When Abel returned from the Dark World, Bartoli immediately reported to him.

“I have a message from Master Joyce. His messenger came to say that elite wizard Nigel has appointed a mission just for you! Apparently, he’s willing to pay a lot of points for it.”

“What does he want me to do?”

The first thing that Abel thought about was the 5,000-point forging mission that he saw at the Wizard Union building. That seemed a little different from what he was hearing now. Back then, someone was trying to get him to build a magic staff. While a magic staff wasn’t exactly expensive, the buyer usually had to pay in methods other than just currencies. To be more specific, the creator of the staff might be rewarded by gaining special favours in certain places. Or, they would gain some reputation for being the “helpers” of some significant figures.

This seemed a lot simpler than that, actually. Whoever issued this task must’ve known about Abel’s current circumstances. Not only did he know that Abel was in Liante City, he must’ve gotten news of how he didn’t have a lot of points to spend. Not just that, he must’ve known about how Abel’s banned from buying things because of his beef with the St. Ellis Wizard Union branch.

And the creepier part was the timing. Abel had just been promoted to a formal wizard. That being said, having his own magic tower was the priority. This job, or whatever else it could be, just seemed way too convenient at a time like this.

“Master, the elite wizard of Nigel offered 6000 points. That is if you agree to make a magic staff for him,” Bartoli said with a smile.

Abel shook his head, “So he’s the one who’s trying to ask me to do the job. I would agree if he came and asked me in person, but the way he’s doing it… Don’t you think it’s a little underhanded?”

Bartoli agreed, “Indeed. We all know how difficult it is to make magic staff for advanced wizards. Now that he’s increased the prize by 1000 points more, things have gotten quite suspicious.”

Bartoli looked at Abel in the eyes, “Master, excuse me for being blunt, but I think he’s trying to take advantage of you.”

At around the same time, Wizard Llorenzo was having a chat with Wizard Nigel.

Wizard Lorenzo checked the mission board, “Hey, did you just raise the prize by 1000 points?”

Wizard Nigel sighed and replied, “I figured Grandmaster Abel wasn’t interested, you know, because of how low my initial offer was.”

Wizard Nigel was an elite wizard. While that was the case, he earned those points he offered through hard work. That’s just how it was in Liante City. The points here could only be earned through labour. It’s kind of like a society that implemented meritocracy to the extreme. That being said, Wizard Nigel did feel a lot of pain when he decided to raise his price.

Wizard Lorenzo suggested, “I know we’ve been through this, but why don’t you just go ask Grandmaster Abel in person? Maybe it’ll go smoother if you do it in person.”

Wizard Nigel shook his head, “No, I don’t think that’s going to work well. Like, there’s a chance that I might be dragged into some very, very deep water, you know what I am saying?”

“I’ll put it straight: I don’t want anything to do with the St. Ellis Wizard Union branch. They’re an absolute mess they are in right now… and the way Wizard Cliff just got murdered the other day. I’m not trying to put up any conspiracy here, but quite a lot of people are suspecting Grandmaster Abel, you know? If I go and meet him in person, there’s no telling what he’ll try to get me to do.”

Wizard Lorenzo nodded in agreement, “True, true. I wouldn’t risk being involved too.”

Wizard Nigel continued, “I’ve tried so hard to reach him, you know? After putting up the job offer at the Wizard Union, I even went as far as to post the same poster in the Blacksmith Union. And Master Joyce. Now that he’s reached Grandmaster Abel’s residence, I just hope that he notices my intention.”

The way Wizard Nigel thought was very simple. He wanted to do business with Abel, but he didn’t want to be involved in any sort of scandals. This was why he decided to be anonymous the entire time. He wasn’t really thinking about being polite. He was more concerned by security, of all things.

There was one thing that he didn’t consider, though. As soon as his job offer was sent to the Blacksmith Union, the news was sent immediately to Abel. Abel had access to everything that he needed to know, and that’s why he was so offended about this deal.

Just now, the price of the magic staff had increased by 1,000 points. For a real expert like Abel, this kind of petty offer only seemed like an insult to his craftsmanship. To him, it felt like the person was trying to swindle him as though he didn’t know anything about the current market. On top of that, this person was anonymous, meanwhile being everywhere that he’s trying to go.

To give a clearer perspective, Abel was one out of the only four grandmaster blacksmith on the Holy Continent. The other three were all dwarves, and that made him the only grandmaster blacksmith available for business. If the four of these grandmaster blacksmiths were excluded, there was pretty much no one that could help with making an elite wizard’s magic staff.

Not only was it very difficult to make an elite wizard’s magic staff, it was also very costly to try–especially the soul of the high-tier spiritual beasts, which was a crucial ingredient that was very difficult to come by. High-tier spiritual beasts generally hid themselves in the depths of the Budapest Mountain Range, or the Double Moon Forest. As for how difficult it was to hunt them, it’s not even worth going into details.

Suppose that the spiritual beasts were successfully captured, it’d be an entirely different task to not ruin the raw materials on them. In the past, when there were only three dwarf blacksmith masters, the prices were never “offered” or “bargained.” The ones who made the magic staff, they were the only ones that could decide what the payment should be. They were ones who decided the price. To begin with, they were the one who decided if they wanted to do the job.

This wasn’t about saving his own face. If Abel accepted to do Wizard Nigel’s job, it would be a violation of the agreements the other grandmaster blacksmiths had.

Moving on, Abel already put Wizard Nigel on his blacklist of unwelcomed customers.

Abel said with a sneer, “You know, Bartoli, I really like that restaurant idea of yours, I really do. Actually, how about we go look for a place to set up our own establishment? As far as I see, it’d be much better than having to help Mr. Nigel out.”

“Thank you, Master,” Bartoli bowed in obedience. To her, it was a great honour to have her master listen to her suggestions.

“Hmm, before that, though, I don’t think I should leave the spiritual guardian knight here.”

Bartoli continued to give out her excellent advice, “About that, Master, maybe it’s not the best idea to let the spiritual guardian knight cook here. If you want someone to be your chef without leaking the recipe, I suppose you can have your employees sign a contract with you. It’s a method that I just remembered.”

“Also, let’s not let the spiritual guardian knight’s training go to waste. It might not be the best idea to have it cook here, but it can always do the job when you are training the dark world. Now that I’ve got my own task in this world, it’d be harder for me to accompany you when you’re on your quest.”

“A contract? Did you regain a part of your memory?” Abel asked in surprise.

Bartoli explained, “Yes, Master. All this time, I’ve been slowly sorting out my memories over the last few thousand years. That’s not to say that I’ve fully regained all my memories, but a fraction of it is starting to come back to me.”

Abel nodded, “A contract, hmm. It’s an excellent idea! I’ll leave it up to you, then.”

This restaurant idea was really starting to take shape. Like, with the rabbit essence, they could literally win over any restaurant business that’s in Liante City. It was a very real idea. Last time, when Abel served meat to a bunch of elves (whose diet consisted of pretty much just greens), they couldn’t stop eating because of the rabbit essence that he added.

And Flying Flame. Even dragons found it hard to resist the delicacy that was the rabbit essence. Their new restaurant would be a big hit in Liante City. Abel was very sure of it.