Sebian's schemes

"Gosh, the last few hours were quite hectic!" As soon as the last pill from the boxes brought from Sheeren's workshop was bought, Sebian and Aina finally could take some rest.

Just as the alchemist expected, they didn't have any problems selling out all the pills they had in store. Not because the average Joe in the city was capable of splurging twenty grade two stones. Not at all, as this was about twenty times as much as your average person would keep in savings. And there was the only type of people that could afford the hefty price of the discounted pills.

Sect affiliates.

"Didn't I tell you? We sold everything for today." Pointing his hand at a huge pile of the grade two and three stones resting in a special box, Sebian smiled. 'For her, this should be akin to a great fortune or something.' Casting a quick glance at the girl, the alchemist could see the shocked expression appearing on her face whenever her eyes drifted towards the treasure pile.

"But still, since you discouraged any sect-member from buying, where did all the customers come from?" After the process of cleaning up the place and preparing it for tomorrow, Aina finally noticed this peculiarity.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sebian grinned happily. "They were mostly from all sorts of sects. Don't ask me which one though, as just the first two lessons were enough for the other sect members to hide their insignia before coming to the stall."

With all the boxes now emptied out, even Aina was more than capable of carrying them around. As nothing more but a few pieces of wooden planks nailed together, even when all seven boxes were stacked on top of each other, Aina still didn't need to use even a tenth of her strength to lift them up. On the other hand, when it came to moving the treasure box around, not even the two of them at once were capable of lifting it!

"I guess we need to ask the owner to exchange the stones for some greater denominations…" After quickly explaining the source of the customers, Sebian quickly changed the topic. While he already tested the girl in any way he deemed necessary, this lack of proper explanation was just a way of Sebian to force the girl into thinking on her own, rather than relying on her master to explain everything to her.

After all, when it came to cultivation, depending on others was the greatest hurdle one could even face on their path!

"Master, what about those sect members? Didn't you stop them from buying the pills for some reason, or was this just your whim?" While it was clear that the girl was trying to figure out Sebian's plan, once she actually voiced her question out, the alchemist realised that he was going a bit too hard on her. After all, he couldn't expect this girl from such a remote place to be able to think on the level of immortals like him!

"I don't really care who do I sell those pills for. In fact, I don't even care about the profits of doing so. But yes, there is a reason why no sect member will ever be able to openly buy anything out of this stall." Confirming Aina's guess, Sebian smiled like usual. "That is, they won't be able to buy shit directly for as long as we sell through this stall."

'Well, it's not like I can reveal the whole plan to her yet. Those hints will have to suffice.' Holding himself back from flexing the idea of market manipulation he was about to perform, Sebian averted his eyes from the girl to stop her from digging any further.

"So, if you don't mind selling to the sects as long they don't approach you from their standing as the sect members…" Taking a moment to summarize and analyze all the hints she received, Aina turned silent as she followed her master. After depositing all their earnings in the shop owner's treasury room, the two of them promptly returned to Sheeren's workshop.

"Wait, could it be that you just don't want anyone to know what others are buying?" Just as the two of them were about to enter the workshop, Aina suddenly spoke up. Shocked by her own reasoning, she froze in place even though just by walking a few paces more she could lay down all the box she was burdened with carrying.

"Bingo. But that's just the situation I want to achieve, not the real objective. Think a little bit harder." Mixing praise with another hint, Sebian pushed the doors of the workshop open. Right away, a rich, medicinal aura filled their surrounding. Just a single whiff of this rich air was enough to help the two of them relax after the tiring end of the day.

Placing the boxes down, Aina was too focused on her own thoughts to actually see what was in front of her eyes. Only when yet another idea struck her mind prompting the girl to raise her eyes at her master's face did she notice what was going on around her.

"Dear heavens…" Frozen in place, the girl once again understood that no matter how much she would get used to her master's antics, he would just bring the scale of the madness up a notch, once again putting her on the spot.

'And here I thought that we sold all the pills we had.' Staring at forty more boxes stacking from the floor all the way to the low ceiling of the building, Aina felt something snapping in her soul. For the second time, she did two things.

'I'm glad I followed this madman…' Even if his teachings would end up subpar, just the amount of wealth his antics would bring was more than enough to buy anything he would ever want in his life! Given how she was doing her best to follow his orders and given how generous he was whenever it came to moving the wealth around, she could expect that a sizable part of this insane wealth would fall in her own hands. But it was the second thought that actually resonated with the deepest feelings in her head.

'I need to stop trying to judge this man through my own set of rationale.' Shaking her head, Aina ultimately decided to drop the topic of Sebian's plans. 'It's impossible for me to guess just what kind of madness he is preparing right now.'