41 Treasure Hound

"Are you sure you want to take those?"

A girl's lilting voice said. Her immature voice could not hide its ridiculing undertone.

Van's hand paused. A puzzled expression crossed his face.

"Am I hearing voices?" he mumbled. He scanned his surroundings but there was no one even remotely close to him.

"Down here!" The voice said crossly.

Van looked down and finally saw a young girl in pink robes glaring at him with her arms crossed. Her shiny black hair was twisted into two buns on the sides of her head. Strangely, the big eyes somewhat resembled a cat's. But no wonder he couldn't see her at first, she was at least two heads shorter than him.

"I wouldn't buy those if I were you!" Short-stuff said imperiously, pointing at strengthening powder in his arms, "Not if I knew what was good for me."

Van gave her a look of challenge and then proceeded to empty the shelves of body strengthening powder. One by one, the parcels fell into his grasp. Finally, there were none left on the shelf and the only evidence that they had ever been there before were some circular spots bereft of dust.

"You!" Short-stuff interjected in disbelief. Her cat-like eyes were wide. How did he do that so quickly!? And how dare he?!

"Put those down right now! Listen to me!" Short-stuff demanded angrily. She looked at the empty shelf and her heart ached.

"M-miss Delphine…" The timid girl beside Short-stuff picked at her sleeve nervously. Short-stuff or 'Miss Delphine' shook the timid girl's arm off angrily. She needed to get some powder!

"Why should I?" Van asked with an eyebrow raised. Inside, he was guarded. Don't think he didn't see her sneaking glances at the parcels when she thought he wasn't looking!

"I am warning you out of kindness. That powder is only useful for body cultivators!" the young girl said, "Without a body cultivation technique you will never be able to extract its true usefulness!"

Van tried not to roll his eyes. What did she think he was, a fool? Of course, he was a body cultivator!

"And, the effect is very, very strong!"

Van's expression changed into placating smile - as if he were tolerating a child's temper tantrum.

Delphine stamped her foot and changed her tack.

"Just listen to me! You absolutely cannot use all ten bags!"

"When I say it's very strong, I mean many foolish people like you have died to try to use this powder. The pain you must endure when using this powder is unbelievable. Not only that, the effectiveness decreases to less than one per cent after the 3rd bag!"

Van simply raised his eyebrows.

[Cannot use all ten bags? And although the effectiveness probably did decrease after each bag, would it be as drastic as to be only 1 per cent effective after the 3rd bag? She clearly just wanted some for herself!]

He turned around as if he were about to leave.

Delphine was so angry she bit her lips until they bled. Obviously, she had another silly fool in front of her who did not try to heed a kind Samaritan's warnings!

But she really wanted a bag! Even just one would do. She only wanted to research the recipe... Finally desperate, Delphine softened her tactic.

"Wait, young servant!"

"Only one sect in Dragon City, the Boulder Sect, practices body cultivation... and they produce all their medicines and powders themselves."

"Thus only the biggest apothecaries make body strengthening powder, but there is limited supply as the demand is not great. The Grand Botanica is the only place that has this powder in stock right now… in other words, it's very hard to find…so…" she looked at Van with her big cat-like eyes and blinked.

"Can I please have a bag? Just one?" The girl put her hand up and raised her index finger.

Van crossed his arms and shook his head softly, "So you finally reveal your true colours, Ms 'I'm Just Being Kind.' In fact, you could have just asked nicely from the start and I may have acquiesced. But instead, you insisted on leading me around and around in circles, wasting my valuable time. What a dishonest little brat!"

[Dishonest little brat!?] Delphine shrieked internally. The tips of her ears went red. She had grown up sheltered and treasured like the pearl in the palm by her parents and relatives. When had she ever been called a brat? Her mood fluctuated between extremely peeved and extremely mortified. 

Van continued talking, seeing that the midget was stunned speechless.

"Rest assured, this big brother won't die that easily. And as for losing effectiveness? He has plenty of money and doesn't mind buying all ten bags just to waste... Oh, and he certainly won't be giving you a bag!"

