Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 274 - 40 Mobile Market_1

Chapter 274: Chapter 40 Mobile Market_1

"The Business Federation of the Holy City has been planning something big for years." At the front of the caravan, Captain Ayrland speaks, "As the organization most knowledgeable about commerce on the entire continent, they intend to establish a commercial guild in the next few decades. Reportedly, this is supposed to enhance trade facilitation and reduce costs."

"That sounds like a good thing," Catherine nodded, "But wouldn’t that make the Holy City even more crowded with three major Guilds?"

"Hence, they are having talks with the three major cities, preparing to build a new city in the central part of Rhea thirty years from now. It is said to be a city run on pure commerce," Ayrland explains, "However, they lack an armed force, and the responsibility for security must be shared among the three major cities."

"In the central area?" Lina exclaimed in surprise, "Isn’t that the most barren land in the whole of Rhea? It is practically infertile, why would they choose that place?"

"I can’t understand what they’re saying either, something about pure asset operations, not needing any production, it’s all quite incomprehensible," Ayrland admitted helplessly, "But there’s probably no need to understand it. They won’t start building the city for another thirty years anyway. Once the city is built, which I reckon will take at least fifty years onwards, I probably won’t be able to see it. But perhaps you all might still get the chance to lay eyes on it."

"Fifty years? That’s a long time." Catherine stared vacantly into the wasteland, seemingly picturing herself fifty years from now, "It’s hard to imagine, the concept of what will be in fifty years."

"Hey, break time’s over," Pannis came back riding a horse, "I took a stroll and heard human voices and the sounds of carriages up ahead. It’s probably another group of travelers, seems like they’re having lunch. Looks like we can finally buy a carriage."

The caravan departed from the City of Knowledge on the fourth day. If we were to consider the straight-line distance between the two cities, the caravan had covered half the journey in four days. However, after half a day forward, the road would turn toward the north with a long arc before veering Southeast again to finally reach the City of Freedom. By the measure of the journey, only one-third of it was completed by the caravan.

Despite the intention to buy a few transport carriages on the road from dawn to replace the ones lost as bait since morning, they did not encounter a single merchant team, let alone a carriage. The journey was monotonously all about marching forward. They grew frail from another two days of games and the seasoned members of the team started to share weird and strange experiences encountered during travel or adventures. Half a day later, Captain Ayrland, who had been out of the wilderness for a long time, realized he was running out of fresh stories. While he was still puzzling over the next topic to discuss, Pannis brought the good news. Ayrland felt Pannis save him, bringing a message that could save the world in that moment.

"How much farther?" Ayrland asked, "If it’s not much, we can purchase the carriages, and then take a break at noon."

"Around seven to eight kilometers." Pannis pondered, "If we rush, we can get there within an hour."

"Great, everyone take a break from the chit-chat," Ayrland finally breathed a sigh of relief, directed the team members and cart-drivers, "There’s no need to spare horse power, speed up a bit. After buying the carriages, we’ll repack the gifts during the lunch break and that’ll give the horses plenty of time to rest. Also, boys, be enthused, the earlier we arrive, the more rest we’ll have, so let’s push through!"

Following Ayrland’s command, the caravan advanced significantly. Without speaking a word, everyone focused their efforts on marching, hoping to gain extra resting time for the long afternoon ahead. After thirty minutes, the team could glimpse a black mass afar featuring several groups of people on the edge of the clearing alongside the main road.

"Seems we’ve got quite lucky today." Spotting the abundance of people from afar, Ayrland spoke contentedly, "We’ve stumbled upon such a rare sight."

"So Captain, you aren’t seeing this sight for the first time, are you?" Pannis pointed to the crowd and inquired, "What exactly are those people up to?"

"That’s a roving market. Like a fair, it mainly consists of traders from two cities. Sometimes, they’ll set a meeting point in the middle, conduct trades with each other or multiple parties, saving themselves the trouble of further traveling. It’s like killing several birds with one stone." Ayrland explained, "This is essentially a small-scale prototype of the independent city that the Business Federation intends to establish. When we get there, I recommend you all take a look around, it’s quite an interesting event."

"I will certainly check it out." Catherine was quite interested in prospective sight of the steadily approaching markets, "I think we will manage to assemble all four carriages today. Finally, those struggling in the team can heave a sigh of relief."

