The tavern was quiet and empty in the early morning, with a plainly dressed teenager about fourteen or fifteen years old wiping the tables. Upon seeing Felix descend from the upper floor, the boy couldn't help but make a face and surreptitiously gave him a thumbs-up gesture.

"Get me something to eat," Felix said as he approached the tavern landlady, who, after a night of rejuvenation, seemed even more enchanting and captivating. His expression was calm, neither overly affectionate nor deliberately distant, just like an ordinary customer.

Velia's face showed no particular affection either, her demeanor tranquil, as if the man who had tossed and turned with her all night, making her cry out endearments, wasn't the man standing before her now.

"Hmm," the woman responded, then extended her open palm toward Felix, her face clearly suggesting it was time to pay up.

Just one night, and this woman has become so much more troublesome.

Shaking his head to dispel such illusion-like thoughts, Felix touched his nose with a wry smile, preparing to pull out some gold coins from his pocket to give her.

However, the moment he reached into his pocket, he was stunned.

His money bag was in his deep gray cloak, the very cloak the woman had taken when she left. Meaning, he now didn't have a single penny on him.

A sly smile finally appeared on the woman's face. Squinting her sapphire-like eyes, she smiled like a fox who had successfully executed her plan.

"Put it on my tab," Felix said irritably, glaring at the woman who was smiling all too bewitchingly.

Velia quickly took out a ledger from the counter, picked up a quill, and elegantly wrote a line in it: Felix, twelve gold coins, fifty silver coins.

Looking at the debt on the ledger, a sum ordinary people might never be able to repay in their lifetime, Felix couldn't help but roll his eyes.

This stingy woman.

His money bag contained a total of eleven gold coins and fifty silver coins. It was already a considerable sum of cash. Yet, he still owed so much. Was that garment really worth that much?

In the early morning, seeing the woman gathering pieces of torn fabric from the ground, Felix realized that the garment he had shredded must have been valuable. But now, seeing this woman keeping accounts, he was still somewhat astounded.

After a few days of traveling, he had roughly understood the price of goods in the world of Delrano. A gold coin minted after the second Abyssal Invasion was pure gold, worth about a hundred silver coins, while other gold coins were worth around 80 to 90 silver coins. A silver coin could buy a lamb, worth about a thousand copper coins minted by various countries. A gold coin's purchasing power in the world of Delrano was roughly equivalent to a hundred thousand yuan in his previous life on Earth, and that too in a time when resources weren't abundant.

Gold wasn't abundant in the world of Delrano. Excluding what was monopolized by magicians and nobles, the gold coins that trickled down to the common folk were quite limited, hence their high value.

A noble owning a small fiefdom and a small town as a benefice would have an annual tax income of about a hundred gold coins. A commoner with farmland and self-produced food would spend only one silver coin a month. A gown worth twenty-four gold coins was a price that even ordinary nobles would hesitate to pay.

The woman, having successfully executed her scheme, walked leisurely to the backyard, her smile widening beyond Felix's view, and eventually, she couldn't help but let out a laugh, her slender yet mature shoulders shaking with each chuckle.

Stolen novel; please report.

No doubt, making Felix suffer a little brought her immense satisfaction and comfort.

Upon reaching the kitchen, still beaming, she hesitated for a moment but eventually waved to the cook she had summoned, personally preparing breakfast for the man who had given her a tumultuous night, leaving her immensely satisfied.

The cook, summoned to the kitchen, looked at her in amazement, as if seeing a ghost. She had been the tavern's cook for three years, and this was the first time she had seen the landlady cook herself.

The oatmeal, served in a large ceramic bowl, was only slightly smaller than a washbasin.

It was made from finely ground oats, topped with unknown red grains, emitting an aroma that tantalizingly beckoned Felix's appetite.

