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Path to Prosperity - B2 Chapter 41
🕑 Added 2024-09-14 10:00:10 +0000 UTCThe guard saved himself by putting all the blame on the Golden Koi. The Golden Koi was a medium-sized shop – the owner probably being the one who’d bribed the three guards and the ruffians – and its main establishment was two streets away from the Dragon Lair.
The Golden Koi had few serious competitors in the vicinity and ignored most smaller shops and vendors, but something must have happened to agitate the Golde Koi’s owner.
Is it because of the Tiagro Sword Artifact? Or the Yvelton Ring? Or is that guy worried about the Iron Artifacts? That doesn’t make any sense.
“How about you don’t kill him in front of the city guards?” Tarlek proposed to Percy, pulling him out of his train of thought.
“Oh, yeah,” Percy responded absentmindedly and stepped back.
The ruffian released a final pained groan before losing consciousness, but not even the guards paid attention to it.
Percy was still wondering why the Golden Koi targetted him less than two weeks after he’d established his shop, but he turned to the guard captain.
Maybe it is the speed at which my shop is growing?
He shrugged inwardly while speaking to the guard, “Since your colleague knows where this group of idiots works, and two Imperial prospects stopped them right before they could attack my poor, little shop…what do you think I should do?”
The last words escaping his lips were poisonous. They struck the guard captain square in the face. The mana gushing out of Percy’s body couldn’t be underestimated at this moment. He felt like an Elite Demon who was about to pounce and tear him a new one.
“We should write a report and send a warning to the Golden Koi. If they–...” The guard captain said slowly but stopped when Percy shook his head slowly.
“How about you report this to your superiors?” Percy asked, but he could immediately tell that the guard captain didn’t want to do that. Why? Percy had no idea. He didn’t know the capital – or politics, as a matter of fact – good enough to understand the city guards and all rules. Thus, he used his most common trump card, “Do you know the Reeze Duke? I traveled with his daughter, and he owes me something. If you don’t want to end up in court, you better stay honest and write a detailed report AFTER interrogating these idiots thoroughly!”
He glanced at the trio of guards, his eyes spitting venom. The two guards had been cursing the other bribed guard, who’d exposed the ruffian’s identity, until a moment ago. But now they were certain Percy was fully aware of what was happening. They were accomplices, and if they messed up… He would search for them and kill them!
“We won’t leave out the slightest detail,” The second accomplice nodded, while the third shuddered while pointing at the ruffians, “And we will interrogate them thoroughly. W— The Golden Koi won’t bother you anymore.”
Percy clicked his tongue and spit out, “I sure hope so.”
He turned around and glanced at the ruffians. Percy considered kicking one of them in the face momentarily, but he controlled his fury and entered the shop.
“The show is over,” He told Louis, who was still tense and trying to figure out what had happened.
Erik and Tarlek nodded and entered the shop. Erik glanced at Louis, smiled at the Demi, and pulled his arm around his shoulder to drag the youngster inside.
Louis and Percy’s friends went inside while Percy cast a last glance outside,
“One of you can come inside if you have any questions. If not…have a nice day,” Percy said, closing the door without waiting for a response and turning around. He cursed softly but decided the guards and the Golden Koi weren’t worth it.
“Do you want us to tell the Merchant Office or Melissa about this incident?” Tarlek asked, while Erik added, “Melissa will like this. Especially the part where you use her father to scare the guards.”
Percy rolled his eyes at Eren’s comment but considered Tarlek’s offer, “You can tell Melissa about it if you think that’ll help me, but I’m not so sure about it. This is weird.
Tarlek nodded, “Do you know the Golden Koi shop?”
“I have never been near the shop, and all I know is some rumors I picked up while I roamed around looking for good investments. The Golden Koi seems a bit shady but not like that. They bribed three guards. Everything was well orchestrated, but they didn’t expect you to arrive. Thanks for beating them, by the way. It’s better if some Imperial prospects break a few bones than some ordinary merchant doing the same. They would either imprison me or throw me out of the capital,” Percy chuckled, but the brothers looked at him dead serious.
“I don’t think anyone would throw you out for that. In the first place, you are as far from an ordinary merchant as someone can be,” Tarlek commented while Erik pointed at his eyes.
“I really want to punch you for that smile,” Percy told Eren, whose shit-eating grin widened.
“Yes yes. Beat me up,” Erik laughed, “But on a more serious note. How have you been? You must have been raking a fortune if you’ve already attracted the attention of some shady business owner.”
