The God of Jesters
Chapter 501 - 8.03.4 Animancy.

Chapter 501: 8.03.4 Animancy.

The little girl appeared young and innocent, which was a far cry from the other little girl that Heroth had given the gift of a Magic Severing dagger. Though that was the daughter of his current business partners as well as protectors, this little lady was just a mere customer.

’A customer with a stronger background than the Vermilion.’ It was for this reason that Heroth had chosen to entertain her.

"Arahi, you get some refreshments ready, the good stuff."

Lady Penyu alone was not the only Noble who had visited Heroth’s shop before. Either attracted by Arahi’s beauty, or the appeal of a shop that even the Vermilion respected, there had been countless eyes on him for a long time, which had eventually led to a greater population of customers who were curious about why he was given so much attention.

This is the reason Heroth had bought some high-quality tea leaves and snacks in case nobles do arrive in his place. And for someone of Penyu’s level, refreshments were going to be the best.

"Show me what you have, if you got something better than the Vedic Dagger, I will buy it... but it needs to be easy in the eyes." Says the little girl, who was probably attracted to the looks of the dagger more than anything.

Which was also the real reason why Heroth bothered to gift it to the young lady.

The Vedic Dagger, or the Magic Severing Dagger’s background was a religious artifact of a fallen religion, whose enemies were mages. And were responsible for the creation of some of the greatest anti-magic technology in the world.

Although gone from the world just like their God, the weapons they left slowly led to the creation of the anti-magic bullets and armor that were readily used by Knights on the battlefield. And in the eyes of the public, a Vedic Weapon held more research value than utility. So using such a thing for self-defense can easily be seen as flaunting one’s wealth. And those with weak hearts will obviously be jealous of it.

It’s why Lady Penyu of the Drarnath Household came here for.

"On the level of the Vedic Dagger?" Heroth already had something in his mind, but he still expressed pain. After much contemplation, he finally made a small sigh before saying. "There are at most, three things in my hand.... I suggest Lady Penyu enjoy some refreshments while I go up and bring those three items." This was a performance, he already had the items in his hand, but he needed to show that he considered them precious enough to not even put them in the shop, which did satisfy the vanity in the girl, thinking what she was going to obtain was something precious.

And yes, generally that thing is precious, but in Heroth’s eyes, that was only useful to the young him, and in most cases, the young him barely used it once or twice in his life. So there was not much sentimental value in his eyes for such items to begin with.

"Here it is. The Bracelet of Ever wind, helps you float a few centimeters above the land for an hour daily. This might not seem a lot, but once on a sea or any water body, you can use this same bracelet to walk on the water as if you walk on the land." This was not the item that was meant for the little girl, nor would it attract her at all. The City of Rudrain was inland, and most of the ships at the docks came here using an artificial canal built just for easy transport of materials and nothing more.

So there were no real water bodies where this would become useful. "Obviously, this is a mage artifact, unlike the other two."

He spoke taking out the two different artifacts, one a simple diamond in the shape of an eye, and the other being a small bead that appeared too bland for Penyu’s taste in comparison to the giant Jewel. "The Jewel holds a counter curse, capable of stopping any foreign contamination of any kind from approaching you. Its limit is at Master rank and once the level of the contamination increases, the Diamond will crack."

This diamond could be considered the most precious item among the three from the looks of it. Due to the diamond’s beauty, it can be used to create any kind of fancy jewelry that Penyu would want. Making this all the more appealing to her when compared to the weird small bead next to the diamond.

"As for this little thing, it’s a Dwarven Automaton." At those words, Penyu appeared a bit confused, before Heroth chose to show what he meant by tapping the head of the small bead.

Causing the bead to suddenly unfurl itself, slowly transforming into a bronze dragonfly with colorful wings and a somewhat lethal-looking tail. "This." Seeing this, the bodyguard of Lady Penyu came forward and blocked Lady Penyu’s view who was appreciating the beauty of the little dragonfly. "Jerome, more out."

"Lady, that thing... it’s a weapon, poison weapon." The bodyguard explained to the little lady, who seemed startled at such words.

"What your guardian speaks is true, this one is a weapon. But there is nothing to worry about, you have to fill up the poison in it before it shows any lethality, otherwise, it’s just a beautiful product of the dwarven nation, built using Animancy to implant the soul of a real dragonfly into it... Meaning, that you don’t need to be a mage to use it, as long as you form a small connection with the little dragonfly, that will be enough. Which I just did by tapping its head."

Animancy was the study of machine and soul unification that had been a dream of certain crazy dwarfs for ages, and some had succeeded at it as well, though due to the fact that they dare to mess with souls, all those who practiced Animancy in old ages were killed without hesitation by the Church of Red Sun, now most of the studies on them are banned, or hidden.

Just like the creation of Homunculus that used parts of Animancy to create the end product.

Though such were the trade secrets, the world was unaware of the technology that Yethel used, so the churches were not so interested in going to war with them.

But if the truth of the Homunculus were to come out, things wouldn’t be so simple for Yethel anymore.

"Animancy, this... " The Guardian of Lady Penyu couldn’t believe his ears. Animancy might be Taboo to be studied, but the artifacts left from the old days are still highly sought after by collectors.

More so items that seem to still function properly.

"Lady..." Before The Guardian of Lady Penyu could speak a thing, the little girl went ahead and requested to buy the little dragonfly off of Heroth’s hand.

"Name a price." She said. And Heroth turned silent.

Obviously, he was never going to give this item for free to Lady Penyu even with her background. The little girl from Vermilion can be the only exception due to the partnership between the two parties. But this girl was a third party, and he couldn’t give such a precious item for free to what could be considered the competition of the family he was part of.

"57Mil, I can’t go below this." In auction, this little dragonfly can cost more than Master ranked Potions that can bring the dead to life. It has the potential to even exceed the price of a Hundred Million if one were to consider that this little dragonfly can be only one of its kind, increasing its collector potential.

Though after hearing the price, the little girl who was jumping around like a butterfly, suddenly turned silent. "This much?" She seemed surprised over the price.

Even if she belonged to a rich family, that amount of money was far from her reach. Not to mention her age which made it that she would never have access to any real money. Most of her payments were made by her Guardian Butler.

"This is the lowest price I could offer miss, any lower than this, and it would be a loss on my end." Heroth had shown an appropriate level of respect for the little kid, but he was not the kind to give out random gifts to any strong person who entered his shop. Not to mention, the reason he chose to work with Vermilion was that he was sure that they could protect him if trouble matters like this arose.

"I have no such money at the moment."

"Then Lady Penyu shouldn’t worry, you can come later and buy it. These three things were never meant to be sold anyway." With those words, Heroth put these things away under the envious gaze of the little girl and her somewhat frustrated Butler, who seemed angry, but he didn’t do a thing considering they were in the territory of the Vermilion. "You better don’t sell it to someone else."

"It’s a Promise, I won’t be selling it unless it’s you." With those words and some more honey-filled lies, he had been leading the little girl away when the door of his shop opened up again and a face he hadn’t seen for a long time appeared again. "I wonder if you will still buy this." Spoke Rosso, as he dangled a little bracelet in his hands, while completely ignoring the two from the Dranath family.