The entire shop building had four floors.
The first floor would be remodeled by the system into the flower shop itself, so Ron didn't need to worry much about it.
Viewed from above, the layout resembled the Chinese character "回."
In the center was a large open-air courtyard, surrounded by the shop structure forming a square ring.
Entering through the main doors brought Ron into the spacious first-floor hall.
On the opposite side of the "回" layout was a relatively narrow storage room.
The second floor was filled with glass display cabinets, suggesting that it had previously sold jewelry or similar luxury goods.
The third floor contained several elegantly decorated reception rooms, likely meant for hosting distinguished guests.
As for the fourth floor, it consisted of bedrooms for resting, along with a bathroom, kitchen, and balcony.
After looking around, Ron felt there was nothing that needed changing.
Once the system finished renovating the shop, he could simply return to City of Chaos through the dimensional plane. There would be no need to actually live here.
His future lifestyle would look something like this—
Breakfast in the City of Chaos.
At noon, drop by the magic club in the Royal Capital for a stroll.
In the afternoon, go fishing at Lake Impash.
In the evening, return to the City of Chaos to play "War of the Gods." with Mason and the others.
Tsk tsk.
Just thinking about it was amusing.
After touring the shop, Ron headed back to the convent, intending to return later that night once the renovation was complete.
That afternoon, as agreed with the Archbishop, Ron went to the cathedral's main hall to preside over several prayer sessions.
After all, he was a Chosen of the Harvest Goddess. The flower shop matter had delayed him for quite some time. Now that things had settled, it was time to fulfill some of his responsibilities.
There he stood—a fake believer who had turned the Goddess of Harvest into a card illustration and system interface skin—leading thousands of devout followers in prayer from the cathedral's pulpit.
The more he thought about it, the more awkward it felt.
He genuinely worried that if the Goddess of Harvest were displeased, she might strike him down with divine punishment.
"Your Highness Ron, the Military Academy and the Royal Capital Magic Academy have already begun taking action. Would you like to review the specific developments?"
That evening, while Ron was having dinner in the courtyard, Sylvie approached to report.
"Efficient as always," Ron clicked his tongue. Then he shook his head. "What happens next has little to do with me. Just compile the relevant information and deliver it to me later. No need for special reports."
"Yes." Sylvie nodded, then asked curiously, "Your Highness, now that you've obtained the shop, based on what you said earlier… will you be returning to City of Chaos soon?"
Previously, Ron had complained to Sylvie that since everyone doubted his motives anyway, he would open the shop and immediately leave.
But judging from the current situation, that statement was likely to go unfulfilled.
"Ahaha…" Ron laughed awkwardly. "There's been a slight change in plans. You'll find out soon enough."
With the system's spatial transmission channel now available, the distance between the City of Chaos and the Royal Capital was effectively nonexistent for him.
So the concept of "returning" to the City of Chaos no longer held much practical meaning.
After all, when you pop over to a neighbor's house for a visit, you don't make a grand announcement about leaving home, do you?
The spatial transmission channel couldn't be concealed for long if Ron used it frequently.
If he appeared in City of Chaos in the morning and in the Royal Capital by afternoon—almost every day—anyone with half a brain would suspect something unusual.
Ron was already under the watchful eyes of various factions. A bit of movement analysis would be enough to reveal inconsistencies.
Unless he deliberately hid it, the spatial channel wouldn't remain secret forever.
At times like this, the Goddess would just have to take the blame again.
Everything was a gift from the Goddess, after all~
So deeply favored by the Goddess—how troublesome… Ron shamelessly thought to himself.
"If Your Highness plans to remain in the Royal Capital for some time, then regarding the continued plan to recruit nuns to the City of Chaos—should that proceed?" Sylvie asked.
Ron paused.
He had almost forgotten about that.
Previously, Sylvie had arranged for three batches of nuns to be transferred from the convent to the City of Chaos, providing him with free magical labor to produce Element Cards.
Since the demand for Element Cards was expected to increase steadily, Ron had instructed her to continue importing these valuable "nun laborers."
However, due to recent events, Sylvie had been busy running errands on his behalf, and the recruitment plan had been temporarily shelved.
If Ron no longer intended to return to City of Chaos, then whether to continue recruiting nuns became a question.
From Sylvie's perspective, after this incident, perhaps Ron's mindset had changed.
Maybe he would no longer remain as indifferent as before.
After all, only by grasping absolute power himself could he avoid encountering similar situations in the future.
Such a shift in mentality would have been perfectly reasonable.
Unfortunately, Ron's reclusive gamer soul and laid-back salted-fish spirit remained very much alive. He hadn't considered that angle at all.
If not for the system unlocking spatial transmission, he would have handled the flower shop, tidied up matters concerning the hotpot restaurant, and Element Cards—and then left without hesitation.
The Royal Capital crowd played too roughly. No need to stay and suffer this nonsense.
But now…
Once the renovation was complete, Ron would still primarily live in the City of Chaos.
However, when he felt like it, he could drop by the Royal Capital for a visit.
He could even bring Nora along for some sightseeing.
With that in mind, Ron replied, "If there are nuns available from various regions, continue sending them to the City of Chaos. I'll make arrangements."
Sylvie nodded in understanding and took her leave.
Ron opened the system interface and briefly admired the enticing interface skin before checking the remaining renovation time.
Seeing that it was nearly complete, he packed up his belongings from the convent room and made his way to the shop on Monlis Street.
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[System: "Store renovation complete. Upgrade quest triggered."]
[Upgrade Quest] — [Redeem One Secondary Spatial Transmission Access]
[Requirement: Grant secondary spatial transmission access to one individual and complete one teleportation.]
[Reward: System Level +1.]
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Seeing that reward instantly drained his motivation.
Ron pursed his lips. He had absolutely no anticipation regarding system-level upgrades.
These past days, he had diligently used the once-per-day free skin draw opportunity.
And yet, he still hadn't drawn a single skin he actually liked. Every one of them was in a style he disliked.
Worse still, once drawn, the skins couldn't be returned—only left there to gather dust, completely useless.
Grumbling internally, Ron stepped into the shop's main hall.