Jasper's Bold Guess

"Cooperation?" Jasper sat in his office, listening to Holt's report with a grave expression and a hint of uncertainty.

"Yes. I heard Professor Hicks tell His Highness Ron, 'It was a pleasure working with you.' They also exchanged receipts, and said something about signing a contract," Holt said earnestly.

Jasper leaned back in his chair, one hand resting on the armrest, the other pinching the end of his pen as he turned it over in thought.

He had been wondering where the Nether Orchid in His Highness Ron's flower shop had come from.

After all, plants with miraculous effects like this were almost never found growing in ordinary environments. If they were, someone would have discovered them long ago.

And His Highness Ron had lived in the palace since childhood. Apart from this trip to Chaos City, he had never left the Imperial Capital. How could he have had the chance to encounter a plant like the Nether Orchid?

But if the Disode Magic Academy was behind him, everything made sense.

What was the Magic Academy... trying to do?

Why use His Highness Ron to bring the Nether Orchid to the public's attention?

If they only wanted to make a profit, the Magic Academy could have handled the entire process themselves. At most, they could have partnered with the Gnome Trade Alliance. There was no reason to choose His Highness Ron, a powerless Seventh Prince, as their partner.

Could they really be trying to support His Highness Ron and get involved in dividing up the Human Empire's interests?

Jasper had let his imagination run wild, only to be startled by his own audacious guess.

Support His Highness Ron... support the Seventh Prince...

But the Disode Magic Academy was an absolutely neutral power!

How could that be possible?!

Jasper felt a cold sweat trickle down his back.

He shook his head, thinking the idea was absurd.

The Disode Magic Academy's very foundation was absolute neutrality. How could they possibly interfere in the internal affairs of the Human Empire?

Although the academy's dean was human, its two vice deans, both legendary mages, were respectively from the Elf Race and the Gnome Race. They would surely never agree to meddle in the Human Empire's affairs.

Jasper did his best to convince himself...

But... what if?

People could change.

Who could say for sure?

Since His Highness Ron certainly didn't have the ability to obtain a plant like the Nether Orchid on his own, it must have been provided by the Magic Academy, which had partnered with him.

That much was obvious.

Even if the Magic Academy had no intention of interfering in the Human Empire's affairs, there had to be some other reason they had chosen His Highness Ron.

There simply wasn't enough information yet for Jasper to make an accurate judgment.

"Leave the Nether Orchid here and go," Jasper said, waving Holt off. "Don't stop monitoring the flower shop. Raise the monthly reimbursement limit for this assignment to one gold coin, and remember to report to me every week."

"Yes." Holt nodded respectfully and left the office.

Jasper glanced at the Nether Orchid on his desk, pulled out a blank sheet of paper, and began writing a letter.

He described everything involving His Highness Ron in full, clearly distinguishing the objective facts from his own conjectures so the captain could understand the situation.

Anything involving the Magic Academy and the Human Empire now had to be reported to the captain.

After finishing the letter, Jasper rubbed his temples and let out a long breath.

Tomorrow, he would first ask the mercenary group's mage to test the Nether Orchid's effects, then go to the flower shop and sound out His Highness Ron.

With that thought, Jasper took the letter out of his office and ordered one of his subordinates to deliver it.

The captain should be in the northern part of the empire at the moment, so the letter would probably take a long time to reach him.

Fortunately, the matter concerning His Highness Ron wasn't too urgent, so Jasper didn't feel the need to rush.

What happened next would depend on how His Highness Ron's flower shop developed.

After waking in the morning, Ron went through his usual routine, training his ability to draw out "qi." He felt he was getting closer and closer to becoming a First-Order Warrior.

After breakfast, someone from the Magic Academy Business Department showed up with a formal contract.

Ron read it carefully several times and pointed out a few minor flaws. After they made the revisions, the two sides signed the contract, and the deal was finalized.

The Magic Academy representative stored a hundred Nether Orchids in a spatial device, said goodbye to Ron, and left.

Ron, meanwhile, received a 4,000-gold-coin receipt as he had hoped, along with a contract for 600 Nether Orchids over three months.

The system's notification arrived right on cue--

[Main Quest]--[Open for Business and Sell One Hundred Nether Orchids]:

"Congratulations, host. Quest completed. The reward has been stored in [Inventory]."

System: "Upgrade quest triggered."

[Upgrade Quest]--[Successfully Grow One Golden Red Chrysanthemum]:

"Requirements: Successfully grow one Golden Red Chrysanthemum in the [Cultivation Space]."

"Quest reward: Plant Growth Technique, System Level +1."

Seeing "System Level +1" among the quest rewards, Ron's eye twitched.

"What use is this level-up supposed to be? You just add a pattern to the panel?" Ron grumbled.

System: "With this upgrade, the system will offer the host three different patterns to choose from. Once the host reaches level five, the system will also introduce panel skins to satisfy the host's aesthetic needs."

"Heh... heh-heh... panel skins..." Ron's mouth twitched. He didn't even know where to begin complaining.

Why not be even greedier and offer skin fragments or something?

You're giving me a skin for free. I should really thank you!

He sighed and shook his head helplessly, then opened [Inventory].

He first selected [Golden Red Chrysanthemum Cultivation Method] and absorbed it, instantly learning everything there was to know about cultivating Golden Red Chrysanthemums.

Only then did he open [Golden Red Chrysanthemum Seeds] and read the item description.

[Golden Red Chrysanthemum Seed] (one): The Golden Red Chrysanthemum is a perennial, evergreen herbaceous plant that prefers moist conditions and loose, fertile soil. It blooms every autumn and withers at the end of the season. Its fragrance promotes the circulation of battle qi. Its leaves and petals can be used to brew tea, and the petals can also be eaten directly. Both methods boost the circulation of battle qi and stimulate the body's vitality. Their effects are gentle, and they also provide an extra boost to the condensation of battle qi.

"Tsk, after mages, it's the warriors' turn?" Ron rubbed his chin and chuckled. "You're making magic and martial arts bloom together!"

Ron was very pleased with the Golden Red Chrysanthemum's effects, nodding repeatedly as he read its description.

Compared to the Nether Orchid, the Golden Red Chrysanthemum had a much wider audience.

After all, warriors far outnumbered mages. This was especially true of low-tier warriors: with enough talent and years of training, even ordinary people had a chance to advance.

Of course, that was only in relative terms.

Ordinary people still made up the vast majority of the population on the continent. Warriors who had condensed a Battle Qi Vortex were only somewhat more numerous than mages; there still weren't enough for everyone to cultivate battle qi.

Ron was right at the stage where he was close to condensing a Battle Qi Vortex, so the Golden Red Chrysanthemum had arrived at just the right time.

I want recommendation tickets~~~