The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

”Well, while we have our own craftsmen, blacksmiths, and everything in our empire, the level of development that the Magic Tower has is unbeatable. He is basically letting us see what their people can make. We can’t access the inner market if that’s what it’s called, but I am pretty sure that even though we are only getting access to the outer area, there will be things that you’ve probably never witnessed or seen in your entire life. Let’s just hope that you have the money to actually buy those things.”

Adrian turned to look at the girl.

”While we’re talk about money, what currency do you guys use? Is it mana crystals or gold?”

The girl smiled warmly.

”You are very perceptive, and you ask all the right questions. I won’t lie, I am actually very impressed.” she said, feeling a little excited, ”The outer market does use both. You can buy things with both gold and mana crystals. It is mostly the mages with lower to middle-tier talent that operate in the outer area. Those who are in the sixth circle and above are put in the central area, or the inner area. We use the terms interchangeably.”

”So gold coins do work, right?” Adrian asked.

The girl nodded and looked around at everyone.

”While gold coins do work, the actual value of mana crystals is still far superior. Currently, the exchange rate on your continent is around two hundred gold coins for one standard crystal. But in the Magic Tower, it is half. It is one crystal for one hundred gold coins.” 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

She held up a finger.

”The reason is simple. We have multiple mana crystal veins under our name. While I wouldn’t consider it an infinite supply, the mana crystals aren’t exactly as rare for us as they are to you.”

Adrian nodded. ”So you are telling me that mana crystals are still more valuable for trading?”

”Yes, they are,” the girl nodded. ”Even though the official market rate inside the Magic Tower is one crystal for one hundred gold coins, let’s say that you need to buy a magic dagger which costs around five hundred gold coins. That would translate to five crystals, right?”

Everyone nodded.

”But people will gladly sell it to you for just four crystals instead,” she explained.

Anderson frowned. ”Why would they do that? Can’t they just take the five hundred gold and trade it for five crystals later?”

The girl smiled knowingly.

”Well, that is the thing... gold is very abundant here. It is not an issue, but no one really sees gold as highly valuable for progression. Gold cannot be consumed and it cannot be used for anything other than basic decorative purposes. But mana crystals? Once used, they are gone. Mana crystals are the foundation for a mage’s growth. So they are much, much more valuable. They aren’t easily traded away.”

She folded her hands together.

”So while the outer market does allow trades with both currencies, getting the mana crystals is just people being wishful and hoping that someone buys something with them. But in reality, almost ninety-nine percent of the daily trades are done with just the gold coins.”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

”Do you have any more questions?” she asked.

Everyone shook their heads except Adrian.

”I do have one,” Adrian said. ”What kind of food do you guys eat? I am pretty sure that as mages, it is much easier for you guys to hunt monsters. You must also have ways to cook monster meat.”

The girl nodded.

”Well, yes. But it is not a thing in the outer area. Cooking monster meat takes up a lot of resources. Getting rid of the toxins and refining the meat itself to make it suitable for consumption is an extremely hard thing to do. So it is only available in the inner area, and even there it is incredibly expensive. A single dish could cost you one to two mana crystals.”

Everyone there sucked in a sharp breath.

Everyone except Adrian.

The people standing behind the Crestwall knights were completely shocked by the amount she just said. One to two mana crystals was basically two hundred gold coins. As people who were used to spending just a few bronze coins on a single meal, spending two hundred gold coins for a single dish was something utterly unimaginable.

It was exactly like someone who spends ten dollars on fast food every single day suddenly going to a high-end restaurant that asks them to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a single burger. The disparity was insane.

”Even I need to diligently save up for months to even think about eating food like that,” the girl admitted. ”While it is beneficial for your body, it is much more efficient to just use the mana crystals directly unless you have certain needs that only monster meat provides.”

She looked around. ”Anything else?”

This time, no one said anything. To the knights and even most of the nobles there, the girl standing in front of them now wasn’t just a random woman anymore. She was someone who had the luxury to consider throwing away hundreds of gold coins on a single meal. They weren’t on the same level.

Even Anderson who was a Duke, looked at her differently now.

”Okay then.”

She reached into her robes and took out a large wooden frame. It looked exactly like an empty picture frame that held paintings. She put it down on one of the large wooden shipping crates nearby.

Then she took out exactly eight mana crystals.

She slotted them neatly into the carved edges of the frame: four in the sharp corners, and four right in the center of the wooden sides.

Instantly, the empty frame started to brightly glow. A thick swirl of light filled the center. It looked almost like liquid, but it was made entirely of pure light.

She looked at them. ”Please walk through this, and you will enter the Magic Tower.”

[A/N: Apologies for the Chapter mix up. WN is weird and I put the Chapters on auto release time. All it had to do was upload in order and it still managed to mess up. I fixed it but do tell me if there’s issues.]