"
"Huh? Didn't we just spend an entire day shopping yesterday?" Lorist looked up from the book in his hand, surprised.
"What do you mean? Yesterday we spent the whole day touring the palace with the new queen, looking at the so-called relics left behind by the former Krisen emperors, admiring the precious flowers in the gardens, playing with the queen's little pets, and drinking tea all afternoon. That wasn't shopping—that was socializing. It's just like how you men get together to drink before long.
Today we want to go to the most famous commercial street in the imperial capital—the Royal Avenue. I hear there are discounts during the festival, and a lot of new and fashionable women's clothing styles have been brought in from
Lorist stood up smoothly and gently held Princess Sylivia in his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "My dear, I won't be going. I have guests to meet later—arrangements were made at the palace yesterday. You ladies go have fun and enjoy yourselves. Buy whatever catches your eye. Oh, and be careful..."
Princess Sylivia stood on her tiptoes and kissed Lorist on the lips. "All right, then we're off. Don't worry about safety—my godmother is coming with us."
Princess Sylivia's godmother was Grand Swordmaster Sandy. Lorist had only said it out of habit; truth be told, the imperial capital was extremely safe these days. Forget about Lorist's family—even any noblewoman walking the streets couldn't possibly encounter any danger. If something did happen, it would be an outright slap to the
Watching Princess Sylivia's retreating figure, Lorist rubbed his nose and thought that whether it was Earth in his previous life or the Galentea Continent now, women's passion for shopping was exactly the same, without the slightest difference. Even as the mistress of the
Well, this wasn't slander on Lorist's part. Not far outside the east gate of Angry Bear City in Northland were five noble districts. When Lorist was planning these five noble districts, he had deliberately set up an upscale commercial zone right in the middle, to provide the noble residents and their families with the most fashionable and trendiest products from across the Galentea Continent, as well as various entertainment and leisure venues suited to nobles and their ladies. It was the most prosperous and prestigious area in all of Northland, and ordinary Northland residents couldn't even get in to take a look without担保...
What Lorist hadn't expected was that his five wives had become the most regular customers at that commercial district. More than half of their monthly allowances were spent on those discounted items. The problem was that most of these products were actually made by workshops under the Norton Family's own management. But Princess Sylivia and Lorist's four concubines simply enjoyed the thrill of spending their own money to snag bargains.
Well, once Lorist and Duke Kemais got together and got chatting about how to make maids dress more provocatively. Lorist casually sketched a few backless dress designs he remembered from celebrities walking runways in his previous life. Duke Kemais snatched them up as if they were priceless treasures. Before long, these backless dresses were grandly introduced by the Snow Salt Trading Company as the trendiest and sexiest women's fashion of the year. Moreover, Duke Kemais had the manufacturers adorn them with countless sparkling little gemstones, making them fashionable attire that conformed to the aesthetic tastes of noble circles.
That morning, the backless dresses hit the market. That afternoon, Princess Sylivia and the four concubines heard the news and each went to buy one. However, after returning, Princess Sylivia realized a major problem—as Lorist's lawful wife and mistress of the Norton Family, wasn't it a bit too frivolous to wear such a backless dress? After much deliberation, Princess Sylivia had to reluctantly part with hers, ultimately deciding to gift it to Fenagali, since Fenagali had the best figure for such a sexy backless dress, and as a concubine, there was no harm in dressing a bit more beautifully.
By the same logic, Dilliana, Fenagali, Daisy, and Maria—the four concubines—were also considering this issue. After all, these backless dresses had actually been designed for the maids at Duke Kemais's White Gold Beach, emphasizing sexiness and allure. Although they were Lorist's concubines, their dress and appearance had to take Lorist's reputation into account. So the four women's final idea was to give their backless dresses to Princess Sylivia. If she, as the lawful wife, could wear one, then they could too—they could always just go buy another one...
As a result, Princess Sylivia gave away one dress and received four in return, only then discovering that everyone had bought one. This had Lorist laughing for half a month. But considering that these backless dresses really weren't suitable for wearing in formal settings, in the end they could only wear them in the bedroom for Lorist's eyes alone, to add a bit of spice to their marital life.
Such torment.
