Chapter 472 – Can’t Afford to Buy? Then Rent

Chapter 472 – Can’t Afford to Buy? Then Rent

The guards were all stunned.

While the ironclad beetle’s shell plates were indeed excellent armor material — and as warriors, armor was their second life —

This mage was just too… too down-to-earth!

They truly wanted the plates, but their pockets were empty. They simply couldn’t afford them.

If they turned down the mage’s kind offer, would she get angry and skewer them on a string just like those ironclad beetles?

Mo Lan watched them shift from disbelief to being flattered, and just when she thought she had the sale in the bag, their expressions turned to fearful trembling instead, leaving her completely confused.

“What’s the matter with you all? Buying or not? Once we reach Lance City, these won’t be at this price anymore!”

It was Goebel’s guard captain who stepped forward to explain: “My lady, we’re all men who risk our lives for a living. We don’t carry much money on us…”

They were all temporarily hired guards. Any trip could be their last — who knew which time they’d head out and never come back?

Who would carry all their money on them? Their employers covered food and lodging on the road, so they only brought a little pocket money for emergencies.

“Huh?” Mo Lan hadn’t been reading their minds this time and hadn’t expected them to be this poor.

Earlier, she’d watched them dispatch low-level magical beasts with practiced skill — they were even stronger in combat than some low-level mages.

Yet their standard of living was worse than those mage apprentices.

She’d long heard that warriors held low status in the Mage Empire, far beneath mages. Now she was seeing it firsthand.

The guards couldn’t afford to buy, and those mage apprentices had already had eighty to ninety percent of their money cleaned out by her. They didn’t have much left either.

What was she supposed to do?

She couldn’t lower the price any further. It was already half the going rate in town — any cheaper and it wouldn’t fit her persona as a wilderness mage.

Mo Lan pondered for a moment.

Just as the guards were nervously imagining her blasting them with a spell, they heard her say:

“How about you rent some instead? One copper coin… no, three copper coins per day, until we’re out of the Colorado Mountain Range.

“You can strap the smaller plates to your chests and attach the larger ones to your horses.

“But it has to be Mage Empire copper and silver coins!”

Only Mage Empire copper and silver coins were accepted as universal currency across the vassal states.

The guards: “???”

There was a deal this good?

Sure, they’d said they didn’t have much money, but they still had a few gold coins on them.

Let alone copper coins!

The exchange rate between ordinary gold, silver, and copper coins was one hundred to one!

They were all originally from the Mage Empire and frequently traveled between nations, so the silver and copper coins they carried were all Mage Empire-issued.

The guards who had been too timid to step forward moments ago now surged up in a frenzy, practically fighting over the plates.

Eighteen ironclad beetles, each with two large and two small shell plates — four pieces per beetle!

And Intermediate ironclad beetle plates were surely stronger than Beginner-level ones.

At this price, just one plate on the chest wasn’t enough — they needed one on the back too for proper protection.

There weren’t nearly enough to go around.

Mo Lan felt a pang of regret. “I priced them too cheap!”

Seeing how desperate they were, she could probably have charged a silver coin per day and they’d still have been happy to pay.

She still didn’t know the Mage Empire’s price levels well enough! She consoled herself by thinking of it as hiring a bunch of people to carry her armor plates for her.

Once they were out of the Colorado Mountain Range, she could sell the plates at the nearest town.

These people were carrying her plates for her and paying her for the privilege. When she thought about it that way, she was still coming out ahead.

That thought made her feel much better.

“Stop fighting! Pay and reserve with Lilith, then go pick up your plates from Vasida and Sylph! Each person is limited to one large and one small plate!”

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph resignedly went to work.

One collected payments while the other two processed the ironclad beetle carcasses.

Mo Lan watched Vasida take an unsharpened blade and use brute force to pry off the ironclad beetle’s shell plates. That was fine, but then she tossed the rest of the carcass aside like garbage.

Mo Lan couldn’t conveniently bring out the Devouring Stomach to feed right now, so the leftovers were naturally treated as waste.

Mo Lan hurried over and said:

“Don’t throw it all away — keep both front legs. Those are the key limbs the ironclad beetle uses to control earth elemental force for digging. The meat is firm and delicious. They’ll be perfect for dinner.”

When Vasida heard this, she went back and detached the front legs from the beetle she’d just tossed aside, handing them to Sylph for safekeeping.

If Mo Lan said it was good to eat, then it was definitely good to eat.

The guards: “???”

The ironclad beetle was called that precisely because it looked more or less like a beetle!

Just much bigger, and it could use earth magic to dig.

But that didn’t change the fact that it was a bug.

Eat bugs?

One guard couldn’t help asking: “My lady, can ironclad beetles really be eaten?”

“Not only can they be eaten, they’re delicious!” Mo Lan’s eyes darted around as she suddenly realized it would be a waste to discard the remaining beetle body parts:

“If you ask me, the most important thing for you warriors is physical fitness.

“And how do you build good physical fitness? By eating plenty of high-energy foods, of course!

“Look at the Dragons — the strongest in physical prowess. Which one of them doesn’t know how to eat well? And they only eat magical beasts.

“You all need to eat more high-quality magical beast meat too. That’s how you’ll improve your physical fitness faster!”

The warriors were swayed.

This was the most learned mage, after all!

If the mage said so, it had to be true! And it really did make sense! Dragons ate so much and ate such good things — that’s why their bodies were so powerful.

Warriors like them also relied on their bodies. Eating well was naturally important.

And what meat was better than magical beast meat?

Seeing their interest was piqued, Mo Lan continued: “The front legs of these eight Intermediate ironclad beetles — we’re keeping those for ourselves. But the remaining ten Beginner ironclad beetles have twenty front legs between them. The front legs have the best nutritional value and texture. One silver coin per leg isn’t unreasonable, right?

“The middle and rear legs of the ironclad beetles have slightly tougher meat, but their nutritional value is just as good.

“For the Intermediate ironclad beetle middle and rear legs, I’ll only charge you one silver coin per leg. For the Beginner ironclad beetle middle and rear legs, it’s one silver coin for two.

“How about it? Great deal, right?

“Just roast them until they’re cooked, snap the legs open, and you can pull out the succulent bug meat. Even just a sprinkle of salt makes them delicious! Way better than gnawing on your dry rations.

“Of course, if you want them even tastier, you could try my secret sauce — one silver coin per small bowl.

“I guarantee the flavor will be unforgettable!”

Previously, they’d mostly just driven off the Beginner magical beasts rather than killing them, so they hadn’t collected much to eat.

But now, after Mo Lan’s sales pitch, they somehow found their mouths watering, and those bug legs suddenly seemed absolutely scrumptious.

“My lady! I’ll take one Beginner-level front leg, one Beginner-level rear leg, and a bowl of your secret sauce!”

“My lady! I want a front leg too, and we’ll split a bowl of sauce between us!”

…

And just like that, Mo Lan sold off all the ironclad beetle legs too.

She even sold quite a bit of dipping sauce on top of that.

She headed straight back to the carriage, used a card to conjure a small wooden barrel, and told them to come with their bowls to scoop out sauce when it was time to eat.