Chapter 21: When the Human-Like Stars Shine
Lisa stood there, completely frozen.
She even wondered if she had heard wrong just now. For Anna’s sake, she had played the bad guy and acted as the leader… and now she had been treated like something useless on the roadside…
“Alright, let’s keep moving. Even without potions, I can walk back.”
Anna lifted her chin. Her pride would not allow her to give in easily.
This little difficulty meant nothing to her.
It was just a support role anyway. After she goes back this time, she can simply find another one.
In the end, this world runs on money. No matter how strong you are, you still need money.
So she believed it wouldn’t be hard to find another support like that.
“Lisa, when you go back, recruit another support. Do it as soon as possible. We don’t have much time to waste. The news about the Ice Bear King will spread soon. When that happens, our situation will only get worse.”
Anna’s words brought Lisa back to her senses. She was still thinking about what Anna had just said, but seeing that Miss Anna had calmed down, she nodded seriously.
“Got it.”
The group slowly made their way to the foot of the mountain. When Anna saw the supply shop, she couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed inside.
“Potions. Do you sell tracking potions?”
The shop owner in charge of this supply point looked confused. “What did you say, miss? Please say that again.”
“Tracking potions. The kind you use and it shows you the way.”
It would have been better if Anna hadn’t explained, because once she did, the shop owner became even more confused.
What?
A potion that can guide you after you use it? Does something like that really exist in this world?
If it did, it would sell like crazy. Right now, the main method people use is teleportation stones. They are expensive to make and always in high demand.
So their price keeps going up.
As for potions, it’s not like no one has thought about it.
But experts from the Magic Academy had once firmly said that such potions do not exist.
Teleportation stones are the only reliable solution. Everyone should stock up on them.
“I’m sorry, miss. I am the owner of this shop, and we have never stocked such an item. If it exists, we are willing to buy it at five times the price. However many you have, we will take them all. Trust me, we will give you a very satisfying price.”
As a merchant, her sense for business was sharp. She didn’t think Anna was making this up, she must have some kind of source.
If she could get those potions, she really wouldn’t mind paying five times the price.
After all, there are many ways to earn the money back. A cheaper substitute for something with huge demand would definitely sell well once released.
Even if people later find out the real cost is very low, they could just change the label and packaging and say, ‘Come buy it! We’ve lowered the price!’
As long as you want to sell, there are always ways.
Hearing the shop owner’s words, the last bit of hope in Anna’s heart completely broke.
If tracking potions don’t exist in this world…
Then where did the ones they used before come from?
It couldn’t have just appeared out of nowhere, right?
Anna returned to the group. Seeing her come out, Lisa hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and asking,
“Anna, did you get the potions?”
Lisa looked worried, not so much about Anna, but because of her expression.
It seemed like there was no hope of getting the potions…
Anna didn’t try to hide anything and said directly,
“No. They said there is no such thing as a tracking potion at all.”
She purposely left out the second half of what the shop owner said. When she heard “five times the price,” the words felt too sharp to her.
So the things she used before were actually that expensive.
If she had known earlier, she should have saved them and sold them. It was all their fault for using them so casually.
Suddenly, walking a bit more didn’t feel so bad anymore, that was five times the price!
Even though her family was rich, how could she not be tempted by something that could make money?
She also wanted to prove that she was better than her younger sister. After all, she was the older one, how could the older sister lose to the younger?
Thinking about how her sister was younger and more beautiful made Anna feel even worse.
What women fear most is being asked about their age. Just imagine, in one family, there is someone younger than you and also more capable, who would people choose?
Seeing Anna’s dark expression, Lisa didn’t dare to speak for a long time. Only after Anna raised her head did she quickly ask.
“Then what should we do? Who used to buy the potions?”
Just as someone in the team was about to answer, Lisa understood from their mouth shape.
“It was Peiya again, right?”
“No, I think he brought the potions himself. He didn’t buy them.”
“How could he bring them himself? There’s no way he could easily get something like that. He must have bought them, he just didn’t want to tell us.” Lisa crossed her arms, unwilling to accept the truth.
At this moment, the vice-captain, Stella, who could no longer stand it, finally spoke.
“You should explain this clearly. I know Peiya might be a bit outstanding, but that’s not a reason for you to keep lying to us.”
Stella, who saw herself as the team’s “mediator,” now had a gloomy face. Along the way, she had heard Peiya’s name too many times.
She really couldn’t take it anymore.
He was just a kid who didn’t understand the situation, yet everyone kept mentioning him.
It wasn’t like he was the only one working hard. Everyone was tired, okay?
Or maybe they just didn’t want to work, so they were being lazy and blaming it on a former teammate?
Why did she think that? Of course, because she had done it before. When a teammate left, all the blame would fall on that person.
The blame would be passed on cleanly, while she took all the benefits.
Hearing Stella say this, the team members behind showed confused expressions.
Wait, now you’re blaming us?
This is your team’s internal problem, what does it have to do with us workers who only earn a small monthly salary?
If they had to vote for the most annoying person, it would definitely be Stella, the two-faced person who always speaks in a sarcastic way.
She always talks about so-called knightly spirit, but no one has ever seen her actually follow it.
It’s fine when she doesn’t speak, but once she opens her mouth, the whole atmosphere becomes tense.
“Then I don’t know.”
The team member directly chose to give up and stay silent.
Seeing Stella start talking nonsense again, Lisa quickly stepped forward and asked:
“Forget what she said. Just tell me, what’s really going on? Who bought those things?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure it wasn’t Peiya who bought them.”
Lisa couldn’t help frowning. Hearing something once or twice was fine, but when it kept coming up, it was hard not to feel suspicious.
She thought about it with her not-so-clever mind.
These team members weren’t especially close to Peiya, so there was no reason for them to keep speaking well of him.
But she also couldn’t believe that Peiya alone could handle so many things.
Medical care, support, team setup, buying supplies, taking care of the injured… in other guilds, this would usually take several people.
If you said Peiya did all of this alone, Lisa wouldn’t believe it.
But the serious looks on the team members’ faces didn’t seem like they were lying.
Could it be that there was something they didn’t know?
Lisa looked again at the team member who had just spoken. The person seemed to have calmed down and slowly said,
“The reason I’m so sure is… think about it carefully. When did you ever give him money to buy things? Even if he used his salary, it wouldn’t be enough.”