Lorist truly found it hard to understand how women could haggle with shopkeepers for ages over a single item they took a fancy to, only to save a few copper coins in the end. They weren't short of money—what was the point of pinching those few coins? Yet his wives would come back with triumphant expressions as if they'd scored a massive bargain, and then spend half the day bragging about those tiny savings to others...
Even though Princess Sylivia looked as beautiful as an elf, in this regard she still had the temperament of a little woman. Of course, in Lorist's eyes, this was precisely what made her most adorable—even as a mother of two, she still maintained that innocent personality. Especially the way she would come back from shopping and show off her spoils in front of Lorist, it truly made him feel both exasperated and amused.
Generolio knocked on the study door with a look of pleasant surprise, interrupting Lorist's musings. "Your Highness, Lord Ross the Fierce Tiger has returned, and he has been promoted to Great Swordmaster..."
"Let him in right away." Lorist was delighted too. Two years ago, Ross the Fierce Tiger had abandoned the Flying Tiger Corps and vanished without a word, leaving behind only a letter saying he had sensed the opportunity for his promotion to Great Swordmaster. Now he was finally back—and had successfully been promoted to Great Swordmaster.
Before long, Ross the Fierce Tiger swaggered into the study. "Your Highness, I'm back."
Then he dumped a large bundle of long bamboo tubes he'd been carrying onto the ground. Lorist felt these bamboo tubes looked somewhat familiar but couldn't quite place where he'd seen them. He was also puzzled as to why Ross the Fierce Tiger had brought these bamboo tubes into his study instead of leaving them outside. "Welcome back. Where did you go to achieve your promotion to Great Swordmaster? The family couldn't track your whereabouts for two years—we were very worried about your safety."
"Hehe, Your Highness, I went to the Ruins Archipelago," Ross the Fierce Tiger said with a grin. "The magical beasts there are fierce and savage—perfect for my training and comprehension. See, I've succeeded. Oh, and I brought you a gift."
Lorist's face went dark. Now he knew what was inside these long bamboo tubes—a specialty of the Ruins Archipelago, a blessing for men, the world-renowned aphrodisiac known as Terence Donkey Whip. Back when he was a
At Earle's request, he had also specially brought back two Terence Donkey Whips. In the end, he and Earle had even set up a small business of slicing Terence Donkey Whip and selling it in glass bottles. But this business was quickly monopolized by a certain trading company in Morant City that took over all the Terence Donkey Whip from the Ruins Archipelago.
"You bastard—do I look like the kind of man who needs this?" Lorist snapped. Now he understood why Ross the Fierce Tiger had insisted on bringing these bamboo tubes into his study. "But since it's your goodwill and you carried them all this way, I'll reluctantly accept. Generolio, put these away and store them properly."
Ross the Fierce Tiger looked at Lorist with undisguised contempt. "Your Highness, your skin is getting thicker by the day. I never said all of these were for you. Over the past two years, I only managed to get eleven in total. I'll give you three at most—one for Bodfeng, one for Malek, half each for Dolles and Mason. That leaves me with only five. Just now, Pat asked me what these were outside, and I didn't tell him—I was afraid he'd try to snatch them from me..."
Lorist blushed crimson and snapped in embarrassed anger, "What do you need so many for? At most, we split them half and half."
"No way," Ross the Fierce Tiger flatly refused. "Three is the maximum. They're sliced anyway—Your Highness, you could eat some every day and they'd last you two or three years. Besides, didn't you just say you didn't need these things?"
"Fine, whatever you want." Lorist didn't want to argue anymore. It would be embarrassing if word got out that he used such things. "You said you went off to promote to Great Swordmaster. If you hadn't actually succeeded, I'd have suspected you went to the Ruins Archipelago specifically to get these. These things aren't easy to come by, are they?"
Ross the Fierce Tiger's face lit up with excitement. "Of course! Your Highness, you have no idea—these Terence wild donkeys are incredibly alert. The slightest sound and they bolt, moving as swift as lightning. Forget about hunting them—even catching up to them is extremely difficult. Especially since all eleven of my donkey whips are from wild ones, their potency is incomparably better than those from domesticated ones. It took considerable effort to hunt them down..."
