Kampart is the newly appointed president of the Apothecary Association.
Originally, there would have been no chance for him to take office, as the position of president had long been monopolized by several families—taking turns one after another, living quite the comfortable life.
However, after the embezzlement of Association funds was exposed, it turned out the perpetrators were two families in control of the presidency who had plotted together; to monopolize the profits, they hadn't invited the third family.
Upon finding out, that third family wanted to cut ties and withdraw from the Association, but the other two, after dragging out a scapegoat, resolutely opposed their withdrawal.
Then, many committee members who didn't belong to these families clamored to leave as well. Amidst the struggle, no one would yield to another, so they decided to determine the presidency through a vote.
Kampart was born in Apprentice City. Both of his parents were Apothecaries in the Apothecary Association, and thanks to their dedication to the Association, Kampart inherited his father's seat on the committee.
In truth, he had no talent for Spiritual Power; he was neither an apprentice nor could he refine potions. When the election for president came around, he had mindlessly filled in his own name.
Then, for some unknown reason, when his name was finally read out as having the highest number of votes, he didn't even react. The entire committee stared at him in astonishment, as if they hadn't expected his election at all.
Life after being elected president wasn't actually good. Everyone knew the Association was doomed sooner or later. Following a friend's advice, he decided to just pocket a bit of profit and run.
It must be said that his appointment did have a chain reaction. Upon his taking office, no one thought well of him, directly leading to the independence of Apothecaries from two different academies.
Under his friend's guidance, his proposal to create a layered distribution for energy potions—taking care of various interests—finally passed.
Coincidentally, the Apprentice Assessment added more slots this year, making many High-level Apprentices restless.
Even after the price hike, energy potions remained in short supply, and the future of the Association began to look bright.
energy potions were so popular that they actually gave the Association a chance at a comeback.
That night, he thought for a long time and finally decided to truly help the Apothecary Association pull through. That way, the value of his position as president would rise accordingly.
But what happened next made him realize exactly why the Association had fallen to such a state.
First, he wanted to expand the production of energy potions and had already finished negotiations with the Apothecaries, but then a hitch occurred in the coordination with the suppliers.
The people sent to coordinate with the suppliers couldn't find where the money was; the sum intended for purchasing materials had simply vanished.
This led the suppliers to angrily announce they would no longer cooperate with them, making the future of the Apothecary Association murky once again.
At this stage, there was basically no hope left. The source of materials was cut off, and even if they refined all their remaining materials into potions, they would still face the difficult problem of finding new suppliers.
He thought so too and began to embezzle heavily, but he didn't expect the people beneath him to be even better at it than he was—someone stole materials during transport, someone else stole the finished potions brought back.
He had to try and stabilize the situation. If this continued, all the Association's money would be gone, and there would be nothing left for him to take.
Finally, just in the past few days, something happened that he found utterly incredible.
Nearly two hundred bottles of energy potions appeared in the Apprentice Market. It was ridiculous—it almost matched the total output of all the Apothecaries the Association supported.
These potions severely crowded the energy potion market. They were sold cheaper at the market than by the Association, causing their own potions to start piling up unsold.
Basically, all medicinal materials that could be transported to Apprentice City had to be registered by the Association, and this year was no different.
After he compared the ratio of materials to finished potions, he found that the ratio even exceeded the line of one bottle per three sets of materials.
Could it be that the people at the market were all Apothecary geniuses, each one stronger than the Apothecaries the Association maintained?
In the end, he could only attribute it to whether the people at the market had struck a deal with the suppliers and received a new batch of materials, resulting in so many potions.
Today was his last day serving as the president of the Apothecary Association, and it was also the last day of the Association's existence. After today, the Association would be no more.
He lay in the nearly emptied president's office, looking out the window. He felt his greatest regret was that because the energy potions hadn't sold, the money he managed to pocket fell far short of his expectations.
A thumping sound came. He thought someone was knocking on the door, but turning his head, he found the person was knocking on the wall—the door had long since been hauled off and sold because it still had some decorative value.
"Hey, Kampart, how does it feel to be the president?"
"Not great, my friend. Dealing with those people makes me feel like I'm in agony. Every order I give is never executed. Making money has made me so tired."
"Don't say that. This is something every businessman must experience if you want your wealth to grow further."
"I don't want to think about it now. I'm going to rest for a while."
"Alright, I still have something I need your help with as president."
Kampart took several documents. After a quick glance, he found they were applications to develop a piece of land for the Apothecary Association; even the money for the foundation had already been paid.
It was just that no more money would likely be coming later. After all, the Association would no longer exist, so where would the money come from?
"This is simple. Just need a stamp."
"Great, thank you, friend."
This kind of thing was trivial to him. Using the president's authority to approve it didn't matter; even if two bodies were found buried underneath later, the responsibility couldn't be pinned on him.
Of course, unless a High-level Apprentice or someone similar was buried there, then there might be trouble. Even regular apprentices weren't necessarily there; apprentices who had joined a School were very precious.
If such a thing really happened, even his friend wouldn't be able to escape and would be taken in for a thorough interrogation.
---
Richter walked to his residence with a face full of exhaustion, but he still couldn't hide the joy in his expression. He had returned alive from the Assessment.
Despite being 'isolated and helpless' during the Assessment because he wasn't usually good at handling interpersonal relationships—making everyone want to come up and give him a kick—
Relying on hard work and some luck, he finally took 46th place in this Assessment and obtained a very interesting item.
"You've done everything I arranged, right?"
The apprentice in his workshop nodded and said:
"I've checked. That land has indeed been requisitioned by the Apothecary Association. Two people from the Construction School have already received orders and will begin work on that plot tomorrow."
"Very good. Has that apprentice received the item?"
The apprentice nodded again, then spoke hesitantly:
"Big brother, you only gave a letter. Will she really go there like you said?"
"What I wrote in the letter was 'I know the secret behind your sudden, massive change, come find me at XXX.' I'm sixty percent sure she will go. After all, if it were you and you encountered this letter, wouldn't you want to go take a look?"
"Of course, if she is cautious enough, then we can only go to her place to find her."