"Why are you here?"
“Lola is a businessman, so of course she’s here to do business!”
The Andachier Mountains, the snow-capped mountains in the west of Falling Star Mountain, and the Ice and Snow Camp—this name was found out by Duan Qing after he arrived at this place and asked the people around him. At this time, the three people had been placed in a small house in the rugby-like shelter, sheltering from the increasingly intense blizzard outside.
The person who appeared at the entrance and brought them in was actually the traveling businessman they met when they went up the mountain - the girl Laura.
"No, no, I mean... how could you go to such a... so..." Duan Qing thought about his words: "Such a remote place? And it’s so…”
"?"
The person who answered him was the face of a woman full of doubts - a lively girl with chestnut hair who looked innocent and seemed unable to understand what Duan Qing wanted to ask with this question.
"Hey...ah...because I'm a businessman." The girl sitting cross-legged across the room thought for a long time, and finally answered the question with a sunny smile: "And it's a business trip. A businessman! Of course he does all kinds of business!"
"He meant to ask, how did you walk through that snowstorm alone." Seeing Duan Qing's expression of being unable to ask, Xue Ling Huan Bing followed up his words very simply and asked: "Did you. .... Didn’t you encounter any difficulties?”
"No." This time, the girl opposite answered much faster: "That's how I walked all the way."
Duan Qing and Nan Tieshan looked at the big backpack placed in the corner of the room and shook their heads in unison - it seems that the traveling merchants in this world are still as weird and powerful as ever.
But it seems a little naive.
"You actually know this place?" The woman in the black cloak asked casually, somewhat boredly, holding a cup of steaming water.
"Of course!" Unexpectedly, the girl's reaction was much greater than she expected. She jumped up from her seat and stepped on the bench next to her: "Businessmen want to do business all over the world! How can I do that?" Why do some businessmen not know the address of their customers? If the business fails, can you compensate me?"
You never did my business before... Duan Qing next to him thought with a sad look on his face.
"So that means..." Xueling Huanbing's voice paused: "Do you often have contact with the Nosier tribe?"
"Yeah, yeah, ah, no..." Laura suddenly calmed down after thinking of something, and sat back on her bench with some embarrassment: "We don't know each other very well, it's just pure. .....Pure...Hey, what's that word called?"
"Ah! That's right! It's called business dealings!" The girl clapped her hands excitedly, then waggled her fingers and said, "Business dealings."
The three of them looked at me and I looked at you, not knowing what to say at this time.
"But..." the girl changed the topic: "The people here are still very nice people. Well, even though they are usually cold, they are actually very enthusiastic people! They even charged more last time. Laura has a lot of goods..."
"You guys!"
The whistling of the cold wind suddenly amplified in their ears - a warrior wearing white fur armor suddenly opened the door curtain and walked in from the outside. He first looked at the three adventurers present with a cold face. , then looked at the smiling young businessman, and finally relaxed his expression: "Who is Xue Ling Huan Bing?"
The woman in the black hood did not speak, but stood up from her seat.
"Is it you, claiming to be the clan leader's friend?" The male warrior looked at the woman who refused to show her face with an appraising look, and finally nodded slightly: "The clan leader wants to see you."
Duan Qing raised his head, but could only see a smile at the corner of the woman's mouth with only her chin exposed from a side angle. Then she nodded, walked to the soldier's side under his scrutinizing eyes, and motioned for him to lead the way.
With two flapping sounds of thick cloth, the two people walked out of the warm small room one after another.
The ground made of clay evenly encloses rings in the small circular room, creating a strange atmosphere in the whole room, reminding the people inside all the time that this is a place full of alien characteristics. But in the center of these rings, in the middle of the entire small house, what is placed is not furniture such as tables, but a small fire, using its own light and heat to resist the cold outside. In the bright firelight, bursts of green smoke slowly floated up, gathered in the center of the dome above the small house, and then flew out from the reticulated skylight. And extending along those earth-yellow round roofs, apart from some beautiful and strange patterns, the rest are some simple tables, chairs and small cabinets.
The whole room is decorated simply and quaintly.
"It seems..." Duan Qing withdrew his observation gaze and whispered to Nan Tieshan next to him: "This place has indeed existed for a long time."
"Huh? Oh, yes...yeah, hahahaha."
Nan Tieshan, who took off his coat, obviously didn't pay attention to Duan Qing's words, so he just smiled perfunctorily. Duan Qing looked at the other person's expression and found that the other person was obviously paying attention to the girl swaying her legs across the way, looking like he was hesitant to speak, so he had to sigh secretly.
Are you so shy...do you want me to come?
"Um, Laura...right?"
"Yes!" The girl opposite immediately responded: "That's Laura's name!"
"Um, um..." Duan Qing scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. After holding it in for a long time, he remembered a suitable question: "Are you familiar with this snow-capped mountain?"
"Ah, I'm not very familiar with it. Laura has to find her own way every time she comes." The girl scratched her small nose in embarrassment and smiled shyly: "But...every time You can find it every time.”
So which way did you come here... Duan Qing thought helplessly.
"Well...what do you think of the environment here?"
"Ah? Well..." The girl thought for a while, a little confused, and finally continued with a cheerful smile: "It's still very beautiful here!"
"Very...beautiful?"
"Yes! Look at the snowflakes flying all over the sky, how beautiful they are..." Through the field-shaped window, Laura pointed to the scene outside the window: "And such a heavy snowstorm, other places But what you can’t see..."
So don't you think it's difficult to survive in this place... Duan Qing held his mouth hard and finally didn't say what he wanted to say.
