CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 13 BLACK GOLD

Li Yu returned to the door of Miss Rabbit’s room and knocked.

There was no response the first time.

So Li Yu knocked twice more, and after a long while, the voice of a young girl came from inside, sounding muffled, "I’m currently serving the Arias family’s Ancient Spirit, and I don’t have time to meet with anyone. If it’s an emergency, go look for Fosto or Alfred."

"It’s me," Li Yu replied.

Then there was silence again on the other side of the door.

"Don’t you think it’s a bit late to pretend there’s no one here now?" Li Yu paused for a moment, then added, "Don’t worry, I’m not here for the necklace."

After a while, Ireya finally opened the door reluctantly, poking her head out from behind it with a wary face, "Really not for the necklace?"

"Yeah, really not, I can assure you."

Miss Rabbit thought hard for a moment about what she could do that Fosto and Alfred couldn’t, aside from matters related to the necklace.

In the end, the answer was—none.

So she blinked at Li Yu, "Goodbye."

And she was about to close the door again, but Li Yu’s next words made her stop.

"I’ve helped you so many times, and the first time I ask for your help, you want to reject me without even listening?"

While Miss Rabbit might have many faults, there was one thing that was quite commendable about her: she was clear about debts of gratitude and enmity.

The first thing she had done after winning the election was to find her half-brother and frighten him till he wet his pants, avenging his threats to chop off her head on the spot. Such a resolution was faster than any wish-fulfillment web novel.

And her success today owed much to Li Yu’s constant selfless support.

As the saying goes, the receiver is always under obligation. Upon hearing Li Yu’s words, the girl immediately felt too embarrassed to send him away, not only did she politely let Li Yu into the room, but she also sent the maid to fetch some wine.

Ireya temporarily set down the electronic pet egg in her hand, looked at Li Yu seated across from her with a troubled expression, her fingers interwoven tightly and occasionally pulling apart again.

"That is, I really am... very grateful to you, but setting up a religious order in my territory isn’t just my affair alone, I have to consider my subjects, especially the followers of the Silver Moon Goddess."

"I’m not here for that," Li Yu said, "Actually, I’ve been a bit short on cash recently, so I brought some local specialties from my hometown to sell."

Miss Rabbit breathed a sigh of relief at those words, "Local specialties? That’s easy, there’s a store inside the castle; you can sell them to the owner. Just mention my name, and he’ll give you a good price."

"I asked before, the owner said the amount is too large for him to buy."

"How much did you bring?" Ireya asked in surprise. "When you appeared in front of me before, I didn’t see you carrying much luggage."

"I brought about two pounds this time."

"Two pounds? That’s not much, two pounds of what?"

Li Yu didn’t answer, but instead tossed a small bag onto the table.

Miss Rabbit was still puzzled, but upon seeing the substance on the table, her expression changed dramatically, she blurted out, "Black Gold, is this... Black Gold?! My goodness, how do you have so much of it!!!"

"I have three more bags here. Together, it’s a little over two pounds in total," Li Yu said as he took out the other three bags and piled them all on the table.

Miss Rabbit’s eyes went wide in an instant.

Her pupils dilated, her nostrils flared, and hot air sprayed continuously from within.

She looked very much like an evil dragon that had barged into a treasure vault.

——"If you could travel back to ancient times, what common modern item would be valuable if brought to the past?"

Questions like these would appear on forums every now and then, lingering like ghosts that never quite dissipate. Other popular topics included whether Zhuge Liang could conquer the north with ten Tyrannosaurus rex, or who would win a face-off between Tyson and a silverback gorilla...

In any case, internet users never spared any effort in seeking amusement, deserving of respect.

Returning to the first question, if you could go back to ancient times, what would be the most valuable thing to bring?

Although the term "ancient times" is overly broad and the questioner didn’t specify the exact location of time travel, which is obviously not rigorous, one answer appeared frequently among the responses below.

That was pepper.

No matter the country or era, the pursuit of good food is eternal.

And when it comes to food, you can’t ignore spices.

Especially the further back in time, the simpler the cooking methods, and relying on spices was essential to enhance flavor.

Previously, while at the Marquis Mansion, Li Yu had noticed the pitiful amount of crushed pepper on the salmon.

It was just a symbolic sprinkle, barely distinguishable if one didn’t taste carefully.

Of course, this also related to their status, as Ireya and her group at that table were all nobles, so pepper should have been sufficiently stocked, but regardless, the fact that the grand Marquis Mansion was scrimping and saving when entertaining guests showed how precious pepper was.

The title of "Black Gold" was indeed well-deserved.

In the universe Li Yu inhabited, the scarcity of pepper in Medieval Europe was because most spices originated from the East, transported over thousands of miles with a complex trade network in between.

As a result, the price of pepper naturally sky-rocketed by the time it reached Europe proper.

And after chatting with the castle’s shopkeeper, Li Yu found out that the situation was similar in this realm, with the elephant people in control of spices.

They lived atop the Jade Sea to the East, where thousands of small islands were scattered. The elephant people built estates on these islands to cultivate various spices, which were then shipped worldwide by the Naga’s sea trading fleets.

The closest shipping route to Bulati was to go straight through the Storm Sea in the middle.

That cursed place had extreme weather that even the Naga wouldn’t want to face, with regular tempests and terrifyingly huge waves reaching tens of meters high, where a single misstep could lead to a total wreck and loss of life.

Even if one luckily survived the Storm Sea, other troubles awaited on the other side.

In short, each spice-laden ship that successfully arrived at port had gone through countless hardships, so no noble on the Bratis Continent could complain when the merchandise was priced a little higher after docking.

"This might be worth quite a bit of money!" Ireya picked up a packet of pepper, holding it in her hand and leaning in to examine it closely, "Wow, they’re not small at all, each one quite plump and nicely colored, and the key point is they’re not damp in the slightest, unbelievable, unbelievable, truly unbelievable!"

Miss Rabbit repeated "unbelievable" three times, expressing the astonishment in her heart!

Even though she hadn’t drunk any alcohol, the young girl’s face had already turned a flushed pink, her eyes misty as if she was lost in a wonderful fantasy, murmuring, "This is definitely top-notch stuff, no noble would be able to refuse, you could sell it piece by piece."

But soon she seemed to remember something, her ears drooped down suddenly, and the light in her eyes disappeared, returning her to her listless demeanor.