Chapter 164 - 137: You Got a Great Deal
"Jean, so you tracked me all the way to the Fran Kingdom." Herbert took a few slow steps, then turned to place the overcoat in his hand on a nearby table. His gaze swept over the brown-haired, bearded man sitting there and the sheer curtain hanging by the window.
With two loud RIPS, a pair of white appendages burst from his back. Then, with a SNAP, they unfurled into a pair of enormous, membranous wings.
"Are you really not afraid to die?" Herbert turned his head. His eyes glazed over with a blood-red sheen as two sharp fangs slowly emerged. His entire face turned deathly pale and savage.
"Don’t be so sure of yourself. You haven’t managed to kill me after all these years." Jean stood up with a smile, but then let out a pained groan. His hair began to grow at an alarming rate, and his facial features contorted. With the continuous sound of tearing fabric, a Werewolf covered in black fur charged directly at Herbert just a few seconds later.
The two immediately began brawling in the room. As they clawed and bit at each other, blood splattered across the walls.
With a BANG, Jean slammed Herbert into a bedroom. No candles were lit within; the room was as dark as the gaping maw of a Giant Beast. The Werewolf Jean let out a howl and charged straight in after him.
The bedroom door slammed shut as if pulled by an unseen force. The sounds of a fierce struggle erupted from within, echoing into the outer room. Meanwhile, the sheer curtain began to flutter on its own, despite the lack of wind, faintly outlining a hidden form.
"AWOOO—" Inside the bedroom, Jean let out a great howl, then slammed his fist against the wall a few times. He leaned against a low cabinet, looked at Herbert sitting on the bed, and whispered, "We should be good, right?"
"Relax." The Vampire Herbert grabbed a glass from a small table beside the bed and smashed it against the wall.
"How did you track me to Yangjiao Town?" he asked in a low voice.
"How could I not?" Jean kicked the low cabinet hard. "If I didn’t chase you, the Master would’ve figured everything out."
"Fair point." Herbert flipped the small table, creating a huge crash. He let out two more roars, then slumped down in exhaustion.
"Can you put some effort into it? Make your roars sound convincing," Jean said, a little unhappy with the other’s "performance." "Otherwise, the Master might think we’re up to something else in here."
"Like what? We’re two old men." Herbert scoffed, but then he followed up with a few loud, angry curses.
"True. The Clan Leaders of two feuding families can’t exactly get up to much." Jean gave a bitter smile. "When is this ever going to end?"
"Speaking of which, something different did happen tonight," Herbert said, remembering something. He leaned closer to Jean.
"Different? Did you find a clue about that pair of ears?" Jean’s voice was suddenly filled with hope, but he quickly caught himself. "Quick, don’t just stand there talking. Keep busy."
Herbert immediately kicked a nearby chair into the wall. After a few more roars, he whispered, "I just went to an Alchemy Workshop to discuss a deal. The client ordered fifty thousand potion bottles from me."
"And?" The Werewolf Jean let out a pained howl.
"The thing is, the person I made the deal with was a goblin," Herbert grinned, the smile making his Vampire features look even more savage. "He tried to hide his identity, all bundled up, but he had no idea I could tell what he was just from the scent of his blood."
"A goblin is the owner of an Alchemy Workshop?" Jean’s voice rose, but he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and kicked the wall again for good measure. "And none of the Adventurers coming and going in Yangjiao Town have noticed?"
"That’s why I figured he must be making the potions in the forest and bringing them into town to sell," Herbert said with a smile. "A goblin who can brew all sorts of potions... he’s probably a Mage."
"You mean..." Jean hesitated, his destructive theatrics pausing. He still hadn’t grasped Herbert’s point.
"He must have a whole clan. And ordering fifty thousand bottles at once means they have considerable resources. You have to understand, no single person would order that many bottles. They wouldn’t have the ability to brew enough potions to fill them in a reasonable amount of time," Herbert explained quietly. He gestured with his hand, reminding Jean not to forget what they were supposed to be doing.
Jean nodded, then kicked the low cabinet to pieces. "You’re saying they’re a powerful clan, with several Mages or Alchemists among them."
"Exactly." Herbert bounced hard on the bed twice, making it go CREAK, CREAK. "So I agreed to their price without a second thought. That way, we can meet a few more times, get familiar, and then I can hire them to help us search the forest for that pair of ears."
