Oh, They Really Came?

"I want to buy all the high-priced parchment in your shop."

"See if these Galleons are enough."

Like pushing poker chips, Silan shoved the small pile of Galleons toward the owner without the slightest hesitation.

As if he were spending not Galleons, but chocolate coins.

The owner stared at Silan in astonishment, unable to figure out what he meant.

Having only recently taken over the family business, he had yet to fully grasp the state of the market.

When Hogwarts had started its term earlier, he had seen parchment sales soar. So he had paid a hefty sum to rush in a new batch of stock.

Who would have thought that it would barely sell afterward?

This batch of goods had nearly become dead stock in his hands.

Someone wanted to take it off his hands? He could not have asked for more.

But faced with a young wizard who was clearly only in his teens, he worried Silan might be joking. Instead of agreeing outright, he cautiously probed, "There's quite a lot of parchment in the shop, and the price is several times higher than before. Are you sure you want to buy all of it?"

The young owner stared intently at Silan, as though wondering whether this kid was messing with him.

Though parchment was cheap, he had a great deal of it in stock.

And this batch had cost much more than usual. Altogether, it was indeed worth several Galleons.

Truthfully, he was anxious too.

If he could not get rid of this stock, it would be stuck in his hands.

He had only just taken over the family business, and already he had ended up with dead stock. That was the last thing he wanted to see.

But if he refrained from ordering new stock just to clear this batch, he would violate the supply contract he had already signed. It would become difficult to get stock in the future.

That contract had been established by his ancestors and had lasted for over a century.

For something to go wrong the moment he took over would be utterly humiliating.

He simply could not bring himself to do such a thing.

But once new stock arrived, faced with parchment of the same quality at different prices, even a fool would buy the cheaper one.

Then this batch would either have to be sold at a loss or would never sell at all.

He was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

Now that someone had stepped forward to take this batch off his hands, it was a good thing for him.

But what was this kid after?

Once this batch of parchment was sold out, the shop would have a gap of several days with no stock.

Was he planning to buy it all up, then sell parchment at inflated prices at Hogwarts while the shop had none?

But even then, parchment prices could not rise by much.

After reselling it, he would only make a few silver Sickles.

Could someone who could produce so many Galleons really care about such a meager profit?

A jumble of thoughts tangled around the young owner like the webs of Acromantulas.

"As long as you're willing to sell, I can afford to buy." Silan gave him a firm answer.

The owner hesitated for a while before asking, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you buying so much parchment for?"

"I like to prepare for a rainy day. It never hurts to keep more on hand."

"Could it be that Hogwarts assignments are now counted by the sheet instead of by the inch?"

The owner was somewhat speechless. With this much parchment, you could use it for two or three years without issue. Besides, who stocks up when prices are high?

Anyone in business knew that profit came from buying low and selling high.

Silan casually tapped the counter with his fingers and said lazily, "Are we making this deal or not? You won't lose money on it."

This was merely an idle move on Silan's part.

When he had heard the owner mention this parchment earlier, an idea had suddenly popped into his mind.

He wanted to use it to set Chris and the others up.

Since they dared to cut off his source of income by making maps, he would make sure they took a hard fall.

If they wanted to bite down on a hard bone, they had better be prepared to break their teeth.

"Fine. As long as you don't regret it." The owner could not be bothered to think too much about it.

This batch of goods would only cost him a few Galleons at most, not enough to truly hurt him. But suffering losses as soon as he took over the family business would not look good.

Now that someone could solve this problem for him, he could not have asked for more.

"I'll only charge you eight Galleons. At cost."

The owner picked up the top two Galleons and returned them to Silan.

After putting the money into the Mokeskin Pouch he had just bought, Silan thoughtfully offered the owner a piece of information. "If you trust me, there's something I hope you'll hear out."

"I'm all ears." The owner nodded.

Ever since this little wizard had entered the shop, he had seemed rather unfathomable.

Though his clothes looked old, he spent money with remarkable generosity.

That air of spending money like water was far too mismatched with his attire.

And though he looked young, he possessed an unusual steadiness.

It made people unable to resist trusting his words.

"I expect someone will come to buy parchment from you very soon. Probably quite a lot of it. You can raise the price a little."

"They're all very rich. They can afford it. You'll make a profit too."

Following Silan's gaze, the owner saw the most expensive parchment in the shop, decorated with gilded patterns.

Silan packed the parchment he had bought into his pouch and turned to leave.

"Oh, right." When he reached the door, he stopped and looked back at the owner. "I hope you'll keep this confidential. Don't say that I was the one who bought up the parchment. Consider it payment for that information."

This idle move gave Silan room to advance or retreat.

If Chris and the others did not come to buy, he would make maps and swallow up the last bit of the market share.

He could easily make up for the losses from this batch of expensive parchment.

If they came to buy, then they would have taken the bait.

Slytherin Common Room.

Noah anxiously paced around his dormitory, occasionally opening the door to peek outside.

He was clearly waiting for someone.

They had prepared very few maps, and they had quickly sold out.

Before they could make a second batch, they received word that the Weasley twins were planning to make maps and sell them at lower prices.

They were clearly trying to compete with them.

What was more, after their maps had sold out, several young wizards had come to buy from them, saying that many of their classmates wanted them too.

This made them feel that there were still many people who wanted to buy maps.

If they did not hurry up and make more maps, those people would probably go looking for George and Fred. So they urgently sent Chris to contact Prefect William and see what to do.

It was not until the giant squid at the bottom of the lake had swum past their dormitory window for the sixth time that Chris pushed open the door and entered.

Noah and Oliver's gazes converged on him like spotlights as they urgently asked, "What did Prefect William say?"

Chris tossed the five Galleons in his hand and said smugly, "Prefect William gave us five Galleons to buy parchment and told us to work overtime tonight."

"We'll fight them to the bitter end!"

"They won't earn a single Knut from this!"

The three of them ignored the school rules entirely and charged out of the school gates, heading for Hogsmeade.

Once they reached Hogsmeade, the three did not wander around. They went straight to Literati Residence.

After pushing open the door, Chris slapped five Galleons onto the counter without a word.

"Quick! Give me parchment!"

The owner, who had been pondering what Silan's information meant, instantly perked up at the sight of the three aggressive boys.

Oh, they really came?