73 The Shop Products & The Butlers Reactions

"Young master!" The butler wanted to grab his young master's attention, but when he looked down, he saw the young man was also entranced by the white minerals. "Do you think father would like some?" the young man's voice softly left his mouth.

The butler gazed at the young man with a smile. "The Patriarch would be overjoyed," the butler said, and without hesitation, he called an employee over to have him pack some salt. 

"How much is it?" the butler asked, hiding his nervousness. He had not brought much gold with him today and had not thought he would stumble on such precious minerals. Salt was considered a luxury item by most families, and only the wealthiest families could afford it. 

The butler was afraid that he would not have enough money, and if he returned later, there would be nothing left. The employee was male, and he gave them a friendly smile based on their teachings and spoke politely: "Given that the price of salt is due to its scarceness, it would usually be priced at around 20 gold for 500 grams, but since today is our grand opening, we are having a sale, 15 gold for the same amount." 

The butler sighed in relief and, without hesitation, said, "Then, I want 500 grams." With that, the transaction was complete. The pair slowly made their way towards another section of the shop when a commotion broke out. A pair of men were fighting with one of the shop's employees.

The butler was intrigued by the sudden situation, 'For a business like this, surely they would have some guards, ' but as the butler carefully observed, both men were at the mid-stage of Man-at-arms (Tier 1), and most shops would not be able to handle them.

He refrained from taking action and only waited. The commotion started to get out of hand, and just as a real fight was about to break out, a loud voice rang out in all the people's ears."Stop!" The voice was powerful and full of coldness.

The sudden sound of footsteps grabbed everyone's attention, and to their shock, three knights appeared; their auras were enough to silence the whole crowd. The two men immediately realized their predicament, and their eyes went wide in horror.

The butler, too, observed the men and sighed in astonishment. 'Three late stage Man-at-arms (Tier 1) knights, ' he shook his head. The fight would be subdued without much problems.

"Come, young master. Let's continue," he urged, and the two walked into the beast products section of the shop.

The butler's eyes went wide when he saw the variety of items: 'Claws and skin of Stoneback black bears, Feathers of mistwing eagles, pelts of black striped deer.' His eyes glowed as he walked past each product.

Although there were hundreds, not thousands, of beast herds and tribes, most houses were not able to benefit from them, especially when they talked about killing them. There were too few Houses in Highkeep with the manpower to kill off these herds.

Those who do have the strength would not sell it in these parts; they would undoubtedly sell it in the larger cities. Thus, the beast products he saw before him were the first, and the thing that made his mouth water, even more, was the fact that the lowest grade of product belonged to a mid-stage Dire Cub, and he even saw quite a few late-stage products.

"Young master, we should alert the Patriarch about this!" he said with shining eyes, "If we are able to buy these products, it can boost our family's rank and strength by quite a large margin," the butler went on to explain.

The young man's eyes shone no differently than the butler's. The fact that so many high-end products appeared at once was strange, but they did not even bother to think what the reasons behind it could be. After all, they would benefit from it, right?

The two men's eyes were shining like diamonds, but the butler was hurting inside. He did not have nearly enough gold left to buy any of it. 

As the two continued walking they came to an area in the centre of the beast section, this time instead of beast products, it was the dried meat of the beasts. And, as mentioned before, for knights and trainees, the energy in the meat is quite a good tonic and overall supplement.

The butler carefully looked at the small stand before him. The stand had divided the beast meat quite neatly; the Dire Cub meat was on the lowest shelf, and each box area on the stand had the meat of a beast.

'Mistwing Eagles, Stoneback Black Bears, Black Striped Deer and…!' the butler's mouth threatened to fall off. Thunderhoof Bison!" he exclaimed softly.

The young man stopped in his tracks and carefully gazed at the area where the butler was apparently drooling. There, a box full of Dire Cub Thunderhoof Bison was placed. His mouth also opened slightly in response.

Thunderhoof Bisons were considered more rare in these parts. They were one of the strongest types of Dire Beasts in the Dire Cub level, and their products were definitely sold for more gold than any other beast product in the same level.

But as his eyes were glued to the box of Thunderhoof Bison meat, he heard a soft exclamation from his young master. He turned to look at the area his young master saw and that he was looking at a box placed above the Dire Cub meat.

He swore his eyes threatened to fall out. There, a box of meat lay quietly, oozing temptation. But the butler's eyes were firmly glued to the label, "Dire Novice - Black Striped Deer. Dire Novice - Mistwing Eagles"

There were only a few of them, but the fact that there was meat of this level suggested whoever backed the Northern Star Commerce either had a substantial financial strength or their own strength was strong enough to be able to deliver the meat themselves.