Chapter 139: The Gift

Jia Zhengjin opened the remaining chests, and sure enough, every one of them was packed with gold coins and gems.

He casually scooped up a handful of coins and weighed them in his palm, then turned to the black-robed woman with a teasing smile. “Travelers passing through?”

“You bandits!” the black-robed woman shouted angrily. “This is the treasure of Duke Fellman, and it must be delivered to Sea Dragon City today. Release us and return the treasure at once, or bear the consequences!”

“Who is Duke Fellman?” Jia Zhengjin turned to look at Zorma and Buddy.

Buddy wore a blank expression, clearly having no idea who Duke Fellman was. Zorma, however, thought for a moment before answering, “Sea Dragon City is the gateway city of the Hales Duchy. Duke Fellman is the foremost noble in the entire duchy!”

“The Hales Duchy?” Jia Zhengjin had never even heard of the place. “Why would people from another country sneak into the Storm Empire, only to transport so many gold coins and gems out again?”

“Probably some sort of illicit transaction,” Zorma replied. “It’s quite common. When we were in the City of Light, we often intercepted the proceeds of similar illegal dealings—trafficking elves, smuggling national treasures, abducting children, and the like.”

“So these aren’t good people?” Jia Zhengjin asked.

“Almost certainly not!” Zorma nodded firmly.

“Then this will be easy!” Jia Zhengjin clapped his hands. “Zorma, take your people and continue building the city wall here. Buddy, take the town guards and lock these people up in prison. Put the two women in one cell and the men in another. Kobolds, carry all the chests back home!”

“Stop! You’ll regret this! Bandits! You’d better release us right now!” shouted the mole-faced woman. A kobold immediately bound her mouth shut with rope.

After the chests had been carried home, Jia Zhengjin sent the kobolds back out on patrol.

“What is that, Keen?” Hearing the commotion, Tina and Peilin hurried downstairs.

“Quick!” Jia Zhengjin shut the front door and excitedly produced a key. “Help me count how many gold coins there are!”

“Oh my goodness! Where did these come from?” Tina cried out when he opened one of the chests and revealed the glittering treasure within, then hurried over.

“Don’t worry about that yet!” Jia Zhengjin waved to Peilin as well. “Come help me count!”

The three of them opened every chest and counted the coins one by one. It took them several hours.

At last, they finished. Each chest contained roughly five hundred to eight hundred gold coins, and altogether there were 5,860 coins. There were also more than three hundred red and blue gems, worth approximately another 1,500 gold coins.

In other words, Jia Zhengjin had suddenly gained assets worth around 7,000 gold coins.

“I’m rich!” He was ecstatic. With these coins, he could finally tell the miners to stop mining the gold deposits for the time being. The losses were simply too great.

Suppose a gold deposit contained a total of one thousand gold ores. With an inferior iron pickaxe, the miners could extract only about five hundred, losing half of the deposit outright. An ordinary iron pickaxe was somewhat better and could yield around seven hundred, reducing the loss slightly. An ordinary steel pickaxe could extract about eight hundred ores. Only a fine steel pickaxe could mine the entire thousand without any loss.

Previously, Jia Zhengjin had had no choice. Maintaining a vast kobold army and a force of soldier bees required enormous sums of money, so he had been forced to mine despite the losses, carefully limiting the amount taken each time. After all, iron and copper ore could be found everywhere in the forest, and wasting some was hardly painful. Gold and silver deposits, however, had to be treasured as much as possible.

Now he finally had money. That meant there was no need to rush the mining of gold and silver. He could wait until the tools had been upgraded and every miner had a steel pickaxe.

Nearly six thousand gold coins and more than three hundred gems the size of eggs had piled up like a mountain. Once divided among the chests, the load was so heavy that it took hundreds of kobolds working together to carry it.

Fortunately, Jia Zhengjin had his virtual inventory. He could place all three hundred red and blue gems inside it and easily transfer them to the storage room in the residential building.

The gold coins, however, could not be stored in the chests all at once. He had no choice but to divide them into smaller quantities, pack them into sacks, place the sacks in his virtual inventory, and then move them into the storage room.

By the time everything was finished, Jia Zhengjin was so exhausted he nearly collapsed—yet he was happier than he had ever been.

“Keen, where are you going?” Tina asked as he put away the gold and gems and prepared to go downstairs.

“I’m going to interrogate the people we just captured,” Jia Zhengjin replied. “Those sneaky characters are definitely hiding something!”

“Wait!” Tina caught him by the hand. “Keen, could you come with me first?”

“Why?” Though puzzled, Jia Zhengjin let her lead him along.

Tina brought him to the master bedroom and told him to stand beside the bed. Then she cheerfully turned and rummaged through the wardrobe, producing a pure-white robe.

“What’s this?”

“I made it from the stoneheart cotton fabric my mother used to weave, tailoring it to your measurements.” Tina presented it to him like a prized treasure. “I just finished it. Hurry and try it on!”

“Oh?” Warmth spread through Jia Zhengjin’s heart as he accepted the garment.

[Stoneheart Cotton Robe]
Quality: Common
Effect: Keeps the wearer warm.

The description was exceedingly simple. Apart from providing warmth, the robe had no other attributes.

But it had been made by Tina herself, and Jia Zhengjin felt a different kind of warmth in his heart. He quickly removed his leather armor and put on the cotton robe in front of his wife. After turning around once, he said, “I never knew you had a talent like this, Tina! You never even took my measurements. How did you make it fit so perfectly?”

“I measure you every night,” Tina said with a laugh. “You’re just too deeply asleep to know.”

“Tina, you really are skillful and ingenious!” Satisfied, Jia Zhengjin turned around several more times. “Is this the stoneheart cotton my parents-in-law have been growing lately?”

“That’s right!” Tina smiled as she tugged lightly at his sleeve. “Stoneheart cotton is difficult to spin, so the fabric is quite expensive on the market.”

“Thank you, Tina!” Moved, Jia Zhengjin lowered his head and kissed her soft lips.

“What are you thanking me for? You’ve given me so many things. I only made you a single piece of clothing.” Tina’s face flushed.

“But you made it with your own hands. That makes it different!” Jia Zhengjin stroked the cotton robe, his face glowing with happiness.

“Ah, that’s right.” Tina happily pulled him out of the master bedroom and into the adjacent room. “Peilin has something for you too!”

“Peilin too? What kind of day is today?” Jia Zhengjin asked, bewildered.

“It isn’t any special day!” Tina said with a grin. “Come on!”

Pushed into Peilin’s room, Jia Zhengjin glanced back at the giggling Tina, then could only walk toward Peilin, who was sitting expressionlessly on the bed.

“A present!” Peilin brought out the hand she had been hiding behind her back. A rather ugly wooden carving appeared before Jia Zhengjin.

What on earth is this supposed to be? Jia Zhengjin wondered. Apart from the rough outline of a person, he could make out nothing at all. But then he noticed several obvious cuts on Peilin’s fingers, and his heart softened.

He accepted the carving and said with a smile, “This kobold carving is really well done!”

“It’s you,” Peilin said, looking up without expression.

Jia Zhengjin: “…”

Peilin: “…”