Chapter 304: Invitation from Diana Quinn
Talking with Diana Quinn was actually quite pleasant. Even when she asked questions, she didn’t have Lilia’s aggressive attitude.
Moreover, this Catgirl seemed to have a particular fondness for Faye Yardley and had endless things to say.
After learning that Faye Yardley intended to partner with her uncle to open a luxury shop, she enthusiastically offered many suggestions on how to rip him off.
According to her, there was no need to worry about her uncle’s finances. He wasn’t just the Island Master of a barren island, number 1157; his other businesses were more than enough to eclipse his status as an Island Master.
’What a great niece,’ Faye Yardley thought, so she asked, "Then why don’t you just have your uncle give you the island?"
"That wouldn’t work. It’s my uncle’s family property. Outsiders with a different surname have no inheritance rights. If I wanted to inherit it, I’d first have to change my family registry and be entered into my mother’s lineage," Diana Quinn replied in all seriousness.
It gave Faye Yardley the strange feeling that she was dealing with a traditionalist Veridian.
Family property could only be inherited by descendants within the family, regardless of gender. If a woman wanted to pass family property to her children, the children would have to be entered into her family’s registry.
Of course, their education would also have to prioritize the teachings of the family whose registry they entered.
’Interesting. It’s much better than the ancient Veridian tradition of passing things down only to sons, not daughters.’
"I see. I thought you could just give your things to whomever you wanted."
"It’s not that free at all."
Despite saying this, Diana Quinn clearly didn’t care much about these rules.
Diana Quinn sat down across from her, picked up a clean cup, poured herself some tea, and took a sip before saying, "By the way, Serene Shadow City is much more interesting than Lumina. Want to come visit?"
"Can I?"
"Of course." As she spoke, an Invitation Card materialized in Diana Quinn’s hand, and she passed it over. "Here. With this Invitation Card, you can stay in Serene Shadow City for three days."
Faye Yardley took the Invitation Card and thanked her earnestly, "Thank you. I’ll go when I get the chance. But is Serene Shadow City like Lumina?"
"They’re completely different. You’ll see when you get there. Anyway, we don’t have nearly as many of The Undying as this place does."
’The Undying?’
’It seems that’s what the locals call players like the Fourth Calamity.’
"So there are still some, right?"
"Yep. For example, I just invited you."
Faye Yardley asked, confused, "So you think I’m one of The Undying, too?"
"Hee hee~ It’s hard to say. Your demeanors are a little different, but you’re fundamentally quite similar."
After chatting for a while longer, Diana Quinn was called away.
Juno never reappeared.
Lilia did end up choosing two designs, but she demanded to see the finished products before paying.
In Shawn Lawler’s eyes, this was a serious challenge to his Skills.
Faye Yardley didn’t know how they negotiated it, but in the end, Lilia, looking sour, paid a deposit of 100,000 gold coins. She demanded that one set be made first, and the deposit would be non-refundable.
Of all the cloth that had been delivered, Lilia preferred the dark green, but after Laura Summers explained ancient Veridian wedding ceremonies to her, she chose the rouge red.
However, Laura Summers mentioned that the dark green she liked could be used for a secondary gown and that dark green paired with pearls would look exceptionally noble and elegant.
They took her measurements, and then they took her fiancé’s measurements as well.
Faye Yardley had originally thought taking measurements would be a simple matter; after all, if worse came to worst, she could just have the system scan them.
But Laura Summers said that to make the clients feel valued, it was better to take measurements according to the exacting standards of a master Veridian tailor.
The two of them weren’t finished, so Faye Yardley left them to it and departed from the City Lord’s Manor first.
She needed to check out some of the unique shops here. Oh, right, she also had to sort out the business license.
As it turned out, she ran into the City Lord’s Manor’s Steward at the administrative hall. He smiled and told her that all the paperwork for her shop had already been taken care of. He then handed her a certificate, telling her she just needed to write down the shop’s name herself.
Forcing someone who was terrible at naming things to name her own shop was quite the challenge for Faye Yardley.
After she expressed her gratitude with some fruit tea, the Steward left cheerfully.
Only after he was long gone did Faye Yardley smack her forehead. ’I should have asked him if there were any special shops around.’
’Oh well, I’ll just have to find them myself.’
’And now that I’ve taken on this job, don’t I need to recruit a group of tailors and embroidery masters to the island? Otherwise, they’ll be stuck on their rafts, and they definitely won’t be in the mood to work when an event is happening.’
’A stable environment would be much more suitable for them.’
Many people enjoy adventure, but even more prefer stability.
’Perhaps if it were an adventure in a massive virtual reality game with no real danger of death, 99% of people would enjoy it.’
’If something happened to me, the Island Master, what would become of Conch Isle?’
’Would it end up like Isle 1004, which I landed on before?’
’The villagers there could barely afford a piece of candy, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The biggest problem was their lack of defenses. They had to be perpetually wary of anyone who approached the island.’
’One wrong move, and the entire village could be massacred.’
After Jennifer chose to settle down, the system did mention it would reduce pirate attacks, which means there are still quite a few pirates out on the sea.
’What a headache. Why am I suddenly so worried about all this?’
["As long as you, the Island Master, are strong enough."]
The words Nora Nash had spoken before now surfaced in her mind.
’That’s right. As long as I’m strong enough, none of these will be problems at all.’
’Faye Yardley, you can do this! Keep going!’
’Now, I don’t just need to become stronger for myself and my brother. I’m suddenly carrying the fates of over a hundred people, and there might be more in the future. This isn’t just pressure; it’s motivation.’
’What do people surviving at sea need most?’
’And what do those who have settled on an island need most urgently?’
To be honest, Faye Yardley had very little life experience. And as for herself, since she began surviving at sea, her journey seemed to have been quite different from most people’s.
So she had no idea what other people needed most.
She casually walked into a large-looking store.
Inside, she discovered that the store was well-stocked with Water-Repelling Pearls. The price wasn’t what you’d call expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either, at 20 silver coins each.
She bought 25 of them, thinking she could keep 5 for the island and give the rest to her brother and Zachary Pierce.
They had their own ways of acquiring them, so her gift would just be the icing on the cake.
The other goods weren’t of much help for surviving at sea, so after looking around, Faye Yardley didn’t buy anything else.
As she browsed from shop to shop, Faye Yardley found that some were quite interesting, while others were incredibly dull.
Although she didn’t buy much, she felt like she had learned a lot.
Turning from the main street into a small alley, she entered an inconspicuous little shop on the corner. Besides selling various drinks, you could also scratch lottery tickets to find treasures.
Faye Yardley spent 3 copper coins to casually buy a bottle of a drink labeled "Green Fruit Flavor." This allowed her one chance at the lottery, though it was worth noting that you still had to pay to buy the prizes you won.