Durin's Diary

Half an hour later, in the salon, Durin, slumped on the sofa, listened to the shrewd excuses of Kamian, the young lad.

The gist was that his promotion required earning a sum of money, and there happened to be an easy profit to be made with the human merchants, so they decided to hire Anta to take care of their security and then enter the forest to pick a batch of mushrooms.

And Kamian's cousin, having heard about this, also decided to come and lend a hand for free.

Up to this point, there were no problems, but the issue was that something had come up for Durin right before departure, causing Anta to cancel the mission.

With Anta not coming, Kamian's cousin didn't show up either, and the three youngsters, feeling unsafe in the forest, could only turn back and seek out Anta again.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Kamian's cousin's surname is Griffiths, and his name is Ronin, also known as the third Lad of the Griffiths Family—he's that guy who stubbornly clings to Anta. He has improper thoughts about Anta, but Anta doesn't like him, which is why Durin has beat him up five times, but this kid's criminal intentions are still not quashed.

"My cousin heard that Anta isn't coming, so he bailed as well, that guy is really annoying," Kamian said, looking at Durin with a pleading expression, "Durin, please ask Anta to help me again."

"Yeah, Durin brother, just help Kamian this one time," the girl who spoke up for Kamian is named Tomimi Lanram, and she is, technically, Durin's cousin—her mother is the sixth daughter of old Yishu. And the one sitting next to her is Faris, her first cousin.

Kamian and Faris are good friends, while Tomimi is probably just tagging along with Faris.

So Durin turned to look at Anta, and the girl frowned, "What about your cousin?"

"If I have you two, why would I need him?" Kamian thumped his chest, assuring her.

"Alright, with that assurance, helping you out is no problem," Durin said and then looked to Anta, "Just help him out this once, after all, he is your cousin."

"Fine, but remember, I'm agreeing to this for your sake," Anta sighed, "But before we talk about the commission, Kamian, first explain what the mission is."

"The mission is quite simple. A gentleman merchant from the human world needs a lot of Smiling Mushrooms and is offering a high price. He needs three hundred, and I'm planning to provide one hundred and fifty," Kamian explained the task, giving an account to both Anta and Durin.

"One hundred and fifty Smiling Mushrooms, you must be mad, Kamian, that many Smiling Mushrooms is nearly the monthly ingredient requirement for the Joy Potion in the Eastern Provinces of the Northern Kingdom," Anta said and then turned to Durin, "Should we report this to Old Hammer?

Old Hammer, the Dwarf Sheriff of Lublin, is known not just by the adults but even by the children.

"But only by selling one hundred fifty Smiling Mushrooms will I have the money to buy the materials needed for promotion to a fifth-circle mage," Kamian said, looking at Durin, "Durin, you interact more with human merchants, is what Anta said true?"

"Indeed, many rare goods in the human world need Smiling Mushrooms. This thing is only produced in abundance here, and human merchants offer a high price. How much did he offer you?" Durin smiled as he spoke, his mind making calculations—not like the children, this old man of a hundred years had seen too many cutthroat maneuvers. It's common in the Lublin region for human merchants to privately seek out Grassland Elf children to collect some materials.

But Smiling Mushrooms were not common. This item is a spellcasting material and also a component of certain substances not openly discussed. Durin doesn't know about other places, but in his former homeland, Southern Tai, this amount of mushrooms would be enough for that human gentleman to eat ten rounds of bullets, each round with two hundred bullets in a linked belt, twenty-millimeter caliber.

"One Gold Coin per mushroom!" Kamian stated, gesturing on the long table, "One hundred and fifty mushrooms amount to this much!"

Durin and Anta exchanged glances, seeing profound weariness in each other's eyes.

Anta collapsed next to Durin, and as Durin looked at Kamian, he informed him of the current market price of the rare goods containing Smiling Mushrooms: "A single Smiling Mushroom, turned into a potion, can be mixed into a full five liters of ordinary potion, and only those potions laced with the extract are considered rare goods. A hundred milliliter bottle of this rare potion sells for a Gold Coin."

In the Western Lands, every gold coin is of equivalent value, each containing a relatively equal amount of gold, a rule set by the Goddess of Wealth, but silver coins are different. They vary from place to place, for instance, a silver corner piece from the Grassland Elves can be traded for nearly three silver coins in the Northern Kingdom'>

'The reason is simply the amount of silver content.'

