Chapter 103: Blackmail Is MC’s Job
Last night had gone pretty well, at least if you asked Max.
Although, come morning, Zerena had sent him off to buy herbs without so much as a goodbye kiss.
Not that Max was complaining.
Yennefer had been sending him nudes every day now, and if everything went according to plan, today might finally trigger another system act or two.
It wasn’t as though he was running low on Forbidden Points either. He still had well over five thousand sitting untouched, and he’d already started saving them for a far more entertaining project he had in mind later.
All of his current system tasks were going to disappear by this evening, so Max was already planning to stock up on a few more once he got back to the laboratory.
Thinking about earning points naturally brought Zerena to mind. She had seemed a little irritated this morning. Then again, Max was fairly sure he knew why.
"Hope she’s in the mood..." he muttered to himself.
She’d definitely been awake last night while he’d been sucking on her vagina and stroking his penis between her folds.
Still...
She hadn’t mentioned any of it this morning. Max took that as a good sign. Even if she had brought it up, Max already had a few explanations prepared.
Well...
Not really explanations.
Just the truth. He was fully prepared to admit he simply couldn’t help himself and went for it. After that?
He’d just have to hope she didn’t beat him half to death—or, even worse, trap him in one of her endless lectures. Fortunately, none of that happened.
Perfectly happy with how the morning had turned out, Max stepped into the herb shop. Just like every other time he’d visited, Yennefer was sitting behind the counter.
She looked a little surprised to see him. Then a wide smile spread across her face. "Well... if it isn’t my daily boobs inspector." She folded her arms, amusement dancing in her brown eyes. "What? Was last night’s picture not up to your standards?" She tilted her head with a teasing smile. "Or did you come to inspect them in person this time?"
Max smiled.
"Not gonna lie," he said as he walked over and leaned against the counter, "I wouldn’t mind a fondle or two."
He grinned shamelessly.
"And... apologies. They weren’t nearly saggy enough to be called loose fat skin folds."
Yennefer stared at him for a second.
"...Thanks... I guess?"
She wasn’t entirely sure whether she’d just been insulted or complimented.
"So," she asked, still wearing a slightly confused expression, "what are you here for?"
"Need a few more sets of herbs."
Max handed her the list.
Yennefer glanced over it before raising an eyebrow.
"...Doesn’t that potion maker ever get bored making the same potion over and over again?"
Max smirked.
To be fair, she wasn’t entirely wrong. He had grown a little tired of brewing the same potion over and over. Making up convincing bullshit, however, was becoming one of his more reliable talents.
"Well," he said casually, "since you already know a little, these herbs are actually for me."
Reaching into his bag, he pulled out one of the B+ Grade Minor Healing Potions he’d quietly hidden from Zerena. He’d been saving it for exactly this sort of opportunity. If everything went well, it might encourage Yennefer to become a little bolder with those daily selfies.
"He’ll only teach me anything beyond the basics if I can consistently brew high-grade potions using this recipe," Max explained. "So... I need a lot of herbs."
Yennefer’s hands moved almost immediately, taking the bottle from him before he had even fully finished speaking.
As the owner of an herb shop, she’d handled more than enough potions over the years to recognize quality when she saw it.
"He made this just to show you?" Yennefer asked, sounding more curious than surprised.
After reading the rune notes Max had sent her, she had no trouble believing that whoever wrote them could casually brew a B+ Grade Minor Healing Potion.
To her surprise, however, Max shook his head.
"Then who?" she asked, setting the bottle back on the counter.
"The potions he makes rarely fall below A Grade," Max replied, picking the bottle up again. "This one... I made."
Yennefer blinked.
"...You?"
She looked at him as though he’d just claimed he’d taught fish how to climb trees.
"No way in hell."
She pointed at the bottle.
"I can believe you made a potion," she said, putting just enough emphasis on a to make the insult obvious. "But a B+ Grade one?"
She gave her head a firm shake.
"Even with someone teaching you, you’d need at least a year before you’d have a chance of making something like that."
"Believe it or not," Max said, pulling out three more bottles, "I actually came here to sell a few. So... do you want them or not?"
Yennefer didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she thought it over for a moment before asking, "...What’s the price?"
"They can easily sell for five hundred and fifty," Max replied. "So how about five hundred each?"
It was already a fair price.
Yennefer looked at him for a second before a small, knowing smile appeared. "If you want me to keep this little secret from Zerena..." she said, "make it four hundred and eighty each."
Max clicked his tongue. He’d expected bargaining.
What annoyed him was the attempted blackmail. That was supposed to be his job.
"Well... fine. Four hundred and eighty," Max said with a shrug. "But you should know the price of these just went up too."
As he spoke, he casually pulled out a few handwritten pages. The moment Yennefer saw them, her eyes widened in recognition. She immediately reached across the counter, trying to snatch them from his hand.
Max was faster.
He pulled them back with a grin before she could even touch them.
"No, no." Max smirked, pulling the pages just out of her reach. "You already had your bargaining opportunity."
He gave the notes another little wave right in front of her.
"And you wasted it earning a measly eighty units more."