Without another word, Van swaggered up to the counter and purchased all ten packets of body strengthening powder. That little girl had kept calling him 'servant' this and 'servant' that, pissing him off more and more. Did she eat the guts of a leopard? Or did she think her idiotic tricks were sufficient to cheat him out of good stuff?

Van sneered. Being trod underfoot was not his style!

Still frazzled, Delphine watched as the young servant boy walked nonchalantly out of the Grand Botanica's doors. 

The sales assistant that had led Van to the strengthening powder watched with red eyes as Van left the store. If only he had stayed on - he could have gained a 10% sales commission on those 200 taels of silver! He sat down on a chair, dizzily.

"Miss Delphine!" Her friend shook her out of her dazed stupor.

Delphine blinked. When she finally regained herself, she stomped her feet angrily on the wooden floorboards. Steam came out of her ears.

"That stupid- I just wanted one little bag!" She couldn't vent her anger enough. Like a little emperor, she stomped about and ranted with fists raised.

"Trying to use all ten bags – he'll die! That fool! If I ever see him again, humph humph!" The more Delphine thought about it, the angrier she got. She turned to her friend.

"What are you waiting for? Find out which sect he is from! Just wait 'til I get my hands on him...! ARGH!"

__________

Two hundred silver taels lighter, Van stepped out of the Grand Botanica with ten parcels of powder in a big paper bag tied with string under his arm.

He wandered the district for a few hours more, trying a fragrant meat bun that melted in his mouth and buying a colourful lantern for his sister. Later, he found a small post office and sent his package – containing twenty taels and the paper lantern – off. A small red bird, appearing like a pigeon but entirely made from paper, took off with his package in its claws.

Van tried not to look dubious, but it must have shown for the young man at the post office grinned and said:

"Don't look too sturdy, do they? But rest assured, they can carry a lot of weight and they never, ever get lost! Only, they lack a bit of common sense.

I've seen one fly straight into a tree and set a garden on fire! BAHAHAHA!"

Van smiled weakly as he left the post office.

Soon, the sky began to dim. The streets glowed softly as the lanterns were lit up. Some pulsed green, some blue. A whole rainbow of colours illuminated the faces of the people in the streets. Many storefronts had put extravagant and large lanterns at the front of the store as part of their preparation for the Lantern Festival.

Having nothing else he wanted to buy, for now, Van boarded a small single-person donkey cart and paid the fee to be taken back to the sect.

At that moment, something landed on his head. Startled, Van discovered a big square flyer had fallen on him. As he pulled it open, he saw big bold lettering.

[MOST POPULAR EVENT AT THE LANTERN FESTIVAL – THE MYSTERY OBJECT SALE!]

[Thousands of mysterious treasures have again been extracted from The Forgotten Tomb!]

[For only 5 coppers, buy treasure, or for 100 spirit stones, buy trash! What you get is up to Your luck, skill and judgement!]

[Will you be the next GAUNTLET MASK, who rose to fame and fortune after discovering a legendary mask from an ancient urinal?]

[Will you be the next FROST PILL SAGE, who became the foremost pill master in Cloud River after they discovered that a stained bowl was the Snow-Spirit Cauldron?]

[Visit the MYSTERIOUS OBJECT SALE in Pearl-Blossom Avenue on the night of the Lantern Festival to find out!]

[BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!]

Van considered the piece of paper with a thoughtful smile on his face. He suddenly had an idea…if it worked…

"Oi, stupid ring!" He called. The black ring trembled to life.

[-N-no! It wasn't me…!] Jet shouted. It had just woken from a hideously realistic nightmare.

"What wasn't you?" Van asked suspiciously. The ring was startled.

[Huh? What do you mean?]

"Just then you said… never mind. Check this out. There's going to be a mystery object sale during the Lantern Festival."

Van showed Jet the flyer.

"Buy treasure for 1 copper or buy trash for 100 spirit stones. A game of perception and luck that could change your fortunes…I recall Jet, you once said you possess an encyclopaedic knowledge of treasure…"

The ring laughed.

[Kid. After billions of years of existence I'm confident that no matter if it is covered in dust or deformed beyond recognition – the unique smell of a treasure cannot be hidden from me!]

Van chuckled. The flyer was folded and tucked into his sleeve.

"Perfect."