Chapter 45: Carrie's "Lucky Break"

Velin pulled a few more tables together to form a makeshift resting spot, then lazily rested his chin on the wood, feeding rice cake to Milla and sharing a sip of beer, while Mallow had already drifted off into a sweet slumber.

Ever since Luna's departure, a few more adventurous job-seekers had come by to apply, but none of them even reached the rank of an official professional class, falling far short of his requirements, so he had politely turned them all down.

By the time the banquet at the Moonlit Tavern gradually cleared out, he still hadn't found his ideal candidate. There were no freeloading brawlers, no Empyreans, and though he had met a few Ghost-Hand victims, none of them showed the slightest interest in heading to the Sky Tower.

In the deep of night, as the party finally wrapped up, Seria and Thana came over together to report on the spoils of the evening. Their faces were flushed, their eyes sparkled with excitement, and their small hands were tightly clenched.

Three thousand gold coins for a single box—one hundred boxes meant thirty thousand gold coins!

She finally understood the thrill of Danjin's mindset when he was raking in cash; it felt almost as fast as reaching straight into someone else's pocket.

"I kept an eye on things while selling the boxes, and about six or seven people pulled items worth far more than the price of the box. The rest mostly got potions and contracts. Even so, they were thoroughly satisfied with the results."

Potions weren't the sort of equipment that lasted forever, but they were consumed in massive quantities during adventures and served as life-saving tools. Back in the day, Shiat had been pulled back from the brink of death precisely by two bottles of Remy's Touch.

"If I were to sell a thousand boxes a day, wouldn't that be three million gold coins? Sister Thana's avatar outfits should sell quite well tomorrow too, so calculating it like that..."

Seria's mental abacus clicked and clacked away frantically, starry lights of anticipation blooming in her eyes as she began to daydream about becoming the wealthiest tycoon in Heaton Marc, beating the Kanina Mercantiles with her left hand and kicking the manufacturer Roger with her right.

Then she would become the richest person in all of Arad, the richest in Empyrean, the richest in the Pandemonium, and ultimately the wealthiest individual across all three realms!

Thana smiled and shook her head, immediately pouring a bucket of cold water over her fantasies. "Not for now. Tall trees catch the wind, and doing that is bound to give people bad ideas. Besides, those rogue Dark Templars—the ones disowned by the Dark Elf assassin organization—have been getting restless again lately. We need to be careful."

"That's precisely why I didn't burn bridges with Kary earlier, leaving room for maneuver with a plus-ten reinforcement ticket."

Velin offered a confident, knowing smile as if everything were entirely within his grasp. Amidst their puzzled gazes, he explained, "Kary will use Empyrean technology to remodel the shop and the estate, laying a layer of RX-78 Pursuers beneath the floorboards and deploying two Air Combat Mechs—Tempest. Any unauthorized life form that wanders in freely at night will be met with a warning and an attack."

"The price for this? I promised to help her secure a plus-eleven reinforcement and gather a few specific materials."

"Furthermore, I plan to leverage Shiat to make contact with Queen Skardi, directing a portion of our income to support the BelvMarm Duchy and the resistance army."

"Lastly, inspired by the Paladin's fee system, I intend to coordinate through Luna and Remidia's Bishop Magellen to support the Priesthood primarily in the form of gold coins, but mostly through potions. In other words, we can buy back a portion of Remy's Touch."

"That way, not only do we make even more profit, but we also prevent our gold coins from stagnating in our own hands, while giving the box buyers the psychological comfort of knowing they are supporting BelvMarm and the Priesthood."

His voice was quiet yet firm and composed, and the content of his words left the entire room utterly stunned into a profound silence for a long time.

***

Thana took a deep breath, her lovely eyes shimmering with vivid colors. The way she looked at Velin shifted for the first time—transforming from the inexplicable affinity brought by the Mark of Heaven into an affinity born of valid reasons.

She murmured softly, "If all goes well, even though we'll earn somewhat fewer gold coins, the entirety of BelvMarm, the resistance, and the Priesthood will become a protective umbrella for Seria and ourselves. At the very least, the Empire won't dare to touch us."

