"Where's the shopkeeper?" Holt looked around the shop, then glanced at Mason and asked in surprise, "Are you the new shop assistant?"
Mason shook his head. "I'm a friend of the shopkeeper's. He's upstairs discussing something with someone, so I'm keeping an eye on the shop for him."
"Oh, I see." Holt nodded thoughtfully, wondering who was discussing things with Prince Ron.
"Did you need something from the shopkeeper?" Mason asked, puzzled.
"No, no, I was just asking." Holt scratched his head, then pulled out twenty gold coins and said, "I'm here to buy a Nether Orchid."
Mason didn't suspect anything. He took the twenty gold coins, removed a Nether Orchid from the grid shelf, and handed it to Holt.
Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Two figures came down, chatting and laughing, and entered Holt's field of vision.
Holt had thoroughly studied the profiles of Chaos City's important figures. In an instant, he recognized the man in the luxurious magic robe as Professor Hicks of the Magic Academy!
He actually came here in person... Holt was secretly astonished. He glanced down at the Nether Orchid in his hand. It looks like this plant's effects are probably real...
He watched as Prince Ron and Professor Hicks headed for the door, then slowed his own departure and listened closely to their conversation.
"Someone from the Magic Academy will come tomorrow to sign a contract with you."
"You can redeem the promissory note I gave you at the Gold Depository whenever you like."
"As for the hundred Nether Orchids today, just hand them over to our people when they come tomorrow."
"Looking forward to working with you."
Contract... promissory note... looking forward to working with you...
Those words flashed through Holt's mind, and he suddenly felt he'd stumbled onto something remarkable.
Did Prince Ron have the support of Disode Magic Academy?
Was this Flower Shop actually set up with the Magic Academy's backing?
Prince Ron was the Seventh Prince... What was the Magic Academy up to?
Holt licked his lips, feeling that things were beyond anything he'd imagined.
Meanwhile, Mason followed Professor Hicks out of the shop. Ron said goodbye to them at the entrance.
Ron and Hicks were both smiling. Clearly, they were very pleased with how things had gone.
Just then, a carriage stopped outside the shop, followed by a patrol team.
Jasper stepped down from the carriage. When he saw Professor Hicks and the others, he froze, a flicker of emotion passing through his eyes.
"Jasper?" Ron exclaimed in surprise when he saw him.
"Prince Ron." Jasper quickly composed himself and greeted him with a smile. "The three punks who stole the flowers yesterday confessed in court. A magic apprentice from the Magic Academy was behind it. The patrol team is about to go arrest him. Would you like to come along?"
"I'll pass." Ron shook his head, finding it a bit of a hassle. Besides, he had to mind the shop. Still, he asked, "Will I need to attend the court proceedings later?"
Jasper could tell Ron thought it was too much trouble, so he said considerately, "If you'd rather not go, I'll take care of everything for you."
"Then thanks for that."
"Of course."
Professor Hicks had been about to leave, but now he stopped and asked with a frown, "Sorry to ask, but are you saying that one of our Magic Academy's apprentices secretly told someone to steal the flowers?"
"Hello, Professor Hicks. I'm Jasper, an administrator with the Glorious Mercenary Group." Jasper greeted him first, then continued, "The punks who stole the flowers yesterday have been arrested. After confessing, they named an apprentice from the Magic Academy as the mastermind. But we'll need to question that apprentice to get to the bottom of things."
"Prince Ron, I'd like to apologize on behalf of the Academy." Professor Hicks hadn't expected something like this to happen. He immediately apologized to Ron, then turned to Jasper. "I'll go with you. That way, you won't have to apply for permission to enter."
"Much appreciated." Jasper smiled, then invited him, "Please, get in the carriage."
Professor Hicks and Mason got into the carriage. After saying goodbye to Ron, Jasper set off for the Magic Academy with the patrol team.
As Professor Hicks and Mason were there, Holt didn't speak with Jasper. He quietly left the shop, intending to report what he'd discovered once Jasper returned to the office.
Once the commotion had passed, the shop grew quiet again.
Ron hadn't really paid the punks much mind. With Jasper handling things, there shouldn't be anything left to worry about.
And now that he had a Supplier Badge issued by the Magic Academy, fewer people would probably cause trouble for him.
At least, no one in Chaos City should want to offend the Magic Academy.
After all, it was a powerful organization with three legendary mages. It carried considerable prestige.
Ron sat down in the recliner and opened his System Panel, only to find that the main quest still wasn't marked complete.
"Quest progress: 32/100."
The increase in progress must have come from the Nether Orchids Mason had just sold.
Ron counted the extra gold coins in the counter to make sure the amount was right.
Wealth Points: 541
"Wait, doesn't this promissory note count as money? And I've already taken payment, so doesn't that mean the hundred Nether Orchids are sold?" Ron pulled the promissory note worth two thousand gold coins from his pocket and asked in confusion.
System: "First, the hundred Nether Orchids have not yet been delivered, so the transaction between the host and the customer is not complete. Second, the gold coins represented by the promissory note still technically belong to the Magic Academy. The host must open an account at the Gold Depository and transfer the coins into that account before the Wealth Points will increase."
"That's pretty thorough." Ron closed the System Panel. He wasn't in a hurry.
After he signed the contract with the Magic Academy tomorrow, he'd receive payment for another two hundred Nether Orchids, a total of four thousand gold coins. Adding today's two thousand, that would give him enough to convert into six thousand Wealth Points.
He'd be rich overnight.
Even the Dew Technique and Soil Tilling Technique, which cost five hundred Wealth Points each, would be easy to get.
But Ron had already decided to learn magic himself. Unless it was necessary, he wouldn't use the System Shop to exchange for spells anymore.
Especially for these two first-tier spells. There was no need to waste precious Wealth Points on them.
They sounded like such ordinary spells. Why waste Wealth Points on the system's instant instruction? Wasn't learning them himself better?
It wasn't as if he had a useless-protagonist setup and needed the system just to show up his enemies.
This system kept finding new ways to cheat him out of his Wealth Points. Ron had seen right through it.
After that, Ron sold a few more Nether Orchids. His quest progress reached 36/100, and his Wealth Points rose to 621.
During that time, he also got out some paper and a pen and wrote something down, planning to take care of another matter.
At five in the afternoon, he closed the shop and headed to the alley next door.
Bottom-tier author's diary: A big shot in the group went from 600 first-month subscriptions to an average of 2,000. I'm so jealous...
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