The first rays of morning sunlight pierced the gloomy sky, shining into 'The Great Furnace' inn within the capital of the Deepstone Dwarf Kingdom.
Dahlia, who was already awake, had just finished washing up when Mira and Elisa pushed the door open and walked in.
"Morning!" Dahlia greeted them, feeling a bit embarrassed. She hadn't expected to pass out drunk last night.
"Morning. How are you feeling?" Elisa asked with concern.
"I'm fine. I just didn't expect to actually drink myself under the table," Dahlia chuckled awkwardly.
"Leave the drinking to me next time. My tolerance is better than yours," Elisa said with a faint smile.
"Alright," Dahlia nodded with a smile, then asked, "Did we gather any intel last night?"
Even though Dahlia had fallen asleep, she knew Elisa's intellect and efficiency well; she could guess what her companion would do without even needing to ask.
Sure enough, Elisa nodded and called Number Seven in from outside the door, having him repeat the intelligence he had gathered the night before.
It turned out that, just as they had overheard during the tavern discussions, the vast majority of the iron mines in the entire Deepstone Kingdom were controlled by the Muller's family.
The remaining minority was split between two other Grand Dukes: Duke Pelé and Duke Ryder. However, the iron mines controlled by these two families combined didn't even amount to half of what the Muller family held.
Therefore, anyone selling iron ore in the Deepstone Kingdom was essentially operating under the businesses of these three ducal families; the rest were minor operations controlled by lesser nobles.
Because of this, the ore industry was basically monopolized by the forces of the three Grand Dukes, making it exceedingly difficult to obtain large quantities of ore from any other faction.
"It seems that if we want iron ore, we can only target these three families," Dahlia said, a gleam of wisdom flashing in her eyes.
"We made contact with Muller yesterday, which is an excellent target," Elisa nodded. "That actually saved us a lot of time."
The head of the family was also a Grand Duke, named Michael, who was Muller's father.
According to the gathered intel, Duke Michael was deeply trusted by the Deepstone Dwarf King. Part of the reason was that Duke Michael controlled a massive amount of iron ore resources.
Another reason was that the Fragrant Wheat Ale Muller offered as tribute every year was deeply favored by the King, to the point that the King was even considering betrothing a princess to Muller.
"Number Seven also discovered that someone was asking around about us yesterday," Mira suddenly interjected.
"Asking around about us?" Dahlia raised an eyebrow slightly before letting out a soft chuckle. "It seems our goal has been achieved. He noticed us. We are one step closer to success."
Elisa asked curiously, "So, what is our next move?"
"Did you find out where the busiest part of the capital is, specifically a place where we can set up a stall?" Dahlia didn't answer Elisa's question directly, looking instead at Number Seven.
"There is such a place, located in the Western District of the Deepstone Dwarf capital. It's the most famous and crowded market there. You can buy almost anything," Number Seven replied after a moment of recollection.
"Excellent," Dahlia said happily.
"What's going on? Are we going shopping at the market?" Elisa couldn't quite figure out what Dahlia was planning.
"Of course not. If we're going shopping, it'll be after we finish our business. Only then can we shop without any burdens," Dahlia shook her head.
"Then what are we going to the market for?" Mira asked, bewildered.
"Put on some makeup and grab the goods. We're going to the market to set up a stall," Dahlia smiled.
"Put on makeup and set up a stall at the market?" Mira froze. Hadn't they just been trying to hook up with the Muller's family? Why were they going out to be street vendors now?
A thoughtful look appeared in Elisa's eyes. She seemed to understand what Dahlia's intention was.
"You'll see when we get there," Dahlia smiled mysteriously. This was their opening battle, and it had to be fought beautifully.
"Alright. I don't really understand much about business anyway." Mira nodded. Brimming with confusion and curiosity, she picked up her cosmetics and began applying them to her face.
A while later, the fully made-up group stepped out the door. Followed by Kasi, several soldiers, and attendants—all carrying items in their arms—they headed toward the Western District of the Deepstone capital.
The market in the Western District was more accurately described as a grand plaza, though at the moment, this plaza was completely packed with vendor stalls.
The vendors here essentially just laid out a piece of linen cloth on the ground, piled their goods on top, and started hawking their wares.
It was this very chaotic scene that formed this so-called market.
There were many people setting up stalls, the vast majority being dwarves, selling various tools and instruments they had forged themselves.
Aside from the dwarves, there were quite a few humans and occasionally a few beastkin. However, the beastkin's stalls received very little patronage.
"There's seriously an unbelievable amount of people." Upon arriving at the market in the northwest sector, Dahlia and her group were astounded.
"It's very prosperous here, but it's genuinely chaotic," Mira was equally shocked. If she hadn't been protected by the soldiers surrounding them, she probably would have been separated from the group by the sheer crush of the crowd by now.
"It is chaotic." Elisa frowned slightly. She noticed people loudly arguing at many stalls; some were haggling over prices, while others were rival vendors fighting tooth and nail over customers, their faces flushed red with anger.
"As expected, Sedona City is still better," Kasi muttered silently. He didn't enjoy the same privileged treatment as Dahlia and the girls. By this point, his feet had already been stepped on countless times by passersby.
The appearance of Dahlia's group instantly caught the attention of some people.
After all, the clothes Dahlia and the others wore were even finer than those worn by the noble. Furthermore, the trio had put on makeup before heading out this time, sharply elevating their already stunning appearances by a large margin.
Their sexy red lips and elegantly shaped eyebrows were particularly eye-catching, causing many female dwarves to stop in their tracks and stare, their faces filled with envy and astonishment.
It wasn't just the three women's beauty and attire that drew eyes; the forged steel armor worn by the soldiers and the forged steel spears in their hands were equally captivating.
Because of this, the dwarves were all guessing which major faction's important figures had come out for a stroll.
"So beautiful. How did they do that?"
"Absolutely gorgeous! Their skin is so perfect. And those red lips are just too sexy."
"..."
"Aren't we being a bit too flashy like this?" Mira whispered, though her face wore an expression of sheer enjoyment.
"That is exactly the effect we want," Dahlia replied softly. It seemed that being the center of everyone's attention actually felt pretty good.
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