Chapter 272: Fair Exchange
Crescent Moon Village, on the outskirts of Lyra city.
A tall man wearing a cloak swaggered into the village. This person’s walking posture was a bit unnatural. He knocked on the door of a commoner’s house, asking to buy their food.
"Hello beautiful lady, I am a peddler in Lyra town. My money and food have all been robbed, I only have a few small pieces of jewelry left. Can I use it to exchange for food with you?"
The freckle-faced woman being called a beautiful lady shyly blushed. She raised her eyes to look at that tall man from top to bottom, feeling this person’s appearance was a bit bizarre. His face was quite small but his beard was too thick, making his face look even smaller.
The man covered himself entirely from head to toe, his hands a bit too thin and small.
However, the woman’s gaze stopped at the silver hairpin in his hand for quite a long time. This thing looked very exquisite; besides the silver material, it was also inlaid with precious jade. Let alone him only exchanging for food, him using it to buy this entire shabby house of hers was also more than enough.
The woman spoke softly: "Sir, this thing is too precious. I have nothing to exchange."
The man tilted his head slightly as if thinking about something. A moment later he said:
"Lady, I truly only need a bit of food and water, I do not need much. Please have mercy and exchange with me." He shook the hairpin in his hand, the woman’s eyes following every movement of his hand.
She bit her lip, thinking for a bit, then said: "Please wait for a moment."
Having spoken, the woman ran into the house to call someone. A moment later, a middle-aged man walked out from inside the house. He looked at the peddler, then looked at the item in his hand, saying nervously:
"My daughter likes your jewelry very much, but I do not have that much money. I will take a bag of white flour and three silver coins to exchange with you, is that okay?"
The bearded peddler was silent for a moment again, then nodded: "Can you add six loaves of black bread and a jug of goat milk for me? If possible, please give me a bit more salt."
The middle-aged man immediately nodded: "Of course!" Then he told his daughter to go fetch the items, while he himself politely invited the peddler inside the house.
The peddler shook his head: "Thank you for your good intention Sir, but I need to hit the road right away. Another day when I am free I will come visit as a guest later."
The middle-aged man embarrassedly scratched his head. For the first time, he saw such a polite person, able to call muddy-legged farmers like him a "Sir".
The girl very quickly fetched the items her father requested, placing them inside a basket. The middle-aged man took out his money pouch again, counted exactly three silver coins then tucked it back, placing the coins inside the basket. He handed the basket to the peddler, the peddler received it then handed the silver hairpin to him.
Having gotten the items, the peddler said goodbye to the father and daughter, staggering out of the village.
The father and daughter watched the strange guest go far away, then pulled each other into the house. The girl raised the silver hairpin to admire it, the more she admired it the more she liked it. She pinned the hairpin on her hair, then twirled around in front of her parents, asking them if she was beautiful.
The parents nodded continuously, praising her as the most beautiful girl in this region. The girl happily skipped back to her room. Waiting for her child to disappear from sight, the mother asked worriedly:
"Husband, that person suddenly sold such a good hairpin at a loss, wasn’t it a bandit coming to scout the situation?"
The father knocked his tobacco pipe on the table, saying: "That person’s body was skinny, carrying the basket also wobbly, completely not looking like a well-fed bandit. Perhaps he was truly so hungry he could not walk steadily, being destitute he finally brought out precious jewelry to exchange. Do not think too much, also tell our daughter not to show the item off avoiding bringing disaster upon herself. Tell her to store the hairpin carefully, to use as her dowry."
The mother nodded, her heart still a bit worried. She stood up walking towards her daughter’s room, instructing her daughter to store the item carefully.
The people causing the mother to worry had now run into the forest, ducking into a cave. The cloak was just opened, revealing Harbet and Paul’s skinny bodies. The two kids put the food basket down on the ground, sitting down panting heavily:
"Oh my, we were scared to death. Those two people kept staring at us, I thought we were exposed!"
Kaelen looked at the cowardly appearance of the two brats, laughing until his shoulders shook. He said:
"They stared because your appearance was a bit bizarre, not because they were suspicious. You guys try to coordinate more smoothly, later you will not be easily found out by people anymore."
Paul’s face grimaced: "There is still a next time?"
Kaelen glared: "You see, food can be exchanged with money right? Why must you insist on stealing other people’s things for? Exactly because you often steal people’s things, therefore humans hate non-humans more and more."
