But what about now?
Shi Tou had heard Huo Xiaoxiao mention the name "City Guard" before. It seemed that one of Nana's uncles was the leader of the City Guard, a four-star Qi Master. The average City Guard member was usually a one-star Qi Master.
Well, Stone felt that her trip today was a waste; the Blacksmith Association had really disappointed her: "Chrysanthemum, we're not going in."
Chrysanthemum breathed a long sigh of relief. She was afraid that Stone would stay here too long and if the master or young lady found out, Stone might be fine, but she would definitely be punished.
As he boarded the carriage, Stone glanced back at the Blacksmiths' Guild and sighed inwardly. Had human blacksmithing truly declined? But it didn't matter; even if the Blacksmiths' Guild was now useless, it didn't mean blacksmithing had truly perished.
She, Stone, the human princess of the Dwarf Kingdom, will surely be able to revitalize the art of blacksmithing in the human kingdom and make blacksmiths the pride of the Fallen Empire once again!
Sitting in the carriage, Stone turned his head to look out the window, seemingly admiring the scenery. Chrysanthemum glanced at Stone cautiously, but ultimately dared not say anything.
"Giggle, Master! Baozi doesn't know why the Blacksmith Association has become such a mess!"
Actually, Stone wasn't daydreaming. Instead, he slipped the ring onto his finger while Chrysanthemum wasn't looking, and then pretended to be looking at the scenery with his chin on his hand while secretly talking to Baozi.
"A dilapidated state? Hmph! You dare to say that, you stupid steamed bun! Do you know how disappointed I was when I saw the state of the Blacksmiths Association? Blacksmiths, how could an association with the nation's top blacksmithing skills have fallen to this state?"
The stone's voice was extremely soft, so soft that even she couldn't hear it clearly. But it didn't matter that she couldn't hear it; as long as Baozi could hear it clearly, that was enough.
"Hehe, Baozi really doesn't know!" Baozi's voice was full of innocence: "It wasn't like this hundreds of years ago!"
Stone suddenly thought of a question. Baozi had always said it had been asleep for hundreds of years, but Stone hadn't really thought about how many years that was. Besides, there's a huge difference between a hundred years and nine hundred years!
"Baozi, tell me, what year was it before you fell into a deep sleep?" It was one thing not to have thought of it before, but now that Shi Tou had thought of this question, of course he wanted to find out.
"Hehe, Baozi doesn't even know what year it is!" Baozi's pitiful voice rang in Stone's mind: "All Baozi knows is that Kagaral is the greatest prince of the Fallen Empire!"
Kagaral?! Your Highness?!
Stone frowned, vaguely recalling that Baozi had mentioned members of the Fallen Empire's royal family before, but she couldn't remember exactly who they were: "Kagalar is a prince? What's his full name?"
Baozi got stuck again: "Gaga, Baozi doesn't know either! Master, you've always called him Kagaral!"
Well, she shouldn't have had such high expectations for Baozi's intelligence.
"Chrysanthemum, do you know Kagarar?" After thinking for a moment, Stone turned to Chrysanthemum and asked.
Unfortunately, the only response to the stone was Chrysanthemum's blank expression: "Kagalar? Who's that? Chrysanthemum has lived with the Huo family since she was a child and only knows people from the Huo family."
Stone was speechless. Of course, as a maid, there was no need to inquire about royal matters; after all, this wasn't the information-saturated era of her previous life. Turning back to pretending to admire the scenery, Stone began to grind her teeth: "Give me some more specific information, like the year or something."
"Giggle, Baozi can't count! Master never taught Baozi to count before!"
This is incredibly powerful – someone who can't count!
The stone was defeated by the steamed bun again. It's terrible to be uncultured!
"Hehe, but Baozi remembers that before Baozi fell asleep, the most powerful organization in the capital was the Blacksmith Association, followed by the Qi Master Association, and then the Mercenary Association!"
This news is absolutely useless!
⊙﹏⊙b Khan!
"Chrysanthemum, tell Kurt to take us to the business district of the capital." After a moment of blankness, Stone turned around and shouted.
This time, Chrysanthemum didn't hesitate and delivered the message quickly.
Baozi, on the other hand, started to look confused: "Hehe, wasn't the street where the Blacksmith Association was located just now the capital's commercial street? Baozi isn't mistaken! That street is the most prosperous and bustling street in the entire capital!"
