In short, these two sacred beasts must never be touched lightly by anyone.
The envoys who brought them to the Banquet of Hundred Kingdoms have served them since childhood, but even they have never seen the beasts act so close to anyone. Especially since this girl, though beautiful, is just a stranger from a foreign land. Yet these two little creatures suddenly became so affectionate to a stranger, even directly licking her.
The other envoys had expressions that were hard to describe, as if their worldview had been shattered and rebuilt.
Elara didn't hear a response. While gently stroking the little nine-tailed fox and the winged tiger cub, she looked up at the envoy and asked again:
"What do you want to trade for them?"
The envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom snapped back to his senses. He saw that the two cubs were still enthusiastically licking the girl's fingers. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, but then a legend spoken by the High Priest surfaced in his mind, and his expression became serious as he looked at Elara:
"May I ask which country you are from?"
Elara rubbed the soft pink ears of the little fox and tugged at the little white tiger's wings, spreading open its fluffy wings to take a look:
"I don't have a country. I'm just a traveling merchant from the western regions."
In this world, traveling merchants are common. Many kingdoms are chaotic and broken, so the people who can no longer survive in their homeland leave to find a life elsewhere.
Some of them come from families with strong foundations or some remaining resources and connections. These people become traveling merchants, moving between countries with no fixed home.
The envoy's face instantly showed some sympathy, then shifted to troubled thought.
The nine-tailed fox and the winged tiger are sacred beasts of his country. They are tied to their national fate. Now, these two young beasts, who had ignored humans for so many years, suddenly acted so affectionately toward a stranger. He really wanted to record Elara's nationality and family background to report this anomaly back home. Then they could find her again based on the High Priest's instructions.
But she's a wandering merchant with no fixed place. That made things difficult.
After thinking for a moment, the envoy's eyes suddenly lit up. He took out a peculiar token from his pocket, seemingly made from some kind of beast bone, and handed it to Elara:
"Miss, this is a token of the Sacred Beast Kingdom. I won't hide it. Both the nine-tailed fox and winged tiger are national beasts of my country. Even someone like me, who has served them since childhood, has never been treated this affectionately by them."
"But now, both little sacred beasts clearly favor you. You and the Sacred Beast Kingdom are clearly fated. Since you are a wandering merchant, please accept this token from our kingdom."
"As long as you carry this token, you may enter our kingdom at any time for trade and commerce, and you will be granted the hospitality of our government."
"Also, I would like to ask what regions do you usually travel between as a merchant? And what is the name of your merchant clan? Since you share a connection with the Sacred Beast Kingdom, there should at least be a way for me to contact you in the future."
Elara didn't expect that just by wanting to buy two little magical beasts, she would end up receiving a trade invitation from the Sacred Beast Kingdom.
It really was worth attending the Banquet of Hundred Kingdoms.
She looked up and studied the envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom. His face was filled with sincere invitation, and the bone token he handed over, whether by material or craftsmanship, did not seem fake.
After thinking briefly, Elara raised her hand and snapped her fingers. A mighty and majestic black hawk flew in through the window of the luxuriously decorated building.
This scene instantly drew many eyes in the area. But since the Rare Treasures Banquet was filled with strange and rare things, the crowd quickly turned their attention back to what interested them.
The black hawk was clearly a fierce beast used to eating wild prey. Its folded wings were over half a meter long. It landed powerfully on Elara's shoulder.
It was a bit heavy, but with her current deep internal strength, she could even lift Gareth without effort. The black hawk's weight was nothing to her.
Elara pointed toward the envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom, and the black hawk spread its wings, over a meter wide, and flew onto the envoy's shoulder, nearly making him lose balance.
"It's my messenger. If your kingdom has any trade or matters in the future, just have it deliver them to me."
The Sacred Beast Kingdom has a tradition of bonding with fierce predators and birds of prey. The stronger the beast one can tame, the more respect one earns.
Although the black hawk had extremely powerful flying abilities and was one of the fiercest of all birds of prey in combat, it was rarely seen even in the Sacred Beast Kingdom.
This was because it was difficult to capture, had an extremely wild and violent temperament, and was hard to tame. Now seeing Elara directly use the black hawk as a messenger, the envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom widened his eyes, staring intensely at the hawk that nearly crushed half his body.
"Good, good..." No wonder even the sacred beasts were close to her.
The envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom thought more and more about the legends back home and his goodwill toward Elara increased greatly.
With some excitement, he carefully held the black hawk from his shoulder and, smiling with a trace of respect, requested Elara to provide her merchant clan's residence and trade routes. He hoped to have a place to find her in the future.
This put Elara in a bit of a dilemma.
The Banquet of Hundred Kingdoms hadn't officially begun, and she couldn't yet reveal her true identity. She couldn't even mention the Bai Family's Business, or else all the disguises made on the way would be in vain.
But she also didn't want to make up a fake title like "third young lady of some matriarchal tribe" to fool the envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom.
Getting a formal trade invitation from a whole country was something she wanted to keep.
If there was a chance in the future, she might soon expand her business to the northern lands of the continent. But at this moment, she still didn't want to expose her true identity.
As she slightly furrowed her brows, thinking about what kind of identity could allow her to leave behind a reasonable area for the Sacred Beast Kingdom to track her without exposing herself, Gareth and Mr. Yu exchanged a glance.
Gareth stepped forward and gently spoke to the envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom:
"Envoy, I'm a steward of the Gareth family in this region.
I frequently conduct trade with Miss Bai's merchant team. If you don't mind, you can leave the location of the Gareth family."
"In the future, if anything comes up, you can use the black hawk to contact Miss Bai directly. Then notify my Gareth family, or you can come directly to our ancestral estate and leave anything you wish to trade with Miss Bai. She will come to collect it herself. How about that?"
Elara immediately looked up at Gareth and tossed him a look of praise and gratitude.
If she could rate talent, she would surely rank Gareth alongside Mathias.
Both were masters of reading people and knowing exactly what to say at the right time. He was indeed a perfect choice for a personal assistant.
It wasn't for nothing that she had used medicine to save him along the journey.
Gareth's help now came at just the right time and was perfectly accurate. As for the safety and trustworthiness of the Gareth family, Elara felt quite assured.
After all, Mr. Yu was still working with her.
Gareth also still wanted to do business with her. She also had the black hawk to contact the Sacred Beast Kingdom directly.
Gareth received her gaze, a slight smile forming on his lips, and gently shook his head.
She had helped him many times already, and this was just a small effort in return.
After exchanging messenger and base information, both sides were very satisfied with this unexpected trade.
The envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom then requested a token from Elara's merchant team.
Elara handed over a jade pendant carved with the character "Elara," crafted by a master she personally trained at the Bai Family's Business.
She also instructed Uno to bring over a full basket of top-tier handmade crafts from the Bai Family's Business.
Since she came under the name of a merchant caravan, the several carriage loads she brought naturally included various tradable goods and specialties.
This was the perfect time to use them.
These crafts were made using techniques provided by the System and far exceeded the carving craftsmanship found in this world.
They were extremely beautiful and delicate, with internal designs that even included small moving mechanisms.
"These are some rare and exquisite items from our merchant caravan. If the envoy and your kingdom are interested, feel free to contact me through the messenger bird."
The envoy from the Sacred Beast Kingdom grew even more excited when he saw these items.
Not only were they obviously high-quality and expensive, he had never seen anything like them at the Banquet of Hundred Kingdoms.
The Sacred Beast Kingdom was located near the northern border of the continent.
Though it had powerful beasts and strong military might, the rest of its nation was not very developed. It was still considered a standard third-tier kingdom.
The basket of exquisite and novel luxury crafts brought by Elara greatly pleased the envoy.
Coupled with her rare affinity with ferocious beasts, which reminded him again and again of the legends the High Priest had told, he was more impressed.
Since the two little cubs clearly liked Elara very much, the Sacred Beast Kingdom didn't ask for any more compensation.
They only asked that once she took the two sacred beast cubs, she must treat them well.
They were symbols of the Sacred Beast Kingdom and represented the goodwill and friendship of this trade. In the future, if they came to visit her, they would certainly want to check on the two cubs.
Elara nodded in agreement.
After the deal ended, she held the two beautiful, obedient snow-white cubs and continued browsing the many treasures within the building.
Gareth, Mr. Yu, and Mr. Gong, who followed behind her, all asked about some rare and interesting items they were interested in.
Especially Mr. Gong.
Since arriving in the city, his pen hadn't stopped writing. Small paper notebooks, aside from Plumera and the countries that had traded with her before, were still unknown to most of the continent.