“It’s not exactly a fortune,” Percy mumbled. His profit had been rather high, but it wasn’t like he had earned hundreds of gold coins. The goods in his shop were far from that costly.
“Or he’s afraid because his customers have been talking about your shop. They might have heard about your connection with the Reeze Duke or…” Tarlek glanced at Louis – his ears – for a moment but chose not to speak his thoughts aloud, “Or it is something else.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can take care of this issue,” Percy walked into the storage room, followed by Erik and Tarlek. Louis excused himself, saying he would tell his sister everything was fine.
“You’ve got a good kiddo there,” Erik said, more serious than usual, “His Tier isn’t that high, but he’s physically stronger than many Elite Gifted. This brat would have jumped at the guards if they’d attacked you too. Such loyalty is rare.”
Percy smiled but didn’t say anything. He retrieved a bunch of iron and silvron armaments from his spatial ring before also retrieving the list of items he owned and the suggested enchantments he’d noted the night before.
Once that was done, Percy retrieved a dozen gold coins, which he consumed right away. The abomination of his Ego burst out from his palm and devoured the gold coins instantly.
“No matter how often I see this, it always chills me.” Erik shuddered before Percy asked, “What have you two been up to? As you can see, I have been busy with this shop. You guys must have had it a little bit more exciting.”
Percy started working on the armaments and Ego-enhanced them as much as possible before writing down how much he’d invested in the respective runic enchantments. He created a price list for all goods and adjusted them according to the material quality, the potency of each enchantment, and a few minor factors. Still, Percy never stopped listening intently to the brothers’ story.
“The Imperial training is crazy. We have been busy training since we arrived in the capital. The Wintermoon Estate is a playground compared to the training we are currently going through. It’s crazy!” Erik complained, but the smile on his face told everyone how much he actually liked it.
“We are getting stronger. Our Tier is increasing relatively fast, and we’re out in the Wilderness more often to accumulate more combat experience. The instructors have been trying to hide this, but we heard something about more problems with Demons. More Demons are appearing all over the kingdom. Demons alone are still fine. We can locate them and take them out easily, but Demonic Gifted controls them. That makes everything more difficult, especially now that the situation with the Beastlands are getting tense again.”
“There are problems with the Beastlands again?” Percy asked.
Is that why the Adventurers have been so angry at Louis and Sabrina? That could cause more problems if another war with the Beastlands erupts.
Percy sighed.
That’s another thing to mark on the to-do list: Strengthen Louis and Sabrina. Should I buy Monster Cards for them or focus on their mana control first?
He ruffled through his hair before continuing to work on his goods. No matter what he planned on doing; Percy needed more money.
“It’s not that bad yet, but I think the Beastmen take advantage of our problems with the Demons. Usually, Demons are a problem for the entire mortal realm, but it looks like most Demons and Demonic Gifted have been sighted in the Kainesh Kingdom. Our neighbors don’t have as many problems with them.”
“That’s bad,” Percy commented.
“Oh, yeah. It certainly is. And that’s why the royal family has been investing more heavily into the Imperial prospects. They’ve been searching for more Egos to train and have already added six commonbirth Egos to train as future Imperials. I’m surprised they didn’t ask you yet.”
Percy shrugged. Becoming an Imperial sounded nice, but he had already enough issues with his unknown family background and the shop.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t been thinking about my family – or whatever is left of it – since I’ve opened the Dragon Lair.
Erik and Tarlek looked at each other and saw how Percy reacted to their comments.
“I thought you would be more disappointed,” Erik commented begrudgingly, while Tarlek snickered, “We expected you to be more distressed about your family drama and that you haven’t been accepted into this year’s Imperial training. But it looks like we were worried for no reason.”
The brothers weren’t disappointed in Percy’s changes. If anything, they were interested about how far his Ego would push Percy as long as he continued pursuing this career for a while. Once his shop could run independently, with only a few days every few months spent by Ego-enhancing piles of unenchanted equipment, Percy could do whatever he wanted.
Maybe the brothers and every other Imperial prospect would improve faster than Percy in the next few months, but Percy had a shocking long-term advantage.
“If you have anything for me to Ego-enhance. Tell me about it. I can squeeze some custom orders for you in between,” Percy commented, but there was something dangerous in his eyes.
“Where is the hook?”
Percy was still smiling but the same shit-eating grin like Erik had shown a moment ago blossomed on his face.
“You have to pay me fairly, of course! My power doesn’t grow on trees!”
Erik groaned, and even the smile on Tarlek’s lips cracked.
“Can you give us a discount at least?”
“Please…”
