Ellie Miller was still standing on the stairs when she saw the wooden boxes that filled the entire ground floor of the hall.
Each box was filled with gold coins.
So much so that she almost lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs.
Luckily, a strong arm caught her just in time from behind.
Artor Coldcrest gently released his grip from her slender waist, “Stay calm, my dear.”
Ellie held onto the railing with one hand and clutched her chest with the other, “No, I can’t stay calm!
If this Minotaur robbed a bank, what legal responsibility should I bear?”
Artor Coldcrest raised an eyebrow, “Goblin Bank?
The Kingdom of Clark doesn’t have a Goblin Bank.”
Ellie: “…” Thank you, that’s comforting!
Ellie cautiously made her way down the stairs, still trembling slightly, afraid that the Minotaur might be preparing a “big surprise” for her.
“Madam!
Your potion is amazing!” The Minotaur saw Ellie coming down and grinned so wide it almost reached the back of his head.
Ellie was completely baffled, “What?”
Bakin the Minotaur excitedly patted the box full of gold coins, making a loud noise, “Look!
These are all earned from your potion!
My god!
They’re so profitable!”
Ellie dreamily walked up to one of the gold-filled boxes, roughly estimating at least five thousand gold coins inside.
And there were 20 such boxes.
10, 100k????
Ellie was stunned.
She had painstakingly crafted Healing Potions over several days to sell to the Duke, only to make 16,200 gold coins in a month.
The compensation for the burned Campbell’s shop, she thought she was being audacious by asking the Duke for 50,000 gold coins.
All together, it was only 66,560 gold coins, and she already considered herself quite wealthy.
But what on earth was this Minotaur???
Not only did he sell out her pile of junk in one day, but he also managed to sell the trash for a sky-high price of 100,000 gold coins.
Ellie couldn’t help but ask, “Could you tell me how you managed it?”
The Minotaur chuckled, showing his big white teeth, “That’s a long story.”
The Duke of Coldcrest checked the time and said lightly, “Then let’s talk about it over dinner.”
Bakin Cowhoof was taken aback, nervously tugging at his somewhat washed-out old clothes, “Ah!
I’m just a lowly Minotaur from the Undercity, can I really dine with the noble lord and lady?”
[Hey, I’ve seen many hypocritical nobles, let’s hope you’re not going to eat and make me stand aside watching with drool.]
Ellie twitched slightly at the corner of her mouth, “Do you have any dietary restrictions?
Like not eating certain types of meat, for instance, beef ^ _ ^.”
Bakin Cowhoof smiled more sincerely, “I’m not picky!
I eat everything!”
So, at today’s banquet, three people sat at the long table, well, two people and a Minotaur.
Ellie and the Duke sat at the head positions at either end of the long table, with Bakin Cowhoof sitting to the Duke’s left.
Sitting down, Bakin didn’t stop talking, enthusiastically sharing his potion-selling experiences.
Bakin said, “I first asked an old acquaintance who’s doing well in The Duchy about the market situation.”
“There’s a wealthy tradesman in the Upper District who has a problem: excessive body hair.”
“Because of this, he’s even ashamed to use public baths.
Every time he goes naked to get into the pool, he gets stopped by the bathhouse staff, who ask him to remove his sweater and pants before getting in.”
Ellie: “…”
“Ha!
Wasn’t it just a coincidence?
I thought your ‘Smooth Potion’ would be perfect for this gentleman.”
Ellie was momentarily shocked, “Wait!
That potion is for treating, for treating ‘that’!”
A lady shouldn’t talk too bluntly about restroom matters at the dining table.
Bakin Cowhoof shyly used a fork to pick up an entire steak, then clumsily gobbled it down, quickly chewing it a couple of times before swallowing.
He said earnestly, “But it works even better for hair removal, doesn’t it?”
Ellie: “…” She realized she had been narrow-minded.
She paused for a moment and then quickly accepted reality.
“So how do you communicate the side effects to your customers, like, um, selling this bottle of ‘Hair Removal Potion’, when its main effect is actually to soothe the stomach?”
Artor Coldcrest glanced at Ellie with a complicated expression on his face.
Bakin beckoned to a servant behind him and whispered, “Hey, buddy, your steak is awesome, can I have another one?”
The servant quickly went to get more steak.
Turning back, Bakin continued chatting, “Ehh~ Before buying the potion, I asked him if he could handle minor side effects, like diarrhea.”
Coldcrest tossed his fork aside and wiped his hands with a napkin, concluding his dinner early.