"I have no objections. You shouldn't shear a sheep until it bleeds to death; I understand that much." Seria nodded gently.

The most shocked person of all, however, was Shiat, who currently felt as though her mind were in absolute turmoil.

She had never imagined that this man, who spent every day acting hopelessly unserious and pulling all sorts of inappropriate stunts, had already quietly formed the skeleton of such a grand master plan. Not only had he made a fortune, but he had also built connections and secured their safety to an unprecedented degree.

Who in all of Arad would ever dare to lay a finger on Seria's shop when a bunch of dog-walking Priests could string the intruders up and then pummel them with glowing fists over two hundred times in three seconds flat?

Seria certainly wouldn't lose out—she was definitely still making money, just slightly less of it. The adventurers didn't seem to lose out either, since they got life-saving potions while doing a good deed. BelvMarm and the Remidia Basilica had even less reason to lose out, as they would rationally put those supplies to use to help more people.

So, exactly who was losing out? Hard to say...

Seria drifted off to sleep with a blissful, expectant smile on her lips, while Shiat slapped away a wandering, mischievous hand from her calf and hurriedly bolted her bedroom door, concluding that grand ideals were one thing, and being completely unserious was entirely another.

"Care to step out for a drink?" Velin proposed to Thana.

"Why not."

The main hall of the Moonlit Tavern was already completely deserted. Looking at the scattered mess that had yet to be cleaned up, the noisy bustle from a few hours prior still seemed to faintly linger in the air.

Following a banquet night, the Moonlit Tavern traditionally remained closed during the daytime. It was an established routine.

"We've been here for quite a while now. Why haven't we seen any Empyreans other than Kary?"

Sitting down at the counter, the warm atmosphere called for a conversational opener. Thana skillfully mixed two cocktails and pushed one across the bar toward Velin.

"Kary says that dropping from Empyrean down to Arad requires not only the courage to take a leap of faith into the ocean, but also the sheer luck not to smash into the ground and die, or get devoured by the monsters of the Sky Sea."

"Ah, I see. Then Kary must have had pretty decent luck."

"Indeed. She fell alongside her comrade Catu, but while she ended up a wealthy tycoon, there's still been no word from Catu."

One had to admit that Kary's luck stat was truly off the charts. After engaging in countless one-on-one cowboy death-duels with the Cartel, surviving the three Arden Highland sieges, and even plunging through the Sky Sea, none of it had managed to kill her.

On the flip side, looking at Kary's former teammates: "Justice" Catu was missing and presumed dead; "Spectacles" Bilmorz was dead; "Joyride" Pierre had betrayed them and was long since placed on the kill-on-sight list; "Machine Gun" Audrey was severely wounded; and "Right Straight" Nils had his right hand heavily injured, rendering him practically incapable of pulling a trigger.

Only Kary remained lively and kicking, spending her days tinkering with how to infuse Nen and magic into bullets, having the time of her life.

"You know, the very last drop of wine in my bottle was originally meant for you to taste—considered a bit of interest."

Thana gently swirled the tiny puddle of liquid left at the bottom of her glass, teased him by sipping it into her own mouth, and then pointed toward her lips.

*Gulp*—she swallowed it down.

"But from the moment you started telling your story, your paws haven't stayed still for a single second, so it's gone now..."

Her over-the-knee stockings were already wrinkled. Thana casually peeled off both stockings, tossed them carelessly into his lap, and stretched lazily, her graceful, alluring figure rendered completely breathtaking by her cheongsam.

"Take them. Don't be shy."

"Are you referring to your body, or..."

"I meant the stockings!"

"No thanks. If they had blue-and-white stripes, I might have been slightly interested."

"Huh? How did you know?"

Thana froze for a moment, then looked down at the slits on both sides of her cheongsam, falling into deep contemplation...

She threw a kick his way, only for him to catch her ankle. With a huff of annoyance, Thana muttered, "I hear the Iron Wolf Knights will soon be withdrawing from the Sky Tower to rest and regroup in the West Coast. Your team had better get ready to set out. At the very top of the Sky Tower, you just might catch a glimpse of true Apostle relics."

"I'm planning to head to the martial arts arena to pick up a freeloader, and then we're off to the West Coast."