Chapter 300: Money
"I apologize for what Miss Gloria has done to you."
Auric frowned. There was an unknown woman suddenly apologizing for the spy’s behavior.
Even Ellia was wary of her for some reason.
"It doesn’t matter. It’s already in the past." Auric just nodded, intending to finish the matter quietly.
"Please allow me to apologize properly. Our country doesn’t condone behavior like that. Miss Gloria did everything because of her excessive loyalty. She must have inconvenienced you, so—"
Before the woman could continue further, Auric simply cut her off. "That’s enough. I don’t care about that, and you don’t have to care about that either. Let’s end this here."
Auric turned around as though he was planning to leave, but the woman stepped forward, insisting, "Please wait a minute. I—"
Auric was annoyed. He had been polite from the beginning, but in a situation like this, he realized that Ellia’s method might actually work better.
He looked at Ellia for a few seconds, while Ellia tilted her head in confusion.
In the end, Auric decided to handle it like Ellia did.
"Excuse me. Your country? I have seen the sincerity of your country. From what I’ve seen of Gloria, I can see that your country is trying to recruit me or something. If it doesn’t work, you’re probably trying to get good ties with me, is that correct?"
Without waiting for her response, Auric continued, "Even though her identity was exposed, I think she had done quite a good job on that. At the very least, it was a pretty good relationship in which I wouldn’t even think about exposing her information to more people.
"So, in a way, she had succeeded in her mission. Yet, you came to me this time, apologizing. That means that you saw her success as a mistake.
"You acted as if you had abandoned her even though she had accomplished her tasks. And you actually wanted me to get to know your country better, to the point where I would consider joining your country?
"Please be realistic. If someone like her could be thrown away like a dog, despite her success, what makes you think I’m willing to go to your country or have any relationship with their replacement?
"If that’s all you want to say, you don’t have to say it at all. I know what you’re going to say, and my answer will still be no. What next? You may be a Rank 4 human, but I can see that your strength is lower than Gloria’s.
"If you think you can make a move against me or anything, you may have underestimated me that badly. Surely Gloria reported my ability to your superior, right? Cease your useless thoughts."
Auric snorted and walked away.
Ellia was dumbfounded. She was the one who usually said things like that. This was the first time someone had done it before her eyes.
It just made her blood boil.
’That’s oddly satisfying. I’ve been telling the hard truth and spinning it in a way that blames the other party. Still, I can’t help but agree with his opinions this time. If someone succeeds and then gets thrown away, what makes them think people want to join them?’
Ellia remained vigilant in case the woman made her move. She was ready to stop her and take Auric away before making a big fuss.
The woman, on the other hand, clenched her fists and looked down. Her body was shaking with embarrassment.
The bystanders couldn’t help but glance at them and whisper among themselves.
The woman ground her teeth. ’Auric Elfe... How dare you humiliate me like this? Do you think you’re the only talented person in this world?’
Meanwhile, Ellia gave him a thumbs-up after they were far enough from that woman. "You did well."
"It just rubs me the wrong way. At least Gloria helped me, even though we weren’t exactly allies." Auric sighed. He still remembered Katarina’s suggestion.
There was a possibility that they could lure Gloria to this country and recruit her. Seeing how she had been treated, it looked like it could be the right move.
Auric thought, ’Maybe I should ask Katarina to investigate Gloria’s current situation. Gloria will be an excellent bodyguard.’
"Why do you even want a bodyguard? Aren’t you going to become strong enough not to have to fear anyone?" Lindwurm asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
’Her job is to stop me from hurting others, not the other way around.’
"I don’t think we have the same definition of a bodyguard." Lindwurm shook his head helplessly, overwhelmed by Auric’s confidence.
In the end, Auric and Ellia arrived at the restaurant. It turned out that Ellia had booked a private room. She had truly prepared for this conversation.
After ordering their food, Ellia took out the statement. "Here you go, your earnings for this month."
"I have been asking you to transfer everything every month now. Is that good enough? Or should I make it even longer, like once every quarter?" Auric asked.
"Every month is good enough. The tax is easier to handle that way."
"Is that so?" Auric picked up the paper and opened it. He suddenly froze for a few seconds and closed the paper again and then opened it again. "Did you accidentally add another zero?"
"I know you’re going to be shocked. I checked it multiple times. There is no typo." Ellia chuckled. "I told you, right? The number is surprising. How is it? Do you feel like treating me to something right now?"
"Say no more." Auric chuckled.
