Jasper's Inner Certainty (Please vote for recommendations!)

"Your Highness Ron." Jasper bowed respectfully and greeted him.

Ron nodded in acknowledgment and said with a smile, "Come inside and take a seat."

Jasper followed him into the Flower Shop and sat down across from Ron.

"Did you come all this way for something specific?" Ron asked casually.

According to his guess, Jasper was likely here regarding the incident with the three thugs.

But upon second thought, he felt that would be making a mountain out of a molehill.

After all, if it were just such a trivial matter, sending anyone to deliver the message would have sufficed.

Therefore, Jasper must have had other business with him.

"I do have a matter to discuss with Your Highness Ron." Jasper chuckled, softening his expression to appear less serious, and said, "Yesterday, with the help of Professor Hicks, we caught the magic apprentice who instigated the thugs, and it was confirmed that he was indeed the one responsible."

"The court issued a verdict yesterday. In addition to six months of detention, he is required to pay Your Highness Ron 50 gold coins as compensation for emotional distress. Furthermore, once Professor Hicks confirmed the matter, he had the Magic Academy's admissions department process the apprentice's expulsion."

"Here are the 50 gold coins." As he spoke, Jasper unhooked the coin purse from his waist and placed it on the table. "If Your Highness Ron is still dissatisfied, I can arrange for someone to take care of him in his cell."

"That won't be necessary." Ron shook his head indifferently, reached out to toss the coin purse onto the counter without bothering to open it or count the contents, and looked at Jasper. "Sorry for the trouble, and thank you."

"It is my duty." Jasper smiled, his gaze flickering briefly toward the coin purse on the counter with a hint of hesitation.

50 gold coins was not a small sum.

Although Ron's Flower Shop could earn 20 gold coins from a single Nether Orchid, Jasper didn't believe Ron could actually pocket that much money.

Not to mention the cost of cultivating the Nether Orchids, the Magic Academy behind Ron would surely take the vast majority of the profits.

It was even possible that Ron didn't receive a cut at all and only lived off a fixed stipend provided by the Magic Academy.

Much like the 100 gold coins the Glorious Mercenary Group provided him every month.

Therefore, in Jasper's view, these 50 gold coins were not a small amount for Ron, so he shouldn't have been able to toss them onto the counter without even a glance.

He puts on a very convincing show... Jasper thought to himself, though he kept his smile as he said, "Coming to see Your Highness Ron today, besides the matter of that magic apprentice, there is actually another thing I would like to discuss with you."

"Oh?" Ron raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that the main event had arrived. "What is it?"

"Hehe, it's like this." Jasper said with a measured smile. "Your shop has plants that can improve meditation efficiency, right? Although most of our mercenary group are warriors, we also have quite a few mages, so there is some demand for them."

"I was thinking, could we place a long-term order for some Nether Orchids from Your Highness Ron to provide some help to our mages, and incidentally boost your sales? It would be a win-win situation."

Jasper had already taken the Nether Orchid that Holt bought this morning to find the mages stationed at the Glorious Mercenary Group in Chaos City, and they had confirmed the magical effects of the plant on the spot.

So, his proposal for a long-term partnership was indeed sincere.

Ron rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, and said cautiously, "In principle, I have no objection. However, I am not the one who actually cultivates the Nether Orchids, and the monthly quota is limited, so I'm afraid you won't be able to get too many."

Jasper's expression remained unchanged, but he felt a sense of clarity in his heart.

As if you could actually cultivate Nether Orchids yourself... Jasper mocked internally.

The Nether Orchids were clearly provided to Ron by the Magic Academy, and the quantity would certainly be restricted. Jasper had anticipated this and was mentally prepared.

"That will certainly be based on the amount Your Highness can provide. Our mercenary group has relatively few mages, so we won't need too many Nether Orchids." Jasper continued, "Let's see, how many can you provide per month?"

Ron feigned a moment of thought and replied, "About 100 should be manageable. How does that sound?"

Jasper was slightly surprised; he hadn't expected the monthly yield of Nether Orchids to be that high.

But once he thought about the Magic Academy behind Ron, there was nothing to be surprised about.

Thus, Jasper nodded readily. "Of course, no problem."

Although Jasper said that, it was actually not enough.

The Glorious Mercenary Group was spread throughout the Human Empire, and even just counting the core members, there were hundreds of thousands of them.

Just the team stationed in Chaos City had hundreds of mages, not to mention the other teams passing through, and the countless branches within the Human Empire that would all need plants like the Nether Orchid.

However, since the channel was in someone else's hands, he didn't haggle over the quantity but instead probed, "100 Nether Orchids a month is quite a large business. Could Your Highness Ron offer a discount?"

Ron shook his head immediately and said apologetically, "I'm afraid that's not possible. The pricing for the Nether Orchids is not set by me. 20 gold coins per plant—that cannot be changed."

The price was strictly set by the system, and even when trading with the Magic Academy earlier, Ron hadn't budged on this.

Of course, this also had to do with Professor Hicks's proactive concessions.

After all, in Professor Hicks's view, since Your Highness Ron had the backing of the empire and possessed such magical plants, it was better not to haggle, as it would leave a good impression.

In fact, at the very beginning, Professor Hicks had been prepared to pay a premium.

When Jasper heard Ron's reply, he also nodded in understanding and did not push his luck.

In his view, although Ron had the backing of the Magic Academy and was granted such magical plants, the decision-making power for certain things definitely didn't lie with him, so it was understandable that there were no discounts.

This was also a test by Jasper to see how much autonomy Ron actually had regarding the Nether Orchids.

At the moment, he seems more like a puppet... Jasper thought, maintaining his smile. "Hehe, whether there's a discount or not doesn't matter much. Since Your Highness Ron can provide 100 Nether Orchids a month, shall we settle on that? I'll go back and have a contract drafted and send it to you tomorrow?"

"That works, thank you for the trouble." Ron nodded happily, reaching a consensus with Jasper, and then added in a persuasive tone, "Actually, compared to the Nether Orchids, I think the new plants in the shop are more suitable for the Glorious Mercenary Group. Would you like to learn about them?"

Failed Writer's Diary: Today in the author group, a big shot who just released a new book was complaining that they hadn't received a recommendation slot after tens of thousands of words. Someone in the group tagged me and said, "This is the time to tag someone who hasn't even signed a contract yet." Me: Wuwuwu... (The person who tagged me is a good friend; this was just a bit of banter.)