Chapter 27 Market Your Majesty, would you like some ice cream?
On the fifth day of the market opening, the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the town, and countless lanterns hung on the shops of all sizes, as if the sunlight had been broken and scattered on the mountain road, creating a beautiful scene when viewed from above.
The aircraft landed at the foot of the mountain, and the market meandered along the mountain road all the way to the top, where there was a flat area for residents to rest, and bonfire performances in the evening.
As soon as the hatch was opened, a wave of heat hit us.
Shi Wei glanced at the personal terminal and asked curiously, "The temperature is about the same as yesterday, so why is it so hot here?"
The others also noticed. Xia Mang, who was following behind Shi Wei, was not surprised and explained, "This mountain is an active volcano. When it fluctuates, geothermal heat is released, and the temperature rises."
Shi Wei was shocked: "An active volcano? You're holding this kind of event on an active volcano?"
Xia Mang quickly said, "Don't worry, don't worry, it won't erupt! It hasn't erupted for hundreds of years!"
Seeing that no one else seemed to be reacting, Shi Wei said worriedly, "What if it erupts right now...?"
Cyril, who happened to be standing nearby, chuckled upon hearing this: "There are energy fluctuations before a volcanic eruption. The guards wouldn't be unaware of something like this. This market is held every year; nothing unexpected will happen."
It seemed a bit hot when I came yesterday, but nothing happened, so I guess everything should be fine.
Executive Officer Bai Xu and the town mayor walked ahead of His Majesty and several officials. Shi Wei didn't want to walk with them, so she lagged behind a few steps and slowly examined the items sold in the small shops.
There were clearly more and a wider variety of items sold than yesterday. Shi Wei stood in front of a shop selling colorful stones. The stall owner was a bird-beastman with slanted eyes and some white feathers behind his ears.
When Shi Wei asked him the price, he gestured laboriously in Common Language: "Mibei, one, exchange for one—"
It turns out that special "grain shells" are needed to exchange for them. When Shi Wei came yesterday, she could still exchange things with gold shells.
She handed him a silver shell, but he shook his head, indicating that he couldn't accept it.
There were indeed places to exchange money at the foot of the mountain. They glanced at them a few times when they passed by, but didn't exchange any money there.
Seeing her preparing to leave with regret, the stall owner grabbed a stone and handed it to her: "Here you go."
It was a clear, round, light blue stone. Shi Wei shook her head; she couldn't accept something for nothing.
The bird-like beastman seemed angry, chirped a few times, and threw a stone into her arms.
It chirped a few more times.
Overwhelmed by the language barrier, Shi Wei had no choice but to accept the stone.
While other orcs were buying things, he placed the silver shell in a pile of stones and then secretly slipped away.
After catching up with the group, she found that only Prince Cyril was with the Emperor, so she went over to him.
"What did you buy?" the Emperor asked.
Shi Wei held the stone in her palm, very happy: "Look, doesn't it look like your eyes!"
The man's eyes softened. He took the crystal and examined it. It was just an ordinary blue crystal, not even particularly pure, but the way she held it so carefully was as if she were holding his gaze in her hands—
"It looks very similar, and it's very beautiful."
She smiled and looked very happy: "I'm going to punch a hole in it and hang it on my clothes."
“Okay, let them set it for you.” The two men discussed the ordinary stone as if it were some rare treasure.
Cyril watched them quietly.
The royal collection contains countless rare and precious gemstones, and even a companion stone of stellar material—the Star Source Stone, which is so rare that it can fetch tens of millions of dollars per gram.
Given her father's affection for her, he could give her the most beautiful gems in the world, so that she could have a different one every day.
But they were happy about a worthless piece of blue crystal.
Is it because we like something that we find it beautiful even if it has no intrinsic value?
Her father felt the same way about her. Because of his love for her, even if she wasn't the most beautiful or outstanding, he would still think that she was the most wonderful person in the world.
But this kind of liking is truly a love based on mutual understanding and connection.
Or is it merely an animal instinct attracted by pheromones?
He looked into Shi Wei's pure eyes with a hint of pity: Do you think this is love?
If I told you that when you stop emitting such alluring pheromones, he would no longer treat you differently—
Will I cry? Will I despair?
...
As the group reached the halfway point of the mountain, the temperature rose higher and higher. Shi Wei, whose physical condition was not as good as theirs, was already sweating profusely.
