Watching Hedin's dead-serious expression, which somehow even carried a hint of dissatisfaction, the corner of Leon's mouth twitched like crazy.
Good, good, good. So this is how rich people talk?
Today was a real eye-opener.
The thought of Goddess Freya lounging at home all day, doing absolutely nothing while countless simps fell over each other to offer her their tributes, nearly twisted Leon's face beyond his control.
Honestly, it made him both envious and jealous.
Damn, the simp species really did exist everywhere.
But on second thought, the "simps" of this world were simping for a genuine goddess... oh, never mind then.
At least it wasn't simping for nothing. Freya, a true goddess, really did grant them tangible blessings.
A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind. Leon drew several deep breaths, working to settle himself, then looked up at Hedin.
"Ahem, the price of 100,000 Valis per serving isn't going to change. As you know, we've already signed long-term partnership contracts with Loki Familia and Astraea Familia. If we changed prices on a whim, it wouldn't just create a rift with our clients and cost us their trust, it would also damage our familia's reputation and credibility. So this is our bottom line. I hope you understand."
Forcing down the greed inside him, nursing the heartbreak of not getting to "fleece a whale," Leon squeezed out a reluctant smile and cruelly turned down Hedin's extremely tempting offer to raise the price.
In that moment, he felt downright noble and righteous, practically like a saint.
"Oh, that's a real shame."
Hedin pushed up his glasses again, regret crossing his eyes... along with a barely perceptible trace of cunning.
This young man was nothing like your average adventurer. Tch... he actually had some principles when it came to business.
Still... if he really had played favorites out of greed, treating different familias differently and sizing people up before deciding how to serve them, heh heh...
He sneered coldly inside, though his face stayed perfectly calm as he asked, "How's the shelf life on the Monster Hunter Special?"
Seeing the other man get down to business, Leon composed himself too and began walking Hedin and Ottar through it in earnest.
Sure enough, the moment the conversation turned to anything useful for combat, even Ottar's expression sharpened with focus.
Truly the strong-one who'd devoted himself wholly to the martial path.
...
...
After explaining the effects and precautions in detail, Leon also had Ottar try one himself. After all, talk was cheap, and no matter how glowing the pitch, nothing beat letting the client experience it firsthand.
Once the test was done, with the confirmed feedback from Ottar, Hedin felt reassured.
He casually flipped through the parchment in his hand and said, "Packaged, the shelf life extends to sixty days, with a slight drop in taste and flavor, but the boost effect stays the same? Very good. Taste, flavor, none of that matters. It's combat supplies anyway. As long as the effect doesn't weaken, that's all that counts."
"And the Einherjar of our familia, who fight for Goddess Freya, won't care about such superficial things either."
With a single sentence he dismissed all the effort and time Leon had poured into perfecting the taste and texture, and Leon's face darkened.
But remembering that this guy was once again the deep-pocketed client footing the bill, he let his anger flare for exactly one moment, then let it go.
Money's money. Nothing shameful about it.
As if he hadn't noticed the shifting expressions on Leon's face, Hedin pondered for a moment, thought it over, then laid out his specific requirements.
"Given our familia's combat intensity, we'll purchase once a month on a thirty-day cycle, and we need you to guarantee stable long-term supply. Of course, if something unusual comes up, we can be flexible by a few days on the delivery time. How does that sound?"
Once every thirty days?
Same cycle as Loki Familia and Astraea Familia, then.
At that, he quickly ran the numbers in his head: the combined monthly demand from all three parties, Freya Familia, Loki Familia, and Astraea Familia, plus the time he'd need for production...
Astraea Familia: 44/month
Loki Familia: 160 servings/month
Freya Familia: 300 servings/month
Total: 504/month.
Adding in his own personal use, Leon would need to make roughly 650 servings a month. With his current Lv.4 stamina, plus Rose's help, that workload would take about three days to finish.
Sacrificing three days of grinding in the Dungeon could net him a gross profit of 45 million Valis. Any way you sliced it, it was an incredibly good deal.
As for why the profit was so handsome? All he could say was that this was a one-of-a-kind business.
What's more, as far as he knew, those pharmaceutical factions and forging factions, even the ones running gray-market trades like the "no-capital business" of the Pleasure Quarter, none of them were exactly small fry.
Going by his own profit margins, these guys' margins probably weren't all that much lower than the Monster Hunter Special business either.
...
With confidence settled in his mind, Leon looked at Hedin and nodded.
"Freya Familia, 300 servings of the Monster Hunter Special a month, with guaranteed stable supply... no problem."
Getting the affirmative answer, a satisfied smile surfaced on Hedin's face.
Even Ottar, who'd been sitting silently with his eyes closed the whole time, opened them, his expression easing slightly.
To him, the details of this deal didn't matter, nor did whether they came out ahead or behind. But completing the task Goddess Freya had assigned him, that mattered. Everything else, he didn't care about. Even if it meant letting the other side rake it in by the bucketload.
"In that case, let's sign the commission contract."
"No problem."
...
...
"Heh heh!"
Watching Hedin and Ottar's figures vanish at the end of the path, Leon held up the neatly tied parchment scroll and flashed the ladies beside him a brilliant grin, looking every bit the cheerful, sunny young man.
"It really is Freya Familia, loaded to the gills, huh. Look at that! You want to know what a goddess high roller looks like? This is it. They don't lift a finger, but when they do, they go big right out of the gate. A few words and they've got us a stable 30 million Valis coming in every month, and all we have to do is work three days to fulfill the commission."
"Easy and safe. Where else are you gonna find a sweet gig like that?"
"Just goes to show, if you want to make money, you need a killer specialty and the kind of strength to stand your ground."
"Tch, if leveling up didn't still mean grinding for Excelia, I might just kick back and coast."
Watching Leon grin so wide it nearly split his face ear to ear, Jeanne beside him couldn't resist rolling her eyes.
"Look how pleased with yourself you are! It's not like we're short on cash. Wasn't there plenty left over from the funds Evilus sponsored last time? Compared to that 500 million, this 30 million isn't much to you, so I really don't get what you're so happy about!"
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