Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1390: Chapter 117: Employment

The time Ann spent with David wasn’t long; if calculated within the span of several decades of life, it would be merely… a fleeting moment.

Though short, the intense hatred David constantly displayed towards the vampire nobility was unmistakable.

…

When David opened his eyes again, the feeling he gave Ann wasn’t as intense as before. It seemed she saw something else in his eyes.

No longer like a revolutionary.

Ann was not unfamiliar with the revolutionary army… people who think about resisting, who think about escaping, have always appeared in the various Farms of the Clan, and most of them eventually meet a grim death at the hands of the vampires.

To prevent adults like Ann, who are willing to serve the Farm, from developing thoughts of rebellion, they are often “invited” to watch the punishments… even executions of the revolutionary army.

Those people, to their deaths, had such intense hatred in their eyes, hatred etched into their bones, pure hatred… their eyes remained pure even before death.

Though grown up, though an adult, though experienced a lot, it seems there is no essential difference from the children in the Farm.

Now he is more like those adults who willingly join the Supervisor team… more like the present self.

Ann suddenly felt a shiver – David was still alive, standing before her, but she felt that David had already been destroyed.

Just in such a short time… without as many punishments from the vampires, without long-term torture.

“Are… are you okay?” Ann couldn’t help but step forward and ask.

“I’m fine now.” David’s answer once again took Ann by surprise, “Far better than before… couldn’t be better.”

“What’s so good?” Ann seemed somewhat unadapted to the current David – although her interaction with him was indeed very short.

“Try it and you’ll understand.” David smiled faintly, “There are so many things here, why not try it out… sell some of the things that torment you like nightmares every day, and exchange them for something that will make you strong.”

Ann stepped back fearfully, suddenly bumping into something behind her, her whole body then leaned back helplessly – she saw such a strange smile on David’s face.

“It seems, sir is satisfied with this transaction.” Luo Qiu showed a look of joy about this, as if feeling satisfaction from making another customer satisfied.

Is this the face of a merchant?

Ann wasn’t really sure… merchants, to her, were also an unfamiliar and distant profession – there were no merchants doing business in the Farm, everything the children here enjoyed was provided by the aristocrats, allowing them to live carefree: at least until adulthood.

“Couldn’t be more satisfied.”

When saying this, David was also retreating. He was still tightly gripping the Tang Sword he had bought, not putting it down… only when he was about to reach the door of the storeroom did he stop, then he said very lightly, “If I want to buy more other things, can I sell more of other memories?”

“I see…” Luo Qiu looked at David, then said straightly: “After escaping the Farm and joining the revolutionary army, sir seems to have a lady you admire… you just kept this feeling hidden. If you want to continue purchasing, you can use this admiration as a trade.”

“That is somewhat difficult.” David chuckled softly.

Ann felt this smile was somewhat sinister… A person, after losing a memory, truly becomes like another person?

However, logically speaking, he hasn’t lost all his memories, right?

Is he planning to continue the trade… Ann waited somewhat expectantly for David’s answer – she didn’t know why, but she hoped more for David to agree.

Perhaps it’s due to human curiosity.

“I have other things that need to be done.”

This was the answer David gave – having given the answer, he directly pushed open the door, walked out from here without looking back, as if completely forgetting Ann’s presence seems.

He indeed just left like that… Ann suddenly felt a bit at a loss – because, now only she was left facing this mysterious young merchant alone.

She heard the sound of an old pocket watch once again… tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

“Is he planning to deal with the aristocrats just like that?” She hurriedly asked, trying to break the silence that reappeared here after David’s departure.

“Lady seems to care a lot about this gentleman’s actions.” Luo Qiu slightly smiled: “Do you not prefer to stay out of trouble?”

Ann shrugged and said, “I also kind of want to see whether he truly has no problems at all… as a reference for whether I should buy something from you myself?”

Luo Qiu said quite whatever: “Then have you made your reference?”

“Not—yet—!”

She enunciated each word clearly, much like a middle-aged woman being persuaded by a salesman while standing in front of a new product showcase for a juicer.

Boss Luo suddenly said: “Does the lady still plan to hire me?”

Ann responded irritably, “Didn’t you already refuse?”

Boss Luo calmly said, “But I can reverse it…how about I hire you instead? As a reward, I can safely take you away from this Farm.”

“You…” Ann couldn’t help but open her mouth wide, pointing at herself in confusion, “Hire me? What can I do for you?”

She didn’t understand what an ordinary person like herself could do to help the other person.

He spread his palm in front of Ann, and in his palm, a delicate ring appeared out of thin air – at Luo Qiu’s gesture, Ann took the ring and examined it carefully.

She noticed that the edge of the ring was inlaid with ten gray crystals… obviously not diamonds, nor had she ever heard of any gemstone that was gray.

“What is this?” Ann asked curiously.

Luo Qiu said: “Put it on… see the ten gems on the ring? After accepting my employment, all you need to do is illuminate these ten gems. The illuminated gems will emit a faint purple light.”

“How should I illuminate them?”

Ann asked directly… seeming a bit tempted.

Boss Luo smiled and said: “Very simple, you just need to rescue those trapped in the Breeding Farm and those sent to the Slaughterhouse… the more humans you rescue, the faster and more you illuminate the gems.”

Ann fumed, flinging the ring away in anger, “Are you kidding me? You want me to rescue people? With what? I can’t even save myself!”