"Have you finished your business here? How long do you plan to stay here?"
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, Laura still has a lot of things to sell." Mentioning her business, the girl laughed happily again: "The patriarch said that this time he has more things to buy, and there is a blacksmith. The brilliant star stone that uncle wants, the magic book that Orem wants, and Uther’s magic steel sword..."
The girl sitting there counted her sales with her fingers, but the names she accidentally announced one after another made Duan Qing and Nan Tieshan tremble with fear - the names of each prop They had never heard of the names, and when they heard those names, they knew they were powerful things. Nan Tieshan, who did not hide his temper at all, his eyes were a little straight, but Duan Qing, who clenched his hands, was more calm. This was not only because his past experience made him feel better when facing these things. Even more indifferent, and also because what the other party just said has already answered his previous question.
This mysterious businessman will stay here for a while, and they still have a chance to get powerful equipment from her.
"Well..." So Duan Qing wanted to fight for his own rights first: "Can I take a look at what you are selling first?"
"No - no." The girl turned her head like a rattle.
"Why -" Duan Qing asked wailing.
"No reason." The girl's originally very sweet smile seemed so desperate to Duan Qing now: "In short... I just won't sell it to you."
"Get out of the way, get out of the way! People have said that, so don't bother them all the time." Nan Tieshan ruthlessly opened Duan Qing's body and rushed forward, first rubbing it against the girl with a smile on her face. hand, and then asked a little embarrassedly: "Well, I bought you a pair of boxing gloves before, do you still remember?"
"Of course I remember." The girl nodded: "I remember all my guests."
"That, that..." Like Duan Qing, Nan Tieshan, who was much stronger than the other girl, always felt a strange sense of oppression when facing this girl who always had a sunny smile. He held his hand nervously. After a long while, he said his request: "I tested it later and felt that those gloves were not very suitable for my fighting method, so..."
"Can I exchange it?"
"No - okay!" The girl shook her head more firmly this time: "The goods sold by Laura will not be returned or exchanged!"
"Ah? Uh... Well, it doesn't matter if you don't change it, it doesn't matter if you don't change it... But you see, this pair of gloves is not suitable for me. It is always a fact, and you were the one who took it at the time. ...Oh no, it was recommended to me. To make it up to me, do you think I can...choose another one myself?"
"Well..." Laura, who was shaking her little feet, put a finger on her chin and looked up at the dome on the ceiling: "This is fine, since you want to buy it so much If it’s one piece…”
Under Nan Tieshan's flattering smile and the girl's hesitant steps, the two people slowly walked to the big backpack in the corner of the small house, and started trading openly and openly, leaving Duan Qing, who was dumbfounded, sitting dryly. Looking at the two disharmonious figures, one big and one small.
"I X, I can't stand it anymore, I want to leave this place..."
Finally, he was so sad that he hid his face and rushed out of the door of the small room.
*****************
The camp, known as the Embrace of Ice and Snow, was, as its name suggests, trapped in this place by the blizzard outside. But the structure of this camp also makes it perform the same function as its name, embracing the people inside the place to prevent them from being engulfed by the cold. Because of this, there are no powerful storms inside this place like outside the slit. The huge bonfire burning in the central area also gives this area enough heat, allowing people here to enjoy the warm firelight in a winter-like environment. .
Walking in this long and narrow camp, Duan Qing did not take long to visit all the facilities in this place. Therefore, he is now sitting idle in the corner of the camp, waiting for the return of Snow Spirit Huanbing. And what follows is their fate.
The camp is not big, and there are not many people there, but perhaps because of the cold, the people here seem to be hiding in those mountain-like huts, with no intention of coming out to meet outsiders like them. In the few open huts, the people inside didn't treat him very well. It seemed that in their eyes, outsiders like him were as cold as the ice and snow outside.
He even found the blacksmith shop and grocery store in the camp near the hut he walked out of, but the behavior of the blacksmith and boss inside was as cold and cold as the "Ice and Snow Clan" they were called. He was tough and had no intention of doing business with Duan Qing. Every time Duan Qing went in to inquire, the people standing behind the counter would always cross their arms and look at him with cold eyes, until they stared at him so dejectedly that they left.
"In game terms, this should be called reputation, but that's not enough."
Duan Qing, who was leaning against the corner, looked at the gloomy sky under the thin crack above his head and sighed helplessly - looking back, how did this inexplicable impulsive adventure come to this point? And it was so miserable. There was nothing gained along the way, but there were many fights, and I had no choice but to form grudges with a group of passers-by. In order to avoid the pursuit of the elements, I even gave up a possible road to the top of the mountain. ...and there are still ancient ruins that may exist!
Now, even a young merchant girl who appeared out of nowhere is inexplicably hostile to him... This world is really full of malice.
"Shh..."
Duan Qing, who was extremely depressed, leaned against the wall and stared above blankly. His depressed mood made him seem to hear strange hissing. It was not until the sound gradually amplified and attracted his attention that he finally realized something. He turned his head and looked in front of the wall of the house he was leaning against.
"Hey! Hey!"
It was a man also wearing a white fur coat, waving at him, and at the same time making a strange whistle to attract his attention.
Duan Qing looked around, and after confirming that the Nosier clan member was calling him, he stood up with some hesitation and walked slowly to that person: "You called me? What did you call me for?" "
The man held his head by the door and looked around like a thief. After making sure that no one was paying attention, he looked up at Duan Qing's face, and then...swish, He pulled him into the hut.
