Director Jia's First Pot of Gold

In the central square of Creekwood Town, Jia Xiu's temporary hair-growth stall had already been set up.

Jia Xiu pulled over a stool and waited quietly for business to come to him.

There were still quite a few wealthy people in town who could make use of "director-level hair growth."

Though he had never counted, Creekwood Town probably had several thousand residents. Without that scale, so many associations would not have branches stationed here.

But then again, making every one of several thousand people grow hair would be a bit too much work.

Jia Xiu turned his gaze toward Bubu, who was drawing with chalk.

It had drawn a Bubu on the ground, except this one wore knight's armor and had a tall figure beside it.

Judging by the association robes on the tall figure, Jia Xiu thought it was probably supposed to be him.

But why had it drawn such an evil expression?

What was with that wicked smile full of pointed teeth? Was that how Bubu saw him?

Forget it. No point arguing with a "child."

Jia Xiu leaned closer and asked, "Bubu, do you learn new spells quickly?"

"I don't know, Boss."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

Even with an Intelligence of 4, it should have some idea whether it learned spells quickly or slowly.

"I've never learned a new spell."

Bubu answered honestly.

"Then how did you learn your spells? The one in the cave where you turned someone's head into fireworks."

"I didn't learn it. I just knew it."

Hearing Bubu's answer, Jia Xiu's expression twisted into something conflicted and ferocious.

It had cheats!

It could use spells without learning them.

Listen to that. Was that even something a person would say?

Ah, no. Bubu really wasn't a person.

Jia Xiu pulled out his spellbook, which recorded most of the strange spells he had modified so far, including the hair-growth version of the healing spell.

He flipped to that page and handed it to Bubu.

"Can you understand it? This is what we'll be using later, a spell to grow hair."

"Boss, do knights need spells to grow hair too?"

"Knights need to pay attention to their appearance as well, so taking care of one's hair is an essential skill for a knight."

Jia Xiu felt that if he kept bluffing like this, knight would sooner or later become synonymous with someone who could do anything.

"Okay, Boss. Let me take a look."

Bubu took the spellbook and stared—

Its tiny eyes filled with enormous confusion.

"I can't understand it."

Hearing that, Jia Xiu let out a small sigh of relief. If it had learned it at a glance, that would have been way too terrifying...

Before Jia Xiu could speak, Bubu continued, "But I can use it."

"¿"

It was not even pretending anymore!

How could it use it if it could not understand it? Was that 28 Charm meant to win the favor of the God of Magic?

Bubu raised its little hands and cast the Hair-Growth Healing Spell directly, without even needing an incantation. Emerald light shone between its hands.

Its yellow eyes blinked as it looked at Jia Xiu. "Boss, I want to try it, but I don't have hair."

Jia Xiu looked around the empty square and streets. It was too early; no one was around yet.

"You're sure this healing spell won't hurt me?"

"Don't worry, Boss."

Jia Xiu thought about it. It was level 19. It was probably right.

So he squatted down. "Try it on my head. I'm the boss, after all."

"It worked, Boss."

"Let me see... No, why is the hair that grew out green?"

Jia Xiu stared at the head of green hair in the mirror and asked in disbelief.

"How did you add a dyeing function?"

"Huh? Boss, I don't know."

After several minutes of messing around, under Jia Xiu's guidance, Bubu finally mastered the method of growing hair in its original color.

Meanwhile, Jia Xiu had grown hair down to his shoulders, and every section was a different color.

He simply used a small knife to cut off all the parts with that non-mainstream color scheme, leaving behind black hair slightly longer than a crew cut.

Jia Xiu had never cared much about hairstyles. He spent every day cooped up in the laboratory for more than ten hours at a time, with no mood to bother with his hair.

He had always held the highest respect for every graduate student who came to the lab dressed beautifully.

That was simply an unfathomable amount of energy.

"Alright, when people come to grow hair later, you handle the apprentice-level hair growth, and I'll handle the director-level service."

"Boss, what's a director?"

"A kind of senior manager."

"Does doing hair count as being a senior manager?"

"Good question, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that calling it that lets us charge 100 Kroner."

Before long, daylight fully broke, and screams began to rise from the residential buildings around the square.

"Ah—my hair!"

This was perhaps the fastest morning wake-up Creekwood Town's residents had ever experienced. Who could discover a pillow full of hair upon waking and remain sleepy?

The fright alone woke them up.

Very soon, someone noticed Jia Xiu's stall in the square.

With the mindset of having no other choice, so they might as well give it a try, the first customer arrived.

