Morning.
The sun rose over the Bondres Mountains.
After finishing his usual morning training, Ron made breakfast and told Nora, who had just arrived at the shop, to go take a shower and change into her work uniform.
To avoid worrying or confusing Ron, Nora had already washed her face on the way over that morning.
Once upstairs, she obediently headed into the bathroom, washed up, changed into her clean uniform, and then sat at the table to eat breakfast.
Ron finished eating first and got up to place his dishes in the sink.
"Manager, I can wash the dishes," Nora said suddenly, still mid-breakfast.
Ron, who had just been about to do them himself, paused in surprise. He turned to see Nora looking at him earnestly and nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you."
A bright smile appeared on Nora's delicate face. "It's no trouble. You have more important things to do—no need to waste time on this."
"Alright, I'll leave the shop to you. I'll be back by noon," Ron said before heading downstairs to unlock the storeroom and step into his dimensional space.
There, he began his usual production routine, planting another batch of Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums and Nether Orchids to build up his stock.
Around midday, Ron exited the dimensional plane just in time to meet the representative from the Radiant Mercenary Corps who had come to complete their trade agreement.
Ron handed over 125 Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums and 25 Nether Orchids, and in return received a deposit slip from the Storage Bank for 10,500 gold coins.
Of that, 500 gold was for the 25 Nether Orchids, and the remaining 10,000 gold was an advance payment from Jasper for a full batch of 500 Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums.
The remaining 5,000 gold from the contract would be paid in two installments—mid-month and end of month.
Once the transaction was completed, the mercenary representative stored the flowers in a spatial device and left.
Ron called Nora upstairs for lunch and headed to the kitchen to cook while opening his System Panel:
[System Level: 3]
[Host: Ron André (Title Badge Equipped)]
[Bloodline: Human / Foxkin (Mixed)]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 18 (Marked)]
[Class: Tier 1 Mage]
[Wealth Points: 6,321]
Since he hadn't yet visited the Storage Bank to exchange the 10,500 gold deposit slip into his personal account, the system hadn't added those funds.
Once converted, his Wealth Points would rise to 16,821.
Out of that, 10,000 was earmarked for purchasing [Miracle of the Goddess of Harvest].
The remaining 6,821? He had no immediate plans for it.
The Magic Academy only needed 200 Nether Orchids per month. The Radiant Mercenary Corps required 100 Nether Orchids and 500 Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums monthly. At Ron's current production speed using his 10m² Cultivation Space, this was completely manageable.
Since the plant seeds could be reproduced naturally, there was no need to spend points on them.
As for spells like Rainfall Spell, he could learn them from Edith or Professor Hicks. No reason to spend precious Wealth Points on that either.
Right now, he had plenty of free time and no urgent need to master new spells. So the extra Wealth Points could just sit there.
With that in mind, he checked his Main Quest Progress:
[Quest Progress: 131 / 500]
Jasper had bought one plant, Harper five more, and he'd just completed a 125-plant sale with the Radiant Mercenary Corps. Total: 131 Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums sold.
Since the Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum had only just launched, it hadn't yet spread widely among the warrior community in the City of Chaos. So, aside from Jasper and Harper, no other individuals had come to buy it.
Warriors, after all, had far less spending power than mages.
Most of them only had a few career paths: enlisting in the army, working as retainers for nobles, or joining independent groups like mercenary corps.
While these jobs paid better than the average citizen's income, they were still nowhere near the astronomical salaries of certified mages.
Especially those at Chaos City Magic Academy—a mage managing their own lab could easily earn double-digit gold coins monthly, with added research funding and living stipends.
So while Nether Orchids cost 20 gold apiece, mages might flinch a little at the price—but they could afford it.
But a Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum costs 30 gold each—even if multiple warriors could share it, it still meant shelling out years' worth of savings.
Only large organizations like the Radiant Mercenary Corps could afford that kind of price.
So Ron had no illusions about making much money from walk-in customers.
Once the flower's reputation spread, though, wealthy nobles and tycoons would surely come knocking.
With his identity as the seventh prince, his status as a supplier to the Magic Academy, plus patrol teams and the Radiant Mercenary Corps offering security nearby, no fool would dare cause trouble.
Having thought through all this, Ron closed the system panel and turned his focus to cooking.
Unlike yesterday's Western-style steak and fried chicken, today he made stir-fried tomatoes and eggs and fish-flavored shredded pork, plus a small pot of seaweed soup.
Worried that Nora might not be used to Chinese-style meals, Ron thoughtfully split each dish into two separate plates.
When Nora came upstairs and saw Ron busy cooking in the kitchen, she immediately trotted over and asked quietly, "Manager, can I help?"
"Sure, just bring the dishes to the table," Ron replied while grabbing chopsticks and utensils from the cupboard. "Careful—it's hot."
"Okay!" Nora beamed and stepped into the kitchen, carefully carrying the dishes one by one to the dining table.
Ron followed with the utensils—forks and knives for Nora, chopsticks for himself.
Then he returned to the kitchen to scoop two bowls of rice.
Nora sat at the table and finally noticed something unusual about the food.
That yellow stuff in the dish—was it eggs? And the red gooey stuff… tomatoes?
Why were they all so soft and floating in strange sauces?
And that other dish—with all the mismatched strips and bits—what was that?
But wow—it smelled amazing!
Nora sniffed adorably, ears twitching. She had never smelled anything like this before.
"Take off your hat—it's hot, and your forehead's sweating," Ron said, glancing at her from across the table.
Nora, a bit flushed from running back and forth, obediently took off her cap. The soft, slightly damp, dark-gray cat ears immediately perked up in the cooler air, twitching cutely.
Ron stared for a second, suddenly struck by the urge to give them a little pat.
Nora, completely unaware, looked down at the bowl of fluffy white grains in front of her and asked curiously, "Manager, what is this?"
"It's called rice—it's kind of like bread," Ron explained.
In this world, bread and meat were the main staples, so it was no surprise that Nora didn't recognize rice.
Rice was rare here—only cultivated in small amounts in the western regions of the human empire.
Ron had scoured the City of Chaos markets for quite a while before finally finding a small stash of rice.