Chapter 15: Chapter 14: Eli Was Lured by Gacha Gods!

“Anne!” Alicia waved toward Anne, who sulked near a wooden house. The girl turned toward Alicia, clearly annoyed.

“...What do you want?” Anne scowled.

“Why the long face, Anne?” Alicia asked as she skipped toward her.

“Well, unlike you, I’m not a mage. My parents refused to hire a tutor for me. Must be nice being a mage, huh? You’re poorer than me, but even the Lord herself fancies you.” Anne’s words were laced with venom as she ridiculed Alicia.

The old Alicia might have been intimidated by such remarks, but now, she felt invincible. After all, every problem could be resolved with money and prestige. And Alicia now had both.

Well—she didn’t have money yet, but she would in the future! That's what she believed.

Moreover, in this world, mages held prestigious jobs. Everyone would praise her.

“Alicia, who is she?” Elidranthia asked. Unlike oblivious Alicia, Eli immediately sensed Anne’s displeasure toward the girl. Her instincts warned her—mages might be prestigious, but if the people came to hate them, a revolt wasn’t out of the question.

Eli thought Alicia was kind and energetic, but no matter how useful she was, if she ended up despised by the populace, Elidranthia might need to reconsider her relationship with her.

“She’s Anne, the daughter of a local trader. You see, during the ceremony, the ball lit up. Just for a moment, though—more like a spark. The priest said it was because she’s a level 2 mage. Since her level was low, she wasn’t officially named a mage. So now she’s sulking,” Alicia explained. She didn't mean it, but her next words dealt a fatal blow. “Relax! You said you didn’t want to be a mage, right? Then don’t be one!”

As always, Alicia’s memory was short, and she was painfully insensitive.

Anne never said she didn’t want to be a mage—she had said she didn’t hope to become one because the chances were so small. So it was only natural for her to be agitated when the priest told her she was a mage… but actually wasn’t.

“I see. Can she fill arcane stones? If she could, even she would have a place in mage society,” Eli muttered. Mages were valued not just for their ability to cast fireballs or summon tornadoes—they were valued because they could power arcane stones, which in turn powered civilization.

“Dunno,” the dimwit shrugged. Of course she didn’t know. Eli was the one who was stupid for asking. Alicia had only just learned she could fill arcane stones yesterday.

“Well, let’s bring her to the mansion tomorrow,” Eli said.

“Really?” Anne’s face lit up. Hope had sparkled. Children were fickle—their moods swung like a pendulum.

“Let’s ask Mr. Alexandraine whether Anne can fill arcane stones tomorrow,” Eli nodded. Unlike Alicia, she hadn’t forgotten the fact that Anne was from a trader family. Merchants were the backbone of any country or region—without them, Shadowstep’s income would plummet.

“Thank you, Lord Elidranthia.” Anne bowed.

“That’s wrong, Anne. You should call her Lady Elidranthia. I will become her maid one day. It’s my duty to teach everyone!” Alicia declared proudly. She was talking nonsense.

“What does your family trade, Anne?” Eli asked, gently taking her hand.

“Well, we trade basically anything. My grandpa and grandma love to travel, so they often bring back local specialties and sell them here. We also have some artifacts from dungeons!”

“I wanna see!” Alicia jumped at once. She’d assumed Anne was just a grocery merchant. She wasn’t wrong—but this situation was a classic case of customer distinction.

One wouldn’t sell antiques to lowly farmers. They wouldn’t sell art to knights, or swords to ladies. And they wouldn’t sell wheat to nobles either—their servants were the ones who handled such things. So, when Anne had the rare chance to meet a noble like Eli, she presented herself as a relic collector, showcasing rare goods in hopes of catching noble interest.

Alas, Eli—who still carried the poor person mentality inherited from her previous lives—had no interest in antiques. To her, antiques and art were merely tools for laundering money. Such is the jaded view she had due to her harsh experience.

But they definitely worked on Alicia. Having played many games, Alicia saw artifacts and antiques differently. She thought she might stumble upon a rare superweapon like Excalibur and eagerly jumped at the opportunity. Because of Alicia, Eli had no choice but to follow.

