Chapter 158: Somehow It Looks Normal to Me
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Everything appeared to be normal. Other than the bustling commotion, everything else was just like how a festival would be like. Following Mia's lead, Baiyi bought many household items using the money that she saved up. A variety of paper bags of different sizes were all being suspended in the air by Baiyi like balloons, attracting the attention of the people nearby. A lot of children came up and surrounded him, requesting him to perform some magic for them.
Chuckling, he randomly performed a few tricks and launched a few fireworks in the air. Although it was still daytime and the fireworks could not be seen that clearly, it was more than enough to please the simple-minded kids.
When it was time for dinner, Lord Nolan finally came home with his body drenched in sweat. The moment he sat down on the chair, he immediately gulped down the herbal tea that was served to him. After taking a few deep breaths, he finally opened his mouth, "Phewww! It was so tiring! The caravan came too suddenly!"
"Why didn't Senior Jimmy inform us beforehand?" Lady Nolan asked curiously as she handed a warm towel to him.
"It's not Senior Jimmy who came this time, it's his eldest son. Senior Jimmy is too busy saving his goods that are all drowned in that flood in the South," He chuckled.
Baiyi who was sitting by the side listened to the conversation of the family of three. He did not interrupt the happiness of a family reunion but when he heard Mia's father mentioned that he had been busy all day finding a place for the traders to stay that he finally opened his mouth and asked, "How many people are there in total? Why do you have to go to so much trouble?"
"Well not that many. Around 30 or slightly more, I guess. It's just that they brought so many goods and big carriages with them and some of them could not even fit into this town. Because of this, I had to set up a comfortable campside for all of them outside of the town and arranged for some people to send food over to them. My time was mainly wasted on this," Mia's father glanced at Baiyi before he added, "Our town cannot be compared to those big towns at all. We don't even have any hotels here. Please excuse the conditions of our little town, Mr. Hope. Oh yeah, the carriages that are parked outside of the town seem to have many high-end goods that are prepared to be sold to the other towns after they finish their business here. They did not move it to the square because there won't be any buyers here. If you're interested, Mr. Hope, you can go have a look over there."
"Thank you for your suggestion. I'll go have a look tomorrow if I'm free," Baiyi said politely. Since he had already given up on those ideas beforehand, there was no need for him to be hostile towards Mia's father anymore. It was nice being able to talk to each other in such a harmonious way.
"They will be here for five days so you can go anytime you like," Sensing Baiyi's concession, Lord Nolan naturally became more polite, eliciting a sigh of relief from the two women.
That night, their conversation went on harmoniously. Baiyi told Mia's parents the experience that they had went through together ever since he was summoned and he spoke highly about Mia. He also gave his words that he would take care of Mia and all her expenses in the future.
In the beginning, her parents were opposed to the idea but after they listened to Baiyi's explanation regarding a sorcerer's daily expenses, they began to waver. Then, he continued to tell them about the luxurious lifestyle of other higher-level sorcerers and in the end, they finally gave in after some thoughts. After all, the life of the upper class society that Baiyi described to them was really extravagant and opulent. Now that Mia had embarked on this path, of course they would wish for the same for their own beloved daughter.
Despite the relief they felt over the fact that Baiyi was willing to support Mia's expenses, they still stubbornly requested for him to not pamper her too much. They even told him to record every single expenditure that she make so that she could repay him slowly once she stepped out into society.
However, they did not touch on what she should do if she could not repay him? Use her body, perhaps? But, of course, Baiyi had no intention to do that at all. He chose to respect Mia's parents' wishes and agreed to their condition.
Once again, on the second day, Mia was able to put on her favourite new dress and beautiful new shoes as she walked with Baiyi towards the high-end carriages under the stare of the entire village.
It was perhaps a testament to Lord Nolan's prestige in the town that they did not hear even a word of negative comments like "Oh, Mia has found herself a weird armored sugar daddy!". It looked like this town was indeed a peaceful and congenial place. Baiyi could not help but be attracted to such an atmosphere.
The gathering place of the caravan outside the town was much more deserted than the town square. The town people knew that they could not afford the things outside so they showed no interest at all towards the goods. There were only a few children and youngsters who were curious so they went to have a peep but all of them were shooed away by the traders who were resting under the shade.
The instance they saw Mia and Baiyi, their eyes began to shine with glee, especially at Mia who was dressed beautifully and charmingly as she looked like an aristocrat in the dress that she was wearing. Immediately, the few people who were lying down under the shade hastily climbed up and presented their goods to them. Some even tried to usher them to their own wagons.
Still, those so-called high-end goods were really unspectacular. They were basically household items that only the aristocrats would be interested in. The items appeared to be made with good taste but the same can't be said for the jewelries. The earrings, necklace and rings were too flamboyant. Only the nouveau riche would be interested in such workmanship and style. It was one of the down sides of a self-organized caravan, their products varied in qualities and standards.