"Hmm," Jean mulled it over, then nodded. "That could work. We’ll have another group of people helping us search. Sounds like you got a great bargain out of it."
"Let’s hope it works," Herbert sighed, then bounced hard on the bed a few more times.
"Stop making that sound," Jean said with disgust. "I’m leaving. If you need me, get in touch through the tavern, same as always."
"Alright. I’ll see if I can get you in as a supplier for that goblin group too," Herbert said quietly. "Oh, and tell that pup of yours to stop sniffing around my daughter."
Jean shot Herbert a contemptuous look. He then extended his claws and raked several gruesome wounds across his own body. "You should be telling that to your little Vampire."
With that, he burst through the bedroom door and rolled out onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, let out a long "AWOOO," then turned, sprinted to the window, and leaped out.
Herbert also carved several wounds into his own flesh. He then gripped the doorframe and staggered out of the bedroom. His membranous wings swiftly retracted until they vanished, and he reverted to his normal human form.
He gasped for breath, staggering over to the window. After a glance at the street below, he collapsed into the swivel chair.
"Don’t forget what you promised me." A voice spoke beside his ear. The nearby sheer curtain billowed out, the fabric molding itself into the shape of a face.
"I know, Master," Herbert said, his voice weak. He tried to raise his hand, but after a few attempts, it fell limply to his side.
"Hehehe." The face in the curtain chuckled, a hint of smugness in the sound.
The sheer curtain fell slack, returning to normal. Herbert glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and muttered to himself, ’Such a suspicious bastard.’
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The door was pounded upon, and an attendant’s anxious voice called out from the other side. Herbert held out a hand and beckoned with one finger. All the splattered blood around the room flowed through the air like a small stream, converging in his palm.
He quickly absorbed the blood, then walked to the door. "I’m fine. I was just the target of an assassination."
...
"How did you negotiate this price?" Agatha exclaimed, staring at the contract in her hand. "This is so much cheaper than the price I got."
"I have no idea," Shire said, leaning back in his chair with a nonchalant air. "Maybe he saw the size of my order and just agreed."
"How is that possible?" Agatha said, still staring at the contract in disbelief.
"I didn’t expect him to agree right away, either," Shire said with a laugh. "I thought he’d give me a counteroffer. You know how it is in business, you start with a high bid and expect to haggle. But I never thought Herbert would just agree. He signed without any hesitation, and left as soon as we were done."
"So you also..." Agatha tilted her head, looking at Shire.
"So I left immediately, too. When you get a deal that good, you take it and run," Shire said with a cheeky grin. "Can’t give him a chance to change his mind."
"It really is a huge bargain," Agatha pouted, muttering, ’How come I never get deals like this?’
Shire chuckled smugly. "Well, this solves part of our production bottleneck."
"Speaking of which, why did you buy so many bottles? Can Little Claw even keep up with the work by himself?" Agatha asked, putting down the contract.
"He can manage if he takes his time," Shire said, slowly tapping his fingers on the edge of the table. "We’re not in a rush to use them all. This is just to prepare for next year."
"Next year?" Agatha was confused. She didn’t understand why they had to start stockpiling so many Healing Potions for next year already.
"Mhm. Next year is going to be a very... eventful year." Shire picked up a bottle of Healing Potion from the table, raising it to look at the fluorescent Mushrooms on the ceiling through the liquid. ’And with so much going on, how could I not take the opportunity to secure a few benefits for myself?’
"Benefits?" Agatha still didn’t understand what Shire was talking about, but she could tell he was hiding something. "Never mind, I won’t pry. When can you get me that new Rune Speech?"
"I’m working on it," Shire said with a smile, putting down the Healing Potion. "We have to wait for the Centaurs to take the bait. It wouldn’t be good to ask them directly right now."
Agatha nodded and didn’t press him further. Instead, she said slowly, "My Demon Plague is due to flare up in a few days."
"Like that time I saw you before?" Shire immediately sat up straight. "Will it be dangerous this time?"
"No, the potions are all prepared," Agatha replied with a nod.
"Is there really no cure for the Demon Plague?" Shire frowned. ’My sister is a Mage now, so she must be suffering from it too.’ He had asked Agatha about the Demon Plague before, and from her description, he suspected his sister’s ordeal was even worse.
"There is no way," Agatha shook her head. "The Demon Plague is incurable."