Time flies by, and before you know it, the season has come to the height of summer. The summer in the ice fields is not as hot as in the middle of the continent, and although there is also the sun, it is not very hot. Walking outdoors with a gentle breeze makes people feel a sense of refreshment.

Today is the weekend, and as is customary, Moriarty has put aside what she is doing to be by Hayina's side. Because half a month later is the traditional "summer solstice festival" in Bracada, in order to prepare some food and drinks for the festival in advance, so under the mention of his fiancée, Moriarty took White and Guderian again, and the four of them went to the market to make some purchases. However, when he came to the "Cheese Corner", where the food shops gathered, the mage, who had not been shopping for a long time, found that the pre-holiday market did not seem to be as lively or busy as he imagined. Even if there are some customers who keep coming in and out of the cheese corner, they are all in a hurry, and most of the food they buy is not very rich, and there are no extravagant drinks like alcoholic beverages or hazelnut mousse sweets.

"Why can't I see the purple berries from the south these days, and the seasoning of the brown cake can be used!" Walking on the somewhat empty streets, Haiyuna glanced left and right at the shelves of the shops on both sides, and said with a little disappointment: "Look, Moti, these 'goblin chocolates' are also old from last year, and the price has risen a lot, which is too much." ”

"Really?" With his fiancée's pointing, Moriarty's gaze swept over the mottled price tags.

"Really." Haiyuna nodded, and pointed to a few other goods with some dissatisfaction: "In addition to the things shipped from other city-states, even ordinary bread and bacon have jumped in price, and they are already three percent more expensive than the last time I bought them. ”

"Sancheng..."

A three-tenths increase in the price of basic food is a huge increase in the cost of living for ordinary people.

Some people may think that a rise of three cents is just a small amount of money that is not worth mentioning, and it is not worth worrying about at all, and it will not have any significant impact on their lives. But he ignores the fact that food prices are not aimed at a general organization or collective, but are genuinely linked to everyone. The number of people in a family is that every additional expenditure caused by the increase in food prices will explode violently by multiplying the number of people. However, on the other hand, a family has a fixed source of income of one or two people. On the other hand, as the most basic material price in society, the price of food has a very far-reaching role in promoting and guiding the selling price of all other commodities. In the history of any known civilization, once the price of food has risen, it must have been followed by a wave of uniform increases in all fields of products, without exception. It can be said that once it is launched, the whole body moves.

"Hayna, why don't you buy some more food and store it, our storerooms are still quite empty." As if thinking of something, Moriarty withdrew his gaze and said in a deep voice.

"So... Good. Haiyuna thought about it, and also felt that there was no harm in hoarding some food at home, anyway, the specially designed storage has a good preservation effect, and there is no need to worry about spoilage, mold and other problems.

Immediately, Haiyuna led the three of them to a shop where she usually went and negotiated with the boss. As for their old customers, the shop owner is also willing to give a pretty good price discount on the premise of large shipments, and can deliver them directly to the door.

"Alas, this is also rising, that is also rising, why is it that even the price of alcohol has increased?!" Finally begged Haiyuna to agree to buy a few more bottles of imported Lester, but the dwarf still had a bitter expression: "Moti, when will you pay your salary again?" ”

"Paycheck?" Before Moriarty could respond, White on the side said angrily: "What about the three hundred gold coins that were just given to you this month?" ”…,

"Eh..."Guderian scratched his head in embarrassment: "It's spent..."

There are also a number of dwarven professionals from Avili in Crystal City, employed by some chambers of commerce or as individual adventurers, who often travel to and from all parts of Bracada. And Guderian, as a follower of Moriarty, is the best mixed among his fellow villagers. The silver-bearded dwarf has a good face, so he has no less to do on weekdays when he invites people to drink and eat.

"Then you sell that new hammer, it's worth a lot of wine." White seemed to be kind enough to build yì Dao.

"That's absolutely not going to work!" As soon as he heard the idea of beating his own war hammer, Guderian immediately shook his head a hundred times, and hurriedly fastened the strap of the hammer behind his back, only to tie the dead knot.

Just a few days ago, the Silverbearded Dwarves finally waited for Moriarty to promise him his magic warhammer, "Rock Courage".