Even Lindwurm was using his power to make it seem as if he was swimming in a pool of money. "A portion of it is going to be used for my buffet?"
’Yeah. I can probably give you a bigger feast this time. So, make sure you look forward to it. We will have one before the training program.’
"Yippeee!" Lindwurm flew toward Ellia and used his power on her.
This time, Auric saw Ellia in a white ceremonial robe with a halo on her head and a pair of white wings on her back.
"The Angel of Wealth is now blessing you," Lindwurm cheered.
Auric just closed his eyes, ignoring Lindwurm. "By the way, you haven’t done anything to my store, have you?"
"Don’t worry. Unless you ask me, I don’t intend to do anything. I keep my promises."
"Then, where did this money come from?"
"It’s actually because of the training program. Before, the other four countries were already paying attention to you. Because of the training program, they’re wary of you. Then, the result of your test put the nail in the coffin."
"So, you mean they investigated me and accidentally stumbled upon the Sun Store? Because they’re wary of me, they think that I’m also benefiting from the Sun Store, so they investigated the Sun Store. Now, because of my test result, they are finally buying the gathering techniques?"
"Sounds about right. Shouldn’t you know already? I mean, you surely have notifications from the store on your phone, right?"
"After it became big, I just muted the notifications for the Sun Store. It was too much of a mess. Reading them would take too much time. The Moon Store hasn’t taken off, so I still received its notifications."
"As expected..." Ellia sighed, knowing that Auric was rarely near from his phone. "If you look at your store’s notifications, you will probably find foreign interests trying to contact you. It’s only the initial phase, so you will make a lot more money in the future."
"That’s pretty nice." Auric added inwardly, ’Lindwurm, do you have like an upgrade for the store? I mean, I’m going to become a gold-grade evolution master, so the store...’
"Don’t worry. I have one." Lindwurm winked playfully. "We can discuss it after you become a gold-grade evolution master or when you’re back from the training program... unless you plan to open a store there."
’I’m not crazy enough to do that.’ Auric thought for a moment while he looked at the number again.
2,210,395,300 credits.
Yes, it wasn’t one billion. It was two.
"I know you’re happy, but you still need to pay tax properly. It’ll be better if you just have a proper company... a legitimate business. This way, you can find a way or another to reduce your tax."
"Not yet." Auric shook his head. "I don’t plan to reveal my identity just yet."
"I know. I’ll respect your decision. Still, even with tax, there’s still a lot."
"True." Auric nodded. If he added the number to his balance, it would probably turn out to be about one and a half billion.
He really got rich. Compared to what his father had sent, this figure was already far beyond his expectations.
"What are the sales again?" Auric asked.
"About a hundred thousand copies for the Rank 1 gathering techniques and twelve thousand copies for the Rank 2 gathering techniques."
Auric nodded in understanding. "Suppose I sell Rank 3 gathering techniques?"
"I bet your income will be in the tens of billions of credits per month. And that is without a lot of cost. This kind of business is something most companies, including mine, could never imagine." Ellia chuckled. "At this rate, you may end up accumulating too much money and making cash scarce."
Auric chuckled. "Right? I should also think about how to spend the money. At this rate, I might end up spending it on useless things."
"Please think carefully about what you want."
"I know. The problem is... there is the Moon Store. Besides, I intend to add more techniques to the Moon Store. And I have some thoughts about other items to sell in the Sun Store."
"What kind of techniques are you talking about?"
"You can think of it as an additional technique that allows higher-level people to hasten their progress with the Artificial Heart Method. As for the Sun Store, something related to artifacts."
Auric looked away, thinking he also had a royalty contract for his research.
"Both of them are extremely lucrative." Ellia raised one finger, her expression turning serious. "And I need to warn you about one thing. If someone ever asks you what kind of business you’re planning to open, never tell them about it, not even me. It’s good that I don’t intend to harm you, but that idea could be stolen. Or if you fail, you could become a laughingstock."
"Someone once told me that." Auric gave her a sincere smile. "It’s not complete information anyway. Besides, I know you are at least someone I can trust with that little secret."
Ellia was startled. Auric truly dropped a bombshell.
"I appreciate that." Ellia closed her eyes gracefully while thinking, ’Please don’t blush. Please don’t blush. My face is not getting red, right? No, no. Not good. My face is getting hotter...’
Lindwurm just facepalmed, remembering what Maya had said about Auric’s love life.
’He truly had a knack for charming people. If he hadn’t avoided relationships like plagues, his relationship situation would have been very different.’