53. Malfoy: This Is What A Noble Should Be Like! Fool A Working Man

"What do you mean, Lawrence?" Malfoy turned around, able to hear Wayne's voice even though it wasn't overly loud or quiet. The eleven-year-old boy had a cold expression on his face as he asked, "Are you trying to provoke my Malfoy family?"

Wayne remained unaffected, spreading his hands out and saying, "Am I not telling the truth?"

"I thought a big customer was here, but instead I ended up buying this ordinary map. I got excited for nothing."

"Ordinary?" Malfoy looked at the parchment in his hand, feeling somewhat confused. The map had an exquisite python pattern and green lace with hints of gold. It was sprinkled with gold powder. Wasn't this the most expensive version? Did he accidentally buy the wrong one?

"Lawrence, what do you mean?" Malfoy asked again. "Do you have something better?"

"Of course," Wayne replied, causing surprise to cross his face. "The twenty-eight pure-blood families are the nobles among wizards. Shouldn't the things they use be customized? After all, as a Muggle noble, everything in my home is specially made."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Malfoy said anxiously. "Our Malfoy family is noble, so of course we use the best. My dad's cane was specially made by a master alchemist."

Malfoy felt a slight sense of shame when he realized that while most of his items were top-notch, they weren't custom-made. He hated being compared to this Muggle.

"Lawrence, don't just speak without thinking," Malfoy retorted, shaking the map in his hand angrily. "You didn't tell me there was a custom version. How much does it cost? I want it."

"Oh, it seems I misunderstood," Wayne said, showing an appropriately apologetic smile.

"I do have custom models here, and they are tailored to customers' needs. Different grades use different materials."

Wayne smiled happily, saying, "You can have it for a hundred galleons."

Malfoy nearly jumped up in excitement. "Why are you waiting? Go get it!"

"Listen to me first about the materials, and then you can make your judgment," Wayne instructed, asking Malfoy to calm down before starting his sales pitch. "The top grade uses dragon skin instead of sheepskin, and the ink used in the map is high-quality squid king ink. It won't change color and also gives off a faint poisonous gas. The map will also have the crest of the Malfoy family and the logo of Slytherin tattooed on it, all made with the finest unicorn hairs."

Finally, Wayne asked, "Do you still think it's expensive?"

"It's too cheap," Malfoy replied unconsciously before quickly realizing his mistake. "No, it's not expensive. It's very reasonable. Don't just raise the price!"

"We are all nobles. I am a Muggle noble, and you are a wizard noble." Wayne said arrogantly. Malfoy felt at ease with this kind of performance.

"This is the style I want! I want the top map. Here is a deposit of fifty galleons," Malfoy confidently stated as he handed over the money. He had spent a lot before, and what he had on hand was no longer enough. He didn't want Wayne to know, or else he would face another humiliating slap. He planned to use the deposit as an excuse and write home all night to ask for money from his mother, Narcissa.

To Malfoy's surprise, Wayne had no intention of taking the deposit. Instead, he looked at him angrily and said, "What do you mean? A deposit is required for transactions between nobles. You are insulting me! Take the money and come to me for the map in two days!"

Without waiting for Malfoy to respond, Wayne turned around and knocked on the barrel a few times before returning to the lounge. Malfoy realized that Wayne was genuinely angry. Goyle, seeing that Wayne didn't even take the money, felt happy and said, "Master Malfoy, do you think this man is stupid? No wonder he was assigned a job."

"Shut up!" Malfoy angrily interrupted Goyle and suppressed his next words with a warning look. "What do you know? This is a transaction between nobles. Don't judge Lawrence with your ordinary thoughts! Is it possible that the Malfoy family would waste these hundred galleons?"

Malfoy had been completely deceived, and Wayne's remarks about the nobility had deeply affected him. With the reputation of the Malfoy family, Wayne could be trusted. How could someone like Goyle, a fool, understand this secret? Disgusted, Malfoy looked at the two idiots and left.