Even as they spoke, the roving market was gradually getting closer. The noisy chatters from the market were distinctly audible to all team members, showcasing itself clearly before them. It was a large scale market, spanning across approximately two square kilometers. The market was surrounded by removable half-height wooden walls, within which fully armed guards stood every five meters, alert for emergencies.

There were a large number of carriages haphazardly parked within the wooden walls. They were probably segregated as per the size and nature of their respective trading caravans, with each caravan occupying a space befitting its size. There was often a gap of about ten meters left between each area. Within each individual area, the goods weren’t all crammed together but were arranged by different vendors into separate mobile counters. Above these counters, they had hanged signs indicating the type of goods being sold. The range of goods here was much more abundant than anyone could conceive – food, alcoholic beverages, clothing, daily necessities, specialties from various places, luxury items, professionals’ special articles, and even crystals could all be found in this mobile marketplace.

"There are so many people." Catherine, though she had heard about it before, was seeing such a mobile marketplace for the first time. She looked around with curiosity, "Are these people here to trade their goods?"

"Not to trade, but to sell." Ayrland corrected, "The primitive bartering system was only used during the early stages of the mobile marketplace. Later as the marketplace became more popular, many small caravans would follow it to buy cheap goods. Eventually, the federation decided to open the marketplace to the public. Anyone can come in and buy stuff, but we only deal in bulk goods, not in single pieces."

"How interesting, I never thought that a bunch of ordinary people could come up with such an interesting idea." Lina, with her head held high, surveyed the entire marketplace condescendingly, and arrogantly said, "However, so many humans gathered in one place, it is truly tempting to consume their souls, ohoho..."

"I’d advise against that, and lower your voice." Pannis covered his face with a look of frustration, "The organizers have spent a fair amount of money to ensure safety here. There are at least two thousand elite mercenaries ensuring everyone’s safety. I guess a large mercenary corps has dispatched a battalion here. Moreover, larger caravans hire adventurer teams or smaller mercenary corps as guards for safety reasons. If you sum up all these security forces, I doubt you could beat them."

"Is that so?" Lina hesitated for a moment before sighing in disappointment, "Well, I guess I’ll just have to hold back this time and wait for the next opportunity."

"Bang." Fed up with the nonsense, Catherine lightly smacked Lina on the head, "You two, show some restraint. Have I not talked to you in a while?"

"We’re sorry." Lina and Pannis immediately bowed their heads in apology, "Please forgive us this time."

After passing through the defenses of the marketplace’s periphery, they entered the real mobile marketplace. Although the people in the caravan could tell at a glance that they were part of a wedding convoy rather than a trading caravan, in recent years, there had always been passers-by willing to come in and buy some goods, thus the merchants were not surprised. Most just gave Freya’s luxury carriage a few extra glances. However, the convoy’s guards were another matter. They kept a vigilant eye on these distinguishable outsiders until the wedding convoy came across a group of patrolling mercenaries within the marketplace.

"Ha, is it not Captain Ayrland I see there?" From afar, the leader of the group of mercenaries on the other side called out, laughing loudly, "Are you here on escort duty? Wait, that’s not right. Your City Guard doesn’t take on such duties. What’s this then... Oh, oh, now I get it. Hahaha, it’s no wonder you’re personally escorting."

"Ah, it’s Rams." Ayrland held his finger to his lips, "Shh, keep it down. Has this news been spread on your side?"

"No, not really, don’t know why, our leader demanded secrecy, so now only the high command of two mercenary corps know about it. The others haven’t received the news yet. But I guess, once you enter the City of Freedom, the news will spread."

"It’s fine if it gets out then." Ayrland sighed with relief, "You as a team leader are personally patrolling, aren’t you free?"

"You gotta find something to do, right?" Rams, who seemed to be on good terms with Ayrland, walked over and gave Ayrland a friendly punch in the chest before exclaiming, "Huh? Where’s your cargo carriage? I heard you brought many gifts."

"Our cargo carriage broke down midway, had some minor issues." Ayrland casually lied, "So I thought of coming here to buy some cargo carriages to replace it."

"Ah, talk about bad luck!" Rams seemingly took delight in Ayrland’s misfortune, "I need to do my patrol. I can’t chat with you now. Let’s meet in an hour - that’s lunchtime. You must have looked around by then. Let’s meet in the rest area inside then, we can have a good chat."

"The third team leader of the Candlelight Mercenary Corps." After Rams left, Ayrland turned around to explain, "We were in the army together when we were young, we get along well. Let’s look around first. If we can’t find any cargo carriages, we can ask for his help." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)