After seeing hair grow back on his shiny bald head in the mirror, that customer became a walking advertisement.

A long line quickly formed in front of the stall.

Bubu handled volume, while Jia Xiu handled scamming people.

Thanks to its high Agility, Bubu's casting speed was astonishingly fast. It could grow a full head of hair in seconds. Standing on a stool, it set up its own hair-growth assembly line.

But because it was simply too fast, it instead looked like a reckless apprentice.

Jia Xiu was different.

His casting speed was much slower, and his mana was weak as well. Each cast could only grow a patch of hair, and it took seven or eight casts to fill in an entire head.

But in the customers' eyes, that was meticulous craftsmanship.

To make the suckers—ah, distinguished customers—feel that their many Kroner had been well spent, Jia Xiu deliberately slowed down. Every time he grew a lock of hair, he would put on a show of combing it.

Nonprofessionals found it difficult to judge quality from a professional standpoint, but time spent was something they could feel directly.

Jia Xiu also rented a sofa for 5 Hel, giving customers receiving director service a more comfortable experience. He even partnered with the watermelon juice vendor in the square: purchase director service, and enjoy unlimited watermelon juice.

In truth, 1 Kroner could buy an entire cartload of watermelons.

But in the service industry, what you sold was service.

The owner of Creekwood Town's quarry admired his brand-new lush hair in the mirror. "Tsk, this director hair growth really does look like it has better hair quality."

There was actually no difference at all.

"Indeed."

"Your gorgeous hair is enough to make the whole square shine."

The quarry owner's two attendants even automatically started playing along.

The owner was delighted and gave another 20 Kroner as a tip.

What a gentleman!

While stack after stack of Kroner flowed in, Jia Xiu's little stall ran into a small problem.

Perhaps it was because of Bubu's 28 Charm, combined with how small and adorable it was.

The customers who came for hair growth did not have very clean hands.

"Come, let Auntie touch you."

"Quick, let Auntie hold you."

Left with no choice, Jia Xiu added a line to the little blackboard.

"Please do not touch the apprentice. If you really want to, 1 Hel per touch."

But this did not stop the enthusiastic "aunties."

On the contrary, because they had paid, they touched Bubu even more brazenly.

By evening, the price for a single touch had risen to 5 Hel, yet plenty of well-off aunties were still tossing out several Kroner at a time.

"I'll touch for five minutes first."

The stall's business lasted from dawn to dusk. Thanks to Bubu's rapid casting and incredible endurance, not a single bald head was left in Creekwood Town.

People also began speculating about what had caused the entire town to lose its hair.

Some had heard that several cultists had been sent to the Adventurer Association. Their leader had even blown off his own head during a ritual, supposedly summoning undead.

Others remembered that last night had been a full-moon night. Thus, the long-forgotten nursery rhyme, Poor Bubu, was remembered once more.

People took the nursery rhyme as a prophecy. It turned out that the next full-moon night would bring disaster upon the whole town.

What they did not know was that Bubu was not poor now.

It was counting money with Jia Xiu.

"A total of 1,865 Kroner and 30,521 Hel. That adds up to..."

Bubu worked hard at counting on its fingers.

"2,170 Kroner and 21 Hel," Jia Xiu answered casually. The coins were wrapped in a large bundle, and it was quite heavy.

"Wow, Boss, how did you calculate that?"

"Magic, isn't it? Study hard, and I'll teach you someday."

Jia Xiu had finally recovered a little confidence through Bubu.

"We'll split today's earnings seventy-thirty. Your share is... 651. Let's round it off. You get 660. Sounds nicer."

"Bubu doesn't need money. Bubu has never spent money either. Boss can keep it."

"Oh, alright. Then I'll save it for you for now."

Huh, why did that sound so familiar?

Bubu looked a little unhappy.

Jia Xiu thought it had grown tired of being touched by those "terrifying aunties."

"Hey, what's wrong, Bubu? Next time, if there's something you don't want to do, just say so. No one will force you."

"No. It's just that Boss said knights should pay attention to their appearance."

Bubu looked at its somewhat worn-out clothes, its Bubu eyes full of grievance.

"Oh, that? No big deal. I know a very skilled tailor. Come on, I'll take you there."

Jia Xiu and Bubu, one large and one small, walked down streets illuminated by the evening glow.

"Boss, can you tell stories?"

Bubu suddenly asked.

"Stories?" Jia Xiu thought for a moment. "I have one about an evil little mage, and one about a dark wizard. Which one do you want to hear..."