Stone immediately rolled her eyes. She was now certain that Baozi had overslept, probably for at least eight or nine hundred years.
He's a real sleep god, a steamed bun brand who can eat, poop, and sleep all at once!
-----
It's time for the second watch!
I need to go to the hospital tomorrow, so updates might be a little late~~o(>_<)o~~
☆, Chapter 133 The Signboard That Stirs the Soul
"Wow! This is the legendary commercial district of the capital?" Stone was stunned in the carriage, staring at the scene before her, completely oblivious to the subtle reminder from Chrysanthemum to be mindful of her image.
"Second Miss, please get off the carriage!" Chrysanthemum stood on the ground, looked up at Stone who was standing on the tall carriage, half-bent over with a frightened expression, and suddenly felt like crying.
Stone stared blankly for a while before finally getting off the carriage with Chrysanthemum's "help": "Chrysanthemum, the capital is truly... prosperous!"
The capital city is so incredibly prosperous, it makes me want to cry!
/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
"Second Miss, please don't look like this! If Eldest Miss finds out, Chrysanthemum will be beaten to death!" Chrysanthemum's face was full of anxiety: "Grandpa said that the six great families of the East must maintain their own style and absolutely cannot lose face in public, otherwise..."
Seeing the hesitant expression on Chrysanthemum's face, Stone asked curiously, "What else could happen?"
Chrysanthemum could no longer hold back her tears, which welled up in her eyes: "A personal servant who has failed to fulfill his duty to remind others will be expelled from the Huo family, and you, Second Miss, will also be punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall."
Wow! Stone was genuinely astonished. The legendary punishment of kneeling in the ancestral hall! This...this...this sounds so funny!
Chrysanthemum, of course, didn't miss the obvious eagerness on Stone's face, and immediately became flustered. Her second young lady's thought process was just different from everyone else's, wasn't it?!
"Chrysanthemum, what kind of shop is that?" Stone didn't take Chrysanthemum's words seriously at all, so she pointed smugly to a shop with a giant pig's head painted on it in the distance and asked.
Chrysanthemum looked like she was about to cry as she followed the stone's finger and said, "Second Miss, that's a helmet shop."
puff!
The stone sprayed out spectacularly.
"A helmet shop? But shouldn't a helmet shop have a picture of a helmet? Why is there a pig's head?" Stone looked at Chrysanthemum in horror. He wondered if Chrysanthemum was holding a grudge because of what happened earlier, and was just trying to fool her.
Chrysanthemum patiently explained, "Helmet shops all over the country have pig heads painted on them because pig heads represent holiness."
A pig's head represents holiness?!
Stone stared intently at the pig's head that seemed to be grinning in the distance, swallowed hard, and said, "Um, Chrysanthemum, how about we go in and take a look?"
This time, Chrysanthemum didn't object. In fact, she couldn't wait to push the stone into the helmet shop: "Okay, okay, let's go into the shop!"
Stone looked back at Chrysanthemum, puzzled. She remembered Chrysanthemum had only said she wanted to come in and take a look. She hadn't promised to buy her a gift, had she? Why was she so excited?
Little did they know that the reason Chrysanthemum was excited was not because of the gift, but because she no longer had to embarrass herself in the street...
"Is this really a helmet shop?" Stone looked at Chrysanthemum suspiciously. Only then did Stone begin to examine the shop closely, and what he saw left him speechless.
Fuzzy woolen hats, leather warm hats, iron helmets... Okay, there's nothing wrong with those, but why is there a completely black hat and mask that almost covers the entire face right in the middle of the shop?
Okay, perhaps that's not enough to express how special this divine object is. Actually, describing it is quite simple. For example, the essential divine equipment of those robbers and kidnappers in my past life—a full-coverage mask and hood—looks just like this!
"Chrysanthemum. What's that?" Stone felt a profound inadequacy of language; she truly couldn't find the words to express how...genius the person who designed such a wondrous object was!
"Second Miss, don't point randomly!" Chrysanthemum hurriedly pulled Stone's hand back: "That's a magical artifact!"
puff!
God! Forgive her! These magical artifacts, are they all just for laughs?!
Seeing the utterly devastated look on Shi Tou's face, Chrysanthemum, fearing she might say something even more disrespectful, quickly pulled her out of the shop. Oh well, so be it. It's better to be humiliated than to be pelted with rotten eggs!