“The gentleman asked me, ‘Compared to full-body wax hair removal every 7 days, which is more painful?'”
“Hey~ Compared to that, diarrhea is nothing~ Don’t you think so?”
Ellie Miller: “…” Waxing every seven days all over??
I’m more curious about what species this customer actually is!
Bakin Cowhoof didn’t idle while waiting for the steak; he picked up the seafood stew pasta beside him and slurped it down in large bites.
‘Slurp’, ‘Slurp’, the Minotaur boldly slurped the noodles, continuing to tell his legendary sales story.
“Oh!
And about your ‘Hair Growth Potion’, I don’t know why men turn into women after drinking it.
Hey~ I don’t dare to try it myself.”
“But the feedback from Mr.
Hair Removal was that your potion is really effective.
He ended up completely hairless, and I thought, your potion can’t be bad either!”
“Hey, such a good potion, it just lacks a ‘Magical Customer’.”
Ellie Miller pondered over the phrase ‘Magical Customer’ and fell silent.
“Again it was my old contact, and when I explained the situation, he immediately recommended a client to me.”
“Hey, you’d never guess, the most popular tavern in Centralis, its regular dancer is actually a man.”
Ellie Miller: “…”
“This customer dreams of becoming a woman.
Having heard about a potion for painless transformation, he gave me his entire fortune—of course, I’m an honest person, so I only took half.”
Ellie Miller paused and couldn’t resist asking, “How much?”
“Not much, really not much, only thirty thousand gold coins.”
Ellie Miller: “…”
Bakin’s second steak arrived, “Later, that dancer drank the potion, and your hair growth effect was truly unmatched!”
“I watched as such a lovely person turned into a ‘furball’ in no time, equivalent to twice the amount of hair Mr.
Hair Removal had!”
Has the first customer become a unit of measurement??
Bakin lamented, “I was truly worried she’d regret it.
I had no potion to change her back.”
“But who would’ve thought, that chap—no, that girl, was crying with happiness and said she was willing to undergo full-body waxing every day for the rest of her life to keep her gender.”
Ellie Miller: “…Didn’t you introduce her to the first customer’s hair removal expert?”
Bakin slapped the table, a ‘duang’ sound, “That’s right!
That’s exactly what I did!”
[She even happily gave me an extra ten coins as a tip!]
Ellie Miller: “…”
Then, the dancer became Bakin’s “key” to open the door of success.
Just like that, the pile of ‘failed products’ that worried Ellie Miller got sold out.
Bakin Cowhoof shyly asked, “So, madam, did I get the job?”
Ellie Miller thought of the heap of trouble on the Minotaur and, without hesitation, said, “Of course, it’s decided you’re the one, Pikachu!”
Bakin Cowhoof was puzzled.
Ellie Miller coughed lightly, “I mean, work seven days, rest two days, weekly salary at a base of 10 gold coins, plus sales commission, do you agree?”
Bakin was dumbstruck.
[Ahhhhh!
Really?
I won’t encounter the job scams my fellow kin often face, right??]
Ellie Miller: “…”
She immediately took out a pouch of gold coins, containing 40 coins, “If you agree, this will be your advance salary.
As for the commission, I’ll calculate it and give it to you later.”
Bakin Cowhoof grabbed the pouch of coins at once, “From now on, you’re my dear boss!”
Finally, they made it through the ‘pleasant’ dinner, and Artor Coldcrest gentlemanly escorted Ellie Miller back to her room.
At the door to Ellie Miller’s bedroom, The Duke of Coldcrest couldn’t hold back anymore, “You still haven’t seen the gift I gave you.”
Ellie Miller then remembered that indeed the Duke had brought out a jewelry box earlier.
The jewelry box was placed on the dressing table; she took it in her hands and curiously opened it.
Inside “lay” a beautiful ancient silver chain with a piece of green magic gemstone hanging from it.
The price of a magic gemstone is more than three times that of a magic stone, simply because they are more beautiful and full of magic power.
Legend has it that magic gemstones can only be obtained from the Great Dragon, hence they are also called “Dragon Gemstone.”
The Duke’s deep, magnetic voice sounded in Ellie Miller’s ear, “Do you need me to put it on for you?”
Ellie Miller then returned to her senses, “Um, no, this is too valuable, I can’t accept it.”
However, the Duke had already picked up the necklace from the jewelry box.
The tall, handsome man stood behind Ellie Miller, his hands circling her neck gently fastening the necklace clasp.
Looking at Ellie Miller’s stunning face in the mirror, Artor Coldcrest softly said, “Only it can match your eyes.”