The Pure Love Noble Son

"I made a few little adjustments while designing the scrolls, so my customers could experience the charm of Elemental Shaping Magic."

Recognizing who he was, Ethan felt hope flare up again.

First, the noble son was rich.

Second, he belonged to the Pure Love camp. If you rounded things off, that made them practically allies. Surely it was only reasonable for allies to support each other?

Ethan gave his pitch his all. "While making the scrolls, I realized Ice Arrow has its limits. These days, you can run into situations where one Ice Arrow just won't cut it. That's when you need three Ice Arrow scrolls. With my design, releasing the magic stored in all three pieces of Energy-Storing Parchment at once lets you unleash one hell of an attack."

Ethan couldn't help giving this batch of scrolls a thumbs-up. He felt he had a real knack for this sort of thing.

But the noble son looked troubled. "Um, what exactly is 'one hell of an attack'?"

This was the first time he'd heard such a peculiar description.

"Well... you can think of it as one super-sized Ice Arrow. It makes up for the limited area a single Ice Arrow can hit. If there's a lot of water nearby, the scrolls will be much more effective. But remember, don't activate all three at once in a crowded place—unless you want to be branded a terrorist."

Since the noble son was Ethan's first customer—and practically an ally—he explained things in more detail. "The same goes for the Ice Arrow scrolls. If you aren't trying to kill someone, don't aim at their upper body. And keep the Ice Arrow's piercing power in mind, or you might accidentally hit someone else."

He didn't want his first customer to accidentally become a psychopathic killer or a terrorist.

"Oh? I've never heard of such an interesting Magic Scroll before." The noble son looked intrigued. He picked up a scroll and examined it closely. "Are you sure this is an Ice Arrow scroll?"

"An Ice Arrow scroll, no doubt about it."

Ethan thumped his chest in assurance. "If it's fake, I'll give you ten times your money back!"

The black-haired maid standing behind the noble son gave Ethan a very different look. Her rare green eyes were fixed on him with disgust, as if she already thought of him as a scammer.

"Interesting. Twenty for thirty Gold Lions. Very well, I'll take them all."

When the noble son turned to the maid, her disgusted expression vanished, replaced by a sweet, obedient smile. She held out a backpack in both hands and tactfully reminded him, "Young master, I just noticed that the Ice Arrow scrolls at the Magic Scroll Shop seem to cost only sixty Silver Antelopes each. And if you buy ten at once, you can pick any one beginner Elemental Shaping spell scroll for free."

"But the scrolls in the shop can't combine three into one, can they? And they can't unleash one... um, one hell of an attack."

The noble son was a quick learner. He'd already memorized that unusual phrase.

The black-haired maid's eyes narrowed into crescents. Along with her pretty face, they gave her a warm, welcoming air.

But Ethan couldn't help feeling that this spring breeze was a little chilly.

She said no more. Taking a cloth pouch from her bag, she counted out thirty Gold Lions, put them inside, and handed it to Ethan.

The maid's hands were trembling, but she was a professional and kept up appearances in front of her young master. She had probably heard the shop owner declare that "Elemental Shapers just aren't viable in this version anymore" while they were in the shop, and had also seen him leave dejectedly after being turned away.

Ethan disagreed with much of the shop owner's assessment, despite the man's more than seven years of experience selling Magic Scrolls.

He earnestly explained to the pair, "I think the shop owner is deeply prejudiced against Elemental Shapers. Basic Elemental Shaping spells aren't as useless as he made them out to be."

When the shop owner had brought this up, he'd used guns and bullets as an example, saying times had changed and gunslingers were the strongest class in this version.

Ethan was confident enough to assure his customer that he intended to keep doing business in Fireplace Bay. He wasn't some scammer who planned to make a quick buck and run. "The Ice Arrow scrolls I sold you should work better than guns. I'll be staying in Fireplace Bay, so if you're satisfied with them, you're welcome to visit my Magic Scroll Shop again."

"Your shop?"

The noble son looked around. Ethan was the only person there—not even a stall was in sight. He teased, "Then at least tell me your name or nickname. Maybe I'll become a regular."

"Old Sen... Huh?"