Unlike Guderian's previous cylindrical black hammer, the new hammer has a streamlined spindle-shaped hammer body, and one end is flat like felt, but the other end is a conical tip. Among them, one end of the cone is made of pure gold, which is born with armor-piercing properties, and at the same time, with the effect of "piercing" magic array, the overall structure is almost a powerful destructive force close to the "armor-piercing" effect. In the section of the flat felt, the improved "Hack Burning Arrow" alchemy circle is densely engraved on the hammer surface of the hematite pouring. This lower version of the Burning Circle actively reduces the explosive power of its original one-time attack, and instead adjusts it to a controllable continuous surface burn effect. To put it simply, when a dwarf strikes an enemy with the flat end of his head, a seemingly thin but extremely hot layer of magical fire ignites on the plane of the hammer, and this flame is one of the effective means of killing pure ethereal spirits like evil spirits.

And because the hammer, which had almost reached the pinnacle of low-level magic weapons, was erected like a rocket machine that Moriarty had seen in the old world, he eventually named the magic hammer "Rock Gall".

Having received the magic equipment he had been waiting for for a long time, Guderian was almost as happy as if he had gone crazy. In particular, Rog Gall fully meets the requirements of the dwarves' minds for the ideal warhammer, and at the same time it is big, fierce and heavy enough, which simply makes Guderian love it. For several days in a row, the silverbearded dwarf refused to let go for a moment no matter whether he ate or slept for a moment, and even went to the toilet with the baby warhammer to squat together, which can be called a model of fetishism.

After some more discussion with the shopkeeper, Hayuna finally confirmed her bill of goods and paid the deposit. The four then left the market and returned to Olympus, which was already evening. Unexpectedly, when he came to the garden gate, Jeffrey, who had been promoted to housekeeper, was waiting.

"Sir, Master Schmidt has been waiting for you for almost an hour." Jeffrey took a few steps to meet Moriarty and reported quickly.

"Oh? Daddy is here? Hearing this, Hayuna gave her fiancé a strange look. Generally speaking, if there is nothing important, it is rare for a mid-level mage to take the initiative to step out of the mage tower.

"Well, let's go over." Moriarty nodded, and walked briskly with his fiancée to the living room of the building.

"Mage Moriarty, come with me now." Seeing the two come in, Schmidt got up from the couch, gave her daughter a brief hug, and then turned to Moriarty.

"Yes, Your Excellency." Hearing the mid-level mage's tone, Moriarty immediately bowed down and agreed.

Walking out of the Olympus Garden, a waiting carriage immediately greeted me from a street corner in the distance. Schmidt boarded the carriage first, and Moriarty followed.

"The Dean wants to see you." When the carriage began to move slowly, Schmidt activated the soundproof magic circle in the carriage before he said in a deep voice.

"Dean-sama!" Moriarty couldn't help but be startled, and sat down precariously and said, "Excuse me, can you know why?" ”…,

"It's not a bad thing." The mid-level mage nodded, signaling that the other party didn't need to be so nervous: "It has something to do with your crystal activator." ”

"I see."

A month ago, Moriarty secretly handed over a modified version of the activator recipe to the high-ranking mage Depra, but has not received any response from Hockenheim since. Unexpectedly, dozens of days later, he suddenly had to be personally received by the Grand Arcanist Figaro. Come to think of it, it's finally time to "reward meritorious deeds".

"But there's one more thing." At this time, Schmidt suddenly said sternly

"What?" Moriarty leaned forward.

"Remember that conversation I had with you a year ago?" The mid-level mage lowered his voice.

"Yes, I remember, about the 'South Side.'" Moriarty nodded and looked at Schmidt, "And it seems to have been more troublesome lately." ”

"Oh? What have you already heard? Hearing his nephew say this, Schmidt glanced at the other party in a little surprise, frowned and asked.

"No, there isn't." Moriarty shook his head slightly: "It's just that I just accompanied Haiyuna to Cheese Corner once, and I found that the price of food has risen dramatically. Last year, Bracada's agriculture and animal husbandry did not show any record of a decrease in production, but it was a good year. I don't think there's any other explanation than that the City Lord's Mansion has begun to take the initiative to stock up on food..."Speaking of this, Moriarty deliberately stopped talking.

On the other side, the mid-level mage looked at Moriarty with a look of surprise. Although the mid-level mage had long been familiar with Moriarty's insight and thinking in the fields of magic and alchemy, he had never expected that his nephew would be equally skilled and experienced in government affairs.

"It seems that the education of politicians in Erathia is not useless at all." Schmidt thought so secretly

Thanks to the book friends of "Wind Hunting Clouds", "Diandian Most 嗳", "Spicy Chicken 2222", "Bafang Shattered", "KillingSpree", "Bloody Wind and Bloody Rain Mansion Master", "ngstone", "Honored", "Book Friend 130103181242355" and "No Extreme Heavenly Monarch". It's another big New Year's money, thank you.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I ask for recommendations, collections, and encouragement~~~