Chapter 658 (1/2)

Hailaer was not a businessman, but he had lived for 300 years and had dealt with countless businessmen. He had long picked up the tricks of the trade.

When at work, businessmen did not practice a straightforward approach. They generally liked beating about the bush, playing some tricks or using some other methods. The most commonly seen method was this: Imagine you had something with a purchase price of 50 gold coins, then your quoted price should not simply be set with a direct 10 percent profit to become 55 gold coins. The quote should depend on both the customers’ and stores’ situations to be adjusted accordingly.

For example, let’s say you had a relatively stable roadside stall and had been doing business by the street for a long time. You should quote 80 coins, then let your customers make you a counteroffer. After a round of nonsensical negotiation, at last, the item will generally be sold for a price ranging from 53 to 58 gold coins.

If you opened a high-end shop with luxurious interior decorations on the most prosperous street in a big city like the Highest Tower, then you must never degrade yourself. Right away, you could mark up the price directly to 200 or 300 gold coins, and even bargaining would not be necessary. You just needed to bear your stance of “small things are not worth talking about; let’s talk business.”

Hailaer’s current situation was almost the kind where “the goods are good, but the customers can still choose whether to buy or not, so I have to sell.” So he had to toss out some shocking news to first trigger the higher-ups of Mill City. Then he threw in the second piece of shocking news again to trigger them further. When they started to waver and began to consider agreeing to his suggestion, only then would he tell them his true demands.

This way, everything would naturally unfold.

To put it bluntly, this was, in fact, the same as haggling with a street vendor.

“Hey, miss, what do you think of this fish? Fresh and tender, it’s good!”

“Well… it’s not bad, how much is it?”

“Five silver coins.”

“That’s too expensive. The number of chickens I could buy instead!”

“Just listen to yourself. Chickens are not rare; this is very rare! This is a seawater fish, so you can’t find it in rivers. Just to bring it over here alive, I had to use seawater along the way, and that took a lot of effort! Just this work alone is enough to make this price worth it!

“That’s truly laborious, but still, you can’t sell it at such a steep price! Anyway, if you’re making a trip to the seaside, you should bring something back. So whatever it is, aren’t you still bringing something back?”

“You can’t speak of it like that. Bringing this over was exceptionally tiring. If I were to bring back some miscellaneous groceries, that would be so much more convenient.”

“But if you brought in some small groceries, you wouldn’t be able to sell it at a good price.”

“Yes, so look at this fish, look how good it is! To tell you the truth, this fish is in fact a little different from the average fish.”

“Eh? Different in what sense?”

“Think about it, the common fish, even if you take good care of it, after a journey of a few hundred miles through a period of a dozen days on the road, no matter what, it would still die, right?”

“That’s for sure. Fish are delicate things.”

“But look at this fish of mine. It’s not dead, on the contrary, it’s still full of vigor.”

“Didn’t you say that it’s because you raised it well?”

“You think too highly of me. If I truly had the ability to keep a fish alive and well for so long, would I still be setting up a stall by the street? I would have long joined the management team of some trading company!”

“That sounds about right.”

“So the key, in fact, lies in this fish—this fish ah, it has the blood of a demon beast!”

“Ah?! Demon beast?!”

“Don’t get so nervous! It does carry a little blood of a demon beast, just like those horses with long scales that the knights rode, but it is not really a demon beast.”

“You scared me! So what is your reason for selling this?”

“Don’t you know? Eating things that carry the blood of demon beasts stimulates the power of the blood inside your body.”

“Indeed, there seems to be such a saying.”

“Of course, there is. Don’t the adventurers frequently eat demon beast meat? Demon beast meat is, in fact, not delicious at all. But to become stronger, they can only resent that they don’t have big enough stomachs, so they can never eat enough. Think about, if your own children eat this, thus slightly stimulating that bit of power in their blood…”

“Indeed, this is something good!”

“Yes, so although the price is a little steep, it is still worth it!”

“But it’s still expensive. I’m going to go buy a few chickens for my children to eat. That is also good and nourishing.”

“You can’t put it across like that. You may find this expensive, but you can just walk into an adventurer’s shop to take a look, how much does demon beast meat cost? The prices there are all paid with gold coins. Just a piece as big as your palm will cost you one gold coin! You look at this fish of mine, at least three pounds, but it’s only five silver coins.”

“But that is demon beast meat.”

“All of those are made into dried meat! All the vendors in our line of business will know that only by eating it fresh and alive will the effects be good! Here, just like my fish, you can buy it and bring it home, kill it or eat it alive. That’s the best!”

“But it’s still expensive ah…”

“Alright! You are my loyal customer. I will give in further and sell it to you for three silver coins. But with one whole fish, if it really stimulated the power of blood for your children, then you better shower me with more care in the future.”

“Deal! There’s nothing more I can say!”

The conversation above was a scene that Hailaer had chanced upon while on the street as he was making his way back from the Highest Tower earlier on. At that time, he was hit with a bright idea and inspiration.

In fact, it was just something typical. This scene was nothing more than someone selling a seawater fish that “gave hope to people about stimulating one’s power after eating it.” What he sold was merely a “hope for longevity or to enter the Legendary Realm.”

Frankly speaking, what everyone bought was the same thing—hope.

Hope, to some people, was worthless, but to others, it was something so valuable that no amount was enough to trade for it. Similarly, for a person, there were certain things one would not spare a glance for, but there were also some other things that one would spare no effort in pursuing.

It was the same for Hailaer himself. To continue living, he had spent god-knew how much effort all these years, enduring through so much suffering and going through countless risks.

Just recently, if it was not to extend his life, would he, a city lord who was perfectly alright, go all the way to the northwest border just because he had plans for a divine master?

That would simply be looking for trouble!

Generally speaking, a person who sought death was bound to die. If he got lucky, then not only would he not die, he would even have gained benefits. But the benefits always came with a price, because His Majesty, the Void Mask, was no longer so kind and gentle, and he would not be forgiving to a mortal who had deceived him. If he did not produce any results, the outcome… he did not even want to think about that.