Arthur accepted Fontel's commission.
The man was simply offering too much.
Arthur couldn't refuse.
A golden acorn had a market price of around 500-600 Gold Tickets, but most of the time, it couldn't be bought outright. It had to be obtained through barter.
Then how much was a manor that produced an endless supply of golden acorns worth?
Arthur couldn't begin to estimate it.
Even if he would own only one-eighth of it.
So he really couldn't refuse.
After all, he really needed money!
Anything connected to the mystical side was expensive, especially certain kinds of knowledge, whose prices were high enough to make Arthur's heart tremble.
That went double for mystical-side materials that were practically one of a kind.
Calling them priceless was no exaggeration.
Of course, Arthur wasn't setting his sights on materials like those, but even his everyday studies of the mystical side required sufficient financial support.
Support himself through his profession as a Medium?
Wasn't that exactly what he was doing?
To ensure the commission went more smoothly, Arthur wrote three letters, addressed to Malinda, Maltz, and Scott.
His letter to Malinda simply said, "Lord Doyle is dead. I'm going to Oak Manor, and I need compensation!"
Even now, Arthur wasn't sure whether Malinda knew about the lord's death, or whether her earlier mention of Oak Manor had been a mere "coincidence."
But Malinda had indeed mentioned it, so he would take that to mean she already knew and had set a trap for him.
And him?
He had walked right into it.
So he needed compensation.
This absolutely wasn't freeloading-he had told her about this "coincidence" and given her a "warning."
At the same time, this string of "coincidences" made Arthur increasingly wary.
He kept feeling that someone was setting things up behind the scenes!