After seeing Velin off, Babula tucked the Gold Coin into his robes, instructed the servants to handle the aftermath, and left the Manor for the royal capital.
Unnoticed by anyone, a faint ripple flashed across the Gold Coin's surface before it returned to its utterly ordinary appearance.
After returning to the manor where the Asterix family resided in the royal capital, Babula went back to his own courtyard and waited for his grandfather's return.
One night three days earlier, his grandfather had suddenly summoned him to the study and told him to invite Qixing Count, selling the White Tower Griffon Cultivation Ranch for the price of one Gold Coin.
As for why he had to do this, his grandfather had not explained. He had merely instructed him to safeguard the Gold Coin from the transaction and come to the study immediately after he finished attending the court meeting.
The White Tower Griffon Cultivation Ranch was worth sixty million Gold Coins, two five-thousand-acre Wind Asia Grasslands were worth fifteen million Gold Coins, a Griffon Training Cliff was worth twenty million Gold Coins, and the lifetime contracts of ten Griffin Knight Training Instructors were worth one million Gold Coins, for a total of ninety-six million Gold Coins.
Exchanging property worth ninety-six million Gold Coins for a single Gold Coin was practically giving it away, utterly at odds with the values instilled in him since childhood.
But he could not defy his grandfather's orders.
Sitting before his desk, Babula took the Gold Coin from his robes and examined it repeatedly, yet found nothing unusual.
After a long while, Babula put the Gold Coin away, took out the account books, and began calculating this year's profits from the properties under his control to pass the time while waiting for his grandfather to return home.