Agent

"An agent? Why would I need an agent?" Richard countered. "I'm selling Magic Potions just fine as it is. Why would I need another person to take a slice of the pie?"

"No, no, no, you've misunderstood me." Kevin waved his hands repeatedly. "I won't take any of your Magic Stones. All I want is the Sales Rights. The entire profit from the Magic Potions will be yours—I won't take a single coin."

"Not a single coin? Then what do you earn?" Richard stared into Kevin's eyes and continued, "And you still haven't answered one question.

Why would I need an agent?"

"Because of safety. Because you and Joseph are enemies. You've affected his business, you have the woman he wants, and he has enough Magic Stones to hire someone to Curse you!" Kevin's gaze did not waver. He met Richard's eyes head-on and gave his reasons.

"And an agent is a shield in front of you—a whistle. Any Curse delivered through Magic Potions will be borne by me first."

Kevin's reasoning rang like a hammer striking the ground, forcing Richard to consider the value of the proposal.

"I need some time, Kevin." Richard rose to his feet. "I need to verify what you've said. If you've told even the slightest lie, then this deal is off."

"Every word I said is true. I swear it on my family name." Kevin pointed at the sky and swore.

Central Black Tower 56th Floor

"An agent? That is indeed a thing."

Jacques took a sip of wine. "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Anna had gone off the grid to build the machine Richard had commissioned. At present, Jacques was the only senior Richard could turn to for answers.

"Someone came to me and wanted to become my agent. He said he'd shield me from Curses."

Richard sat across from Jacques, his fingers tapping ceaselessly against the table before him.

"And he doesn't even want a share of the profits. He only wants the Sales Rights."

"That's perfectly normal. Agree to it," Jacques said casually. "Everything he said is true. An agent really can help someone withstand Curses. With an agent there to blow the whistle, you'll be better prepared when a Curse comes."

"And it's not as if they get nothing out of it."

Richard frowned. "What do you mean?"

A shrewd gleam flashed through Jacques's eyes. "Junior Brother, Focus Potions are hot commodities in the Academy. Not just anyone can buy them. If you give the potions to him, then who he sells them to becomes his right. He only needs to hold back a few bottles to trade favors and Magic Stones from those desperately in need of Magic Potions."

"So that's how it is." Richard suddenly understood.

"It's a win-win deal. I suggest you agree, Junior Brother. Although Master Susanna belongs to two schools, during the apprentice stage she'll definitely focus on the Shaping School. Having an agent as a shield would make things safer."

Richard stood. "All right. Sorry for taking up your time, Senior Brother."

"What trouble is that?" Jacques waved it off. "It's only a bit of experience. Once you've stayed in the Academy long enough, you'll understand too."

After returning to Kevin's room, Richard and Kevin signed an Agent Contract.

Richard handed Kevin the sales rights for Focus Potions, though he retained control over pricing. However, the contract allowed Kevin to purchase ten percent of the Magic Potion output himself. That ten percent was enough for Kevin to earn plenty of favors.

After that, Richard began Material Testing. All sorts of strange and unusual materials flowed continuously into his hands through Kevin. During that time, the machine Richard had commissioned from Anna was also completed.

It was a machine Anna found quite peculiar. The entire device was divided into upper and lower sections. The upper half held Storage Tanks for materials, while the lower half contained an Alchemy Pot. The Storage Tanks fed materials into the Alchemy Pot through openings at their bottoms. Once the Alchemy Pot received the materials, it activated a Stable Mana Transmitter to channel mana into the pot.

Mana Probes were installed inside the Alchemy Pot. When the mana in the liquid reached the standard level, the Mana Transmitter would shut off and activate the second Storage Tank to dispense its contents.

Once a bottle of Focus Potion had been prepared, an outlet at the bottom of the Alchemy Pot would automatically open, bottling the Magic Potion into a vial before beginning the next cycle.

The entire machine was roughly the size of a wardrobe. Each activation consumed three Magic Stones and could complete ten rounds of potion-making.

Though the machine could not achieve full automation, it greatly freed up Richard's time, allowing him to devote more of it to experiments and study.

After receiving the machine, Richard set his monthly production of Focus Potions at one hundred bottles. It was just enough to be a lot without being too outrageous. Compared to the talented apprentices recorded in Master Gerald's book, his output did not even measure up to the ones at the front.

