"Elisa, look at this advertisement! And this missing person notice, it's brilliant! If His Excellency Lucas ever decided to seriously go into business, I'm afraid he'd become a grand merchant, definitely on the level of 'wealthy enough to buy a kingdom'." Dahlia clutched the newspaper tightly, looking just like a star-struck fan.
If her previous admiration for Lucas was just because she thought he was clever and had some wild ideas, then after reading this newspaper, she saw so many novel business ideas. Many of them, if taken individually, could make a fortune.
Comparing this to the fleet she and her father, Joe, operated, she realized that only people with real brains could make a huge profit. Her family could only earn a small margin through hard work.
"Alright, stop praising him. You've already listed every good quality Lord Lucas has," Elisa said, rolling her eyes. She was starting to feel secondhand embarrassment for him.
"Tsk... You just don't understand business," Dahlia sighed. She was starting to feel like she didn't even want to go back to the capital. She was discovering that Sedona City was where the real excitement was.
"We're here." Elisa looked up at the heavily guarded Drunken Night. There were two rows of fully armed soldiers standing guard at the entrance.
"Let's go in, then." Dahlia started walking inside.
"Mm." Elisa glanced back at the crowd behind them, a complex look flashing in her emerald eyes, before she followed.
...
In the crowd on the main avenue, several groups of people quietly withdrew after seeing Elisa enter the Drunken Night.
Clop clop clop...
As a top-tier bounty hunter, Ferguson was here today to see the "White-Haired Enchantress." A bounty of one thousand gold coins had attracted many hunters, and he was one of them.
He had been in Sedona City for three days. Even with his skills and strength, he didn't dare try to kidnap the White-Haired Enchantress. This city was just too unusual. The patrolling guards, the castle sentries... they all made him hesitant to act. During his surveillance just now, he had spotted at least three people secretly protecting her.
"One thousand gold coins is not easy money," Ferguson sighed. He had originally taken a job to track down the "Swift Wind Bandit," but after months of searching without a single clue, he had stumbled upon the intel that the White-Haired Enchantress was in Sedona City.
News of her whereabouts had spread through the bounty hunter network in no time, drawing countless hunters to Sedona City. In the past few days, many of the impatient ones had already been "cleaned up," leaving only the cautious, experienced hunters.
The difficulty of working alone was too high. Ferguson had no choice but to sacrifice a large part of the profit and cooperate with others. Many bounty hunters thought the same way.
In recent days, Ferguson had noticed many bounty hunters in Sedona City. Most of the well-known ones were here, not to mention several bounty hunter gangs. He estimated there were around three hundred hunters in the city right now.
"Hooo..." Ferguson took a deep breath and stepped into a small hotel. His partners, also formidable bounty hunters, were inside.
Knock knock knock... knock knock...
The door opened a crack. A pair of eyes scanned Ferguson before the door opened fully to let him in.
There were two people in the room, both well-known in bounty hunter circles. They were all here for the White-Haired Enchantress's bounty.
"What's the situation? Any chance to make a move?" Asked a lean man. His codename was "Hound."
"No. She has too many people watching her." Ferguson shook his head. He had spotted at least a dozen different groups on surveillance.
"I don't get what's so special about this White-Haired Enchantress. Just because she's an elf? Is that worth a thousand gold coins?" A woman of about thirty said. Her name was Rossa, the only woman of the three, famous for a red birthmark on her face.
"She must have some kind of secret. Otherwise, no one would post a 1,000-gold bounty," Hound said idly, toying with a knife. "After all, for a thousand gold, you can have any woman you want. You could even buy two elves at auction for that."
"That's right! Could it be a treasure map?" Rossa's eyes lit up, looking like a money-grubber.
"Give me a break. The person who posted a 1,000-gold bounty is, at minimum, a Count. It's even possible they're a Marquis or a Duke," Ferguson said with a wave. He glanced at Rossa, knowing her money-grubbing look was just an act. Her skills were nothing to scoff at.
"So what? If it really is a treasure map, we kill her, take the map, and go find it ourselves," Rossa said, tossing her head dismissively.
"True." Hound nodded. He agreed. The fact that the client wanted her alive and not dead meant there had to be a huge secret. A thousand gold coins was not copper, after all.
"Er..." Ferguson's lip twitched. He knew most bounty hunters had the same idea as Rossa and Hound—that the White-Haired Enchantress was carrying some major secret.
In fact, he suspected the same thing. He even had a theory about her appearance in Sedona City: she had likely traded her secret to the City Lord in exchange for protection.
He didn't voice this guess. If he was right, it meant they would probably never get the 1,000-gold bounty. A White-Haired Enchantress who had already given up her secret was worthless.
"Ferguson, what are you thinking about?" Rossa frowned.
"Nothing." Ferguson shook his head. He wasn't going to share such a bold theory. What if he was wrong?
"Speaking of treasure maps, what are your thoughts on tonight's auction?" Hound asked coolly.
"I heard there's a lot of treasure. I really want to get in and see," Rossa said, clasping her hands to her face. She desperately wanted to see that giant pink pearl.
"Oh? I have a way in. You two..." Ferguson held out his hand, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in the universal gesture for "money."
"How much?" Rossa froze, then frowned. "You really have a way in?"
She knew how tight security at the auction was. Ordinary people weren't just barred from entry; they probably couldn't even get close.
"Ten silver coins each." Ferguson pulled a red invitation from his breast pocket.
"How did you get an invitation?" Rossa's eyes went wide in astonishment.
"You don't need to worry about that. If you want in, pay up. Otherwise, I'll just go by myself tonight," Ferguson said with a faint smile. Of course, he'd stolen it from a merchant. He was a bounty hunter, after all. Thankfully, the invitation wasn't personalized with a name.
"Fine, I'll pay..." Rossa gritted her teeth, painfully pulling out ten silver coins. She had always wanted to attend one of these noble auctions.
"Count me in." Hound thought for a moment and also took out ten silver coins.
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