That evening, at the Glorious Mercenary Group's office.
Jasper, the administrative officer, finished up his work and rubbed his wrist.
Just then, someone knocked.
Jasper told them to come in, and the door opened.
The trainee mercenary Holt walked up to the desk and said respectfully, "I'm here to report on what you asked me to look into. It's time for my update."
Jasper looked up at him, recalling what he'd assigned him.
"How's Prince Ron's shop doing this week? Still barely hanging on?" Jasper asked casually.
On the group leader's orders, he'd arranged a shop for Ron on Eckley Street, in the Ruby District.
If they'd rented it out, it would have brought in a dozen or so gold coins a month. Instead, they were practically giving it to Ron for free.
Technically, Ron had put up a villa as collateral, but the villa already belonged to the mercenary group. They'd planned to give it to Ron as a place to live anyway.
When Jasper added it all up, he felt they were getting the short end of the stick.
The group leader had hinted earlier that arranging a shop on Eckley Street was meant to help Ron face reality. He wanted Ron to realize he wasn't cut out for business, then settle down as a carefree noble.
So Jasper had arranged for someone to keep an eye on Ron's shop.
Last week, after watching the place for a few days, Holt reported back that it was a flower shop that sold only one kind of flower. It hadn't had a single customer in days.
The flower, called a Nether Orchid, cost 20 gold coins apiece. Supposedly, it could increase elemental density and improve meditation efficiency.
Jasper had laughed out loud when he heard that, and figured he knew what was going on.
He'd thought, Prince Ron really has never done business before. He actually opened a flower shop on Eckley Street?
And charged 20 gold coins per flower?
The claims about the flower's effects were even more ridiculous.
He had no idea what had gotten into Prince Ron.
But Holt's next words left him stunned.
"Prince Ron's shop suddenly got a lot of customers this week. They seem to be mages from the Magic Academy. As of today, more than twenty people have bought his flowers," Holt said, forcing himself to speak.
Honestly, even he could hardly believe it, though he'd seen it all with his own eyes.
When he'd watched Ron pocket handful after handful of gold coins, he'd probably looked much like Jasper did now.
"What did you say?" Jasper wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. "More than twenty people?"
If an ordinary flower shop had only twenty-some customers in a week, it wouldn't make enough to turn a profit.
But Ron's flower shop was different.
Each Nether Orchid cost 20 gold coins!
Were those mages idiots?
Or did they have too much money?
More than twenty customers meant at least 400 gold coins in revenue... Jasper's teeth began to ache.
He wasn't jealous, exactly. The Glorious Mercenary Group's weekly turnover was far more than that. But for a flower shop, this was practically a license to print money!
Jasper made himself calm down and thought it over.
Was there some detail he'd missed?
Could the flower called a Nether Orchid really have such powerful effects?
But if that was true, where were the flowers coming from?
Was the royal family secretly supplying them? Then why had the group leader hinted that the shop was just something for Prince Ron to play around with?
But if no one was backing him, how could Prince Ron possibly have something so precious?
Jasper shook his head. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't figure it out.
So he stopped trying, took out a reimbursement form, and wrote down 20 gold coins. Handing it to Holt, he instructed him, "Go to Prince Ron's flower shop tomorrow and buy a Nether Orchid. You can claim the 20 gold coins from the finance office."
Holt accepted it with both hands and replied respectfully, "Understood."
Jasper watched Holt leave the office, then leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.
He reached for a sheet of paper to write a letter and report the matter to the group leader, Webster, but stopped to reconsider.
He'd wait until he had the Nether Orchid tomorrow and ask one of the group's mages to test its effects.
If it really worked as rumored, he could tell the group leader then.
As he was thinking this, someone knocked on the office door again.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A guard from downstairs came in and reported to Jasper, "Um... someone from our patrol team came by. He said three thugs sneaked into Prince Ron's shop to steal something. They've been caught and taken away, and they're at the courthouse now..."
"What happened? Thugs went to steal from Prince Ron's shop?" Jasper frowned at once.
"Apparently someone put them up to it, but we don't know who yet," the guard added. "Should we get involved?"
Jasper considered it for a moment, then stood and grabbed his coat. "Come with me to the courthouse."
After all, Prince Ron was the Seventh Prince of the Empire. As a force directly under Andre III, the Glorious Mercenary Group had a duty to protect his interests.
That was a separate matter from Ron opening a shop. Jasper knew the difference.
System: "Daily quest triggered."
[Daily Quest]—[As a healthy man, you need to take care of your physical needs once in a while]: "Specific requirement: After reading the Elf Illustration Album, do something unspeakable that you enjoy." "Quest reward: Something all men understand."
Ron read the quest prompt, his face darkening. He felt the system was becoming more and more shameless.
[Shop] [Satisfy your own needs without lifting a finger]: 10 Wealth Points (temporary item, automatically deleted after ten minutes)
"To get my Wealth Points, you really will try anything..." Ron covered his forehead and closed the System Panel, at a loss for words.
System: "This is simply to satisfy the host's own needs."
"Look at the floor." Ron pointed at the spotless, polished boards and said seriously, "Your last shred of decency is in pieces all over the place. At least pick some of it back up, will you?"
System: "Please actively complete the quest."
"Heh." Ron rolled his eyes. "Those ridiculous quests you give me—when have I ever completed one? Could you at least try to be reliable?"
The system didn't respond.
Looks like another failed quest would be added to the list.
Ron shook his head and ignored it. With an exasperated look, he closed the illustration album in his hands and picked up the Outline of Battle Qi beside him to study.
It wasn't until around ten that night that he finally put it down and stretched. After taking a bath, he returned to his bedroom and began meditating.
He still had no idea that Jasper had already begun taking a series of measures in response to his flower shop.
Author's miserable little diary: One of the big shots in my group started a new novel and complains every day about how slowly its favorites are growing during the new-book period. He's always sighing, so out of concern I asked him what was wrong. The big shot said, "I only get a little over a hundred favorites a day. I'm in seventh or eighth place on the new-book rankings, stuck in the middle. It's driving me crazy." I looked at my own novel, which had just barely passed a hundred favorites, and fell silent.
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