Chapter 8
last update2024-04-28 17:53:15

Caster had to make concessions. 

There was no point mentioning the revival of the Spectral Lime Chamber of Commerce yet, but the Gilded Rose could actually be reopened almost immediately. 

Thus, the twenty-some thousand gold left over was put into renovation, employee recruitment, and material purchases… Not much remained of the money. The old butler was left dumbfounded.

Caster had no other choice but to personally act. After coming out from the Sage Tower the day before, Caster did not head straight home, instead heading to the alchemy laboratory of the Gilded Rose. 

He spent the entire night using the remaining cheap materials to make a dozen potions, along with a few magic armors and magic weapons. 

As for magic tools, he was powerless to do anything about it. He was restricted by the shoddy materials. Even if Caster had knowledge that transcended the era, he couldn’t make miracles out of nothing.

For the grand reopening, Caster didn’t need to worry about it. This was in the hands of the old butler. 

Caster simply handed over the results of one night of work before finding a room in the Gilded Rose to sleep. After spending the night hard at work, even an energetic alchemist wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Caster’s mana whirlpool was far more robust than that of ordinary mages, while his mind had the knowledge of alchemy far beyond the people of this era. Many problems that his contemporaries would be unable to settle were casual matters in his hands. But even if that was the case, this night had exhausted all of Caster’s energy, as the mana whirlpool within his body had been working on overload, almost exhausting his reserves. It was quite nice to be able to lie down for some rest.

He kept sleeping through the afternoon, and when the sun was about to set, Caster was woken up by a loud sound. “Someone is courting death…” Caster said, still half-asleep, before turning to face the other side to try to rest a bit more.

But it seemed that the person outside was deliberately set against him. Before he even finished rolling over, he heard a loud “Bang” come from outside. It wasn’t from the door, but from the sales counter…

“Cut it out already!” This time, Caster could no longer bear with it and angrily got out of bed, dressing himself and heading for the door. ‘I want to see who dares to cause trouble here.’

After entering the hall, he saw a group of people in a circle. 

A shelf had been knocked down, the counter had been smashed, and the recently decorated hall was left in a complete mess. 

A few employees were already ducking on the side while the old butler was arguing loudly with that group. One young mage seemed especially conspicuous.

“Smash everything! You dare sell fake items to me? Don’t look at me like that, you think that I’m easy to bully? I’ll let you know, old geezer, if you don’t hand Spellbound to me right now, not only will I smash this thieving shop, I’ll report it to the Chambers of Commerce Union and have Rebillion City’s people take a look at how shameless the Spectral Lime chamber of commerce is.”

“Get the hell out, this place doesn’t welcome you!” The old butler had followed Flint Spellbound for twenty years. He considered the reputation of the Spectral Lime Chamber of commerce more important than his own life. 

Hearing Mason insulting the Spectral Lime chamber of commerce, the old man burst in anger, and regardless of whether they were customers or not, he raised his hands to push Mason toward the exit.

The old butler was an ordinary person, so even if he had been twenty years younger, he wouldn’t have been able to threaten a mage. 

But Mason simply wasn’t paying attention to the old butler, being too excited, gesticulating and splattering saliva while shouting, and thus, he was shoved back, causing him to stumble.

“Old Geezer, you dared to hit me?” This time, Mason had an even nastier expression. 

A mighty mage was almost pushed down by a 60-year-old butler. If this spread, would anyone still respect him?

After steadying himself, Mason’s eyes gleamed fiercely, and he activated his magic staff, causing the gem at the end to glow with powerful mana.

“Give it a try.” Caster had already joined the argument, wearing a smile but with mana swirling around him, warning Mason not to act rashly.

“Spellbound, you came at the right time!” Mason didn’t attack the old butler upon seeing Caster, but he kept his tough attitude. “I came with good intentions and brought friends for your Gilded Rose’s reopening to give you some business, but I didn’t expect you to be selling fake items. My friend just drank your potion and has some problems. You should compensate him!”

“I know that gem is valuable, but you don’t need to exaggerate…” After Caster approached, he pushed away Mason’s staff and calmly asked, “Which potion did your friend drink?”

“It was the healing potion!” Mason replied quickly. He had checked before, and healing potions were top-notch. There weren’t many alchemists in Thousands Sails City who could make effective healing potions, and they were all highly respected.

Moreover, that healing potion was dark red…Only failed healing potions were dark red.

“Look, he drank more than half of it, and his injury didn’t improve! And the wound started bleeding again!” Mason explained as his subordinates brought a stretcher.

A young man in his late twenties lay on the stretcher, his right arm wounded. After removing the bandage, a deep cut was revealed, and it was clear from the bloodstains that it had been healing before reopening.

“I know you’re broke, but that’s no excuse. For our friendship, I’ll ask my father for help. But what about the fake potions?” Mason gloated while expressing sorrow.

“What do you think? My friend suffered a big loss. What does your Gilded Rose think about that? I have a simple suggestion. First, compensate my friend with ten thousand gold. If you can’t, admit that the Gilded Rose sold him a fake potion and promise it won’t happen again.”

Mason knew the conditions were tough. Everyone knew the Spectral Lime Chamber of Commerce was bankrupt, and Flint Spellbound’s son couldn’t pay his uncle’s debt. How could he afford ten thousand gold? And publicly apologizing and admitting to selling a fake potion would be a huge humiliation.

But Mason was ready to haggle over the compensation. As long as he insisted on the second condition, it would be fine. He didn’t care about the money; he wanted to crush Caster’s pride.

“That’s reasonable. If there’s a problem with the potion, we’ll compensate and apologize,” Caster agreed without argument.

“Huh?” Mason froze. He had prepared more arguments. ‘Why did he agree so quickly? Well, it saves effort.’

“Then hurry up and settle it. You should compensate and apologize. I have things to do,” Caster urged.

“Hey, did you hear me? If there’s a problem…” Caster paused, then explained patiently to Mason, “If there’s an issue with the potion, we’ll compensate and apologize. But if not, what will you do?”

“No problem?” Mason looked at the potion, determined. “If there’s no problem, I’ll drink its bottle!”

“Good.” Caster nodded and called over an employee.

“Huh?” The young apprentice, Remy, rolled up his sleeve, confused about the offer to double his salary just by doing so.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

“Ow…” Remy looked down to see a deep cut.

‘I knew an offer to double my salary couldn’t be good…’

“Try this healing potion.” Caster handed it to Remy. “Don’t just stare, drink it. I have things to do.”

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