Horace, the manor court's defense counsel and the manager of the Grotto Trade Market, had undoubtedly flattered the wrong way.
After being reprimanded by Russell, he flushed red and hid behind the crowd.
Russell had not actually taken Horace's clumsy flattery to heart. It was perfectly understandable for subordinates and followers to want to improve. No one was perfect, and Russell had never held himself up as a sage or dampened his subordinates' enthusiasm.
He was willing to promote subordinates who worked seriously.
He was equally willing to promote subordinates who spoke pleasingly.
"Ribs Jimmy, these river mussels were caught from the clay pond. Go catch a few old mussels from the shell pond as well." Returning to the matter at hand, Russell immediately instructed the mussel keeper to catch old mussels from the other pond.
The white pearls had turned golden. The reason behind it was well worth investigating.
He then distributed the golden pearls among his subordinate officials, especially asking the three Phantom Beast Knights—Eric, Grove, and Katie—to carefully sense the golden pearls' magic, determine what effects it could produce, and thus establish their use.
He also played with the largest golden pearl himself, carefully sensing the magic within it.
"What beautiful golden pearls!" The Wildcat Sisters, Katie and Catherine, were more focused on the pearls' luster itself, their eyes full of possessiveness.
Moments later, Ribs Jimmy brought over several more palm-sized old mussels. After prying them open, they dug out several dozen pearls of varying sizes. The largest was still less than half the size of a Glass Marble, while most were close to the size of soybeans.
However, these pearls were not golden. Like the pearls produced by wild river mussels, they were milky white.
"So planting clay as pearl nuclei causes the pearls to change