the infamous merchant leader who was suspected to be having many shady deals throughout his venture.

As for Tristan, even though he never heard of the man, he knew this man was the one he was looking for. The leader of the Trapper, that group of people who hunt unique and rare animals to be sold on the black market.

This was one of the tasks he told Hererra to do when he sent her away. It was evident that not only she was able to find news about the man, she even managed to bring the latter right to him.

Tristan shot a smile and nodded at Hererra, causing her to let out a silly smile full of happiness.

There was only one reason he wanted to meet such a shard person, which he was about to reveal now.

"Ah, Mister Faunt. Yes, indeed, I'm indeed looking for you because I'm extremely interested in your business regarding rare animals. Shortly put, I am interested in purchasing all of your collections."

The first time he went to the Forbidden Forest, Tristan had tasted the blood of the extremely rare Divine Stag and discovered it gave him such a high amount of quality Blood Essence. 

That time, the reason he let one of the trappers go despite the latter being under his [Blood Seal] influence was exactly for this particular moment - to be able to get into contact with these trappers and have access to more high quality blood.

However, the man named Faunt frowned when he heard Tristan's words, which was strange. After all, why would a merchant be unhappy when someone wanted to buy his entire stock?

"Excuse me, you want all of my collection, Mayor?!" The man then started laughing and said, "Hahaha, my apologies but I find what you say hilarious. If you wanted to know why.. That's because I'm afraid you still can't afford my entire collection even if you sell this city to me."

Any normal mayor would certainly be offended hearing his boastful words, but not Tristan. In fact, he didn't mind the other party's rudeness to him. He just hoped that the man didn't lie about his collection. But then, there was also something unusual about his overflowing confidence.

Tristan gave another look at the two hybrids standing next to him, the tiger and lizard hybrid. Upon closer observation, he could tell the two were pretty strong but not that strong to the point of being unparalleled.

Therefore, he wondered why this Faunt was so confident and even acted arrogantly. 

Inadvertently, Tristan's gaze wandered around the room and he then realized the possible reason why. All his strong fighters were not present with him. Both Gazef and Karra were busy preparing the army.

These guys only met Uriel, Seth, and Hererra, who acted as his representatives. Therefore, they might think that his force was so-so. As for him and Serene, these people probably thought they both belonged to one of those elf nobles who had limited fighting prowess. After all, the appearances that Tristan and Serene had were the complete opposite of that of a fighter.

Tristan took another glance at Faunt and noticed the smirk on the latter's face. Even so, he tried to not be too bothered by it and focused on his objective of what he wanted from the man.

"Tell me.. Mister Faunt, how impressive is this… collection of yours? Even if I can't buy your entire collection, I'm sure we can find a number that we both can agree on."

Unexpectedly, the man showed a wicked smile as his hand slowly reached for his neck. The man lowered his collar and Tristan could see there was a necklace in which the pendant was a bone. A claw to be exact.

"Do you see this, Lord Mayor? This is a real dragon claw." Faunt put his collar back on and said, "I hope this makes you realize how extensive my collection is."

Tristan clapped his hands and said "Wow, that's really impressive, Mr Faunt. So what you're trying to say is that you have a lot of legendary creatures in your collection?"

A confident grin graced Faunt's face again as he replied, "Yes, indeed, Lord Mayor."

"Alright, give me a fair number then." Tristan said while joining his hands together. "I want all magical and legendary creatures."

Without further ado, Faunt spoke about the price range of his merchandise.

[young magical creature - 100 to 300 coins]

[adult magical creature - 500 to 1000 coins]

[young legendary creature - 3000 coins]

[Adult legendary creature - no stock]

"This.. is this all in gold coins?" asked Tristan. He was surprised to see the price list. If this was true, then it was no wonder that he said even selling the town wouldn't allow him to afford all of them. Caerleon only made a profit of about 500 coins per month, after all.

When asked why the prices were so steep, Faunt told him how almost every part of magical and legendary creatures could be used for potions, artifacts, and other things. Hence, the outrageous price.

Tristna could only shake his head inwardly when he realized that even the fortune he received from Forlorn Kingdom would bleed dry for this purchase of his. 

Therefore. he exhaled a long sigh and decided to change his approach. "Honestly, I just need the blood. Would it be possible if you sell only the blood to me?"

"Lord Mayor, if you take the blood then how would the creature live?" said Faunt in a sorry tone, but the man still had a wicked smirk on his face.

At this point, Tristan knew this man was playing hard to get and he has no patience to deal with him.

Actually with his abilities right now, Tristan could easily take control of this disrespectful merchant and plundered all of his wealth. However, he would not decide to go that low unless the man himself did him wrong.

After all, he couldn't just go and rob anyone he met, could he?

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l, 

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