Chapter 115 – Chapter of Freedom (1/2)

Chapter 115 – Chapter of Freedom

Having paid the employment fees, Nie Yan noticed a crippled old man slowly walking in his direction.

The moment this old man entered his vision, he heaved a sigh of relief as this was indeed him!

“Milord, I am Insei Rais. My family and I would like to express our deepest gratitude for employing my humble self.” Wrinkles covered his face, and his skin was as withered as an old tree bark. In addition to his crippled leg, it was quite difficult to praise him in any way.

Insei Rais has family members? Hmm, now that I think about it… that actually makes sense.

“This is the store I’ll be handing over to you. I’ll also inform you on how to manage this business.” Nie Yan greeted Insei Rais with a small nod, while he contemplated on how to get the most out of this cripple’s Diplomacy Skill. For now, I’ll just have him look after the shop. It’s not like I would have to worry about him stealing merchandise or embezzling money with his thirty-seven Trust… After all, an employee’s loyalty is almost guaranteed when their Trust is thirty or over.

While preparing the store for business, Nie Yan instructed Bird to bring the completed Black Phenol over so that it could be sold. He also made a recruitment poster which read: “Hiring Alchemists,” “Those interested contact XXX.” If he wanted the shop to prosper, relying on the future Alchemy King alone was insufficient. He would only be satisfied when he had a large number of Alchemists under his command.

Hmm, what should I name this store…? I’ll just call it Starry Night Potion Shop. Nothing too special, while fairly easy to remember.

He instructed Insei Rais to sell the Black Phenol, the recipes, and the raw materials. In addition, to prevent his identity from being known, he hid his name as the shop’s owner.

The price of a portion of raw materials was set to twenty coppers, a single bottle of Black Phenol was set to sixty coppers, and a single Black Phenol Recipe was set to thirty silvers. These prices were far above the market price, especially the price of the recipe, which he made ridiculously expensive. Nie Yan planned to start off with these absurd prices, giving the large guilds an opportunity to be the first to buy them. Of course, if they felt that these prices were too high, they were free to go elsewhere. The price of Black Phenol was not going to drop anytime soon, and considering the necessity of this item to progress in the game, there were bound to be people who would buy them. As such, he planned to rob as many people of their money as possible, while the demand still far exceeded the supply, before he would slowly lower the price when the market began to stabilize. Obviously, even at this lower price, he would still make a decent profit.

With everything set up, he inspected the shop. It’s still pretty empty, huh. I really need more goods to fill the place up for it to become a genuine business.

The quality of the average Alchemist in Conviction was simply too low at present. Even if he hired a few, they mostly likely wouldn’t meet his standards. Therefore, there was no need to hastily start a large-scale recruitment campaign since other shops were likely in the same predicament. Having such thoughts going through his mind, he prepared to leave the shop.

“Eh? Since when was there a potion shop here?” Three players discovered Nie Yan’s shop as they passed by the area. After all, how could they not notice it when such a fine, brand-new building suddenly emerged within these slums?

“Let’s go have a look.”

The three players headed over to the store, and at the same moment, they noticed Nie Yan walking out.

“Hey! When did this shop open up?” The person who greeted him was a Warrior named Dauntless. He was a very strapping young man, who stood at six foot three, and had quite a terrifyingly loud and coarse voice.

Nie Yan glanced at Dauntless and said with a faint smile, “I just happened to pass by as well and went in for a look. I have no idea when it opened.”

“I see, thanks anyway. Tuo Ba, let’s take a look inside and see if they have any health or mana potions for sale.”

“It doesn’t look like there’s any,” Nie Yan said quite straightforwardly. After all, the shop had barely opened.

“I doubt a new shop would have many things in stock,” Another voice rang out, though this one sounded a bit lethargic.

Nie Yan glimpsed at the youth behind Dauntless—a Paladin. The word handsome could be used to describe him, but there was just a tinge of inattentiveness to his appearance and even a bit of laziness. Tuo Ba… this name sounds a bit familiar. However, Nie Yan failed to recognize him and thus walked away, brushing past their shoulders on his way out.

“There aren’t even any basic potions? Why even open a potion store then, not to mention at such a remote place! I’m guessing business must be very poor,” the Arcane Mage noted.

Nevertheless, Dauntless and the other two walked into the store.

“Shit, they’re selling Black Phenol and even the recipe too!”

“The hell? What a rip-off! This price is absolutely ridiculous!”

Dauntless’ coarse voice erupted behind Nie Yan the moment he had stepped out onto the street. None of them could have ever imagined a place like this would be selling Black Phenol and even its recipe. Items that were selling like hotcakes—items that every single guild yearned for. From this alone, they understood that this shop wasn’t owned by some simpleton.

Nie Yan stopped dead in his tracks when that coarse voice burst into his ears, but after making a faint smile, he walked wherever his feet led him. Since this shop had already been discovered, it was inevitable that this news would spread far and wide. When the guilds that thirsted for Black Phenol learnt of this information, they were certain to head over and check it out for themselves. If they were in urgent need of Black Phenol, perhaps they would even buy a few in spite of the outrageous prices.

Black Phenol was already an extreme rarity in the marketplace, let alone the recipe. There was an undeniable truth that many were interested in those two things alone.

「Nie Yan, where are you right now?」Tang Yao messaged Nie Yan.

「I’m in Calore right now. How’s the levelling going with Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the rest?」