Victor reacted well to everything that had happened with Vesta, in fact, he could not stop laughing. Vesta did not know whether he was angry or not, Eris knew, but she did not want to explain. The situation was indeed amusing, but that did not matter at that moment. Victor wanted to explain everything he had planned.
For now, he and the others were still living in the Duke's mansion, Carmine did not want them to leave yet, especially because of Victor's plan, which was still in progress. At that moment, food was becoming more expensive, Victor wanted the Duke to wait a few more days before selling cheap food in the market, this would show that he had made an effort. Or at least, it would make him be remembered, people would remember paying more for food and would remember the man who started selling it for less.
The plan was simple and perfect, Victor had even considered the possibility of a food shortage that this could cause, since it was common that after times of crisis, people begin to stockpile food and, if it is cheaper, then sales will increase and, little by little, food will start to run out. Considering the three cities, Victor planned a production three times greater than what is sold in a year.
The hardest part was having to explain to the Duke that this was the best course of action, he was an intelligent man, but at the same time, the level of knowledge of a demon was greater than that of a human. Humans valued social status and not all had access to education, the same did not happen with demons, they were more egalitarian and the level of education was the same for commoners and nobles, even slaves had education and even received a salary.
But Victor convinced the Duke, even so, that man was not completely satisfied and confident that the idea would work, Victor did not blame the Duke, but he found it somewhat irritating.
So, until that moment, the rooms would be only for the inhabitants of the Tower, but Vesta did not want that, she wanted a room to share with Victor, he did not want to let the Duke see her, since she caused problems, so the best thing to do was not to ask the Duke to let Vesta stay in the mansion.
He asked her to control herself more and observe how other people behaved so she could try to fit more easily into human society, that way she would not have problems with human inhabitants.
Vans was finishing some potions, he explained to Lyn what she needed to do, besides that, he instructed her to go to the adventurers guild to get her card, gather herbs and put up some requests for collecting necessary materials.
He placed twenty gold coins on top of a table and asked for all of that in materials.
Lyn was the opposite of Vesta when it came to acting normally, Agnus was somewhere in between. Myra was normal.
Myra was instructed to take care of the shop and keep it running.
Victor was curious about Valorie, but he understood after Vesta explained. Valorie still had some matters to resolve in the Tower, she needed to continue some training and only after that would she leave. That was in line with what Victor had said about not forcing anyone to leave until the war.
For now, security would be handled by the shop employees, this would not be a problem, since everyone there was strong and knew how to fight without causing damage to the shop, even so, the best option was someone focused on security.
The shop was already ready to open, Victor did not want a big or flashy opening, he just wanted to open the shop so people could buy and that was it.
On the left side, there was a shelf with several potions, on the right were scrolls, there were other shelves that were protected with a glass dome, the shelf was full of magical items and, on another, there were some weapons. So, the shop could be classified as a store for defense and attack materials. In addition to offering some services, such as purification of environments and objects, few people used light magic and even fewer used light magic for purification. Which was, in a way, a problem, because this could put the shop in the sights of the Church, which always tried to convince users of light magic to join them and become devoted to a goddess whose name changed every few hundred years. But that was not a serious problem, it never had been, Victor always had problems with the Church and he always made a point of clashing with the institution.
As a way to maintain a friendly relationship with the King, Vans made some potions to give as a gift, he prepared fifteen thousand healing potions and two thousand mana recovery potions. This was not just a gesture of kindness, he thought about the current production of potions, potions were diluted and weak, so showing the King that better potions existed would be very beneficial in the future, since they could have the Crown as a client.
Vans also prepared some potions for the Duke, since they had promised that a few weeks ago.
"I brought the two of you together because I want to make a deal with the Baronet, but I want your approval, Duke," Victor said.
Victor sat down and then took out a bag with some gold coins.
"There are a thousand gold coins in there," he said calmly.
The Baronet was startled, even though he was a noble, that was a lot of money for someone in his position.
"That is the amount I am willing to pay to use a part of your land, Baronet, but that is not all, since I will need labor, I will hire some people from the village and, with that, both of you will have more taxes and that is not all, since I will use the land, I am willing to pay tax for its use. I think everyone benefits from this, what do you think?"
The Duke took a moment to think, he analyzed the proposal, it seemed very good. The tax the Baronet charged was thirty percent, the Duke received a third of the total value. For the Duke it would be very good, but for the Baronet, maybe not, since he would have to give up territory to a merchant, even if he received a lot of money, it would still hurt his honor.
"I have another proposal, we can set aside the tax if you, once every three months, use that magic on the crops."
The Duke did not expect that, the profit would be much greater, much greater indeed.
"All right, I accept the proposal," Victor liked it, since it was easier and cheaper.
But Niko did not like the idea at all.