Market Survey

Sanderson strolled along the main street in a flamboyant formal suit, with a burly man following behind him. This was his bodyguard, Parker—dim-witted but sturdy, capable of punching straight through a wooden board.

His ostentatious manner drew quite a few sidelong glances. Rather than restraining himself, Sanderson became even more swaggering. He enjoyed this kind of treatment.

As a child, he had often been beaten by his drunken father. Then one day, that damned old man fell into the river while drunk and drowned. When Sanderson became an orphan, he also gained the freedom he had long awaited.

He had not gone to an orphanage. Instead, he began stealing on the streets and gradually became a fairly well-known thug. Later, Sanderson met Pilam, who had come to Priest to start a business.

It had to be said that Sanderson's underhanded methods were quite effective at times. After helping Pilam deal with a stubborn workshop, Sanderson became Pilam's number-one lackey and began thriving.

This time, he had come to investigate how Pilam Cola was selling on the market.

Sanderson turned the corner and entered a potion shop. It was an ordinary store that worked with several alchemy workshops.

"Boss, give me two bottles of cola. Pilam's."

The moment he entered the potion shop, Sanderson began shouting, making the shopkeeper frown.

The owner had wanted to say something, but upon seeing the tall and muscular Parker behind Sanderson, he swallowed his words. He took the three copper coins Sanderson tossed over and retrieved two bottles of cola from the icebox beside him.

During this process, Sanderson swept his gaze around the shop. He discovered that most of the icebox was stocked with Pilam Cola, which immediately pleased him. It seemed the pricing strategy was as useful as ever.

Sanderson tossed one bottle of cola to Parker, opened the other, and gulped down a mouthful. To be honest, Pilam Cola did taste somewhat different, but who cared?

Just as Sanderson was about to ask the owner about the cola's sales, three more men entered the shop. They loosened their collars, clearly uncomfortable with the recent warmer weather.

"Hey, boss, do you have any cola?"

The leading man glanced at Sanderson without commenting on his attire, then walked straight up to the counter.

"Only Pilam Cola."

The owner replied, tapping on the icebox door. Behind its transparent door, bottles of Pilam Cola were lined up neatly.

Sanderson secretly rejoiced. Clearly, Pilam Cola had rapidly taken over the entire market. Those lowly ants truly had no way to contend against the Pilam Empire!

"No way. We've already checked three shops. How come this place doesn't have any either?"

One of the men complained. He looked at his companions and sighed helplessly.

"Looks like we won't be drinking cola today."

"Why is New Moon Cola so out of stock? Can't they raise production a little?"

"Sorry, the new shipment probably won't arrive until noon."

The owner smiled apologetically. It seemed the reason this place was full of Pilam Cola was simply because New Moon Cola had sold out.

"Wait, why are you so fixated on New Moon Cola? Isn't Pilam Cola great too? And it's cheaper."

Sanderson suppressed the anger in his heart and asked in a relatively casual tone.

"Pilam Cola? Can that stuff even be called cola? Does it deserve to be?"

At Sanderson's words, one member of the trio immediately raised his voice several notches, sounding as though he were challenging him.

"The Pilam brand has always liked making shoddy imitations. Their previous products were barely usable, but this cola tastes so much worse. It's practically an insult to the name cola!"

Perhaps the stifling heat, combined with their long search without finding any cola, had made them irritable. Their reaction left Sanderson dumbfounded.

"Sorry, I'm just a little irritated."

The man quickly apologized to Sanderson. As he spoke, the shop door opened again. This time, it was someone dressed as a clerk carrying a wooden crate.

"Boss, I heard this morning that New Moon Cola had released new products, so I immediately went to get stock."

The clerk set down the wooden crate and lifted its lid. Inside were drinks bottled like cola, though their colors were somewhat different.

The three men immediately crowded around it, like pirates who had finally found a legendary treasure.

Each of them picked up a bottle. The drinks contained three different liquids: cyan-green, transparent, and orange.

"Antoine says they're new drinks in the same category as cola, but with different flavors. They cost the same."

"I'll try one."

One of the trio took out three copper coins and handed them to the owner, then used a bottle opener to remove the cap and took a large gulp of the transparent drink in his hand.

Because the wooden crate itself had been enchanted with a short-term cooling spell, the drinks inside were still icy cold.

A trace of coolness flowed down his throat, dispelling the heat brought by the muggy weather. Unlike cola's mellow sweetness, this transparent drink carried a fresh hint of lemon. Its slight tartness instead highlighted its original sweetness, giving the flavor greater depth and a clear, refreshing quality that swept away all irritation.

"This is amazing!"

As he spoke, the man's other two companions each paid for and opened their own drinks.

The orange drink released a burst of citrus fragrance the moment it was opened. One mouthful filled the entire mouth with the distinctive sweetness of fructose, forming a marvelous symphony with the constantly released fizz. It was far superior to ordinary orange juice.

The cyan-green drink, meanwhile, came with the freshness of apples. Its light sweetness intertwined with the burst of carbonation, like the crisp bite of an apple, instantly winning over the heart.

The expressions on all three men's faces were utterly intoxicated. These three brand-new drinks were in no way inferior to cola, each possessing a strong character that made them impossible to put down.

"This is a new drink too?"

Sanderson tossed out three copper coins and picked up a bottle of cola with slightly different packaging but the same black liquid. Its label showed that the drink was called Zero Cola and specifically noted that its sugar content was extremely low.

"What's the point of cola if it isn't sweet?"

Sanderson muttered to himself, opened the cap, and took a sip.

A strange flavor immediately flooded his mouth. This sweetness, different from ordinary cola, possessed an astonishing charm. Though he kept warning himself not to become so engrossed, Sanderson could not help taking another sip.

"Man, I thought cola was already good enough, but I never expected there to be four other drinks just as good as cola. Praise the king for letting me be born in this era."

One of the trio exclaimed, and his words also jolted Sanderson awake.

It was time for him to steal Antoine's alchemy array.