Chapter 14: Was the liquid inside made of liquid gold?
The burly n outside picked up whatever they could find and began smashing Leah's shop in a frenzy.
Not even the bottles of magic potion displayed by the door were spared.
Every single one was shattered to pieces.
The azure-blue potion trickled out across the floor, filling the air with the sll of money.
Leah watched their rampage without so much as flinching, appearing utterly composed.
"Miss Leah, shouldn't we stop them yet……"
The voice behind her was growing anxious. She knew exactly what those potions were worth—even a single broken bottle was a loss.
Leah sat unhurriedly in her chair, watching the Thugs carry on their destruction at a leisurely pace.
"It's fine. Let them smash."
"The more they smash, the more they owe."
Of course, Leah was well aware.
This lot were at most a bunch of hired ruffians sent by soone else—how were they ever going to pay anything back?
Feeling like the timing was about right, she touched the Mage's Hand on her right hand, rose from her chair, and was just stepping toward the door.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
A sharp voice rang out from outside.
Leah was mildly surprised. Soone was stepping in?
She stood inside and looked out.
A golden-haired young woman with an unmistakably noble air stood beside a Carriage, furiously berating the group of tattooed n.
Who was that?
Leah looked up, studied the golden-haired girl's familiar face closely, and the answer ca to her.
The Duke's daughter?
What was she doing here—just passing by?
Or was it……deliberate?
Erika du Chloe, daughter of the Duke, had been extraordinarily gifted from a young age, and her fa had never faded.
So believed her future achievents would surpass even those of the once-celebrated genius, Viktor.
Take the last incident—if Viktor had made advances on so other family's daughter, it wouldn't have warranted so much as a headline.
But Erika's public influence was simply too imnse.
Leah thought to herself:
Her turning up here today to play the Good Samaritan would probably set off another wave of press coverage.
***
In truth, Erika hadn't thought about it that deeply.
Today was a day off, but after Viktor left, she hadn't felt much like going to the Academy to study.
Because aside from Viktor—the other instructors were simply too lacking, not even up to her own standard.
Since she had the day free, she decided to give herself a real holiday, take a stroll, and let herself rest for once.
A chance to clear her head.
Then she happened to overhear the household servants chatting among themselves about how a Clavena Family Item shop had opened in the Eastern District of the Royal Capital.
Clavena—that was Viktor's surna. She rembered it perfectly well, of course.
Eastern District, though……
Erika was curious, but the Eastern District was quite far from where she was.
Her family lived in the Central District, where nobles like Erika filled every street.
The Royal Capital was vast—so vast she couldn't even finish exploring the Central District in a single day.
Even so, she decided to go and take a look.
What would Professor Viktor's family's shop be selling?
She ended up spending the better part of half an hour in a Carriage to get there, only to arrive and find a group of people vandalizing the Item Shop.
The Family Crest of the Clavena Family hung above the storefront—this was undeniably Viktor's establishnt.
The scale wasn't particularly impressive. Compared to other thriving shops in the area, that alone took points off.
But she hadn't co to rate anything. Seeing soone smashing the place, Erika's instinctive reaction was fury.
"What are you doing?!"
Her sharp cry rang out. She stepped down from the Carriage like the center of the entire world.
Many passersby caught sight of her and couldn't help exclaiming aloud.
"It's Erika du Chloe!"
Simply put, there was no one who didn't know this young woman—beautiful, and kind-hearted to match.
She had always brought food and coin to the poor and destitute to help them through hardship, and she never backed down or went soft when facing wrongdoers.
"It's the Duke's daughter! Run!"
The ringleader of the Thugs spotted Erika, called out to the others around him, and the group was "frightened" into scrambling away from the scene.
Leah shot a glance at the shop assistant behind her. In an instant, she felt a gust of wind streak past her from behind.
When she turned back to look, the alley was already empty.
Only after all that was taken care of did she put on a smile and step outside to greet her.
"Miss Erika, thank you so much for your help!"
"I'm just a helpless woman—sothing like this truly frightened . If you hadn't co, I honestly wouldn't have known what to do."
Erika listened to Leah's account while taking stock of her.
The woman before her was extraordinarily beautiful.
Tall and slender, with features that could only be described as flawless.
What struck her most was the mature, seasoned quality about the woman—sothing that made even Erika, young and still a minor, feel a pang of inadequacy.
She had been about to say there was nothing to thank her for, but when her gaze dropped, it caught on sothing and lingered—on Leah's hand.
Was that Viktor's glove?
Erika rembered it clearly from the very first day Viktor arrived.
It was covered in Magic Stones, and that particular style of glove was sothing she had seen for the first ti on Viktor's hand, so she had paid special attention to it.
She hadn't seen that glove since.
And now it had appeared on this woman's hand?
Erika couldn't be certain it was the sa one—after all, the 2 of them had entirely different hand sizes.
So, is she a family mber of Professor Viktor?
Thinking this, Erika felt a asure of sympathy for the woman before her.
Those n had surely co looking for trouble because of Viktor's notorious reputation, and yet the one left to bear the consequences was this young woman.
She looked at the shattered fragnts and spilled potion liquid across the floor, thought for a mont, and decided to offer so compensation to soothe the other party's feelings.
