Farming in the Magical World

White Hotel.

Tim returned to the hotel somewhat dejectedly, not even bothering to respond to Mann's greeting, simply waving his hand dismissively.

"Lord Tim, what's wrong? Is there anything I can do for you?" Tim didn't hide his emotions in front of Mann, an acquaintance, which Mann naturally noticed.

"It's nothing, you go ahead with your work!"

But he didn't intend to explain anything further. The other person was just a hotel waiter, and saying anything would only cause more trouble. He just gave a perfunctory reply.

Today's tavern trip was a complete disaster. He never expected that Pat would happen to show up at the "Iron Sword" tavern.

After Pat's outburst, going to other taverns probably wouldn't be very effective.

He hesitated, wondering whether he should try other taverns or simply complete the other task Lanny had given him tomorrow and return to the castle.

Lanny gave him two tasks for this trip: one was to sell the four dark-patterned swords.

The other task was to have him thoroughly investigate the prices of various items in Elfen City, mainly focusing on food, weapons, and jewelry.

Elfen is the largest city in the Earl of Enno's territory, and its prices are indeed very representative. Once Lanny explained it, he understood.

However, if I were to inquire about each one individually, I'm afraid I couldn't do it all by myself.

Thinking of this, he called out to Mann, who was about to leave, "Mann, wait a moment, can you do me a favor?"

"Lord Tim, what do you need me to do?"

Although Mann was puzzled, he was still very happy that a knight like Lord Tim would ask him for help. He looked at Tim with a grin and asked him what kind of help he needed.

"Hmm, Mann, I remember your family is from Elfen City, right?" Tim gestured for Mann to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and then slowly asked.

"Hmm... Your memory is excellent, sir. My home is in the south of the city."

Mann had initially thought it was just a matter of delivering a message or finding someone, but seeing Tim's demeanor, which clearly indicated a long talk, he didn't refuse and sat down opposite Tim. However, he couldn't help but have some wild guesses in his mind, wondering what Lord Tim wanted him to do.

"Yes, that's right. I need your help with something. I want you to find out the prices of some things in the city."

He figured that since Mann was from the city, it should be easy for him to find out about prices and such.

It would be difficult for him to make inquiries alone, but it would be much easier to have Mann, a local, do it. Plus, the other party could send friends or other connections, which would be much more efficient.

Of course, he would also pay the other party some reward, which he estimated should be about 5 silver coins.

He didn't care how many people Mann recruited; he only needed to communicate with Mann. The compensation he offered was quite generous, and he figured Mann wouldn't refuse.

To Tim's surprise, Mann did not immediately accept his commission. Instead, he looked at him with a troubled expression, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

“Mann, we’re old friends. If you have any difficulties, just say so. Is the reward too low?” Tim looked at Mann, wondering if Mann was being distant since he hadn’t been to Elfen City in a long time. Or was Mann hoping for a higher reward?

"My lord, you may not know, but Elfen City has been acting rather strangely lately..."

Seeing that the other party had misunderstood him, Mann waved his hands repeatedly to explain that it was not about the reward, but that recently, because Count Enno was conscripting nobles to block a group of wandering Grummans, the city was under some kind of wartime control, and strangers and people with strange behavior were being closely monitored.

If a stranger asked him to find out the prices in the city, he probably wouldn't go out to run errands immediately, but rather go to the city's security team to report a spy, since there's money to be made for reporting spies.

Fortunately, he and Tim had known each other for decades and he had no reason to doubt Tim's motives.

However, he is now hesitant about whether or not to help Tim with this task, since there are still some risks involved.

Considering that Tim's master, August, was a nobleman from the North, he shouldn't be able to harm Elfen City, right?

In the end, he gritted his teeth and decided to take the job.

"Sir, leave this matter to me. I'll go find someone right away."

Although everything was arranged, Tim realized he had underestimated the complexity of the situation once he actually started doing it. Even with the help of the city's residents, it took two or three days for the various items he needed to gradually arrive in his possession.

The reason why they were collected in such a scattered manner is actually closely related to the scale of trade at that time.

For example, regarding the price of horses, because the trading volume in the city was insufficient to support daily market openings, the horse market was not held every day, but was fixed on Mondays and Fridays.

This means he can only collect this information on Monday or Friday; if he misses those two days, he has to wait until the following Monday.

Although the collection speed was not fast and there were some setbacks along the way, the collection progressed steadily, and he recorded more and more price information.

That day, he was in his room organizing the documents in his hands, transcribing the important points one by one onto parchment. After all, the people Mann had found were mostly illiterate, and their oral explanations were often disjointed and unclear, so he had to transcribe them all over again.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Who?"

He got up and opened the door, only to find that it wasn't Mann, but a stranger standing respectfully at the door.

"Ok?"

Tim looked at him in confusion. He didn't seem to have ordered any food or called anyone over.