"Second Miss, that is the legendary artifact designed by the greatest Princess Irene for her beloved son. This artifact has a very touching name, called Sacred Motherly Love..." Chrysanthemum clenched her fists, her face full of filial piety.
Stone's entire body began to convulse uncontrollably; she...
"Second Miss, shall I take you to a clothing store? You should buy a few new clothes." Seeing the cracked expression on Shi Tou's face, Ju Hua suddenly remembered that the Second Miss seemed to be an orphan, meaning she didn't have a mother: "I'm sorry, Second Miss, Ju Hua was wrong, please don't be sad!"
sad?!
Stone stiffly turned to look at Chrysanthemum. Honey, this isn't sadness, it's heartbreak. To be precise, she's not just heartbroken, her whole body is shattered.
Waaaaah, it's shattered into pieces, isn't it?!
Princess Irene...
Shi Tou suddenly hated her almost photographic memory. Why did she remember that her seventh brother had vaguely mentioned that Baozi's former owner was someone else?
Honey, are you sure it's really sacred maternal love to give your beloved son the god-level equipment a robber would need, and not just a ridiculous prank? Stone made up his mind that he would definitely find an opportunity to teach Baozi a lesson later and make him give him a guarantee.
She is definitely not that silly bun's former silly owner!
"Second Miss, shall we go to the clothing store?" Seeing that Shi Tou was still looking so dazed, Ju Hua really wanted to swallow back what she had just said. What was wrong with her? Why did she have to bring up the sacred concept of maternal love in front of an orphan?
"A clothing store?" Stone suddenly snapped out of his daze: "Okay!"
Chrysanthemum finally breathed a sigh of relief, while secretly reminding herself that she must be careful with her words next time, and not to be disrespectful just because the second young lady is still young.
After walking about 50 meters, Chrysanthemum stopped and said, "Second Miss, this is it. This clothing store is famous throughout the entire commercial district."
Stone instinctively wanted to look up at the sign, but immediately pulled her neck back. "Never mind," she thought, "I'd better go inside first, lest I get excited again when I see the sign."
Thankfully, the clothing store wasn't so scary. Although the layers upon layers of lace and frills on the women's clothes made Stone quite depressed, at least nothing more distressing happened. At least, no magical artifacts were displayed in their shop.
"Second Miss, you don't have enough clothes. Why don't you buy a few here?" Chrysanthemum kindly reminded Shi Tou, who was just wandering around aimlessly.
She didn't mind buying the clothes here, as long as she wasn't the one wearing them: "Okay, I'll just buy one."
Looking around, Shi Tou quickly spotted a dress. It was a pink tulle dress with a puffy skirt. The entire dress was made of light, flowing tulle, adorned with sparkling gemstones, and the hem was covered in lace.
"This young lady has excellent taste!" A plump middle-aged woman walked up to the stone and introduced it with a cheerful expression: "This dress comes from the palace; it's said to be a dress only princesses of ancient times could wear. It's made of light and breathable pink gauze, and the gemstones on it glow in the dark. Oh, and there are nineteen lace trims on the skirt. Young lady, you would look absolutely stunning in it!"
Stone grinned at the fat woman: "Um, do you have any other accessories? Like headwear, bags, socks, and shoes?"
The fat woman was clearly taken aback: "What?"
"It's just the accessories!" Stone thought this woman was incredibly unprofessional, but remembering what she said about ancient court attire, he figured there might be something lacking: "Do you accept custom orders here?"
The plump woman stopped staring blankly and her eyes lit up: "Of course, of course! Would this young lady like to have one custom-made?"
Stone was taken aback by her attitude and subconsciously asked, "Is custom-made very expensive?"
"It's not expensive. If this young lady can give me a design of the accessory, I'll give it to you for free!" The fat woman's eyes weren't just shining; they were practically gleaming with greed!
Stone blinked, finally understanding her meaning. But was getting her design drawings really that easy?
"I can give you the blueprints, and I guarantee they'll match perfectly. But if you want to make money off these things, remember to give me... 30%." After all, they still have production costs, and besides, accessories like these don't require much thought, so Stone wouldn't want to take too much of a cut.
The plump woman hesitated for a moment, but in the end she gritted her teeth and agreed: "Okay! But I have to see it first. I'll only agree if it looks good."
Stone looked at her with disdain: "Then why don't you just agree first? If you're not satisfied, then don't bother sharing with me when you're not making money." What a joke! What if you look at it and then say you're not satisfied, and then try to sell it for money? Who is she supposed to complain to?