"I'm sorry that sothing like this happened here in the Royal Capital. I'll compensate you for every loss you've suffered today in the na of du Chloe."
"Please take stock of the damages to your items, and if there are any remaining intact, I'll purchase all of them."
"Oh my?"
Hearing Erika's remarkably generous offer, Leah rested one hand against her chest, brought the other to her cheek, and smiled.
The du Chloe family's innate ability to win people's hearts was bone-deep. Truly worthy of the Duke's daughter.
Even if she was only 17.
"Miss Erika, let just confirm—you really intend to compensate for my losses?"
"You should know, the price is not cheap."
Before Leah could even finish, Erika had already called over her accompanying Maidservant and was ready to pay.
Leah smiled and nad her price.
"1,000 Geo."
1,000 Geo worth of damages?
By most people's standards, that was already quite expensive.
Erika, however, found it reasonable enough. She gestured to her Maidservant to produce the money.
Then she heard the other party add one more thing.
"1,000 Geo. Per bottle."
"What?"
The Maidservant's hand stilled ever so slightly.
Even Erika felt as if she must have misheard.
And it wasn't just Erika—even passersby found it baffling.
Was this a joke? A single bottle of potion for 1,000 Geo?
Was the liquid inside made of liquid gold?
The Maidservant worked out the total and gave a small start. Erika's expression, too, showed a hint of difficulty.
For Erika, this amount was roughly a month's allowance.
But still, money shouldn't be spent without understanding what it was for.
Now she was beginning to understand why Viktor inspired such resentnt in people.
He was an absolute profiteer!
Before she could respond, Leah added with an air of slight reluctance, "Although I'd very much like you to compensate , the proprietor has said that each person may only purchase 2 bottles per day—no more than that."
There's a rule like that?
It was Erika's first ti hearing of a shop that actually limited how much you could buy.
Especially when the other party was offering compensation, and yet the seller didn't even want to take more.
She thought about it briefly—the proprietor being referred to was obviously Viktor.
But being limited to 2 bottles—that actually made Erika quite curious.
Could it be that this thing truly had so remarkable effect?
So she picked up one of the bottles that was still intact and asked Leah.
"What does this do?"
Leah smiled at her and explained.
"It restores magic."
Erika could hardly believe it.
She had never heard of any item capable of restoring magic.
She was tempted to buy a few and take them back to study, but the sight of all those shards on the floor gave her so hesitation.
Before long, however, Erika's resolve solidified.
Words once spoken are like water once spilled. Besides, Viktor had taught her so much.
If she spent this money today as compensation, so what? Consider it settling the score with Viktor!
And so she said directly.
"I am a student of Professor Viktor Clavena. Having witnessed his shop sustain damages right before my eyes, I cannot simply stand by and do nothing."
"I will compensate based on the cost of the potion itself plus the labor of crafting it. But there is 1 condition."
Leah heard Erika's words and raised an eyebrow.
"I want to purchase all of the remaining potions as well."
When it ca to anything related to magic, she was more invested than anyone.
And so she intended to take them back and study them.
Leah turned to glance at the remaining stock on the shelf.
Only 10 bottles left intact.
Seeing that, she stopped caring about the rules Viktor had set, and gave a nod.
Viktor had said before that he wasn't afraid of anyone analyzing the potion's ingredients, because no one but him could produce it.
Leah assud it required so special magic to make. Besides, with the other party having said as much, she had no reason to worry about any trade secrets being revealed.
"Since Miss Erika is being so generous, I won't turn it down."
"Then let's say—accounting for labor and cost price—300 Geo per broken bottle, and the remaining ones at the original price."
Erika agreed without hesitation.
"Deal."
Leah handed the 10 bottles over to Erika's Maidservant, then extended her hand to receive the compensation money and the paynt for the intact potions.
Looking at Erika before her, Leah couldn't help marveling inwardly. Spending a small fortune without blinking—all because she was Viktor's student?
She had no idea what spell that man—the one with a chest cavity that, if cracked open, would reveal a heart as black as the rest of him—had cast over this young lady.
After Erika left, Leah brought out another 50 bottles of the potion from the shop, still priced at 1,000 Geo each, and put them back on sale.
The Mages passing by, seeing her produce yet another 50 bottles, nearly fainted on the spot.
So you had stock all along.
***
In the back alley.
The Thugs who had smashed the shop earlier were scattered across the ground, slumped in the corners—each one half-dead.
Their bodies bore wounds of varying kinds, the scene grim and harrowing.
"Who sent you?"
A masked figure in a cloak, only the upper half of their face visible—and a pair of vivid green eyes—stood over them.
She held a wooden blade leveled at the head of the ringleader, the one covered in tattoos.
He lay on the ground, all 4 limbs broken.
The pain made him wish he could pass out then and there.
But with the wooden blade hanging over him, fear overtook agony, and he scread at the top of his lungs.
"It was……it was Duke Livi! Duke Livi!"
He blurted out the na of the mastermind without hesitation, desperate to buy himself a scrap of rcy from the masked figure.
Bang!
The wooden blade ca down, and the tattooed man finally got his wish and fell unconscious.
Then she grabbed him by the ankle and, step by step, dragged him out of the alley.
User Comments
0 comments from readers