The Pirate of Everlasting Flowers

A Flower Merchant (2)

Kou, the thief, had settled under the shade of a banyan tree. He took a look at the trinkets he had stolen from the group of merchants back in the tavern.

The merchants didn't have much on them. Presumably, most of their goods were hidden at the inn they stayed at. They only brought a handful, as much as they could carry on their sleeves and pockets.

About half of what he stole were medicines, such as traditional herbs and remedies, cheap jewelry, and also a few bottles of handmade perfumes.

Kou hummed in satisfaction as he tried on one of the rings. It was a smaller size, fit for a woman's finger. However, the ring fit perfectly on him as he had slimmer fingers than most men.

Despite being a thief for a few years who had raided numerous jewelry and ornaments, Kou didn't have any accessories on him other than a simple three-stringed bracelet of red, white, and black. The design of the bracelet signified protection. It was a popular form of protective charm. The only difference was, his bracelet had two dangling wooden beads of blue and gold. The colors were faded.

After trying on a couple of other ornaments, he took off everything and set them aside.

He opened the perfume bottles to sniff them. They all had strong floral fragrances, but one of them had a particularly sharp scent.

Interesting. White Champaka?

It was the scent of a commonly known flower, one that can attract spirits and often used in rituals to summon them.

Coincidentally, it was also a flower type in one of the seven everlasting flowers.

Of course, the perfume wasn't made out of an everlasting flower. Only a lunatic would waste such sacred flowers on aromatic oil ingredients.

The everlasting flowers actually consist of seven common flowers that can be found across the five lands. But they are only considered everlasting if they bloom from the soil of Jiwana Isle, a sacred island. Only then will the flowers not wilt as they hold a substantial amount of spiritual energy.

The perfume was probably made from ordinary white champaka flowers. Kou decided to keep it. It might be useful at some point.

I'll trade the rest, or I'll give it to Madam Su. The girls in Chunfeng would love these.

The other half of the goods that he stole were protective charms, amulets, and poorly made paper talismans.

The amulets were imbued with weak spiritual energy, and the protective charms were even worse. Kou didn't detect any power from them. The talismans had proper incantations on them, but they were written in regular ink.

"Tch..."

Granted, ordinary merchants wouldn't sell high-quality talismans written in blood, but they could've sold amulets that were crafted or carved better. Maybe imbued with more spiritual energy. And the protective charms were basically just accessories.

With his knowledge and experience, Kou could improve the charms and amulets, so he decided to keep them. The talismans would be good enough for short-term effects, so he kept them too.

As Kou leaned back against the tree to shield himself from the cold of the early spring wind, a merchant passed by in the streets.

The merchant wore a bamboo hat, common villagers' robes, and straw sandals. If he wasn't pulling a cart filled with baskets of petals piled up, one might need to take a second look to confirm that he was a merchant.

Possibly because of the chilling breeze or the lack of people on the streets, the merchant was walking a little too fast for anyone to stop him if they wanted to buy something. It was as if he quickly had to go somewhere, as if he was avoiding being stopped at all.