After teasing the Boss Lady, Caius was in an excellent mood.
Humming a tune, he walked along while checking the task list.
Two material collection tasks—one for high mountain white peach blossoms and another for dragonkin insects.
Caius remembered that high mountain white peach blossoms could be used to brew floral tea, which Holan loved to drink. He decided to gather some extra.
As for the dragonkin insect… despite its imposing name, it was just a tiny beetle that fed on fungi—completely harmless, even kids could catch them barehanded.
The reason it was classified as a Silver-tier task was that these insects could only be found in the Red Mushroom Forest, forty miles south of Grilla City.
The Red Mushroom Forest was far more dangerous than the forests around Ocean City. Even its outer region was home to numerous Silver-tier Magic Beasts, while the inner region had Gold-tier ones.
However, as long as he didn’t encounter a Platinum-tier Magic Beast, Caius could handle most threats.
Besides these two tasks, Caius planned to take on a few others along the way.
“Caius?” A voice called out to him.
Caius turned and saw an old friend—Geoffrey.
His eyes lit up as he walked over to greet him. “Yo, Geoffrey! No tasks today?”
“No, there haven’t been any long-distance commissions lately,” Geoffrey replied with a smile.
“I see… By the way, your boss’s name is Eli, right?” Caius asked.
“Yeah, his shop is just around the street corner. I was heading there now.”
“Perfect, I need to restock on some potions. Let’s go together.” Caius casually draped an arm over Geoffrey’s shoulder.
“Sure.” Geoffrey glanced at the burly man who acted so familiar and nodded.
Soon, the two arrived at a magic potion shop—Eli Potions.
Upon entering, Caius immediately spotted a middle-aged man with neatly combed hair and a monocle, sitting behind the counter reading a book. His gentlemanly demeanor was evident.
“Welcome to Eli Potions,” the man said instinctively upon noticing new arrivals. When he saw Geoffrey, he looked curious.
“Captain Geoffrey, and this is…?”
“Boss, this is Caius,” Geoffrey introduced. “Caius, this is our boss.”
“Oh, so it’s you!” Eli quickly stepped out from behind the counter and shook Caius’s hand warmly.
“Apologies! One of my employees quit recently, so I’ve had to watch the shop myself and couldn’t personally thank you,” Eli said sincerely, which gave Caius a good impression of him.
“No big deal, don’t worry about it,” Caius waved dismissively.
“No, no, you don’t understand. Captain Geoffrey may be my employee, but he’s also my friend. If he and the others had been lost to the Wolf Demon, I would’ve been devastated.”
“As a token of my gratitude, from now on, whenever you buy potions from my shop, I’ll only charge you the cost price!”
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“That’s fantastic!” Caius laughed heartily and even raised an eyebrow at Geoffrey. “You’ve got a great boss!”
“Who wouldn’t agree?” Geoffrey chuckled and nodded.
“Perfect timing. I need ten bottles each of healing potions, stamina potions, and clarity potions—all mid-grade,” Caius stated.
“No problem!” Eli immediately went to fetch the potions. Shortly after, he returned with a basket filled with neatly arranged bottles.
“These are all personally brewed by me—the best mid-grade potions available. Would you like to test them?” Eli asked.
“No need. Eli, your potions are well-known among the city’s mercenaries.” Caius grinned.
Hearing this, Eli’s heart swelled with pride, and his smile grew even wider. “You flatter me.”
“How much?” Caius pulled out his coin pouch.
“We agreed on cost price—thirty mid-grade potions, let’s round it down to four hundred gold coins!”
Damn, that’s a low cost!
Caius knew that mid-grade potions typically sold for over a hundred gold coins per bottle. But the production cost was only around ten gold coins each—meaning a tenfold profit margin.
For a moment, Caius was tempted to open his own magic potion shop.
He paid quickly and stored the potions but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he struck up a conversation with Eli.
Eli was evidently quite the conversationalist, and Caius found himself enjoying their chat.
“By the way, Eli, the employee who quit—was her name Belle?” Caius suddenly asked, recalling something.
“Yes. How did you know?” Eli looked surprised.
“Oh, I know her.” Caius smiled.
He had previously heard from Granny Lunla that Belle worked part-time at a magic potion shop to support the Orphanage while attending school. When Eli mentioned an employee leaving, Caius immediately made the connection.
“What do you know about her?” Caius asked.
Granny Lunla had asked him to help Belle, and to do that, he needed to understand her situation first.
“Not much,” Eli admitted. “I only know that she comes from a difficult background and has to balance school with work.”
“But she was an exceptional employee. She completed every task given to her flawlessly. I heard she’s also an outstanding student at the academy.”
“You know, I once asked her to organize the shelves, and not only did she do that, but when I returned, I found the entire store spotless—even the glass windows gleamed.”
“It’s rare to find someone so diligent and competent.”
“Most importantly, she has a natural talent for potion-making. Once, while I was away, a customer came looking for a potion that had sold out. Belle found the ingredients and brewed it herself. The customer was so impressed that they returned to thank me personally.”
“That was when I realized she was no ordinary girl—no wonder she’s an exceptional student at the Magic Academy.”
“It’s a shame… I had planned to train her as a potion master, but before I could teach her anything, the Ocean City Academy went into lockdown, forcing her to resign.”
Eli sighed with regret, while Caius listened intently.
“What about her personal life?” Caius pressed.
“I didn’t pay much attention, but she seemed… rigid. I once told her to stand at the counter to give customers a good impression, and she literally stood there all day.”
“So afterward, I told her she could sit and rest when no customers were around.”
“A bit dense, huh?” Caius chuckled.
“Indeed,” Eli nodded. “She also wasn’t very talkative. She struggled to communicate with customers, so I eventually had her focus on organizing shelves while I handled the counter.”
“Oh, right!” Eli suddenly remembered something. “One time, a few Ocean City Academy students came in—seemed like they knew her.”
“But those girls… ugh, they were awful.”
Caius immediately perked up.
He hadn’t expected such an unexpected lead and quickly asked, “How many of them? Were they male or female? What were their names?”
Eli shot Caius a curious look before continuing, “Four girls. I didn’t catch their names because I ended up kicking them out.”
“They deliberately knocked Belle over and then blamed her for breaking some potions. If the florist next door hadn’t seen it happen and told me, I might have wrongly accused her.”
“So, I refused to serve them and ordered them to leave my shop.”
Caius nodded, then patted Eli’s shoulder. “Eli, has anyone ever told you that you’re a real man?”
“Haha! Thanks for the compliment!” Eli laughed heartily.
Caius chuckled as well, then said, “To be honest, this matter is very important to me.”
“Important? Don’t tell me she’s your…” Eli suddenly looked enlightened, flashing a knowing smile.
Caius knew he had misunderstood, but he didn’t bother correcting this ‘beautiful’ misunderstanding. Instead, he smirked. “So, I need to know what those girls looked like. I’ll teach them a lesson and make sure they stay away from her!”
“No problem!” Eli, clearly approving of Caius’s actions, led him further into the shop and personally sketched portraits of the girls.
Looking at the lifelike drawings, Caius was impressed. “Eli, your drawing skills are amazing!”
“Haha! I actually have a side job as a fashion designer, so I’ve picked up a bit of artistry,” Eli said modestly, though it was clear he enjoyed the praise.
“Thank you, Eli. As thanks, I’ll take on a Gold-tier task for you—free of charge!” Caius declared.