Harbet scratched his head: "But clearly they avoided us first. Therefore we had to resort to stealing?"
Kaelen shook his head: "It is because they fear people who are not like them. But if you use money to exchange fairly, they will completely not fear you like that anymore. Exactly because the relationship between humans and other races gradually became tense, the bad guys finally got the opportunity to squeeze in, making non-humans become the despised existence like now."
The children silently listened. Ivy ran over, leaning her face close to the tiny human figure, asking softly:
"Then what must we do next?"
Kaelen said: "Continue learning how to disguise and communicate with humans. Waiting until you can completely integrate, we will go into the city to live honorably."
The six children clenched their fists, nodding resolutely.
The children divided the bread to eat. As for the three silver coins, Paul handed them to Kaelen to keep. In the afternoon, Kaelen handed one silver coin back to two kids, telling them to use the money to buy things in the town, to see what the current prices were.
With one silver coin, the children bought a piece of meat the size of an adult’s hand and a bag of white flour and a packet of salt.
Kaelen frowned. It seemed, humans here also did not live an easy life at all. With one silver coin, Medieval farmers on Earth could even buy much more than that. Kaelen sat on the mouth of a ceramic jug, asking: "At the market, what did you see?"
The children blankly looked at each other.
"I saw... it was crowded?" Harbet answered.
"Besides being crowded?"
The Dwarf kid immediately raised his hand, his voice still full of frustration: "I saw a hoe sold for thirty copper coins! Thirty! That hoe blade was forged from such mild steel that hoeing three beds of soil it would curl at the edges, at my place in the past that thing was only worthy of being thrown into the furnace to remelt!"
"Good." Kaelen nodded: "What else?"
Harbet spread his hands counting, his expression unsightly:
"A bag of black flour needed up to fifty copper coins, a cloth towel as small as a hand needed exactly twenty copper coins. Lord, I heard my father say, it was not like this before..."
Ivy stepped forward, dazedly looking at Kaelen:
"I also saw two soldiers knock down an old man, just because he did not have five copper coins to pay the fee to enter the city to sell vegetables. Lord, why is it like that? They are clearly of the same race, why do they treat their own clan members like that?"
Kaelen smiled: "Because they are humans. Humans are exactly like that, always bullying those weaker than themselves. Previously they did not dare to touch non-humans because non-humans were stronger than them, but now non-humans are getting weaker by the day, humans finally step on non-humans under their feet."
"However." Kaelen lowered his head: "Why is it only the people rotten from the marrow who point their sword tips at non-humans, while normal people, when seeing non-humans fearfully run away?"
Paul’s eyes lit up: "Is it because they are also weak?"
Kaelen nodded: "That is right. Because they are weak, they fear. They are weak not only in actual strength, but weak in social status as well. However, they have a reason to be strong. That farmer was willing to spend three silver coins in his house to buy the hairpin for his daughter, that is because he loves his child.
You tell me, if giving him a choice, cooperating with us to help his daughter’s life become more comfortable, would he accept it?"
Harbet rubbed his chin: "I think he would."
Kaelen nodded, opening his hands: "Therefore, as long as we help their lives get better, they will completely not care whether you are humans or non-humans anymore. Do you understand what I said?"
The children simultaneously nodded. The Goblin kid raised his hand, saying: "Lord, then can I bring the soap I make to sell to those farmers? I will appear in front of them without needing to disguise."
Kaelen sat cross-legged down, resting his chin asking:
"How will you do it?"
The Goblin kid paced back and forth, excitedly gesturing wildly talking about his plan. The boy spoke extremely passionately, so much so that the children in the cave were also drawn into his plan.
Kaelen waited for the boy to finish presenting before voicing his comment:
"Not bad, a truly grand plan. But little kid, trust me, if doing according to the plan then the moment you just stick your face out you will be beaten to death with sticks by people."
The Goblin kid stiffened his body, then despondently let his shoulders droop down. The boy said dejectedly:
"Then what must I do now?"
Kaelen lazily stretched his body, stood up resting his hands on his hips:
"From today, you all learn the most arrogant and overbearing posture for me! Remember clearly, the more arrogant the better, arrogant to the point that as long as they are humans, seeing us they must all bow their heads deeply!"