208 Need More Gold

Arthur walked slowly on the stone-paved road, his shoulders lowered and his eyes staring emptily into the distance.

His hand was clenching a round metal coin, or a token, to be precise. It was the one that master G gave to him, 'Or should I call him Gerald?'

He smiled wryly. 'I was such a fool. To think I got tricked by someone who's even younger than me...'

Remembering the words of revelation he heard in the King's chambers, he still couldn't quite accept it.

He planned to use the token to ask for the recipe for the Stamina Potion, but the King had already taken that opportunity away so there was no point in doing so.

Arthur of course didn't mind, he could just request something else, but…

He looked at the token in his hand. 'Does this thing even hold any value?' He shook his head aggressively, trying to get rid of the depressive thoughts.

"No, no. It's definitely still a good thing! At least I now know that Gerald can fly, that alone has to be worth something, right?" He kept mumbling to himself on his way back to the Auction House.

"Should I ask for the Flight spell? And if not, what can I ask for? He said anything as long as he can do it, right?"

"Should I reveal that I know his secret? What if he gets mad and leaves, what do I do then?"

"Argh! This is so frustrating!" Arthur felt a headache forming in his skull and decided to stop stressing so much over something he had no control over.

"Whatever, I'll just do it and we'll see what happens!"

***

After returning to the capital, Gerald visited Qiona to see how the potions were coming along.

Surprisingly she could already make Mana Potions, and it seemed that Greater Mana potions weren't far behind.

Needless to say that Gerald was ecstatic. He gave her the Golden Pouches that he filled to the brim with herbs and roots.

They worked in a way so time wouldn't pass inside, perfect for storing fresh ingredients. However, that's something only rich people would do.

Not just anyone could afford to spend a hundred gold coins for just a cubic meter of storage space, especially not for storing plants.

They took a lot of space and were not economically worth it. It was way better to transport heavy metal or delicate clothes inside it.

In any case, life was going smoothly for them. In a few days, they could go and pick up their new attire and officially become proud members of the Black Onyx.

After finishing what he had in mind, Gerald returned to his room and jumped on the bed.

As he stared at the ceiling, he remembered there was one more thing he wanted to do. Create more Greater Fireball spell scrolls!

"I wonder if Sebas found more Fire Crystals? Hmm, I might need to order more…"

He jumped back up and went to find the old butler. As expected, Sebas was a reliable individual and already bought more resources for his master. The only problem was that he exhausted all the gold that Gerald gave him.

So, after giving him the last remaining coins, Gerald decided it was time to go back to the Auction House and collect some more goods.

"Ah~ I'm so glad I gave those guys the recipe, it's so much better to have gold rolling in every week without having to lift a finger!"

He wondered if he should allow the apprentices to also make the potions. At the moment only master Ashbrew knew the entire process and being only one person, the production was quite limited.

The effects of the potion were already widely spread and many traveled great distances just so they could buy a single dose.

There were thousands of mages just in Auralba who required the Potions of Focus and as such the demand greatly exceeded the supply.

Many brilliant merchants quickly bought the potions and then traveled for days to the far reaches of the Kingdom to sell them for twice or even three times the price.

For that reason, the Auction house created a rule so that each person could only buy ten vials each month. Still, there were lines of people each day waiting for the shop to open, it was quite crowded.

"Yep, I really think we need to increase the production at least fivefold…" Rich people could afford to have one or more potions each day, so why not? More money is always good.

And so, Gerald entered the Auction House.

The servants immediately recognized him and welcomed him warmly. Their boss was notified of his arrival, but instead of waiting, Gerald went to meet the man by himself.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's poppin', yo?"

Gerald burst through the door with a wide smile while spouting some nonsense, scaring the living shit out of the already nervous Arthur.

"E-Excuse me?"

"It's nothing, I'm just in a good mood today, haha!" Gerald grinned widely while waving his hand dismissively, "Anyway, I came here to collect this week's share and I was thinking we could maybe speed up the production of potions a bit, and bla, bla, bla…"

As the torrent of words spilled out, Arthur had a difficult time concentrating. He swallowed with difficulty and gathered the courage to speak.

"C-Can I ask you something?"

"Sure what's up?"

"Can you fly?"

Gerald's smile vanished for a moment and then reappeared even brighter than before. His eyes narrowed into a slit as he gazed at Arthur.

"Oh-ho? Now, why would you ask something like that, hmm?"

"Well… You see, the King-"

"Ah yes, of course," Gerald immediately understood, "I figured it would be something like that… So what's the point of asking if you already know the answer?"

The King's general, that big Razor guy, his daughter knew he could fly, so it was no surprise they figured it out. But it didn't bother Gerald one bit! If it all happened a few months earlier it might have been somewhat annoying, but now he didn't even care.

"Well… About your master…"

"He doesn't exist, obviously!"

"Ah!"