"Lord Tim, your friend was looking for you at the front desk. I've brought him over." The waiter gave a fawning smile, bowed, and then stepped aside to let him through the doorway.

Huh? My friend?

Tim was very curious. He hadn't contacted any of his old friends since arriving in Elfen City. Who would have found the inn?

It's probably the same old trouble again. This waiter probably took money from people before bringing them here, right?

He couldn't afford to argue with a mere waiter for the moment; instead, he looked towards the door, eager to see who had come looking for him!

"Haha, Mr. Tim, we meet again," a young male voice came from the doorway. Before the voice finished, three men walked in. The young man at the front was imposing and distinguished, dressed in a magnificent knight's uniform and carrying an exquisite knight's sword with a red gemstone inlaid on the hilt.

Tim's eyes narrowed as he looked at the longsword inlaid with red gems.

Although he had spoken lightly to Lanny before, the pressure was immense, even for August, a true baron, when facing a member of a ducal family. Moreover, he wasn't even a nobleman; he was merely a baron's guardian knight.

"Won't you invite us in for a seat, Mr. Tim?" Seeing that Tim remained silent, the young man smiled knowingly, revealing a row of white teeth.

"Please come in!"

Tim couldn't very well stop them from entering, so he stepped aside to let them into the room, while wondering in his mind who these people were and why they had called out his name so quickly.

After the group sat down inside, Tim looked at the young man with some confusion and asked first, "May I ask who you are?"

Before the young man could speak, an elderly man behind him pointed at him and began to introduce him.

"This is Gino Williams, the third son of our Duke Williams. We are Mr. Gino's squires; you may call me Randall."

He then explained how the others knew Tim, thus saving Tim from having to ask again.

“We met Mr. Tim at the Iron Sword Tavern before, but he was busy with some important matters and didn’t have time to introduce us.”

Duke Williams?

Tim nodded knowingly. He naturally knew of Duke Williams' reputation; he was a famous nobleman in the central part of the kingdom, though not good at warfare, he was most famous for his family business.

But what does this have to do with me?

Oh, that seems to be related. Could it be that you're here to buy the Dark Pattern Sword?

It turned out that these were Gino and his group from the "Iron Sword" tavern. After leaving the tavern, they began inquiring about Tim's whereabouts.

Although Tim was quite well-known in Elfen, he had been staying in the inn since arriving in Elfen, spending his days in his room compiling the prices compiled by Mann. It wasn't until today that the group finally found out where he was.

On the contrary, in the past few days, while inquiring about Tim's whereabouts, I learned a lot about Tim and the Wells family.

According to what we know, Tim did indeed travel the continent many times with his friend and master, the Baron of Wales, when he was young.

Therefore, his account of the Dark Pattern Sword is highly credible.

Upon receiving this news, Gino became even more interested and urged the others to quickly find out where Tim was staying. If they still couldn't find out, he planned to go directly to Wells Castle the next day. However, he accidentally learned today that Tim was still in Elfen and was currently at the White Hotel.

Upon learning Tim's whereabouts, Gino immediately rushed over with his entourage.

After listening to Randall's explanation, Tim looked at Gino with some confusion and asked, feigning ignorance, "Mr. Gino, is there something you need from me?"

“Mr. Tim hasn’t been going out much these past few days, so he probably doesn’t know yet, but your Dark Pattern Sword has caused quite a stir among the knights of Elfen City.” This Gino didn’t seem like the son of a merchant noble at all. Before even starting to discuss the deal, he started talking about the Dark Pattern Sword, and his eyes brightened as he spoke, revealing his high expectations for the sword. Randall, standing next to him, shook his head in disbelief.

However, Gino's words were not wrong; it turned out that they were not the only ones who noticed the abnormality of the broken sword that day.

After they left, the two knights examined the broken swords in detail. They analyzed the broken surfaces, the force and angle of the swing, and concluded that the dark-patterned sword was indeed a rare treasure. An ordinary knight's sword would have no chance against it.

In other words, given the known hardness of standard knight's swords, no standard knight's sword could withstand the attack of the Dark Pattern Sword.

The two also speculated that the knight's armor would not be more durable than leather armor under the attack of this patterned sword.

The two men were quite loud at the time, and given their considerable fame among the Knights, their analysis was circulated that very night.

Now, almost all the knights still in Elfen City knew the news, and details of the duel between Tim and Patrick that night were also spread.

In recent days, at many taverns or knight gatherings, the knights present would vividly describe how powerful the Dark-Patterned Sword was and how Patrick looked disheveled. This has become a regular feature of the gatherings.

As knights, no one knew better than them what it truly meant to possess such a precious sword.

Most knights could only envy Tim's good fortune in obtaining such a precious sword.

But the world is never short of people with a keen eye, and it wasn't just Gino and his group who noticed Tim's words "got a batch".

Therefore, Gino and his group are not the only ones currently searching for Tim; some powerful knights are also eager to find out about him in secret.

They just received the news earlier and came looking for us first.