"Rest assured. If I find anything, I'll definitely notify you all. Oh, you've been so busy tonight, you must be thirsty. Here's some sourfruit grass wine from the Alya Duchy—take it to quench your thirst... It's nothing, not worth much anyway. It doesn't even taste like wine, so customers rarely order it... Take care."
Old Potter stood outside the tavern the entire time, smiling as he watched the patrol guards head into the distance. Only once they had vanished from sight did Old Potter's smile gradually fade.
"Ah..."
No sooner had Old Potter wiped the expression from his face than he heard a sigh from beside him. Turning around, he saw that the owner of the neighboring fragrance shop had also stepped outside. Staring at the street in the distance, bright as day, he sighed with feeling. "What a lively night this has been."
The fragrance shop owner was also a third-level apprentice. He had been Old Potter's neighbor for five or six years, and they got along reasonably well. They would occasionally exchange a few sympathetic words, such as now.
"Old Potter, you're the only one who bows and scrapes to those lackeys of the Princess. I really don't know what you're thinking. If it were up to me, I wouldn't bother with them at all."
"To me, they're all customers. Building a good relationship with them means they might bring more people here to spend money. Besides, sourfruit grass wine isn't worth much." Old Potter chuckled.
"Just because it isn't worth much, you give it away? If it were me, I'd rather pour it out than give it to people like them. Would they really dare start a fight with you? They're all weak little chicks."
What the fragrance shop owner said was, in fact, the sentiment shared