Early October.

Newburgh, a famous trading city on the border between the Kingdom of Sika and the Soma Alliance, welcomes its annual gathering.

The rally lasted five days, and on the third day, it reached its most lively state.

Not only merchants from Sika and Soma, but also merchants from other regions also came one after another, smelling the smell of money, trying to sell their in-demand goods, trying to make huge profits.

In addition to the merchants who peddled the goods, there were also various speculators, with shrewd eyes, walking around the large bazaar in the city, observing the condition of the goods, thinking about the profits after the acquisition, and hesitating whether to sell.

Amid the noise, the air of the whole city smelled of interest.

Miss Anne Pombo, with short ear-length hair, was walking through the streets of the city with a frown.

She walked fast, looked like she was in a hurry, and kept squeezing through the crowd. After walking for a while, it will suddenly stop, stop for a few seconds, change direction, and move forward quickly again.

This is the means she uses to prevent someone from following her.

For Anne Pombo, it was clear that she had provoked a lot of enemies along the way, and although it was logical that they would not have been able to chase her all the way to Newburgh, it was important to be careful—and in the past, it had helped her get out of danger several times.

In this way, Anne walked through the city for nearly half an hour, repeatedly making sure that no enemy was following her, and then she was relieved.

"Whew-"

With a light breath and a slightly wet bangs, Anne looked up at a small and characteristic market with a large number of single goods—part of Newburgh's annual fair.

It is said to be a small market, but in fact the scale is not small, it occupies an entire street nearly 100 meters long. The shops on both sides of the street, and the stalls on the streets, were full of goods—all kinds of ores.

That's exactly what she came to Newburgh for.

I hope to find something out this time...... Anne thought in her heart, her eyes simply swept over the goods on the neighboring stalls, and made sure that they were all ordinary goods, and raised her legs into the first shop next to her.

The floor of the shop is covered with a thick wool carpet, which is very soft to step on, and the decoration is extremely elegant.

Leaning against the wall, there are more than a dozen red lacquered wooden shelves, each of which is divided into dozens of lattices of different sizes, and the ore cut like a work of art is placed inside.

Obviously, these are all samples for the exhibition, and if they are selected, it is natural that someone will contact them about the supply of large quantities.

Speaking of which, the amount of money involved in ore-related business is not low. After all, it's hard to believe that someone has come all the way to buy a ten-pound stone to use as a whetstone for a silver coin.

The interest of the ore business is very high, which makes most of the shops that operate the ore business extremely luxurious, and the service staff in the store are also extremely enthusiastic.

So, as soon as I saw Anne walk in, a guy from the shop greeted me and asked enthusiastically: "This lady, what do you want to see? Do you need the latest sapphire ore, or something else......?"

As the shop guy spoke, Anne's eyes quickly swept over all the exhibits in the shop, and she was sure that there was nothing she wanted.

The next moment, he unceremoniously interrupted the guy's words and responded coldly: "I don't need it." ”

After the words fell, Anne turned around and left, leaving the guy in place, so that the guy couldn't help but have a stunned expression on his face.

"You...... You don't need to, what are you doing here!" It took a few seconds for the guy to react.

But Anne didn't hear it at all, and by this time she had already stepped into the second store.

The decoration of the second shop is not much different from the first, it is also extremely luxurious, the guys are also extremely enthusiastic, and there are similar types of ores on display.

There was no accident, but after a while, Anne walked out again and entered the third store.

Then the fourth store, the fifth store......

Ten minutes later, Anne had efficiently walked through the shops on nearly half of the street, and her face became slightly ugly.

With two thin eyebrows raised slightly, Anne stood on the street and pursed her lips, adjusting her mood before entering the next store.

The shop was located at the back of the street, and compared to the rest of the shops, it looked a bit bad, as if it was not doing well, it was close to closure, and the decoration was extremely shabby, and it could even be called shabby, even in tatters.

The carpet on the floor was whitewashed, and the corners were badly damaged, cracking like the mouth of a baby's mouth.

The seven or eight shelves near the walls were also crumbling, the red paint peeling, half of the wooden lattices were empty, and the remaining half of the ore was also coarse, some had not even been cleaned, and carried with them the soil from the time of mining.

The owner of the shop, an elderly white-haired old man, was sitting behind the counter with his eyes closed. There is a unique indifferent expression on his face, as if he has decided that the store is going to close, and he doesn't want to struggle anymore, so he doesn't bother to greet customers. Anne walked in the door, and the white-haired old man just opened his eyes and glanced at them, then closed them again, not wanting to make any more effort at all.

Anne was also pleased, and stood in the middle of the shop, looking earnestly at the few ores in the wooden lattice.

Shake one’s head.

Shake one’s head.

Shake your head again.

Looking at the ore after ore, Anne shook her head again and again, certain that none of them were her goal.

It seems that this trip to Newburgh is destined to be disappointed...... Anne sighed inwardly.

Raising her legs, Anne was about to go out, when suddenly her eyes swept to a silver-gray lead box more than twenty centimeters square on the wooden shelf next to her, a bit like an ornament, but the appearance was too strange.

"Hey, old man, what is this?" said Anne, pointing to the lead box and asking the shopkeeper.

The white-haired old man was disturbed, opened his eyes unhappily, glanced at Anne and snorted: "Impolite girl, can't you call me politely?" ”

"Then why put the ore in it?"

"How do I know!" the white-haired old man replied in a very impulsive tone, "It's not mine, it's someone else's consignment, anyway, I've already paid the money, whatever she wants." If you will, give me two gold coins, and I'll allow you to keep such a box here. If the box is small, a gold coin will do. ”

"Forget it. Anne rejected the white-haired old man's offer, and asked, "Then I can open it, right?"

"Whatever. The white-haired old man waved his hand impatiently, "I have already said that this is not mine, it is consignment." Giving money only means that the goods can be put here, as for whether they were stolen or robbed, it has nothing to do with me. ”

Annie: "......" raised her eyebrows slightly, and she couldn't help but be speechless for a while, and some realized why the business situation of this store was so miserable. That is, her temper is much better now than before, otherwise she would be able to break the neck of the white-haired old man now, and the rest of the customers who walked into this store were afraid that they were in a similar mood.

"Whew-ho-"

Taking a deep breath, Anne adjusted her emotions and decided to ignore the white-haired old man and reach out to open the lead box.

In her opinion, the ninety out of nine in the lead box was still a piece of ore of ordinary color, but the moment she opened it, her eyes shrank.

The ore in the box, as he thought, was indeed of ordinary color, just copper ore from the rotten street, which did not look very pure, and also had the rest of the miscellaneous ore, and the quality was low.

But on this piece of ordinary copper ore, there is a faint erosive energy.

The energy was both familiar and exciting to her.

Because that's exactly what she's looking for.

Now, finally found.

Anne clenched her fists.