The boss was not angry, after snapping his fingers, the ring thrown on the ground returned to his palm again, he matched Ann’s gaze, smiled and said: “Of course I won’t let you go save others just like this… you can use anything here at will.”

“What?” Ann hesitated.

At this moment, Boss Luo lifted that old pocket watch as well, placing it into his palm—he extended his hand to Ann once more.

In his palm, the ring and the pocket watch lay side by side.

This guy… is he serious?

…

…

Ann suddenly remembered a rarely used word—bewitched.

What is a ghost? Is it the kind of ghost that the bloodsucker is? Who knows?

In English, the words for bloodsucker and ghost are clearly not the same. She saw the word in a travelogue book left in a corner of the library where no one really looked.

—Then, I look forward to your success… brave lady.

The mysterious young merchant disappeared just like that.

As for where he actually went, Ann was not very clear—perhaps, as he said before, he was just following a dark passageway, dug out by who knows whom, intending to find the thief who stole his belongings.

Would that thief be in for a bad time once caught?

She couldn’t help but curiously think about these things that shouldn’t concern her at the moment—but she couldn’t make sense of the things left by the merchant before he left.

The only thing that Ann felt convenient was that the ring on her hand had a magical storage function—all those things could be stuffed into it, and whenever she wanted to use them, all it took was a single thought.

Such convenience… so many useful treasures. Ann almost without any hesitation, once Boss Luo disappeared, lifted her skirt and headed towards the entrance of the dark passage!

How foolish, with so many things, do you still need to ask someone to take you away?

—By the way, once the ring leaves the range of the Farm, it will fail and turn into an ordinary ring,

Although the person had clearly vanished, a voice suddenly sounded in Ann’s ear just as she was about to jump… quite suddenly.

This caused the still somewhat original Persona, the seventh dormitory supervisor backup, to be so shocked that she missed her step and fell straight into the dark passage.

After a while, Ann crawled out of the passage again… with some white cobwebs sticking to her hair.

She suspiciously looked around, always feeling that this mysterious guy hadn’t really gone far and was watching her from somewhere.

For a long time, she couldn’t hear the other person’s voice again.

Ann sat alone on the storeroom floor, smelling the sinking, moldy scent of old objects in the air, and cautiously shook out the first item from the ring: a pair of boots.

Boots of Speed

As soon as the boots were in her hand, their name naturally appeared in Ann’s mind—as did their use.

Ann didn’t put them on right away; she continued to ponder, murmuring, “In the end, I still have to go save people…”

She recalled that David too initially wanted her to save people.

She grabbed her hair forcefully, then gave the ring on her finger a sudden shake—this time, a cloak fell out.

Cloak of Invisibility

Whatever happens, happens!

She bit her lip, thinking so.

…

A group of the Clan’s upper Aristocrats gathered together—inside a particularly luxurious building on the Farm.

The Farm featured all sorts of buildings—many were indeed luxurious.

These luxurious structures served as places to cultivate roles like Noble Lady and Noble Young Master; originally, several high-grade Crops resided here, but for now, these upper Aristocrats had temporarily requisitioned the place.

“I can’t believe Bazby dared to kill Popoqi right in front of everyone!” an indignant Aristocrat said.

The companions beside him agreed, simultaneously condemning Bazby and criticizing the Acting Archduke for irresponsibly shifting and neglecting the precious Clan Authority.

“We cannot just let Bazby take control of the Clan Authority! On what grounds?!” another Aristocrat sneered at this time: “In the end, he’s just some guy of unknown origin!”

“Everyone, compared to Bazby’s actions, don’t you find Bylegang’s behavior even more outrageous?” another upper Aristocrat knocked on the table.

He attracted the attention of all the upper Aristocrats—as a notable figure among the Clan’s upper Aristocracy, he clearly held significant prestige.

“Marquis of Guda, do you have any thoughts?”

He… the Marquis of Guda sneered coldly, “To leave at such a crucial time as Acting Archduke, haphazardly handing over the Grand Duke’s token, even allowing a subordinate to kill an upper Aristocrat! And even letting them change the long-standing supply rules… I think Bylegang as Acting Archduke hasn’t been faithful to his duty at all! Therefore, I propose… we use the upper Aristocrats’ special privilege!”

The attendees had their expressions subtly change.

Upper Aristocrats have many privileges—but the one so solemnly brought up by the Marquis on this occasion, there was just one.

That was when over seventy percent of the upper Aristocrats agree… they could wake the Clan’s Duke from his slumber!

However, regardless of the reason, awakening the Clan’s Duke from slumber always displeases the Duke—historically, calls of this nature, as recorded, have resulted in more than half the callers being harshly punished once the Duke awakened.

The Marquis of Guda looked around at the gathered Aristocrats, earnestly stating: “The time until the next Ceremony of the Holy Blood isn’t far away, and the Duke is actually about due to wake up anyway. Waking him a bit early shouldn’t displease him… Besides, I’ll personally undertake this awakening. No matter what punishment may come, I’ll bear it alone; all you need to do is agree!”

“Marquis of Guda, as you said, there’s not much time left until the Ceremony of the Holy Blood, by then the Duke will naturally wake…” an Aristocrat shook his head at this moment, “A short time doesn’t matter; why take this risk?”

The Marquis of Guda looked expressionlessly at the speaker.

Indeed, there’s not long until the Duke naturally awakens… for long-living bloodsuckers, they wouldn’t care about such a short month and a half.

But… before the Ceremony of the Holy Blood, the Duke will awaken, won’t Bylegang return sooner then?

This pampered, brainless bunch… useless!