2 A Noble's Son

Rain entered the front of the shop, walking to behind the counter. Upon seeing it was someone he had not met before, he plastered on his "customer service" smile.

"Greetings, and welcome to Storm Brews, brewer of alchemy and alcohol. How may I help you today?"

Rain was actually quite proud of his wine, but most of his customers came for his high quality potions. It was probably because his shop was located in Lycoris, a town consisting primarily of adventurers.

Most adventurers were not that rich and prefered to drink the cheap beer served at the nearest inn at the end of the day. The few customers who bought his wine were usually nobles or merchants who were just passing through on their way to one of the more profitable towns and cities.

Rain probably could've set up shop in one of the richer cities, like Auryea or Ganyme, but he liked the comfortable aura of Lycoris.

Besides, the bigger cities tended to have churches or holy temples, and he disliked living too close to the territory of a light god or goddess. The holy aura made him feel itchy all over, as if there were millions of ants crawling under his skin.

"Give me some healing potions."

The potential customer was a young man with an arrogant expression on his face.

From his outfit, he was probably a noble's son who thought he was something great just because he could afford the most expensive equipment.

"Are you going on a hunting trip, or are you heading to the dungeons? For a hunting trip, as long as you aren't hunting demon beasts, I would recommend lower tier potions. For demon beasts or a dungeon expedition, I'd recommend the medium to high tier potions."

Rain did his best to ignore the man's arrogant attitude. Money was money, no matter who was paying it.

"Give me 15 high tier potions then."

Rain collected the 15 blood red potions and safely placed them in a bag that was enchanted in a way to prevent the glass potion bottles from breaking.

"That'll be 15 gold coins, sir."

The young man looked extremely offended, like 15 gold coins was way too much for some high tier potions.

"15 gold coins? This is a scam!"

It wasn't. Normally, low tiers sold for 50 to 100 copper coins, medium tiers for 10 to 50 silver coins, and high tiers for 1 to 5 gold coins, depending on the alchemist who made them.

Rain's high tier healing potions were usually far more effective than other potions out on the market, and he sold them for 1 gold coin when he could've easily sold them for 6 or 7 gold coins.

Just as he was about to explain this to the customer, the customer interrupted him angrily.

"Do you even know who I am?"

With these words, Rain could instantly profile the customer.

The customer was probably the kid of someone powerful who used his family's name and influence to bully the weak. He probably never paid the full price for anything in his life because the shopkeepers were too afraid to offend his family and lowered the price of their items, perhaps even giving him things free of charge.

Unfortunately for him, Rain was not easily bullied, and he didn't care about offending anyone. Even if he did, it wouldn't be a problem to just pack up and set up shop somewhere else. It wasn't too hard to create an entirely new identity either. It's not as if one needed any special documents to open a new shop. As long as one said they were born in a small town or village, they would usually be accepted.

"I'm afraid I don't recognize you sir. But 15 gold coins is the price for these high tier healing potions. If you aren't going to purchase these, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm Alfred Vyecrest, the eldest son of Count Vyecrest! You should be honored that someone of my status is coming to visit your dingy little store."

The young man looked extremely proud of himself, like Rain would know who in Hades' name Count Vyecrest was. Rain immediately switched from his polite tone to a sarcastic one.

"Oh, well excuse me for not kneeling in awe. I'm afraid that means nothing to me. But if you believe my brewery to be a 'dingy little store' then you can always go to a better alchemist."

He disliked this kind of person who relied on others instead of making his own accomplishments. Maybe if it was someone who had accomplished something amazing, he would consider giving them a discount, even if they were a bit arrogant.

But even then, he would never consider giving away anything for free, unless it was one of his failed potions with questionable effects. He was a businessman. His actions were all based on profit. If something did not benefit him, he would not consider it at all.

The young man sputtered, clearly speechless, before he stormed angrily out of the store, tossing over his shoulder, "You dare offend me? I could have this place shut down and demolished in a day! You'll never be able to set up shop again!"

Rain was not worried about the threat. Even if the young man did try to get his shop shut down, at the very most, Rain would have to change locations. With the abilities he had, there was no way the young man would be able to find him or his store if he didn't want to be found.

Once the troublesome customer had left, Rain happily went back to working on his potions after putting away the 15 high tier healing potions, ignoring the couple of potions that had gone missing. He knew that the box had previously contained several failed poisons that could give someone a nosebleed for a couple hours that was not dangerous in the slightest, though they did resemble healing potions somewhat.