Chapter 1106: 93. What Is Not There

Muen followed Marcie into Rabuya City.

The process of entering the city was even simpler than Muen had imagined. In Muen’s guess, since this was the largest city-state in this region, they should at least check identities or something when people entered.

In his mind, Muen had already thought up at least a dozen ways to fool the guards. Visiting relatives, fetching a bride, stealing a bride... If none of those worked, then he would have no choice but to do some infiltration. There should not be anyone here capable of stopping his infiltration.

...But in reality, this place was far more tolerant. The two gate guards, who had kitchen knives tied to wooden poles, merely asked a few casual questions and let them pass. They did not even question Muen’s blond hair, which was relatively rare here.

“I told you, this is the City of Adventure and Freedom. A lot of the people who come and go here are pioneers. Their status isn’t on the same level as ordinary people at all, so of course the guards won’t ask too many questions.”

Marcie planted her hands on her hips, looking extremely disdainful of Muen’s “limited experience.”

“...”

This girl had only chatted with him for a little while, and her attitude had become arrogant again.

“Then may I ask, Miss Marcie, are you a Pioneer now? You aren’t still only talking about it, are you?”

“I-I’ll become one eventually!”

Marcie’s face flushed red. “Just you wait and see!”

“...”

Too lazy to bicker with this girl, Muen turned his attention to their surroundings.

Although this place had looked from the outside as if it was only the size of a small village-town, after actually entering, Muen discovered that it was still much livelier than he had imagined.

“Potatoes, potatoes, freshly dug potatoes! Take them all for only five warmstones, only five!”

“Warmstone, warmstone, freshly excavated warmstone! Still has a long use time left! No food, cloth only! Cloth patched fewer than five times is best!”

“Worn weapons and armor! Repair them and they can still be used! Food exchange only!”

People came and went. Hawking cries rose and fell one after another, noisy and clamorous.

Although most people were dressed in ragged clothes and looked thin and gaunt, everyone who came here seemed not to have given up the hope in their hearts yet, using everything they had to embrace this not-at-all-easy life.

“Barter? There’s no currency?”

“Currency? That sort of thing was swept into the dust of history along with the previous Dark Age long ago.”

Marcie curled her lips. “With materials this scarce now, aside from some necessities, what would even qualify as currency? Gold? Let me tell you, gold is worthless in this place. It can’t even be traded for potatoes.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“...That makes sense.”

Muen rubbed his chin... In that case, didn’t that mean he could only count as penniless here?

No. Even if it was barter, he could still take out quite a few good things. In fact, for this place, they might be too...

“Oh, right. Speaking of which, since you’re someone from outside...”

Marcie secretly leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Then you should have things on you that only exist outside, right? Can you show me?”

“...Only exist outside? What kind specifically?”

“Hmph. Don’t try to trick me. The famous historian and Pioneer Mr. Quiller once said that back when this place had not yet been cut off from the world and still connected to the outside, many things were different from now. For example, potatoes. Here, potatoes are only this big, but outside potatoes...”

Marcie gestured out the size of a head. “They’re this big!”

Muen: “...”

Were there really potatoes that big? Why didn’t he know about them?

“Not only are they big, but supposedly they’re sweet too. You can taste a honey-like flavor with one bite. Although I don’t know exactly how sweet honey is, it must be...”

“Stop! Stop!”

Muen hurriedly stopped Marcie’s fantasy and said solemnly, “How could potatoes possibly be sweet? Even mashed potatoes can’t be sweet. That is definitely a cultist way of eating them, a taboo that should not exist in this world!”

That was right. Just like sweet tofu pudding. Anyone who ate that kind of thing was a heretic!

“Huh? They don’t exist?”

“Not only do they not exist, but the potatoes outside are also not as big as you imagine. At most, they’re about the size of a fist.”

“Oh...”

Marcie was a little disappointed. “Then pumpkins as big as carriages...”

“They exist in fairy tales. Not in reality.”

“Apples that make you ascend to heaven with one bite.”

“You should read less of that kind of thing.”

“Then...”

Marcie’s eyes continued turning. “Trees thicker than a person’s waist?”

“Those are indeed everywhere.”

“Yeah! I knew Grandma would never lie to me!”

“...”

Muen helplessly shook his head.

“So what are you so excited about? You’re not even outside yet.”

“I’ll get out one day. I’m preparing in advance first. Otherwise, after I get out, if I keep being shocked by everything, won’t that make me look like some country bumpkin?” Marcie looked perfectly delighted.

“...”

This child was beyond saving.

Muen moved away from Marcie in distaste as she leaned closer. Then, while she was so giddy that she nearly lost her bearings, he suddenly grabbed her bag and pulled her backward.

“Move!”

Almost at the same time, a robust figure charged through the center of the street, stirring up a gust of wild wind like a raging bull. If Muen had not been quick-eyed and quick-handed, with Marcie’s physique, they would basically have had to look for her in the sky by now.

“You all right?”

That person did not stop, but still found time to show Muen an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, brother, I’ve got something urgent. If fate lets us meet again later, I’ll apologize properly!”

After saying that, the person continued charging left and right, practically throwing the entire street into chaos, then quickly vanished into the distance amid a string of apologies.

