CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49: HARSH CONDITIONS

"This person is the host of the gathering. He calls himself the King of Winster, with unknown strength and true name, but he is definitely more formidable than me."

Klei quietly introduced the identity of the man in the golden robe to Ethan.

Ethan was also paying attention to the man’s voice, tone, and accent.

Could not discern anything.

This person used some method to conceal his real voice; it sounded hoarse and chaotic, impossible to identify.

At this moment, the man in the golden robe seemed to notice Ethan and his group and proactively spoke: "Iron Fist, you’ve brought two newcomers, introduce them."

Iron Fist, that was Klei.

Klei stood up, bowed slightly to the man in the golden robe, then pointed to Ethan and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty, allow me to introduce, this is the Godfather, and this is Tanya."

The matter of codenames, Klei had discussed with Ethan and the others before boarding the ship.

Ethan thought for a moment and, in a playful manner, gave himself the codename ’Godfather.’

Anya was a bit bewildered, seeking help from Ethan.

Thus, Ethan gave her a codename even more playful.

As for Klei, he was actually somewhat puzzled; he didn’t understand why Ethan chose these names, especially since Ethan didn’t even believe in religion.

His ’Iron Fist’ was simpler and easy to comprehend.

"Godfather, Tanya...Interesting, welcome."

After the King of Winster briefly confirmed, he raised both hands towards Ethan and the others.

Ethan and the rest also nodded.

Then came the so-called free-talking session.

Which was essentially an exchange of information.

Someone mentioned that some anomalies had appeared in Saint Kuanti City, suspected to be true name objects or relics from ancient times.

Saint Kuanti is a city further north than Winster, already close to the polar region, almost constantly snowy and icy all year round.

From this person’s words, it could be inferred that besides those from Winster, there were also true namers from other regions aboard the ship.

The previous assumption was wrong; Winster might not have as many true namers, and the King of Winster was more influential than imagined, with his tendrils extending beyond Winster.

After asking a few questions regarding Saint Kuanti’s anomalies, the subject quickly shifted to other matters.

"Are Prohibition Agents stationed in major cities going to affect our gatherings?"

"The target of Prohibition Agents is alcohol, not true namers, so there’s no need to worry too much. Relax, everyone, this is the New Continent, not the Old Continent where many Church witch hunters could trouble us."

The King of Winster gave his verdict on this subject.

Ethan hadn’t understood witch hunting matters before, but figured it out after reading The Truth Newspaper.

The Old Continent refers to non-Church or unofficial true namers as wizards or demons, organizing witch-hunting squads to hunt witches, slaughter, and cleanse true namers.

The Truth Newspaper frequently reported such matters.

The New Continent’s religious forces were weak, leading to no witch-hunting activities; thus, initially, the New Continent was called the land rife with demons.

After another round of miscellaneous discussions, the King of Winster clapped his hands, signaling everyone to quiet down, and then said: "Well, today’s free-talking ends here. Next, we will distribute The Truth Newspaper, and then everyone can proceed to the second level for free trading and activities. Thank you all for attending."

"Praise be to you, King of Winster, praise your generosity!"

The moment the King of Winster spoke, someone led the praises.

Others naturally joined in chorus.

Ethan also followed the local customs.

Indeed, the praises were warranted.

Not just providing a platform, but also gifting something as valuable as The Truth Newspaper for free.

Such a genuine benefactor.

However, from his free distribution of The Truth Newspaper, one might speculate that this person might be somewhat connected to the Eye of Truth.

During the previous discussions, there were no ordinary people in the cabin, but now those servants began to enter and distribute The Truth Newspaper one by one.

Ethan quickly obtained a freshly printed copy of The Truth Newspaper.

The headline on the front page read: Antustat Kingdom enacts a nationwide prohibition order; does this involve true names?

This title shocked Ethan.

He hadn’t considered the issue from this perspective.

However, after delving deeper, he found that the newspaper’s argument differed from his own thought.

He was thinking about authority.

Prohibition must be related to alcohol authority.

The newspaper’s perspective was that prohibition aimed to limit alcohol-related true names, but there were no known true names currently related to alcohol.

This world seemed to lack an understanding of authority.

After all, the Eye of Truth represents a group of true namers with relatively high knowledge.

Perhaps the Eye of Truth simply doesn’t want to expose their mastery of authority knowledge?

After reading the newspaper for a while, everyone started heading to the second level.

The next part mainly involved trading, more detailed information exchange, adventure group requests, and so forth.

Ethan’s main purpose for this trip was for trading; he wanted to buy an alchemically crafted firearm and forge an alchemical prosthesis for Virel.

Klei already knew Ethan’s intentions, so he led him straight to the target.

Among the gatherers were three true namers of the ancient craft lineage, with the strongest and most skilled being one codenamed Huoyan.

Naturally, his fees were the highest.

The definition of high was quite peculiar.

He did not necessarily want money; in fact, money was the least of his desires; he wanted various odd materials or some conditions.

Like Klei’s pair of brass knuckles, which were exchanged for a pair of sea monster eyes.

Huoyan’s business was indeed booming, as he was surrounded just after standing still.

However, upon hearing one sentence from Huoyan, the others shook their heads and walked away.

Only because his demands were somewhat harsh.

This time, he wanted...alcohol as payment.

Yes, alcohol; he needed three carts of fine wine.

In the past, this demand would have been extremely easy, and anyone could meet it.

But now, in the era of prohibition, alcohol was more precious than gold; even illicit alcohol was hard to obtain, let alone good wine and three carts of it.

Such harsh conditions might lead one to seek out the other two alchemists of average skill.

Upon hearing this, Ethan quickened his pace even more.

If it were other items, it would have certainly been challenging to procure them.

But alcohol...

He currently had an abundance of it.

"I want three carts of fine wine. Remember, it must be fine wine, not that trash randomly concocted. If you don’t have it, don’t bother me."

Huoyan’s temperament seemed not too good, his tone sharp, as if a person obsessed with alcohol.

"Three carts of good wine, right? I can manage that. If you can forge the items I need, I can even offer more."

"Really?!"

Upon hearing this, Huoyan got excited and grabbed Ethan’s shoulder forcefully.

"Of course it’s true, last time you wanted sea monster eyes, didn’t I also get them for you?"

Klei hurriedly vouched for Ethan.

"Good, good, great! Quickly tell me, what do you need?"