King Sklag II touched her flushed face and wiped the sweat from her brow: "If you're hot, have them drive up—"
"No need, no need! I'm not that delicate!" Shi Wei felt fine. The little robot behind her was already full of all sorts of random things, all of which she had exchanged for with Bubei. She wanted to continue shopping.
But some people couldn't stand it anymore. The Second Prince said impatiently, "Stop shopping! It's so hot! You've bought so much stuff, can't you buy me a glass of ice water?"
Everyone walked along the way, thinking they would reach the top of the mountain quickly, so they didn't bring much water. However, Shi Wei wandered around as she walked, so the group moved very slowly.
There was a juice shop not far from them.
Everyone else is thirsty except him, so Shiwei won't spend money on him.
Similan was at a loss. He hadn't recovered from his injury and was feeling unbearably hot, so he sent a guard to buy water.
The guard returned quickly and said helplessly, "We can only use rice coins for transactions here; we don't accept metal currency."
The second prince stared intently at Shi Wei: "I'm dying of thirst! You must have money, lend me some!"
Shi Wei shrugged and showed him her pockets: "I used up all the Mibei I exchanged yesterday."
She exchanged some rice coins, cloth coins, and oil coins yesterday. Rice coins can be used to buy food, so she spent them all.
Only a few clam shells and a few oil shells remained.
Similan rummaged around and realized there really wasn't any. He rolled his eyes, glanced at the remaining half of the journey, and had no choice but to ask the people down the mountain to exchange some money and bring it up.
Shi Wei saw that he looked like he was about to be set on fire, glaring at her, so she hid behind Sklag II. The emperor generously blocked Smilan's view.
They also asked if I felt a little hot and if I wanted to rest for a while.
"Yes!" Before Shi Wei could answer, the Second Prince shouted.
He's the one who's sick and needs more care!
The Emperor pretended not to hear, and Shi Wei looked at everyone before nodding.
A group of people were resting under the shade of a tree, waiting for someone to bring them money, staring blankly at the juice shop across the street.
"Metal currency is the most widely circulated, so why are we exchanging rice and cloth coins? This kind of currency isn't officially minted, so the exchange rate fluctuates a lot and it's easy to counterfeit..." Shi Wei asked the man beside her.
King Scolag II glanced at the thriving juice shop, where customers were giving rice grains of varying sizes and qualities. He remarked, “Because of convenience, they don’t have a complete monetary system. They still have a simple commodity economy and even barter trade. They are thousands of years behind the outside world. What seems like a commonplace trade to us is far ahead of their time.”
"This is a regression of civilization. If our current technology were destroyed instantly, the population would decrease drastically, and if we were isolated for another thousand years, society would also regress, and might even become more backward."
"The progress of human society is a spiral ascent, but if it is interrupted by a powerful external force, it will perish instantly—just like the demise of ancient Earth. A global cold wave caused the temperature to plummet by tens of degrees, freezing the entire planet. After the fuel was exhausted, humanity slowly perished."
“But the genes from ancient Earth have still been passed down,” Shi Wei said earnestly, as she herself has genes from ancient Earth people.
The emperor wiped her sweat and didn't continue the question. After the cold wave arrived, the high-ranking people of ancient Earth realized that the planet was uninhabitable, so they used up their remaining resources to develop spaceships and escaped Earth.
The civilians were spared.
Shi Wei glanced at him, then suddenly leaned closer, almost touching his ear, her breath brushing against it, and whispered—
"Your Majesty, would you like some... ice cream?"
He just mentioned a cold wave, and Shi Wei suddenly remembered that there was an ice cream shop she had passed by earlier where she could exchange oil shells for things!
She rummaged through the bag and found two fried clams. She whispered, "You can buy two. What flavor would you like, Your Majesty?"
The Emperor wasn't actually hot, but not wanting to disappoint her, he said, "Anything is fine... Hmm, how about a fruit flavor?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Shi Wei excitedly ran off.
Buy two, one fruit-flavored and one with all kinds of flavors!
On the mountaintop platform, a distorted figure stood watching the tiny child gesturing something in front of a shop.
Take a photo and send it.
Tengshe: [Are you sure this is it?]
The network transmission is very slow; it takes a while to get a reply.
L: [It's her.]
It turns out they had met once before.
A cute little Omega.
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Author's Note: As usual, please add this to your favorites~
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