“Please wait a minute, okay?” Anne said, quickly running to a run-down store several blocks away. Then she peeked out and waved for the group to come inside.

There, a shady old man and woman in black cloaks tended the store.

“Ladies. May I interest you in some antiques from afar?” the old man asked with a smile. “What may interest you today?”

“Hm? What do you have? I didn’t see you peddling your goods,” Eli said, looking around. The store was surprisingly empty, save for a single table and a covered shelf inside.

“Well, we mainly sell wheat, salt, and recently sugar,” the man explained. “But I didn’t think a noble of your status would care about ordinary items like that. While our collection might pale compared to someone like Duke Luka, we do have a few special relics from far-off lands.”

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“I see. Then show us your wares,” Eli replied as she continued to glance around.

Sensing Eli’s lack of enthusiasm, the old lady leaned forward, eyes glinting.

“Hehehe. We don’t sell mere goods, embellished by time, my dear. We sell something more profound. We sell something... alive,” Anne’s mother said.

In an instant, Eli snapped her head toward the old woman, alarmed. Was she selling slaves? Slavery was illegal—at least in Shadowstep. But illegality didn’t mean nonexistence. Slaves certainly existed elsewhere. Mr. Alexandraine had told her how mages were confined in buildings and worked like slaves. And if a person fell into debt, they could become debt-serfs. They still retained basic human rights, and the government managed their contracts, but they were basically slaves.

But the next words that came out calmed her down.

“We sell eggs. Come on, Grandma, stop being so cryptic,” Anne said with a sigh.

“Don’t be like that, my dear Anne. You need to create tension and interest first. If you’re too direct, nobles won’t like it. See? Both Lady Elidranthia and Alicia are now interested,” the old lady giggled.

"Here comes the reveal!" As the old lady opened the shelves, rows of eggs with shiny colors were revealed, neatly arranged inside.

Eli sighed in relief, knowing now that Anne wasn’t doing anything illegal. Meanwhile, Alicia was more than excited. Seeing eggs in various colors made her wonder if they were dragon eggs.

Dragons existed in the original novel. Eli and a team of mercenaries had once killed one. Moreover, she had even managed to tame one!

“Amazing! Are these dragon eggs? I want one!” Alicia jumped in excitement. “Dragons!”

“Dragons are dangerous…” Jadenbale muttered. Eli turned to him.

“Really? I thought if we cared for them from a young age, they would be tame. Is that not the case, Sir Jadenbale?” Eli asked. Even lions in a zoo could be tamed, after all.

“Well… we certainly could. Erm… but they’re expensive. Even juvenile dragons eat at least one chicken a day. Adults could eat a whole cow daily. The royal capital has fewer than a hundred lesser dragon riders. Or what we call wyvern rider.”

Eli sulked. Jadenbale instantly realized his blunder. He was stupid. He had blurted that out because he was still bitter about his proposal to raise wyvern riders being rejected three years ago.

If Elidranthia’s bad mood was seen by Lord Shadowstep, he could kiss his knightly career goodbye.

While Jadenbale was silently panicking, thinking of a way to salvage the situation, Alicia unexpectedly came to the rescue.

“Come on, Sir Jadenbale! Lady Elidranthia will become a level 6 mage! And I’ll become a level 8 mage! Surely we can support a dragon or two!” Alicia puffed out her chest proudly.

“That’s right! You are absolutely right, Alicia,” Jadenbale agreed, glancing toward Eli. She had cheered up again, a smile lighting up her face.

Alicia was cocky, ignorant, and rude. That was what Mr. Jadenbale thought—but at this moment, he was thankful for Alicia’s naivety.

“Are these even dragon eggs to begin with?” Elidranthia asked. She suddenly remembered that neither Granny nor Anne had ever said they were dragon eggs. It was the stupid Alicia who had just assumed she was buying one.

“Well, one gold coin per egg, Lady Elidranthia. I can guarantee that at least one dragon egg is among the twelve on display. I usually sell these lottery eggs for five gold coins apiece, but since you are so kind—willing to teach my daughter magic—I shall offer them to you for just one gold coin each,” said the old lady with a smile.

