Translator: Yang_Wenli
Joshua was currently painting one of the Klia Alchemic Shop’s walls white.
Normally, a miscellaneous task like painting the wall should be left to the Klia Alchemic Shop’s attendants. But, the attendants were all busy examining their alchemic goods and picking out the ones with quality issues.
They were simply too busy to set up a ‘television’ in the alchemic shop.
In order to experience painting a wall with magic, Joshua offered to do the miscellaneous task himself.
That said, the person accompanying Joshua this time was not that mage lady. Instead, it was a little girl who seemed to be very young. That said, her psychological age was not that young.
“Your Highness, I seem to remember the Klia Trading Company is in cooperation with you?”
Prophet was unable to understand why Joshua would do something like painting a wall. But, she didn’t want to learn the reason for his actions either.
That said, with Joshua being here, Prophet was able to pick up and inspect any and all merchandise in the store. Indirectly, this served to prove Joshua’s status in the Klia Trading Company.
“You can say that we’re business partners. The alchemic ateliers you all are able to study under are all under the banner of the Klia Trading Company.”
As Joshua spoke, he was controlling the brush with the System Order’s magic Mage Hand and painting the wall white.
“But, this trading company doesn’t seem to be doing well.”
Prophet placed down the originium crystal she was holding and looked around the shop.
This was an extremely large alchemic shop. But, there were only eight customers in the entire store...
To a shop located in the center of Norland’s Alchemic Marketplace, and one that’s been here for a long time too, having only eight customers could no longer be described as ‘lacking business.’
Prophet wouldn’t find it strange if the owner were to come out and, with a look of misery, declare something along the lines of ‘our store is going bankrupt; everyone, please go home.’
“It’s due to competition from the same trade. Another trading company pulled some strings behind the scene and caused the Klia Trading Company’s reputation to plummet in Norland. Likely, very few people will be willing to risk the danger of potential death by explosion to shop in this store,” explained Joshua.
“Thus, you’re planning to annex this trading company?”
Prophet had lowered her voice when she asked that question. No matter how sharp-eared a person might be, no one in the store apart from Joshua standing beside Prophet would be able to hear her clearly.
“I am a complete novice in the field of trade and commerce. Besides, it’ll be boring to do accounting everyday,” said Joshua.
“But, Your Highness, this is an excellent opportunity.”
Prophet remained expressionless. But, the words she spoke from her mouth were overflowing with ambitions.
She picked up a bottle of alchemic reagent. The label on the bottle indicated that it was capable of accelerating the growth of crops. Of course, on the bottom of the label printed small font were the ‘potential side effects.’
“Klia Trading Company is an enormous commercial association. Apart from focusing on the arcanotech vehicles, they also hold the patent rights to many novel arcanotech devices and medicinal drugs. If one were to obtain the Klia Trading Company’s alchemic ateliers and factories, it will allow the Demon Realm to catch up to humanity sooner. With the power you possess in Norland, you are capable of achieving it.”
Prophet raised her head up to look at the demon prince.
If Prophet knew about the story of Adam and Eve, she would definitely liken herself as the snake that enticed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
Unfortunately, the person the snake was trying to entice was an ‘Eve’ that was not fond of fruits. This ‘Eve’ was completely uninterested in the forbidden fruit hanging on the tree, sparing not even a glance at it. Instead, her focus was on when the barbeque would be done cooking.
“Your suggestion is actually feasible. However, Miss Prophet... you should know that I am not a person with ambition. Even if the Klia Trading Company is to go bankrupt, it’s still a very fat piece of meat. Who knows how many people wanted to eat this piece of meat. Instead of fighting those merchants for this piece of meat, I am more interested in staying up late into the night to spend some time writing some codes.”
Joshua’s words allowed Prophet to see the disappointing Third Prince from the Demon Realm again. Prophet’s lips trembled slightly. She wanted to say something. But, in the end, she gave up on that thought.
“Your Highness Joshua, forgive me. My thinking was too extreme. I was simply worried that this trading company will be brought by other humans,” said Prophet after placing down the bottle of alchemic reagent.
“Well, it wouldn’t possibly go bankrupt.”
Joshua finished painting the wall. The wall was dyed completely white using special alchemic chemicals. The smoothness of the surface was also passable.
“But, this alchemic shop had already lost the confidence of its customers.” Even though Prophet was not a merchant, she had studied the knowledge of every field. This included commerce and business.
“A merchant that lost the confidence of their clients is no different from a warrior that had their weapon snatched away. Even though they’re still able to fight empty-handed, their enemies will take the opportunity to execute that warrior using their own weapons. Then... they would consume that warrior among themselves.”
Prophet’s tone was rather cold. Before this, the little girl’s tone had been very dull and unmoving.
“That’s easy to solve. We merely need to give that warrior a new weapon.” Joshua took out a special ‘ornament.’
It was a completely transparent rectangular prism. In the center of the rectangular prism embedded an originium crystal covered by a World Tree’s leaf.
After Joshua imbued the prism with magic, the originum crystal projected an image directly onto the wall he just painted white.
Prophet recognized the ornament in Joshua’s hand... It was the main body of the ‘television.’
The large quantity of light particles projected onto the wall began to rapidly change shape. It turned into an image both humans and demons could decipher.
It was the World’s Singers competition. The competition was already nearing its end. The final contestant today expressed their thanks to the audience and exited the stage.
“Give that warrior a new weapon?” Prophet immediately realized what Joshua meant. “Your Highness Joshua... regaining the confidence of one’s customers is a very long process.”
“In this era where people fought using staffs and swords, the efficiency would naturally be lacking. However, that’s different if one was to change the weapon to something a bit more powerful. For example, an atomic bomb.”
“Atomic bomb... is that the name of some sort of forbidden magic?”
Prophet attempted to understand what Joshua was saying. But, she discovered that trying to follow the thought process of this Third Prince was simply too difficult.
“You can comprehend it as such.”
As Joshua’s words reached this point, the projection was showing the closing interview asking the three judges what they thought about today’s contestants.
When it was the Flower of Farucci’s turn, after she finished giving her thoughts about the competition today, she brought up a completely new topic.
“Mn... although it’s a bit strange for me to be the announcer, but all the fans of ‘Beauty and the Demon,’ out of appreciation for everyone’s passion and support for that movie, there will be a short film using ‘Beauty and the Demon’ as the theme coming up. Everyone, sit tight and look forward to the show!”