Sword and Spice

The next day.

Kang De met the knight at the agreed location.

Cleveland bowed meticulously. "Good day, Mr. Kang De."

Kang De was not used to such impressive aristocratic etiquette. He only nodded lightly. "Good morning."

The knight frowned slightly.

As the proudest knight of Goethe, his every move was seen as the most standard example of a noble. The people who interacted with him were either famous knights or nobles with good upbringing. Everyone chatted and laughed together. Their actions were elegant, their speech was noble, and their demeanor was pleasing to the eye.

Therefore, he felt a little awkward now.

In his understanding, when the two sides met and greeted each other, they had to be elegant and calm. Even if Kang De did not know the etiquette of the continent, he had to at least show the etiquette of the Cathayans, right? Weren't they used to bowing? Why not cup his hands and nod?

—Even if you nod, it's fine. I'll be the first to bow and greet you. It's your turn to speak next. Be it the weather or polite words, what can you not say?

Kang De also felt very awkward.

—Should I say something?

The atmosphere was silent and awkward.

Kang De waited for a moment before finally breaking the silence and deciding to greet him according to his ethnic habit.

"…Have you eaten?"

The knight's handsome face became a little twisted. He nodded with difficulty, "I… I did. The sailors fished out a lot of oysters from the sea. There was also dried meat and bread on the ship…"

—D*mn, did I ask what you ate? I'm just asking politely. You don't have to be so specific.

—Or is this the habit of you otherworldly natives?

Kang De had an awkward but polite smile on his face, "Se… seafood is good. I fried a large lobster to eat this morning and sprinkled some garlic, ginger, bay leaf, chili pepper, and black pepper powder…"

What did he sprinkle?!

Was this Easterner showing off?!

The knight only understood half of the names of these condiments, but he completely determined their nature. They were all extremely valuable spices.

One had to know that in this era, the elves had monopolized 90% of the spice trade on the continent with their world-renowned agricultural planting technology and continuously extracted wealth from the entire continent. This was only one of the most profitable trades for the elves.

A large amount of gold and silver maintained the luxurious life of the Twilight Dynasty. At the same time, it also fed and expanded the huge military strength of the elves. The continuously growing military strength protected and expanded the trade map of the elves, projecting a further and stronger force, forming a virtuous cycle.

The reason for Goethe's battle with the elves was both new and old grudges. One of the reasons did not appear on the declaration of war, but it was more important than any new hatred. That was, the ambitious Grand Duke Goethe secretly organized a fleet to try to rebuild the Silk Road and import cheaper important goods like spices and silk from the distant Cathay to break the trade monopoly of the d*mned sharp-ears.

To the elves, this matter surpassed all the historical problems and territorial disputes. It was simply an irreconcilable hatred.

Therefore, they made a large number of claims and started a war.

From this matter, it could be seen how profitable the elven spice trade was and how much the human countries were controlled by others in the spice trade.

The elves grasped advanced productivity and the number one spice production in the world. There was also the invincible fleet of the Four Seas and the unparalleled Dragon Fang Army. All human Chambers of Commerce that dared to compete with the elves for market share were either completely squeezed to death by the ultra-low price dumping or sent to the bottom of the sea by the unknown elf pirates.

In any case, when it came to money, any race would show their ugliest side. Humans and elves were really the same.

In such an economic environment, spices could not be said to be as valuable as gold, but they were definitely not cheap. Therefore, in the knight's opinion, an action like Kang De's where he had to put at least seven or eight spices in a cheap lobster was definitely showing off and displaying his wealth. After all, even if there was only a small handful of each spice, it was enough to exchange for more than ten large lobsters as thick as arms in the most expensive Goethe capital.

Most importantly…

Where did he get the spices from on this island? Where did his food and clothes come from? Could it be that a Cathay ship had come here? Then why had he always lived here? Could it be that he was the exiled prince of Cathay?

Seeing that the knight was silent, Kang De was also puzzled.

—Are you not talking because you're jealous that I have lobster to eat?

—I don't have many of it in stock. Only a few western restaurants had it in stock. One of them cost at least 400 to 500 yuan. In other words, I had awakened my superpower yesterday and only celebrated today.

Kang De felt that he had gone overboard in his posturing and hurt the young hearts of the natives of the other world. He hurriedly changed the topic, "About that… how did you sleep last night?"

The knight also recovered from his endless imagination.

"As a warrior, with a bed under me and a cover above my head, it's the most comfortable sleep."

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's just that there are many mosquitoes on the island. We don't mind, but the princess has a noble status and is a little…"

"There are mosquitoes on the island?"

Kang De was first stunned, then enlightened.

Yes, there were mosquitoes.