“That’s daylight robbery!” Eli snapped. One gold coin equaled 100 silver coins, and a peasant’s monthly wage was just 10 silver. She was basically asking for five year’s salary for a single gacha egg roll.

“Erm… actually, not really. A real dragon egg could easily fetch ten gold coins,” Jadenbale said. Even if they bought all twelve eggs and only one of them was a real wyvern egg, they’d only lose two gold coins compared to market price.

“But not all of them are dragon eggs, right?”

“Of course not, dear. Where’s the fun in that? But I can assure you—all of these eggs are alive. I have appraised them when I bought them. The magic contained in these eggs is all quite high. If you care for them, they will hatch.”

“Mr. Jadenbale?” Eli called him.

She wouldn’t take part in a lottery. She had seen people ruined by gambling—including her adopted parents. If this lady were running numbers, she would’ve left right away. But eggs were unique to one species, and she had Mr. Jadenbale—the dragon specialist—with her. Still, she could feel it: the gods had decreed that Eli couldn’t cheat here.

“I’m afraid I’ve never seen a wyvern egg, milady. The method to breed dragons is highly confidential. Only a select few, trusted by Duke Bron’s house, are allowed to see them.”

“I see,” Eli sighed. She was about to leave, but Alicia was already drooling over the eggs.

“Which one… which one…” Alicia muttered, as if it was already decided she would buy at least one. Eli could only sigh—she was about to fall to the first of the vices: gambling.

Eli was about to stop her, but evil thoughts began to surface. She could take advantage of this situation. If Alicia was indebted to her, she could form ties with her. Alicia would end up working for her.

“Well, only once, okay, Alicia,” Eli said.

“Oh? You’re not taking part, Eli? It’s fun! You could ride dragons! If we started raising them now, we could ride our dragons to school by the time we’re twelve!” Alicia launched a counterattack.

It wasn’t effective on Elidranthia—but it was super effective on Jadenbale.

“That’s amazing! Yeah! We should buy one. No—we can’t leave it to chance! We should buy all of them! It would be incredible if the daughter of Count Shadowstep became a dragon rider! This county would be safe!” Jadenbale declared, falling victim to the second vice: vanity.

“Eh?” Eli blinked, caught off guard by the surprise attack from her trusted knight. He was supposed to be the adult. How could he fall for mere gacha games like this? Eli would bet there weren’t even dragons in those eggs.

And even if there were, it would probably end up being nothing more than a white elephant.

Knights were prideful creatures. They would do anything to raise their lord’s prestige, because doing so also raised their own standing. If Eli could tame a dragon and prove that dragon riders were valuable to Shadowstep County, then Jadenbale could propose his wyvern rider plan again—and maybe ride one himself.

Eli had to stop him at all costs. One gold coin was manageable, but twelve gold coins was definitely outrageous. If she splurged like that, the Count would have to raise taxes, and the people would suffer. A tax increase was the number one cause of coups in the medieval era.

“Mr. Jadenbale, I don’t need dragons…”

“You definitely need one, Lady Elidranthia! You are the first mage of the Shadowstep bloodline. If you can acquire a dragon mount, you’ll make a name for yourself at the academy! No one would belittle our territory as a shadowy wasteland anymore!” Jadenbale said, clenching his fist.

“Alright! I choose this one! This one will definitely be a dragon!” Alicia declared, pointing at a shiny green egg. It looked like an emu egg, with scales covering it. Since Alicia had never seen an emu egg, she naturally assumed it had to be a dragon egg.

“Then... I’ll choose this one. But don’t buy anything else, okay? If this one doesn’t turn out to be a dragon, you have to give up. That simply means it wasn’t destined to be. Besides, if you buy all of them, what will you do with the ones that aren’t dragons? Are you going to kill them?” Eli said as she pointed at the plainest egg—a long, small white egg that felt rubbery and was lightly covered in fine white hair.

“Well, you are certainly right, milady. I apologize for my rash decision,” Mr. Jadenbale said.

However, deep down, he wasn’t sorry at all. He seriously contemplated whether he should discuss this with Lord Shadowstep tomorrow.

Alas, Eli had spent two gold coins today. The fact that she had just spent the equivalent of two years of a normal person’s income in a day was frightening. She swore never to take Alicia on a walk ever again.