Yet even though that person seemed so overbearing, no one was angry because of it. Some people had clearly been knocked dizzy, but still excitedly shouted something to their companions.

“It’s Giant Bear Theresa Ang! My God, it’s actually Giant Bear Theresa Ang!”

Mm, shouts roughly like that.

“You know him?”

Muen casually placed the yelling Marcie back on the ground. The latter was obviously still completely caught up in excitement and had not even noticed that she had just been casually picked up like a small animal.

“Of course I know him! Who doesn’t? Number 03535, one of the most famous pioneers recently! I heard he broke the record left five years ago by Pioneer Manan Court in the southeast direction and pushed the exploration distance forward by a full five hundred meters!”

Marcie was so excited that she hopped in place. “A full five hundred meters! Do you know what that means? In some exploration directions, there might not be progress that big even after ten years, but he pushed it forward five hundred meters all at once! He’s amazing!”

“Looking at it that way, he does sound pretty amazing.”

Muen rubbed his chin. “But in terms of strength, I should still be stronger.”

“You are not...”

“Mm? Can you deny it?”

“...”

Marcie shrank her neck. The memory of this guy crippling the Third Attendant with one slash last night attacked her again.

Indeed, if they were only talking about pure strength, then Giant Bear Theresa Ang, whom she admired so much, might not even be able to beat one of this guy’s hands.

Thinking about it that way, this guy was basically a monster.

“But that’s only strength. If it’s about pioneering and exploration ability, he’s definitely stronger than you!” Marcie insisted stubbornly.

“Yes, yes, stronger than me.”

Muen did not want to argue. He merely said with a half-smile,

“But I advise you to be a little more reserved, especially the next time you see that Giant Bear.”

“Huh? Why? He’s my idol.”

“Didn’t you say so yourself just now? If you keep getting shocked by everything, won’t you look like a country bumpkin? No, wait. He already saw your reaction just now... He probably already thinks you’re a country bumpkin.”

Muen clicked his tongue. “Being thought of as a country bumpkin by your own idol, if it were me, I absolutely couldn’t bear it.”

“...”

Her fists clenched.

Endure. Endure again.

She was broad-minded and tolerant. She would not lower herself to arguing with this guy... It was definitely not because she could not beat him!

...

After the little episode on the street, Marcie, who had originally still looked full of life and energy, finally began to feel tired. So she took Muen to quickly find a small inn by the road, took out a few small potatoes, and asked for two guest rooms.

A room that could be exchanged for potatoes naturally did not have particularly good conditions. Muen circled that narrow room once and discovered that every aspect of it was even worse than the prison in Belrand. The place to sleep was nothing more than a pile of tied-up dry grass.

However, perhaps because it was cleaned and changed often, there were no insects in the dry grass, so it was not so unacceptable.

As for Marcie, being able to book a room so easily had already made her overjoyed. Naturally, she had no complaints. She bounced away, not knowing what she had gone to do. But shortly after she left, Muen heard Marcie’s wail from a distance.

“What? You don’t offer help boiling potatoes? But when I came here with Grandma before, you clearly...”

“Little girl, how many years ago was that? These past two years, warmstone production has been getting lower and lower. For someone like me, who can only earn a bit of food to avoid starving, where would I still have the spare strength to boil potatoes for you for free? I can boil them, but boiling them once costs one extra potato.”

“Can... can it be half a potato?”

Marcie picked through the remaining potatoes in her backpack and bit her lip.

“No.”

The innkeeper sighed.

“Child, you know it too. It isn’t that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that life is getting harder and harder now. Look at my inn. Many people would rather endure the cold of night outside than stay here, because they simply don’t have extra food. If no one stays, things are hard for me too.”

“All right. Damn it...”

Not long after, Muen saw Marcie return to the room with a bitter expression.

“What happened?”

“The price went up. In the past, inns clearly all provided help-boiling service, but now they charge extra food.”

Marcie said hatefully, “Obviously, if it’s at mealtime, boiling a little more food won’t even cost much extra warmstone. That hateful innkeeper is completely asking for an outrageous price.”

“So?”

“So we might have no choice but to make do by gnawing on raw potatoes.”

Marcie gave Muen two potatoes and only took one for herself.

After hesitating for a while, she took out a dark, pitch-black cake-like object from her backpack. That was probably the mud cake she had mentioned before.

“Hurry and eat. Raw is still better than having nothing to eat. Rest properly today. Tomorrow I still have to report to the City-State United Pioneering Association.”

Marcie picked up the mud cake and bit down hard...

“Mm!”

With a pained groan, she bit empty air.

“Wh-What are you doing?”

Marcie covered her mouth and lifted her head indignantly, only to discover that the hateful guy across from her had somehow snatched away her mud cake and was examining it carefully.

“This thing can’t be called food at all.”

“Who asked you! Having something to eat is still better than starving to death!”

“...”

Muen hesitated for a moment, then suddenly took out something and handed it to Marcie.

“What’s this?”

Marcie blankly accepted the long, hard thing that seemed even harder than a potato, and froze.

“Black bread.”

Muen shrugged and said calmly.

Mm, something he had taken from Ariel. Good thing he had kept a bit.