But even so, Richard's Industrial Standard Potions dealt a massive blow to the handmade Magic Potions in the Commercial District.

"Ulder, did you get one?" Outside Anna's Hut, an apprentice shouted at his companion who had just squeezed out of the shop.

"I got one!" Ulder shouted excitedly, holding up a bottle of Focus Potion. Apprentices around him cast envious looks his way even as they kept shoving forward.

Anna's Hut's reputation for high-quality Focus Potions had spread far and wide among the apprentices. Nearly every apprentice regarded Anna's Hut as their first choice for buying Focus Potions.

Before long, a loud shout came from inside Anna's Hut.

"The Focus Potions are sold out! If you need them, come back next month!"

The apprentices who had failed to buy any potions scattered from the entrance with their heads hanging low. Those in urgent need began asking around among the apprentices, trying to buy the potions back at higher prices.

Meanwhile, in front of Ulrich's Alchemy Shop, the longtime Focus Potion store, not a soul was in sight.

It seemed the apprentices had already forgotten that this shop had once been where they lined up.

"What did you say?" Joseph roared at the apprentice in front of him. "You said half of my potions haven't sold?!"

"Fo! Cus! Po! tions! Aren't selling?!"

Joseph slammed the table furiously, nearly shattering it.

Two years ago, he had boldly announced at the Apprentice Exchange Meeting that Ulrich's shop would sell no fewer than fifty bottles of Focus Potion every month.

Back then, every apprentice who heard the news had applauded and cheered!

It was because of those words that he had spent a great deal of time every month brewing potions, even neglecting his alchemy studies considerably.

And now, after merely two short years, his Focus Potions had become impossible to sell!

Faced with Joseph's roar, the apprentice could only lower his head with a bitter smile. He was just an employee; he did not dare talk back to the young master of the shop.

"My lord, the potions are all right here. How could I possibly lie to you?"

"What exactly is going on?" Joseph forcibly suppressed his rage. A popular product like Focus Potion could not possibly fail to sell. There had to be some external reason affecting his business.

"My lord..." the apprentice said cautiously, "didn't you know? You're not the only one selling Focus Potions in the Commercial District. Richard, Master Gerald's apprentice, is selling them too, and..."

"And what?!" Joseph's eyes burned. His furious stare was almost enough to bore the apprentice full of holes.

"And his supply is greater than yours, and the quality of his Focus Potions is more... stable than yours." After weighing his words again and again, the apprentice decided to replace "better" with the easier-to-swallow "stable."

"Stable? Stable!"

Joseph was nearly driven mad by those words. He was a descendant of wizards, educated in wizardry from childhood, yet in Magic Potions—the field he was most talented in—he had been surpassed by some wild apprentice selected from among mortals, one who had studied alchemy for only a few years!

Richard competing with him for a woman did not matter to him.

Just as he had said, knowledge and Magic Stones were the foundations of a wizard's advancement.

But now, Richard was actually competing with him for Magic Stones!

That bastard was competing with him for Magic Stones!

"...My lord, do you need anything else?" the apprentice clerk asked quietly.

Joseph waved his hand, signaling for the apprentice to leave. The instant the apprentice closed the door, Joseph went mad and began pounding the table with all his strength.

In a near-hysterical frenzy, he smashed everything in the room—breaking the table, shattering vases, ripping the paintings off the walls into scraps... He turned the entire room into a field of ruins.

After venting, Joseph sat atop the wreckage of the furniture and stared blankly at the wall.

Had his fury faded?

Not at all.

He stood, straightened his clothes, then went to a cabinet and took out several bundles of Academy Coins.

After counting them and confirming there were enough, he changed into a black cloak and headed to a restaurant called Corner Alley in the Living District.

"Sir, what would you like to order?" a waiter came forward and asked.

Joseph gave the waiter a cold look. "Blackstone Beef Steak, medium rare."

"...And who should it be sent to?" The waiter took out a small notebook.

"Richard. Richard under Gerald."

The waiter frowned, and even the hand holding his pen paused.

"That's quite an important person."

"You don't do it?" Joseph asked.

"We do." The waiter wrote down Richard's name, then tore off the slip of paper. "But it'll cost extra."

Thanks to readers 8699 and Night Ghost Hundred Moons for their Monthly tickets.