9 Sold

Several months later,

Valmara, capital city of the Sulabes Kingdom.

The Sulabes Kingdom is considered one of the Top 3 most prosperous nation in Indrasia. It has everything a great kingdom needs. Bountiful harvests, great trade routes, and a powerful army for defense. Valmara, the capital, is a waterfront city. Ships, caravans, carriages, and all sorts of merchants go through the city.

Along one of the most crowded roads, Mervand has parked his carriage in front of a peculiar shop. Valmara has a lot of shops, and the shop Mervand is currently in, is located in a shopping district that are mostly used by nobles of the kingdom. Due to that, most of the shops there have extravagant or luxurious looks. Which is why when compared to the shop Mervand is in, one cannot help but wonder how that shop got there.

It's like comparing a mansion and a house. Or a single story building in a district of skyscrapers. That is how different the shop is compared to the shops around it.

Mervand placed down the cages and the black cube that held the beasts and the plant on a counter in the shop. "Ah, it's good to be back. Time to wait for the plant to break out. He he he."

After sorting all of the other stuffs he had, Mervand inspected the cube to check the plant's breakout progress. "Hmm… judging from the cracks, it should be done by today. Hmm… maybe in a few hours I assume? Good enough, I'll call over that Archduke."

He placed down the cube, then went into the kitchen. Out of his pocket, he took out a leaf that had a dragon rune and a celestial background. In the kitchen, a teapot and a pair of tea cups floated towards him. The teapot floated to his front, where he then dropped the leaf inside. As the leaf dropped into teapot, it began to dry up and sliced into strips all by itself. Mervand then tapped on his hand, which was followed by a magic circle appearing. A lid for the teapot began to emerge from the magic circle. When the lid fully emerged, Mervand used it to close the teapot. With another tap of his finger on the lid, runes began to glow on the teapot and a magic circle appeared inside the teapot, beneath the lid.

He grabbed the teapot, and walked back to the counter with the pair of teacups following him while floating.

Back at the counter, he poured himself some of tea he made, then he tapped on the counter, creating another magic circle. The magic circle glowed in a green color, while fading in and out. A moment later, it stopped fading and shined in bright green. At the same time, it projected a projection of a man floating on top of the magic circle.

The man in the projection had a big build, looking very muscular. After appearing, the man had a surprised expression for a moment which soon turned into laughter. Soon, the man in the projection stroke his beard while he spoke "So it's Mervand. I should've known, you're the only one I know that is capable of making a call to my ManaPhone with just magic alone."

Mervand, who was sipping his tea, started choking after hearing the words of the man. "Don't remind me of that. If I had known the ManaPhone would've been this popular, I would've made them myself after redesigning the design The Hero gave me. Who would've known that it became so popular after The Hero defeated the Demon Lord?" Mervand replied back with an annoyed tone, while still choking on his tea. But while he was choking, the thought 'damn, even while choking it tastes good' crossed his mind.

Hearing Mervand's response, the man in the projection began laughing again. "Hey, tell me how you managed to contact my ManaPhone. I'm too curious about that to listen to the original reason for your call"

After no longer choking on his tea, Mervand began explaining "Well, I am the one who designed the whole thing. The original design was based on 'electricity' and 'electromagnetic waves'. After redesigning the whole thing to use mana and magic instead, it's not that hard for me to use my ability and magic to take control over the mana waves, protocol, encryption and so on and so on."

Mervand smirked before continuing "Which reminded me, they did try to change the protocol and the encryption. But sadly, it wasn't done by me or The Hero, so it's still easy for me to use it under my control. I guess that is the downside of using mana instead of the 'electricity' in the original plan. Mana is just too easy to manipulate for us beings."

The man in the projection twitched a little when he heard the part '...wasn't done by me or The Hero…' and 'Mana is just too easy to manipulate…' in his mind, he was almost screaming 'as if the temple would allow the spirit of the deceased hero to be used like that' and also 'You're probably the only one skillful enough to manipulate mana as if it's even easier than thinking'.