He realized that calling Wayne a mudblood was too harsh. Even Muggle nobles were nobles and should not be insulted. He made up his mind to call him Lawrence from now on.

In the lounge, Wayne was nearly cramping from laughter. Cedric stood by, his mind blank. "So, you used this rhetoric to sell the map for a hundred galleons?" Cedric asked, trying to comprehend the situation.

When Wayne returned just now, he casually asked why Malfoy had come to see him.

However, after hearing Wayne's story, Cedric felt like his entire worldview had crumbled.

Are there such stupid people in the world?

Cedric said speechlessly, "Don't laugh. You didn't even ask for a deposit. Aren't you afraid that he'll regret it later?"

"You still don't understand what Malfoy wants."

Reluctantly suppressing his smile, Wayne sadly shook his head and looked at him.

"You still haven't grasped that those purebloods don't care about money, or small amounts at least. What they value is uniqueness and the feeling of superiority over others. Believe it or not, the spiel I just gave you would fool even old Malfoy."

"I don't believe it," Cedric said harshly. "There isn't a wizard in the world who doesn't see money as money."

"Then let's make a wager."

"Just bet."

Cedric took the bait and made a bet with Wayne.

If the deal ends up going through, he'll jump onto Hufflepuff's dining room table and twerk dance. If it doesn't work out, Wayne will have to do something in return.

Wayne has already earned over a hundred galleons, and there will be significant income in the future.

With that much money, how many Charlie Cannon peripherals can he buy?

"Cedric," Wayne suddenly said. "Do you want to learn how to make maps?"

Cedric was stunned for a moment and asked, "What do you mean? You want to teach me?"

"Whether you want to learn or not, if you do, I'll teach you."

"No, it's true," Cedric said with surprise. "Wayne, aren't you afraid that I'll start selling maps once I learn?"

"Could you?" Wayne asked.

"Of course not," Cedric shook his head.

Although he and Wayne are good friends now, even if they weren't, Cedric wouldn't do anything to steal someone's business.

"There are conditions for teaching you," Wayne stated his intention. "If you learn how to make maps, you'll work for me, and you'll receive 20% of each map's earnings.

Wayne's previous stock was running low, especially the most basic maps, which were almost sold out. He would have to stay up late tonight to restock.

Practicing a lot can indeed enhance your alchemy skills, but too much repetition is pointless.

Regardless, Wayne has now mastered all of the magic spells and alchemical principles used to make maps, so making more maps would simply be a waste of time.

Instead of doing that, it's better to outsource it step by step so that he can freely learn other types of magic.

His goal is to earn points, not money.

He can simply go to Gringotts and exchange this little money for some gold. Originally, Wayne intended to ask Hermione for help, but she had recently started at the school and was nowhere near meeting his requirements. Considering this, Cedric seemed like a better option. As for whether Cedric would learn to turn against others, Wayne had many ideas in his mind, and the map was just a testing method. If Cedric did it, he would only end up losing more. 

When Cedric heard Wayne's request, he agreed without hesitation. Twenty percent might not sound like much, but over a school year, it would add up to dozens of galleons, much more than Cedric's pocket money. Most importantly, Cedric valued the opportunity to learn from Wayne. He now fully realizes that the young wizard in front of him is skilled and more powerful than he was when he first entered school.

"Then let me check your background first," Wayne said, asking a few questions to test Cedric. After the questions and answers, Wayne nodded. "Something, but not much," Wayne said, observing Cedric who had a puzzled expression.

Wayne thought as he took out the parchment, wrote down the spells Cedric needed to learn, and handed it to him. "You learn these spells first and leave the rest of the work to me. Is that okay?" Wayne asked. After a glance at the spells, Cedric nodded and said, "Just give me a week, and I'll have it done."