'As for the problem of counterfeit coins, Durin felt the issue was stupid. In a world where blessing-based anti-counterfeiting is imparted to every paper and metal coin right after production, making the divine blessing void by merely filing the edge of a coin seemed to be underestimating the cunning of good folks and the intelligence of the bad.'

'The siblings from the Lanlanmu family sitting beside Kamian were all 'Wow' with the same expression.'

'Kamian's eyes widened in realization. After pondering for a while, he finally slapped his thigh, "They pushed down the price that should have been mine!"'

'Still thinking about that when death was imminent, Durin was so amused that he actually laughed. "The Smiling Mushroom trade within our Elven Territory is legal if it's contracted with the Mage Tower. Selling it to humans must be reported to the police station because we have a memorandum with the Human World regarding such trades. If your transaction with them is discovered, considering it's your first offense, you won't lose your head, but your family will certainly lose face because of your foolishness. And have you ever considered how you would ensure your safety if the trade is illegal?"'

'The Lanlanmu siblings and Kamian, these three young ones, widened their eyes in shock, as it seemed they had only just considered such a serious matter for the first time.'

'Durin looked at Anta, who covered her face with both hands and sighed deeply, as if wanting to scold someone but finding it embarrassing to speak harshly to a foolish relative.'

'Thus, Durin had to continue the topic, "If I were you, I'd tell everything exactly as it is to Old Iron Hammer. He'll solve all your problems. Also, do you realize how dangerous it is for you to lead the way? The kind of guys who handle these deals wouldn't hesitate to add a few murder cases to their charge, just to know about the ecosystem of the Smiling Mushrooms. They could organize others to harvest in the Lublin area anytime, and then you would no longer matter."'

'By this point, Durin had picked up his hot cocoa for a sip before preempting Kamian's attempt to speak, "If I were you, I wouldn't go to the police myself. That guy will definitely have someone watching you, and if you go to the officers, it would mean you weren't fooled, and they would flee immediately."'

'Having said this, Durin turned his head and snapped his fingers.'

'The waiter who had just brought the cart over quickly approached, "What can I do for you, young master?"'

'"Call the police station for me and tell Old Iron Hammer that Durin and his friends have a case to report. Also, if there's someone outside asking you and your friends to keep an eye on him," Durin pointed towards Kamian, "you'd better not believe a single word he says. If you let them get away, you'll be an accomplice. Mr. Iron Hammer doesn't like to get his hands dirty with criminals, and my grandfather won't like to have treacherous traitors in town either. You and your family will be either banished from town or beheaded – take your pick."'

'"I understand, young master. Please rest assured that I and my family are absolutely loyal to the Elven Territory," the waiter said with a serious expression before turning to leave.'

'You see, the boy has taken the money, but Durin's warnings were very real. And as a descendant of a human fugitive slave from the East, he knew the stakes.'

'Turning back to Kamian, Durin explained earnestly, "You really don't have any sense of danger. This merchant is indeed a merchant, but there's a high chance he's also a human trafficker. Let me put it this way, if you're captured, it would be better to be dead than being sold into slavery."'

'After speaking, Durin took another sip of his hot cocoa and then looked at Anta, "See, Anta, we saved someone from dire straits as soon as we arrived, proving that it was right for me to pull you along at the time."'

'"You're right, by the Dual Mothers, I never thought I'd actually come face to face with a human trafficker case from the legends," Anta said with a helpless look at Durin. "But how come you know more about this than I do, when I heard about these cases from the Adventurers' Guild?"'

'"Old Iron Hammer told me during our chats," Durin explained. "He said that every year in Lublin and the surrounding areas, there are unfortunate kids who get tricked. In recent years there have even been several tragic deaths, not to mention the countless disappearances — alive without a trace, dead without a corpse, who knows if they were kidnapped and sold to the Human World or buried in some ditch."'

'As someone who had lived for a century, Durin certainly wouldn't fall for such shallow and vile tricks, but children are different. These despicable individuals took advantage of the fact that information did not travel well and cheated time and again—it could be said they had done all sorts of evil.'

'Having heard this from Durin, the three young ones finally understood that they had taken a stroll right to the edge of death and even paused to leave some memories.'

'Their expressions were, to say the least, very colorful.'