Watching the woman sitting casually at the counter, seemingly indifferent but actually sneakily scrutinizing his expression, Felix's lips curved slightly. He took a spoonful, tasted it, and nodded in satisfaction before hungrily gulping it down.

Seeing Felix heartily devouring the oatmeal she cooked, a smile unconsciously crept onto the woman's face, though she was careful not to let Felix notice. Despite her reluctance to show it, she felt a sweet satisfaction deep down, delighting in his enjoyment of her breakfast.

As an adventurer who had spent years in the wild, her culinary skills were something she took pride in.

After breakfast, Felix retrieved his cloak from Velia. As expected, all the money in his pockets was gone. However, to his surprise, the left corner of his cloak, accidentally torn by thorns during his travels, had been meticulously stitched up, the work so fine it was almost imperceptible.

Quite the housekeeper, she is.

If he were just an ordinary adventurer, a woman of such prudence, gentleness, and attentiveness would be impossible to let go. A bit cold on the outside but warm on the inside adds flavor to life, doesn't it? It's only when the warmth is revealed in intimate moments that passion truly ignites.

However, though he was not just any adventurer, such a caring woman was not to be neglected. As a noble trained by Lady Elizabeth herself, Felix held no concept of fidelity. For, upon his arrival before Lady Elizabeth, this woman who had left a profound mark on his life had solemnly told him that a noble without a plethora of lovers is a failure.

Then, Lady Elizabeth gently stroked Felix's head and softly said, "My Felix will surely have many, many lovers."

That woman named Elizabeth, the one who had lifted Felix from his plight and paved his path.

Is she still alive?

After breakfast, Felix left the tavern.

Griffin Heart, the capital of the Griffin Kingdom, was not too far from here, about a two-day journey. Due to the woman's influence, he decided to stay in this town a bit longer. Another reason was the town's proximity to the border with the Romanthia Empire. If any unexpected events occurred at the border, staying here would ensure he received the news promptly.

Exiting the tavern, Felix headed straight for the largest shop in town.

He needed to gather information, and that wasn't possible without money. He took an agate stone from the small spatial ring left to him by Marilyn, intending to sell it for some quick cash.

Felix's method of shopping was straightforward: he took out a silver coin and, in front of the shop owner, pinched it into a silver ingot. Then, based on the market price, he proposed a mutually beneficial price.

The quality of the agate was average; without a doubt, that stingy silver dragon wouldn't have left him anything truly valuable, especially the gems beloved by dragonkind.

In the eyes of the dragonkind, this agate was trash, but to humans, its quality was decent, worth about a hundred and twenty gold coins. Felix outright offered a hundred gold coins for it.

After scrutinizing the stone with a magnifying glass and confirming its medium quality, the shop owner immediately paid the money. What made the deal particularly swift was Felix, growing a bit impatient, turning the silver ingot in his hand into silver powder.

Arriving at the town square, Felix immediately noticed a crowd gathered there, buzzing with exclamations.

Curious, he moved closer to see what was happening, what had drawn such a crowd.

Entering the throng, Felix saw a giant wolf.

Of course, it was a corpse.

The giant wolf, its entire body black and its fangs exposed, was nearly the size of a small calf, its ferocity evident.

Then, Felix saw the mercenaries he had encountered in the tavern yesterday. Some were injured, but their spirits were high as they boasted to the onlooking townsfolk about how they had fought the vicious wolf and slain it.

The giant wolf's belly bore a wound from a spear, suggesting it had first fallen into a trap before being hunted by them. It was a common strategy when strength alone wasn't enough to confront a wild beast head-on.

Looking at the giant wolf's corpse, Felix suddenly felt something was off. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly it was.

Upon closer inspection of the giant wolf's corpse, Felix finally pinpointed the issue.

The blood of the giant wolf.

Dark red mingled with a tinge of black.

Pushing through the crowd, ignoring their discontent, Felix dipped his index finger in the giant wolf's blood, then tasted it.

Suddenly, his expression drastically changed.