Chapter 384 – The Bonfire Market

Chapter 384 – The Bonfire Market

No matter what Fayeth and Cheryl said, Mo Lan simply refused to budge.

“I’ve been doing business for so many years, and I’ve never met a witch this hard to haggle with. As expected of the one who wroteerta《The Earth Business Comperta》!” Fayeth said with a helpless laugh.

“You’ve read that book too?” Mo Lan asked in pleasant surprise.

Within the Witch Council, this book was merely one of many newly catalogued titles. It hadn’t been promoted the way Sorceress Magic had been, so not many witches should have read it.

“I recommended it to Mama, and she loved it!” Cheryl said.

Fayeth nodded. “That book has been a huge help for my business. I used to always get swindled by Goblins, but now I can even trick Goblins in deals. Although I didn’t manage to negotiate a better profit split on the Management Card, the product-packaging pitch I gave just now wasn’t bad, right?”

Mo Lan was momentarily stunned, then suddenly recalled what she had written in 《The Earth Business Compendium》. So the culprit behind all this was herself.

How awkward.

Seeing Fayeth looking at her expectantly, waiting for her critique, Mo Lan could only nod. “Very well done.”

And this evaluation was entirely sincere.

Kindness was in a witch’s nature. Even in 《The Earth Business Compendium》, Mo Lan hadn’t written any tricks for cheating or deceiving people. But certain business techniques were still difficult for witches to accept.

The concept of product packaging, for instance.

But Fayeth had not only learned it — she had developed a set of pitches that were somewhat persuasive yet entirely truthful.

Since she had already mastered the art of packaging to such a precise degree, Mo Lan figured that when it came to swindling those who had swindled her — such as Goblin merchants — she would be even more precise.

She had truly internalized 《The Earth Business Compendium》 through and through.

Were it not for the fact that the product itself was the core of any transaction, and that Mo Lan held complete initiative in the card trade, the haggling might not have been impossible to pull off.

Mo Lan felt a sense of surprise and accomplishment — as if the aspirations she’d had when writing that book had been realized by someone else.

She and Fayeth had a thorough discussion about business strategies, exchanged magical seals, and agreed to stay in touch via correspondence before reluctantly parting ways.

After Mo Lan and Lilith left, Cheryl asked Fayeth, “Mama, weren’t you also going to convince Moira to open up more permissions on the Management Card so we could turn non-unique foreign knowledge and goods into cards for sale too?”

“Moira is a witch too. Although she’s shrewder than most witches, she would absolutely never do anything that harms other witches’ interests.

While the current profit split gives her the largest share, she’s also enabled all of us who use the Management Card to earn more — just not as much as her.

As 《The Earth Business Compendium》 puts it, it’s her Magic that has lowered costs and expanded the market. In this trade, the one who is irreplaceable and holds the initiative has always been her, and she’s also the one contributing the most effort. It’s perfectly reasonable for her to take a larger share.

Non-unique foreign knowledge and goods — she can make those into cards all by herself. She doesn’t need us involved at all.

When someone can handle the entire business on their own, nobody wants others coming in for a piece of the pie.

Since we already know it’s impossible, there’s no point in asking.

Truthfully, most witches’ so-called unique knowledge isn’t really all that special. The Management Card really is a generous benefit card, no doubt about it.”

With that, Fayeth went ahead and bound the Management Card.

……

“Mo Lan! Look over there!” Lilith’s eyes suddenly went wide as she looked ahead. “That’s a Necromancy witch, isn’t it?”

Mo Lan looked over. A black-robed witch was squatting in front of a materials stall, picking through the goods. She hefted a dried Orc arm, looking quite satisfied, paid for it, and then handed the arm to a two-meter-tall, gray-skinned man standing behind her. The man placed the arm directly into the coffin strapped to his back.

The black-robed witch seemed ready to leave. She climbed up onto the coffin and sat down, and the man carried her on his back as he continued toward other stalls.

As everyone knew, Spring Sight Island did not allow non-witch races up onto it.

With the exception of witches’ magical familiars and undead servants.

The one interested in corpse parts was indeed a Necromancy witch — only Necromancy witches regularly needed to maintain the bodies of their corporeal undead servants.

That man — really, one should say male corpse — had not a trace of life energy about him, only an aura of death. He was clearly an undead creature.

Undead creatures couldn’t become magical familiars. They could only be undead servants.

Mo Lan watched the witch-and-corpse pair gradually disappear into the distance with great curiosity. “Could that be Vasida’s mother? I remember her saying her mother was a Necromancy witch.”

“I don’t see Vasida though!” Lilith was still staring at the undead servant. “So humanoid undead servants are this agile! That stall had quite a lot of corpse materials. Come on! Let’s go pick some out too. You haven’t made a humanoid undead servant before either, have you?”

Mo Lan shook her head. “Where would I find humanoid corpse materials at the Academy? I’ve only ever practiced Necromancy Magic on wild beasts and magical beasts.”

But the undead servants she could make from the wild beast and magical beast materials she could hunt were all fairly mediocre in strength.

They also lacked the agility of humanoid undead servants.

Sending them into battle meant having to find suitable materials for repairs and maintenance whenever they got hurt or damaged. And even without fighting, they would deteriorate over time. She might as well just fight herself!

So she had only made some spider undead servants and bird undead servants to practice Necromancy Magic with. They occasionally served a small scouting purpose, and she didn’t feel bad when they broke down since replacement materials were easy to find.

Still, her usage of Necromancy Magic remained quite low, and her study of it was rather rough. This was partly due to limited corpse materials, and partly because Necromancy Magic simply wasn’t very useful to her at the moment.

Lilith dragged her over to the stall where the Necromancy witch had just made her purchase.

Unfortunately, only wild beast and magical beast corpse materials remained.

“No more humanoid corpse materials?” Lilith asked.

“You’re too late,” the witch stallkeeper said. “All the humanoid corpse materials I brought this time were bought by Ginia! If you want some, come earlier next year and you might be able to find a few. I come every year.”

“Next year! We won’t be in the Wilds next year,” Lilith said, disappointed.

“Once you’re out of the Wilds, are you really worried about finding corpse materials? Head toward the human kingdoms — in any random stretch of wilderness, cast an Undead Raising spell and you might just dig up a humanoid corpse.

Though the human kingdoms closest to the Wilds probably don’t have many corpses left. I’ve already dug them all up to sell. The good ones go to Ginia, and the bad ones I toss to necromancer apprentices. They’re not picky.” The witch stallkeeper said with a laugh.

Lilith and Mo Lan: “……”

They hadn’t managed to buy any humanoid corpse materials, and the stallkeeper had shown off her little money-making tricks right to their faces.

After leaving that stall, Mo Lan said to Lilith, “That Necromancy witch just now really might be Vasida’s mother. Her mother’s name is Ginia.

Vasida probably isn’t around because she already met up with her mother and has gone to find us.

Let’s head to the area near the largest bonfire first and take a look!”