When he had just transmigrated, he had also been troubled and felt a headache. His entire body was wrapped tightly, and he had to hang three layers of mosquito nets. He always had the mosquito repellent sprayed. It was a problem every day. Later on, he encountered magical animals and others, and he did not have this problem anymore.

These animals did not even have lice on them. As they walked in the grass, the various insects hidden in them fled in all directions as if they had gone crazy. They did not dare to approach within ten meters. Kang De had been with them for a long time and had a similar aura. Now, even if he wore a vest and beach pants to walk in the densest forest, he could still come out completely unharmed. No snake, worm, mosquito, or ant dared to approach.

Therefore, from then on, Kang De felt that these magical animals were very extraordinary. They were probably ancient divine beasts that had their divine powers suppressed.

The reason why they could make insects and beasts retreat could also be explained by science. Just like the tigers on Earth, just their urine could scare many animals until they peed their pants or could not even move. It was probably this aura.

Eh, wait.

When Kang De thought of this, his heart stirred.

Now that he had awakened the enchantment technique of extracting elements, he saw the problem from another angle.

For example, could he extract the urine of the gorilla…

No.

This was too crazy.

Even he did not know how to ask for it.

He hurriedly shook off this strange thought and said, "Right, the mosquito problem… I didn't consider it. I have some mosquito nets here, as well as medicine to disperse mosquitoes and treat bites. I'll give you some later."

When the knight heard this, he said, "You only need to provide it to Her Highness… Hmm, if possible, there are still a few ladies on the ship. They are Her Highness's head maid and a few female attendants. Please provide these to the ladies. We're very grateful and will pay accordingly."

The princess had priority, and the knight had his pride and honor. He could not accept gifts for no reason.

Money?

Kang De did not decline.

It was a good opportunity to understand the monetary system of this other world.

He did not take the value of the currency to heart… There were three banks in the vicinity of the district. Not only did they have lots of currency reserves, there was even gold, but everything was meaningless.

He was no longer interested in money and had become a person who transcended mortal desires.

The knight gestured and the servant beside him walked forward with a box.

On the box were the fire axe and electric baton that Kang De had left behind yesterday.

"This is the weapon you left behind. It's returned to its owner."

Knight said, "We discovered the gift you brought at the scene, so we shamelessly accepted it. As an apology for the misunderstanding yesterday, we prepared a small gift. I hope you don't mind."

The day before, Kang De brought some alcohol and candies. When he was fighting, he left them on the spot and was discovered by the sailors. The princess and the others had discussed at night that it would be a little rude to return these gifts. Kang De would also be embarrassed as if they were holding on to yesterday's matter…

The best way to deal with it was to leave the gift behind and prepare a gift that was several times more valuable than this to be sent over the next day.

Fortunately, the Penguin did not lack gifts. The princess carried a mission to the capital of the Empire to lobby, so there was naturally no lack of gifts to open the way. The ship carried a portion of the treasures, and the others were transported to the capital by the Chamber of Commerce under the name of the Tedrell family through various channels to prepare for the princess' use.

Kang De was interested.

He took the fire axe and electric baton and took the box. "Can I open it?"

The knight smiled and said, "Just as the alcohol and candy you brought are about to be shared by us, the items in the box have already belonged to you since last night."

This sounded very pleasant.

Kang De smiled. "Thank you."

He took the box. It was heavy in his hand, but it was nothing to him now.

Kang De held the box in one hand and opened it.

Light seeped out.

Kang De narrowed his eyes and studied it carefully.

The knight observed his expression and a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes.

The gift for Kang De was personally decided by the princess.

According to the records of the Goethe Palace Historian, hundreds of years ago, the ship of the Cathay Empire arrived in Goethe for the first time and brought the greeting of the Eastern Emperor.

Their gifts were the great cauldron, the top-notch silk that swords could not slash, the wooden doll that moved on its own to train fist techniques, the flying sword, the long zither made of jade, and many others.

There was also a Great Dao Scripture personally copied by the emperor.

At that time, Grand Duke Goethe also returned a heavy gift. A bottle of the Holy Dragon's blood, an Invisibility Cloak, the inheritance crystal engraved with the Griffin Sword Technique, Apollo's Blade burning with the Eternal Sun Flame, and so on.

Although the gift the princess carried this time was far from comparable to the gift from the Duchy of Goethe at that time, the types were completely the same—enchanted weapons, magic medicines, vestments, magic crystals…

If Kang De was in a high position in Cathay, he would definitely recognize the goodwill contained in these things.

Unfortunately, he did not.

He only reached out to pick up the enchanted dagger with a serious gaze.

As if he had discovered something that interested him greatly—the elements. The scarlet elements entangled to form the composition of the raging flames.

…