"And that's the explanation you wanted. Can you hear my reason for calling now, Archduke Fronzo?" Mervand ended the explanation.

Fronzo, the man in the projection, nodded. "Yes, that should do. A bit. But Let me hear it anyway, so what's up?"

Mervand showed a grin before replying. "I changed my mind. How about you come here and I'll show you? I can promise you though, that it would be something that you won't mind paying me millions of gold coins. Just come would you, I like to surprise people you know~"

Fronzo became confused. "Well since it's you that's asking, I'll be heading there in a few minutes." The call was disconnected, and the magic circle on the counter became red.

"Ah, I should've asked who's the sick one. Oh well." Looking back at the cube, Mervand estimated that his guess should be correct. The cube should be breaking at some point during Archduke Fronzo's visit.

He then looked at his teapot. 'I didn't have much expectation when turning the leaf into tea, but now that I've tasted it, it has exceeded my expectation.' He continued to enjoy his tea while thinking 'Rather than absorbing sunlight and sometimes celestial energy, it seems that the plant only absorbs celestial energy. Hmm… But that doesn't explain its draconic nature. I should just ask the plant once its out.'

Mervand fetched some chairs and a table for him and the Archduke that's on the way, while also moving the black cube to the table and the cages for the snake and the bird nearby. Out of boredom, he decided to serve some tea for the snake and the bird in the nearby cages as well.

After a few minutes of waiting, a cloaked figure enter the shop. The figure was not only big, but also considerably tall, being at least 2 meters tall. Lifting his hood, it was obviously Archduke Fronzo who already promised his arrival. Spotting Mervand who was sitting behind a table, he bowed down a bit and said "Archduke Fronzo of the Sulabes Kingdom greets the honorable Supreme High Elf Mervand. It is an honor to be able to meet the Eldest of the High Elves."

Mervand stood up and bowed back "Likewise, it is an honor to meet the Archduke Fronzo, grandson to the deceased Archduke Franz, savior of the Sulabes Kingdom."

After bowing, they stared at each other for a few moments before laughing together. "Hahahaha, why is it that you always rub salt on my wounds every time you see my face? Did I ever wronged you?" Mervand said.

"Hahaha, don't forget that the reason my grandfather became the one and only Archduke is because, you almost destroyed the kingdom during its early years because a duke of that time broke their deal with you." Fronzo retorted while still laughing.

Mervand choked on his laughter after hearing his response. "That story is still being passed down even after 700 years?"

"Heh, it's because I was there when my grandfather was able to stop you, you know? You compensated the damage you did by giving my grandfather an Elixir of Longevity, which is why I'm still here to tell the story." Fronzo said while grinning.

"Okay stop stop. Take a seat, let's talk about why you're here" Mervand beckoned Fronzo towards the chair in front of him.

"So what good deal do you have for me? The sword you got me last time was great. Even His Majesty's sword pales in comparison." Fronzo said while taking a seat. Mervand almost coughed out blood hearing his words. 'This lad really took after his grandpa. Taking every chance to remind me of my failures…'

"No hurry, no hurry. It's inside this Void Sealing cube in front of you." Mervand poured Fronzo a cup of tea he brewed.

Fronzo took a whiff of the tea and exclaimed "Good tea! Wait. What the…" This time, he took a deep smell of tea. Not long after, he showed an incredulous look. "What's going on here?"

'Heh,' Mervand smirked after seeing Fronzo's incredulous look. "It's related to what's inside the cube."

Only now did Fronzo took notice of the black cube on the table. "I can tell with a glance that using it even a little would break it, so I ignored it. But you're telling me that's what I'm here for?" He leaned forward to inspect the cube, but then he noticed the crack spreading. This startled him a bit. "Something is breaking out?"

"You finally noticed." Mervand leisurely leaned on his chair while sipping some tea. "Should be out about… now…"

Immediately after Mervand finished his sentence, the cube burst into fragments, breaking the table. The fragments were stopped by a barrier when it tried to hit Mervand and Fronzo.

"A sapling?" Fronzo looked on confused.

