Chapter 465 – One Gold Coin?

Vasida immediately pulled the remaining portion of pan-seared lamb chops to her side and cut it into three pieces.

Lilith divided the two potato cakes into three portions as well.

Even the mushroom bisque was split spoonful by spoonful among the three of them.

The guards at the neighboring table watched them with pity.

How pitiful! These mage ladies were even poorer than rough fellows like themselves — they couldn’t even afford a full meal each.

The original plan had been to reinforce their poor-and-stingy personas by eating a token amount, then returning to their room for a proper feast.

But once the food actually touched her lips, Mo Lan regretted everything.

It was absolutely awful!

How had they managed to make lamb chops with such an overpowering gamey stench? She didn’t dare take more than a tiny bite at a time, terrified she might throw up.

Mo Lan glanced at Vasida, Lilith, and Sylph, who all looked equally green in the face.

She should never have listened to them about dining in the restaurant! What were they supposed to do now? If they didn’t finish everything, wasting food would be completely out of character for their personas!

Vasida and the others had completely lost any interest in watching the other tables’ drama.

They stared at the food on their plates in pure despair.

Their very first meal in the human world had dealt them a devastating blow.

The lamb chops were inedible — maybe try the potato cakes?

Good heavens, why were they bitter?

They hurriedly gulped down a few spoonfuls of mushroom bisque to calm their nerves. Fortunately, the soup was passable — not exactly delicious, but at least edible.

The entire meal felt like a form of punishment.

The mages and guards at other tables thought: “Just how poor are they? They’re treating that tiny bit of food like it’s some precious delicacy they can’t bear to eat.”

After waiting for what felt like forever, Goebel finally saw them finish and stand to leave. He quickly rose and walked over. “Pardon me, milady — are you also headed to Lance City?”

Mo Lan gave a slight nod.

This mage was the highest-ranked among that group of mages — the only Intermediate mage among them.

However, she was playing the role of an Advanced mage, so she merely gave a small nod, maintaining an air of haughty detachment.

“Wonderful! So are we. The knighting examination in Lance City is about to begin this year, and we have to take the Colorado Mountain Range route to make it in time. Would you be willing to travel together with us? That way we could look out for each other on the road,” Goebel said.

“Sure! For this much, I’ll agree to protect you along the way.” Mo Lan held up a single finger.

“One gold coin?” Goebel said. “No problem!”

Mo Lan shot him a contemptuous look. “One gold coin and you think you can command an Advanced mage? You must be dreaming! Ten Magic Gold Coins, or 1,200 regular gold coins! Otherwise, forget it!”

As an unaffiliated wild mage with no backing, she was poor because all her money went toward magic resources, and she was stingy because she had to figure out everything on her own — but she absolutely could not be naive! Otherwise, there was no way she could have cultivated to the Advanced level on her own.

“Ten Magic Gold Coins?” The gentlemanly smile on Goebel’s face gradually crumbled.

Someone who didn’t have a single gold coin to her name had the nerve to ask for ten Magic Gold Coins? They were both called gold coins, but the difference between regular gold coins and Magic Gold Coins was astronomical.

A hundred regular gold coins might not even be enough to exchange for one Magic Gold Coin!

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow. If you want to hire me, decide by tomorrow evening. There’s no room for negotiation.”

With that, Mo Lan strode briskly toward the staircase.

She needed to get back to the room immediately and eat something decent to settle the nausea churning in her stomach.

Those lamb chops had genuinely done her internal damage.

After the sound of footsteps on the stairs faded away, the mages erupted into heated discussion.

“They’re going to Lance City too — they’re probably trying to make the knighting examination just like us! It’s just traveling the same road, and she wants ten Magic Gold Coins? Why doesn’t she just rob us outright?”

“Ten Magic Gold Coins — I definitely don’t have that!”

“Neither do I!”

“With prices like that, there’s no way she’s actually poor!”

“Poor? She’s clearly just a miser! Another one of those Instructors who mistreats their apprentices.”

“But the Colorado Mountain Range has Advanced magical beasts! Without an Advanced mage, our casualties could be severe.”

“Maybe we should just take the safer trade route instead? We’d definitely miss this year’s knighting examination though — we’d have to wait another three years.”

“No, we absolutely have to make it. Time is magic — if we obtain our titles and fiefdoms sooner, three years’ worth of noble dividends and fief income would far exceed this cost!” Goebel gritted his teeth and said:

“We may not have ten Magic Gold Coins, but we should be able to scrape together 1,200 regular gold coins, right? Everyone contributes according to their rank! Apprentices pay 150 gold coins each, Beginner mages pay 120 gold coins, and I’ll pay 60 gold coins.

If you don’t have enough cash on hand, you can borrow from me and pay me back once we reach Lance City.

If you’re not willing to pay, then I’m sorry — you’ll need to leave the group!”

……

After heading upstairs, Mo Lan, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph walked faster and faster. Once inside the room, they split up to set alarm magic circles at the doors and windows, then pushed all the furniture to the corners and placed the Spatial Tent in the center of the small common area.

After rushing into the tent’s dining room, they quickly redeemed several completed Food Cards and materialized the dishes.

The moment they tasted familiar, delicious food, they instantly relaxed.

“Now this is a proper meal! That thing downstairs was pure torture!” Lilith said.

“I used to think Egg Fried Rice’s cooking was bad enough, but human chefs can’t even match Egg Fried Rice! They’re all humans — the humans on Earth cook so well, so how are the humans in the Duchy of Lance this…” Vasida shook her head at the mere thought of human cuisine now — Earth excluded.

“Do all humans in Valen eat food like that?” Sylph asked. “Those mages and warriors seemed pretty used to it.”

“Probably not,” Mo Lan said uncertainly.

“I’ve tried making all the dishes from 《The Culinary Atlas of the Continent of Valen》, and while not every one suited my palate, they were still quite tasty. Maybe the Silver Globe Flower Inn is just a low-to-mid-range establishment, and the Gold Globe Flower Inn is the upscale one, which is why the food quality is so poor here.

If you want food to taste good, you can’t skip the spices. And spices are quite expensive on the human side.

Besides, there’s a barrier between ordinary humans and mages. The ingredients that mages have access to are completely beyond the reach of ordinary humans.”

“I just hope the restaurants in Lance City aren’t all like this!” Vasida said. “If everything tastes this bad, I’ll start questioning the intelligence of the entire human race!”

“Mo Lan, what’s this knighting examination that mage mentioned?” Lilith asked.

“You remember the three Mage Movements of the Mage Empire from our 《Continental History》 classes, right?” Mo Lan said.

“I remember. The first one was during the founding of the nation, establishing that any mage could become a noble and receive a fief. The second one was… what was it again?” Vasida drew a blank.

“The second one was about conflicts between the old and new mage nobility, I think? What was the outcome again?” Sylph tried to recall.

Mo Lan looked at Lilith.

Lilith had her head buried in her food. “Don’t ask me — that was a first-year course. I graduated two years ago. Who still remembers that stuff!”

“You’re all in the Mage Empire now — don’t you think it’s about time you reviewed your 《Continental History》?” Mo Lan said helplessly. “The specialized Practice Quiz Cards for 《Continental History》 have been available for ages. Reviewing would be easy.”