The next morning, my hand still hurt badly. Vampires heal far faster than humans, but if it still hurt this much by morning, could it be broken? I carefully checked each bone, moving my wrist a little. There was no sign of a fracture or dislocation.
Could it just be pain, then?
I packed the potions I’d made yesterday into a wooden box and carried the heavy load toward the town hall. I planned to sell most of them to the Commercial Association and take the rest to the market. I could earn five silver coins by selling to the Commercial Association, while selling to the townspeople would only get me five copper coins. But to get back at that detestable Wolf, I’d decided to take all his market share.
“Good morning, Miss Lancelot.”
“Good morning, Sister Fenny.”
The bespectacled girl at the Commercial Association was at work right on time, as always. But for some reason, the window at the Mercenary Guild next door had a “Closed” sign hanging on it. Was Alice taking the day off?
“That’s strange. Alice isn’t at work?”
“Actually…” The bespectacled girl pushed up her glasses. “Alice was taken away by the lord.”
“Huh?” I stared at her in surprise. “What happened?”
“Um… I heard…” The bespectacled girl lowered her voice. “Miss Alice posted a quest about a vampire without authorization, and the mercenaries who accepted it never came back. She was supposed to report a commission like that to the lord immediately, but she falsely reported that the quest had been completed and pocketed the reward.”
“That really happened?”
I pretended to be surprised, but my heart was pounding. Those two mercenaries really had been killed by a vampire—and after they died, they’d turned into ghouls and attacked Luka and me while we were digging for clay. But I’d killed the vampire, then killed the ghouls they’d become, so… there shouldn’t be a problem. Probably…
“By the way, Sister Fenny.” I took out a white porcelain bowl. “Do you think this could be sold?”
“What’s this…?” The bespectacled girl straightened her glasses—her true form. “This luster, this color… Wait. Could this be porcelain?”
Huh? They had porcelain in this world too. Since I wasn’t the first to invent it, that saved me quite a bit of trouble. At least they’d be able to appraise it.
“Miss Lancelot,” the bespectacled girl’s glasses flashed coldly. “May I ask where you got this porcelain bowl?”
“I made it myself, following the process in a book.”
“You made it yourself…”
Thump. The bespectacled girl fainted, stiff as a board.
Oh, no… I hurriedly took out a potion and revived her.
“Phew, I’m alive again.” She felt around until she’d put her glasses back on, then looked at me sternly. “Miss Lancelot, that joke wasn’t funny at all. Did you really think I wouldn’t know? The method for making porcelain was lost long ago! Almost all the porcelain on the continent today is an ancient relic, carefully kept in collectors’ vaults.”
Well, there went my plan to give Aunt Kate a set of tableware. I’d have to put it off.
“Then how much could this sell for?”
“Well…” The bespectacled girl held the bowl carefully and examined it. “Wow, there isn’t a single scratch or crack. Porcelain this flawless could fetch at least fifty thousand gold coins, couldn’t it?”
This time, I was the one who nearly fainted.
“I think I’ll stick to selling potions.”
“Mm.” The bespectacled girl nodded. “A treasure can bring trouble to its owner. I’ll keep this secret, Miss Lancelot.”
I hid the porcelain bowl in my item box and realized my plans for mass-producing porcelain had taken a devastating blow. If anyone found out I could make this stuff, they might lock me up and force me to produce it like a slave. This was a game world, sure, but there was no guarantee something like that wouldn’t turn into a hidden quest. Better not to unlock that questline.
I left the town hall and took the remaining potions to the market. The lord had set up a military tent in the middle of the square, leaving the market much smaller than before. The stalls were packed close together, and everyone had to make do with the cramped space.
Just as usual, the healing potions sold out quickly, while the antidotes remained unpopular. As the sun rose, my skin began to sting. It was time to pack up. But just then, a figure blocked the sunlight for me. He wore white clerical robes, his face hidden beneath a hood, and the holy emblem hanging on his chest gleamed brightly.
“Oh, it’s Priest Rayne.”
“Good morning, Miss Lancelot. May the Holy Light protect you.”
The priest greeted me politely, then crouched down and picked up a bottle of antidote. He held it up to the sunlight to examine it closely, then suddenly looked surprised.
“It’s only a low-level antidote, but it’s platinum quality.” He held the bottle in his hand. “How much is one?”
I held up three fingers. “Three copper coins.”
Pfft—! Uncle Rayne seemed to choke on something. Had I set the price too high?
“I can give you a discount. How about two copper coins?”
“Miss Lancelot…” Uncle Rayne shook his head. “High-quality antidotes like this usually start at ten silver coins. Selling one for just two copper coins really isn’t right. That barely covers the cost of the glass bottle.”
Sorry, the glass bottle appeared on its own while I was making the potion, so it cost me nothing.
“I can’t sell them anyway, so consider it a favor.”
“In that case… I’ll take the lot.”
He says he doesn’t want them, but his actions say otherwise! Rayne paid me three silver coins and took all my low-level antidotes. We both felt like we’d gotten a good deal. Before leaving, Rayne suddenly handed me a beautiful-looking bottle filled with clear liquid that glowed with holy light.
“This is holy water. Gold quality,” he said. “Please, take it.”
“Thank you.” I accepted the holy water, but the moment I touched the glass bottle, my fingertips began to burn. As far as I knew, holy water was like poison to vampires. Uncle Rayne, are you trying to kill me?
I stored the holy water in my item box, packed up my stall, said goodbye to my neighbors, and called it an early day. Not only had I sold the antidotes that had been sitting around unsold for ages, I’d also gotten my hands on high-quality holy water. My luck stat was through the roof. Gazing up at the cloudless blue sky, I suddenly wished this leisurely, peaceful life could go on forever. Unfortunately, this was only a VR game world, and I was just passing through.
I pushed away my gloomy thoughts and opened the door—but my foot stepped into empty space.
What was going on? I kept falling through the darkness, passing through the nanoparticles blanketing the stratosphere. Before me appeared a huge city engulfed in battle. A massive rocket was falling from the sky. Its escape tower suddenly detached, trailing blue flames as it plunged toward a distant district filled with fire and smoke…