Ethan had almost blurted out "Old Sen's Magic Scroll Shop," but that obviously wasn't his name or nickname. "Good question!"

No wonder he was the Pure Love Noble Son. He asked questions that cut straight to the soul.

What was his name again?

The black-haired maid took a deep breath and pinched the flesh on the back of her hand hard to keep herself composed. Then, when the noble son wasn't looking, she rolled her eyes at Ethan.

What an eye roll!

It wasn't just her. Even Ethan now thought he looked suspicious.

Obviously, he wasn't Ethan. Fireplace Bay was rife with deception, and no one used their real name there. He couldn't use his identity or codename as an investigator from the Containment Bureau, either. Otherwise, Ivy would only have to take a casual stroll around Fireplace Bay to discover that he was secretly selling Magic Scrolls behind his supervisor's back.

Ivy was a good person and a good supervisor, but she never represented only herself. She represented the entire Margaret Family. After everything he'd seen over the past two years, Ethan really didn't want to get involved with the great nobles of the Imperial Capital.

The noble son and the black-haired maid watched him, waiting quietly for an answer.

In theory, it wasn't a difficult question at all, yet a thousand thoughts raced through Ethan's mind. He wasn't good at coming up with names. He could hardly snap his fingers and think of a nickname that was both memorable and imposing.

Then a face surfaced in his mind.

A brilliant chemist who had once stood at a crossroads of fate, just as he had.

The same predicament: facing the dark side of the world, unable to use his real name.

More importantly—

"Heisenberg. You can call me that."

Heisenberg was Old Sen, too!

"Heisenberg..."

The noble son gave him a meaningful look. "Is that where you're from?"

"Something like that."

Ethan neither confirmed nor denied it.

He knew they understood the word "homeland" a little differently. Heisenberg was from a show he'd watched in his previous life, a place that was truly his home. The noble son most likely meant the coastal city in the north of the Empire.

"I'll remember that. Until next time. If your Ice Arrow scrolls really are as good as you say, I'll come back for more."

The noble son rolled up the Ice Arrow Magic Scroll and put it in his bag. Only then did Ethan notice that the bag's actual storage space seemed much larger than its outward appearance. Still, he supposed that rich people like them never carried ordinary backpacks.

For Ethan, it had been a night full of ups and downs.

A few unexpected things had happened, but at least it had ended well.

So...

Beginner spell scrolls were already out of fashion?

Watching the noble son and the maid walk away, Ethan pondered the matter. This deal was hardly typical; there weren't many Big Fat Sheep like that. Still, it had given him a new idea.

If he couldn't sell Ice Arrow scrolls, he could change their names and turn them into something else.

His first customer hadn't been interested in basic spells that cost sixty Silver Antelopes each. What had really caught his attention was the effect of combining three scrolls into one.

But Ice Arrow wasn't the limit of what he could do. There was far more he could draw.

Ethan was still standing at the entrance to the Magic Scroll Shop when he caught sight of the shop owner out of the corner of his eye.

The owner was glaring at him, his expression a mix of disdain and envy.

"You got lucky," the owner seemed to mouth.

That was right.

The owner's words had reminded Ethan of something.

—If you really want to make money with Magic Scrolls, learn how to do something no one else can.

So, what could he do that other Elemental Drawers couldn't?

That day, the old gentleman with more than seven years of experience selling Magic Scrolls wore the expression of a man who'd swallowed a fly. Sitting behind the counter, he felt as if ants were crawling all over him.

He'd shown Ethan plenty of hostility and made no attempt to hide his disdain. He'd expected Ethan to make money and then rub it in his face. He'd even prepared himself for a war of words with the callow young brat. If that had happened, he probably wouldn't have felt nearly as miserable as he did now.

But Ethan hadn't mocked him or come back into the shop.

Before leaving, he'd even left the owner with a single remark.

"Thanks."

There was no anger or mockery in Ethan's eyes as he said it. He didn't even look at the Archmage Magic Scroll Shop or the man sitting behind the counter.

Those seven years of experience told the owner exactly what that look meant.

That callow brat had definitely thought of a way to make money.

He'd figured out how to sell the worthless junk that no one wanted.

He wanted so badly to know!

The feeling of ants crawling over him only grew stronger.