Baiyi continued to stroll around and he was a little shocked to find that there were some traders who dared to sell armors and swords. In truth, one would need a signed permission from the Duke of Wright in order to sell those sort of goods. The sneaky businessmen hid all of the forbidden goods underneath a pile of ordinary clothes and when Baiyi moved nearer, they moved the clothes away, revealing the armors beneath them. It was obvious that they did not have any permit to sell those items. On top of that, all of the swords and armors were basically uniforms in different sizes. It seemed like they must have stolen the goods from God-knows which troop of army.
Baiyi quickly took hold of Mia's hand and walked away. It was not surprising to see such people among the caravan but it was strictly a no-no to get involve in such a troublesome matter. It would be hard to extricate yourself once you've gotten entangled in the mess.
After looking through all of the goods, Baiyi only bought a set of silver tableware to be presented as gift to Mia's parents. No matter how he tried to convince them, they still refused to accept the two pieces of jewelries that he had presented to them earlier on. Because of that, he had no other choice but to look for something cheaper to give them.
After another round of repudiation, Mia's parents finally accepted the gift. Little did they know that the set of tableware would come in handy so soon. Five days later, the night the caravan was leaving, Lord Nolan brought the their leader over to the house for a visit and Mia's mother used the exact set of tableware to serve them all dinner.
The leader was a young man known as Jimmy Jr. Baiyi did not like the guy at all. Not because the fact that he had a mouth that stuck out and a chin like an ape, the typical look of a profiteer, but because of the fact that since the moment he entered the house, his gaze had never left Mia and in spite of her discomfort, he still wanted to kiss her hand.
Seeing him reaching out a hand towards Mia's little hand, Baiyi lifted up a big whale coin bank and threw it towards his face. Immediately, a loud 'crash' could be heard echoing in the living room and within second, a streak of blood slowly flowed down from his forehead. Staggering, he fell onto the floor and shouted out in pain.
"Oops , I'm sorry. My hands slipped ," Baiyi used his Mana to recover the whale coin that he threw. Before he threw it out, he had used his Mana to cover the surface of the coin bank, therefore it was still in good condition when Baiyi retrieved it. Without wasting another second, he used a Water-type magic to clean it up and just as he prepared himself to be bombarded with Mia's father's interrogation, he saw her father giving him a thumbs up before he quietly put the teacup that he was holding back on the table.
The two men actually had the same view in that matter?
Still, perhaps it was because Jimmy Jr. had thicker skin, even after receiving such a blow from Baiyi, he did not faint. In the end, Mia's mother had to help him bandage up the wound and he threw a glare of resentment towards Baiyi.
How dare you glare at me? If Mia's parents are not here, I would have already beaten you into pulp! Baiyi regretted that he did not smash the coin bank at him harder.
After the young trader who wanted to flirt received such a heavy blow, the dinner plan inevitably got cancelled. All he did was glare at Baiyi nastily before he hastily escape in a dingy manner.
By the time he left, Mia's father flashed a victory smile towards Baiyi and said, "As expected from Master Hope. What a fast, accurate and ruthless shot! To be honest, it was not appropriate for me to teach that kid a lesson because after all, his dad, Senior Jimmy, used to serve in the same troop with me when we were young so we are friends till now. After that, he became the person-in-charge for the chamber of commerce and he would come to my town every year bringing a caravan with him. It seems like he could not make it this year but still, he did not forget to ask his son to form a temporary caravan to come here. He is indeed a good person."
"Who knew that his son would not take after his father and even though his management is quite good, how dare he use his father's name to come ask for Mia's hand from me. I will never allow it to happen!" Mia's dad continued and called little Mia to his side. Stroking her head, he added, "Master Hope, please look after her carefully. Make sure she's not being deceived by some evil bastards."
"Certainly! Don't you worry about this," Baiyi nodded his head. Little did Mia's father know that Baiyi looked after her even more carefully and tightly than her real biological father did.
"Speaking of it, this son of your friend somehow doesn't seem to be a good person, huh?" Baiyi queried.
"Of course he's not!" Lord Nolan replied, "He's a playboy who dared to covet my darling baby girl!"
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant," Baiyi waved his hand. He did not expect the Viscount to be so naive.
"I'm talking about the tattoo on his face. It looks really strange and somehow I have a bad feelimg about it."
"T-Tattoo?" Lord Nolan was stunned for a moment, "What tattoo?" Then, he turned to Mia and her mother but both of them did not see any tattoo on that man's face at all.
"Hmmmm... Is that so?" Baiyi pondered for a moment. He walked over to the place where the playboy had fallen and looked at the chair that he was seated on just a moment ago. He also lifted the cup that the playboy used and rubbed his hands on it.
"Perhaps, I've seen wrongly," Baiyi murmured as he looked at the traces of magic left behind on his palm.