The witch thought I am a Demon God-Chapter 545 - 318 The Strongest Witchcraft in the Mundane World_2
The Hearthstone Witch immediately transformed into a vulture and circled twice over Ivita’s head. "Your Majesty, as far as I can inspect, those fish seem to be ordinary."
"Nothing special. I’ve come across it before; a shopkeeper who couldn’t sell his goods, so he had his assistant pretend to cause trouble on the street, thereby attracting passers-by to shop in his store."
"Perhaps it’s the same case right now..."
Ivita said, "Whatever the situation is, I’ll know when Wilson arrives."
"Iron Mountain Knight, give the shopkeeper two hundred fifteen gold pounds and two more shillings."
The vulture, the transformed Hearthstone Witch, immediately flew out.
Under the eager gaze of Clove and the sour face of the shopkeeper, the Iron Mountain Knight took off a large bag from his waist. He carefully counted the gold coins in the bag and then threw the bag full of gold coins on the table.
The golden coins in the bag immediately made crisp collision sounds.
Iron Mountain Knight said to the shopkeeper, "I’m short one gold coin, can I take it on credit?"
The shopkeeper immediately said with difficulty, "I’m afraid it can’t be done, not even one less."
"Those are her rules."
Clove took out a gold coin from his clothes, saying to Ivita, "Sir, I happen to have a gold coin here, just right for use. I swear to the God of All Things, I give you this gold coin, without asking anything in return."
Ivita wrinkled his eyebrows.
The careful choice of words spoke volumes.
Ordinarily, only with religious prayers, important magic ceremonies, and special grand ceremonies does one need to do this.
Therefore, this fish shop might be involved in some kind of ceremony.
About fifteen minutes later, Wilson came running all the way, even faster than the Hearthstone Witch’s transformed vulture. After Wilson arrived in the shop, Ivita briefed him slightly.
Wilson looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Tell me... why can’t you lower the prices for these fish? Why did you chase Ivita away before? What kind of fish are these, and where do they come from?"
The shopkeeper’s eyes were bleary. He dully said, "It was a very elegant lady who gave them to me a week ago."
"It was late one night a week ago, no customers would’ve come already. I was about to close, then suddenly at the entrance appeared a woman dressed in attire like a black rose. She had her coachman carry in twenty bamboo baskets of fish, and she entrusted them to me."
"She wanted me to help her sell these fish, and the profit would be split, three for her, seven for me."
"The fish looked good, so I agreed, but that’s when my troubles began."
"She had two conditions. First, the fish could not be sold to the Clove family."
"Second, the prices of the fish could not be changed at will, the fish couldn’t be killed on purpose, and all the fish had to be sold before other fish could be sold."
The shopkeeper lamented, "These past days I have been troubled, the prices of these fish are too high, not many people would buy. At most, a few might buy out of novelty."
"I also asked that woman dressed in gala attire. She was very distinguished; I felt honored just talking to her. I asked her why are these fish so expensive."
"She simply said, ’The farmer has his price, the Earl has his price.’"
"Then, she left. Before leaving, she told me--if I go against the terms I agreed to, then I will be killed by my own shadow. Initially, I didn’t believe this at all."
The fishmonger wore a terrified expression. "But once, I sold a fish for three pence and was secretly pleased because nothing happened at all. But that night, my shadow turned into her figure--my shadow questioned me, ’If a person loses their integrity, can they survive?’"
"Then my shadow, her figure, actually left me and went to my kitchen to take a knife and chopped off my little finger on my left hand."
The fishmonger raised his left hand, missing a little finger, in horror and said, "This is it. I then realised that my commission is actually a huge problem. I’ve always wanted to sell all the fishes, but it’s challenging, the price is too high, no one would be foolish enough to buy fish at this price."
"In that case, they might as well buy some fishing gear and catch fish by themselves from the river and the sea. Cross Island is originally rich in fishing, there is no shortage of fish here."
The fish shop owner said to Ivita, "Then today, I saw you and that stinking boy Clove entering the shop together. I thought about the noble witch’s warning to me, so I wanted to drive you out."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am not a villain, please stop buying my fish."
"I’m afraid my shadow will hurt me again."
Clove panicked when he heard this, and also said to Ivita, "Sir, if you could buy these fish, it would surely help you expand your territory and also do a great good deed."
"Please."
Ivita frowned and turned to ask the Hearthstone Witch, "Manipulating others’ shadows, causing their shadows to attack themselves, this would at least require a witch of what level?"
The Hearthstone Witch was also shocked, "This definitely involves simultaneously the Laws of Magic and Transforming Spells, so the opponent must be a high-level witch."
"But I don’t know where she is now, if she’s still on Cross Island, then this magic isn’t too powerful."
"But if she has long left Cross Island and her magic is still affecting others’ shadows, then her magic level is too high."
"But why would such a powerful witch have a problem with fish?"
Ivita shook his head, "I think she clearly has a grudge against someone, she isn’t taking it out on the fish, but on people, but what remains unknown is the reason for her selling fish this way."
Clove hurriedly told Ivita, "Sir, please release all the fish you just bought for two hundred gold pounds into the river."
The Hearthstone Witch was about to break her heart, "Your Highness, we should at least eat one or two. Otherwise, it would be too much of a loss."
"I think we can just eat the most expensive one, worth a hundred gold coins, the one with the black and white body. This way we wouldn’t be at a too significant loss since we would be eating it after all."
Clove was so frightened that he was at a loss and could only look at Ivita blankly, "Sir...we can’t do this..."
"This would cause all our previous efforts to go to waste, we are only one step away... You are the only one who is so kind-hearted and willing to listen to others’ suggestions. I’ve tried so many times before, but everyone refused me, Sir..."
Ivita was speechless with Hearthstone Witch, he didn’t continue the conversation, he just asked Iron Mountain Knight, Wilson and Hearthstone Witch, and even Clove and the shop owner, to help carry the barrels to Maple River on the edge of the town with all the fish inside.
...
On Maple River, Ivita had them pour all the fish from the barrels into the river. Immediately, those large fish greedily rushed into the water, swimming around the river.
From a distance, Rolof, with three fierce-looking men, came from afar, "Lord Ivita, you’ve made me search hard for you. These three are my friends, I want to introduce them to you, they are all well-known representatives of pirate and smuggling families from Sunken Ship Harbor."
"Hm? You’re releasing fish?"
"Mr. Ivita, do you actually have such leisure time?"
Captain Qingshan, the large pirate beside the governor, was extremely dissatisfied with Ivita’s action, he thought Ivita had slighted him, "I feel as though I’m not welcomed, Mr. Ivita is only looking at those few broken fish in the river water and doesn’t want to look at me."
"Am I not even as important as those few fish?"
Volcano Captain, who had fought alongside Ivita before, therefore had a certain fondness for Ivita, "Hahaha...why so serious?"
"Mr Ivita, you really like watching the water, it seems you really are a born pirate."
But Ivita held up his finger, signalling them to quiet down, he was looking at the fish in the water with shock on his face. "There could actually be such a thing. These fish...are not fish."