"Okay, you need to hurry up. If everyone has a copy when the time comes, it will be useless even if you learn it," Wayne warned. Cedric's face fell as he replied, "I'll try my best. You don't know, Whateley has gone crazy. The original twice-a-week training has turned into five times a week. I can't take it anymore." Wayne waved his hand dismissively and said, "You'll figure it out."

In the following days, although the business wasn't as hot as the first day, Wayne still managed to sell a good number of maps every day. Malfoy's attitude towards Wayne had improved significantly since that night, and he even nodded in approval. As soon as the money arrived from home, it was promptly delivered. Of course, Wayne didn't disappoint. The map, made of dragon skin, was exquisite and had features like anti-peeping and anti-theft. Malfoy, who had been a bit hesitant, now felt that the money was well spent. Wayne couldn't help but show off in front of other purebloods.

Wayne wished he had done this because, as a result of this free tap, he received five more customized versions and over ten Promax versions, all from Slytherin.

Wayne wanted to split the money between Hermione and Cho, but they wanted nothing to do with it.

Being able to sell it is all thanks to Wayne's ability and has nothing to do with them at all.

Wayne no longer forced himself.

When Cedric saw this transaction with his own eyes, his face looked like he was constipated.

With a dark face, he jumped up onto Hufflepuff's long table and started posing, twisting his butt, and all the little wizards were stunned.

Professor Sprout couldn't stand it anymore and locked him up for two days to fertilize the plants in the greenhouse.

Like everyone else, Wayne burst into laughter under Cedric's sad and indignant gaze.

It's week 5. Wayne received a letter from an owl while he was having breakfast.

He opened the envelope curiously:

[Wayne, I have recently found a lot of materials you need. We can come and have a cup of afternoon tea together tomorrow. Of course, it would be great if you are willing to bring Phoenix with you.] 

Seeing that Hagrid was the sender, Wayne also smiled.

This wasn't an invitation for him. It was an invitation for Fox.

However, Wayne didn't intend to refuse. He had indeed used a lot of materials in his recent practice of making props, so he could just get some more.

Feeling that someone was staring at him, Wayne looked up.

Snape, who was sitting at the guest table, wasn't eating either and just looked at Wayne.

He had made several insinuations in the past few days, just to get some Phoenix information from Wayne.

As a result, this brat couldn't make any progress, and after deducting his points a few times, Wayne became even happier.

No, he must be sick!

Snape was displeased, so how come there were still young wizards who weren't afraid of having points deducted as punishment and were even looking forward to it?

In the afternoon potions class, Snape 'tentatively' deducted 15 points from Wayne.

Hufflepuff's little wizard was already used to strange things.

Now many students knew that Snape hated Harry the most, followed by Wayne.

The two of them didn't know when their feud started, but every day Snape would find some reason to deduct points from Wayne.

Just deduct them, the House Cup wasn't interesting, and there was no such thing as being at the bottom. After all, there was Gryffindor.

When he saw Wayne smiling like a flower, Snape finally gave up.

"Lawrence, why don't you hand over those materials to me?"

"Did you use them all to make those stupid maps?"

After class, Snape spoke to Wayne, leaving him alone.

Wayne's act of selling maps couldn't be hidden from the professor at all. In addition to Professor Flitwick's praise, other teachers also praised him (because they didn't know Filch's whereabouts).

These days, fewer and fewer students are late. Even if they were late, it had nothing to do with getting lost.

This also saved the professors a lot of worry.

Therefore, Snape recently deducted points from Wayne, and other professors added them back to Wayne.

Over and over again, the amount added was much more than the amount deducted.

"Professor." Wayne smiled shyly. "I have collected a lot of materials recently, including tears, feathers, and feces."

Snape's breathing became a little heavier.

They were all good stuff.

"It's useless for you to keep it, and it would be a waste of money if you sell it. Leave it to me, and I can give you a share of the refined potion."

"And you won't have points deducted for the next two months."

Snape was good at teaching.