The reason Terence Donkey Whip was so effective was primarily because the Terence wild donkeys' favorite food in the wild was a plant called Sunshine Joy Grass, which had certain aphrodisiac properties and was also a key ingredient in many nutritional tonics. Because the Terence donkeys ate this plant year-round, the medicinal effects accumulated in their reproductive organs, making them extraordinarily large and giving them potent aphrodisiac properties. At least, that was how the Magical Beast Compendium described it. As a result, Terence donkeys had become the most sought-after prey. It was said that wild Terence donkeys on the Ruins Archipelago were now quite scarce, and the ones commonly found on the market were mostly domesticated, with much less potent whips.
Ross the Fierce Tiger proudly babbled on to Lorist about how he had heroically hunted down these male Terence wild donkeys. Eventually, Lorist had to cut him short and ask how he had found his way to the imperial capital. Ross said he had made landfall at Hidden Gold Bay on his return, gone to see Schwed, who told him Lorist would be attending the Second Prince's coronation ceremony, so he came straight to the imperial capital.
"That brat Schwed is the one who's going to regret this," Ross the Fierce Tiger complained.
"All right, can we drop that topic?" Lorist said helplessly. The moment this guy returned, every conversation revolved around these damned Terence Donkey Whips. "Bodfeng and Malek will be very grateful for the whips you're giving them. But I think that since you've been promoted to Great Swordmaster, after we attend His Majesty's coronation celebration and return to the family's territory, you should spar with Bodfeng more often. You excel at offense, he excels at defense. Now that you've been promoted to Great Swordmaster, you can suppress Bodfeng in both swordsmanship and battle aura, forcing him to unleash his potential through rigorous training. That way, he too can gain the insight and opportunity for his promotion to Great Swordmaster sooner..."
This was serious business, and Ross the Fierce Tiger nodded. Just then, Duke Kemais entered. As a neighbor and close friend, he could come and go freely from Lorist's study. However, he didn't notice the ground when he came in and nearly tripped over the bamboo tubes scattered on the floor.
"What are these things?" Duke Kemais asked.
"Terence Donkey Whip. Mine." Ross the Fierce Tiger spoke before anyone else could, and besides, he didn't think much of Duke Kemais—in his eyes, a Silver-tier warrior was trash now.
What a treasure! Duke Kemais's eyes lit up immediately. "Dear Ross, what a pleasure to see you back. By the way, would you be willing to sell some of those Terence Donkey Whips? I'll offer you a price that will satisfy you..."
"Not for sale." Ross the Fierce Tiger flatly refused Duke Kemais. He wasn't short of money at the moment.
Lorist shrugged at Duke Kemais's pleading gaze, indicating there was nothing he could do either. Ross the Fierce Tiger wouldn't even give him face—three meant three, and not one more. What Lorist was grateful for this time was that he had quickly told Generolio to put away those three bamboo tubes. Otherwise, Duke Kemais would have turned to him to make a purchase.
If he didn't need money, he must need something else. Knowing that Ross the Fierce Tiger had just returned from the Ruins Archipelago after his promotion to Great Swordmaster, Duke Kemais's eyes shifted and, under the pretext of congratulating Ross on his successful promotion, he pulled Ross into a corner for a whispered conversation. Soon after, Ross was beaming from ear to ear and generously shoved a long bamboo tube into Duke Kemais's arms. "We're brothers—don't talk about money. Consider it a gift."
Lorist watched Duke Kemais with an unpleasant expression. Don't think Lorist couldn't hear them just because they were whispering in a corner. The duke had offered to throw Ross a welcoming party, said he would find a few noble ladies to accompany Ross during his stay in the imperial capital, and assured him that these noble ladies were very passionate, open-minded, and beautiful—he guaranteed Ross's satisfaction. This matchmaking was so effective that Ross immediately considered the duke a true brother and gave him a Terence Donkey Whip.
"Did you come here for something?" Lorist asked with a dark face, addressing the pimp-duke.
Duke Kemais finally remembered why he had come. "Of course. I wanted you to come with me to see our four-party alliance's Snow Salt Trading Company's commercial house in the imperial capital."
...