Chapter 351 — Another Visit

A cluster of pure white flame burst from his fingertips—a somewhat dim holy light, yet still enough to set paper alight. Seconds later, the letter became a handful of ash scattered on the wind.

Outside the church, a woman whose lazy elegance set her utterly apart from the passing crowd paused for a moment.

She was a tall woman in a pale violet gauze dress. In the chill of early spring, her thin attire was strikingly conspicuous, yet the pedestrians coming and going around her seemed not to see her at all, each passing her by.

A veil of the same pale violet covered her face, revealing only a pair of thoroughly curious eyes. Those eyes were now fixed on the direction of the church's main door. Though the door was closed at that moment, she seemed able to see through it to what lay inside, and as she watched, she laughed softly. "Heh... humans really are such complicated creatures..."

Then she drew back her gaze and looked over the city before her, already grown to considerable scale.

"Then again... how did this place develop so fast... When were all these little buildings put up, and when did all these people come crawling out..." She muttered to herself and planted her hands on her hips. "Last time I came, weren't they all just shacks!"

She had barely finished muttering when a crisp exclamation—one that always sounded maddeningly annoying no matter when it came—suddenly rang out behind her. "Whoa! You again!"

The woman whipped her head around, and sure enough, there stood behind her that little runt—half elf and half who-knew-what—rudely pointing at her with the half-eaten stick of frosted sugar in his hand (a local snack).

Then that thoroughly annoying half-blood creature shouted again, "And you're wearing the same clothes and veil as last time! Are you really that poor?"

Metzen Ponia—senior agent of the Mithril Vault, top-tier service professional handling high-level clients, a lady of impeccable breeding and elegant bearing—wanted, at this moment, to kick the fellow before her flying once again.

But the very next second, she spoke with a reserved and dignified smile. "I have come to call on Duke Gaoyang Cecil. Please lead the way."

"Oh," Amber quickly stuffed the remaining half of the frosted sugar stick into his mouth, crunched it up, swallowed, and then held out a hand. "Six coppers."

Mercaenia Ponia's eyebrow twitched. "Wasn't it three last time?"

"Prices went up. My rank's higher now, so it costs double," Amber said with perfect conviction. "You'd better decide fast—it might go up again before long..."

Half an hour later, Gao Yang, studying mechanical design drawings in his study, was interrupted by a shout from the doorway: "Hey! Gao Yang! Someone's here to see you!"

Gao Yang jerked his head up and stared at Amber in astonishment. "How did you get in through the door... Hm? Miss ylittlepony?"

"It's been a long time, Your Grace. And let me stress once again—please pronounce my name correctly," Mercaenia Ponia said, curtseying elegantly with a faint smile. "I've brought the goods you ordered."