Where the cube was initially at, now stood a sapling. It had a height about a bit more than a half of Mervand's height, with lush green leaves. Mervand was fast to notice that other than the height, there another feature that changed about the plant. Previously on each leaves, there would be a dragon rune and a celestial background. But now, there's also a new 'pattern'. The new pattern looks similar to whirlpool. Also, when stares at it, for some reason feels as if the whirlpool is dragging him into it.

"Is there something special about this-- wait. 10th Order Sealing Magic, Sealed Domain!" As Fronzo was speaking, he interjected himself when he noticed the aura of the sapling in front of him. After casting the spell, the floor, walls, and roof of the room they were in became white.

With a solemn and grave expression, Fronzo looked at Mervand straight in the eye and with a serious tone he said "Name your price."

Fronzo's tone woke Mervand from his dazed state, only now noticing the spell and his surroundings. With a playful smile, he replied to Fronzo "10th Order Magic? Is that necessary?"

"Cut the nonsense. A plant with Celestial energy is still possible to get, but a plant that exudes Celestial aura hasn't been found in years. The last one was found by THE Hero, but it died the moment the Temple tried to move it to The Hero's grave." Fronzo explained seriously, this time without poking at Mervand's capability of breaking his spell. "And knowing you, you definitely brought it to me because of my sick grandson right?"

Mervand shaked his head. "I knew someone is sick, but I didn't know it was your grandson." He enjoyed his tea and the Fronzo that didn't take the chance to poke fun at him. "The mysterious sickness that can only be cured by objects of Celestial nature. Even after all you've given him, he's still sick huh…"

"10 Million gold coins. You get the plant, and its two soon-to-be guardian beasts." Mervand stated his price. "To make it even better for you, If you accept this deal then I would teach a few spells to the plant to make it even more helpful and useful." Mervand said with a cup of tea in his hands, with a confident face that's saying as if he has the world in his hands.

But Fronzo, who heard the price, became stunned and dazed. After a few moments, he started laughing out louh "Ha ha… ha ha ha… HA HA HA HA HA" He started laughing even more when he saw Mervand's confident face. "Mervand, Mervand, Oh Mervand…" He shaked his head with pity. "No wonder you never profit from your investments. Think of this as my gratitude for helping my grandson. I'll pay a hundred million."

Mervand was startled and nearly fell out of his chair. He did spill his tea though. He looked at Fronzo with great confusion on his face. "W-What? A h-h-h-hundred million? Why?"

Seeing Mervand's confusion, Fronzo once again shaked his head in pity as he explained "10 Million would be the appropriate price for a sapling. But what about once it grows into a tree? What if it becomes stronger?"

Enlightenment. Mervand instantly understood that his foolishness of only selling it as it is now and not considering its potential. At some point, even 100 Million might be considered cheap. He might be able find empires selling of their kingdoms to be able to buy it.

"Looking at that enlightened face of yours, now I know why what happened with the ManaPhone. You probably thought it was worthless if only you had it huh?" That sentence from Fronzo immediately brought back Mervand from his imagination. It also made him speechless and unwilling to respond because it was absolutely correct.

He almost wanted to cancel the deal. But then he realized that it was Fronzo that made him realized the sapling's future potential. It was also Fronzo that offered to pay a higher price… And then there's also that promise he made to sell the plant to someone he trusts...

With a heavy sigh and a heavy heart, he stood up and forward his hand toward Fronzo "You have a deal."

Fronzo smiled. "Thanks." He stood up and sealed the deal with a shake of hand. "So you'll teach it a few spells right? Would you deliver it when you're done?" Fronzo asked.

"That's indeed the case. I'll personally bring it to your estate once I'm done."

"Okay. I'll be waiting. Along with the money of course. I'll get that ready." With that said, Fronzo turned around and walked towards the door. As he did so, colors returned to the floor, walls, and roof. By the time he arrived at the door, everything was back to normal. He left the shop just like that.

After Fronzo left, Mervand stretched his body a little bit "Okay, let's get to work. You will have to be worth the price."