A reception area for a Magic Craftsman club.
"I'm sorry, our orders are backed up for three months. If you don't choose an expedited order, we can't deliver by your requested deadline."
The Receptionist said with a smile to the apprentice who had come to place an order; his words were a clear hint to 'add more money.'
His words only caused the face of the apprentice in front of him to darken, while the people queuing behind him erupted into a commotion.
"No way, why are the orders full here too? I've run to three clubs today!"
"(Expletive), I've been at the academy for five years, and this is the first time I've seen so many clubs with full order books!"
"It's those damn dagger orders again! Which god-like person is throwing money away to have a bunch of daggers made that any blacksmith could forge!"
"Expediting costs double the money. That person really deserves to die! Don't let me find out who's forging a pile of daggers every day."
...The apprentice at the very front had a grim expression, his hands fidgeting restlessly on the desk, seemingly hesitating over whether to choose the expedited order.
The Receptionist was beaming, maintaining his smile. The recent explosion in orders had brought benefits even to him, the Receptionist.
Setting aside those massive orders scheduled months out, which had high profit margins, their efficiency simply couldn't keep up. Otherwise, they would have loved to take on every single dagger order.
Secondly, those who actually had a genuine need, when faced with such a backlog, would frequently have to pay extra for an 'expedited order.'
The popularity of these orders allowed him, as the Receptionist, to receive a handsome commission, not to mention the Magic Craftsmen themselves, who were putting all their effort into forging daggers.
Don't even think about getting other orders done without paying extra, even if you actually dared to schedule your order for months later.
Those Magic Craftsmen would only view your order through a practical lens; as long as more dagger orders kept coming in, your production schedule would definitely be pushed back further and further.
High pay, simple to make, cheap and durable materials, and no need to worry much about material wastage—these past few days had been a dream for those Magic Craftsmen.
The apprentice at the front sighed. His emotions were telling him to place the order immediately and go for the expedited option.
But his rationality and his remaining silver coins told him: I simply don't have the money, so do as you will.
Ultimately, he could only walk away without looking back, letting the next person step forward.
The Receptionist maintained his smile and continued to greet the next person.
"Hello, what kind of order would you like to place? A friendly reminder: our orders are scheduled quite far out. If you don't expedite, it will be difficult to receive the finished product in a short time."
The new apprentice hesitated for a moment, shook his head, and eventually left as well.
This departure set an example, causing many in the queue to lose interest and follow him out the door.
The Receptionist had no reaction to this; for him, the days of begging people to place orders were long gone.
Now our orders are overflowing. If you don't pay extra, don't even think about coming to us.
As long as they could complete one more expedited order a day, their club would make another sum of money.
The Receptionist continued to smile and said to the next person:
"Hello..."
"I want to place an expedited order and purchase some materials."
The speaker was Furan. After hearing the complaints from the people in the queue, she couldn't help but show an awkward smile as she walked to the front of the line, interrupting the Receptionist's pleasantries.
The Receptionist's eyes lit up; another expedited order meant another chance to make money.
Furthermore, their club also sold some materials, which was a pleasant surprise for him; the materials sitting in the warehouse because there were no orders for them could finally be sold.
The Receptionist took a set of blueprints, which showed large wheels, many strange joints, and some oddly shaped connecting rods.
The Receptionist was used to such things. Although he couldn't imagine what this contraption was for, the orders people brought to them were always like this—experimental products. It was normal for them to be useless; they just had to forge according to the blueprints.
"Two crates of coal, three crates of refined orichalcum, and five crates of fine iron."
Furan delegated part of the work to the club, while she herself would handle the more important part—the cylinder.
First of all, this cylinder needed a certain level of airtightness to conduct steam, as well as reserved space for the piston and well-made valves.
Furan decided to do these herself; she was afraid that if she had marked any parameters wrong on the blueprints, the work would be a total waste.
She currently had no confidence, having drawn the blueprints based on her memory, and wasn't sure if there were any mistakes.
She felt that she had mastered Metallurgy, so processing a few components should be more than manageable.
"Hello, that will be a total of one gold coin and fifty-seven silver coins."
Furan casually pulled two gold coins from her pocket and said:
"Give me another three crates each of orichalcum and fine iron, and exchange all the rest for coal. You don't need to return the change for the small amount left over."
The Receptionist was excited. He took the two gold coins, his trembling hands slowly stroking them. Once he confirmed they were real, he immediately began to record it on paper with his pen.
This is truly a big client! It feels like they're on par with the one placing the dagger orders, the Receptionist thought happily.
After Furan arranged for specialized personnel to deliver the items to her home, she was about to turn and leave when the conversation between two people at the very back of the queue caught her attention.
"Have you heard? Something big has happened at the Modification School!"
"What... what?!"
"The body of a High-level Apprentice who went missing a long time ago was found; it was dug up from the ground."
Furan stopped abruptly upon hearing this, pricking up her ears to listen carefully to this news that was 'related' to her.
"Apparently, it was Richter who died and was buried there."
"So it was him. Good riddance... Have you heard who killed him? I remember he had many enemies."
"The School's mentors have all gone there, but they haven't found any clues at all. They are now following another lead to find the killer."
"Tell me more."
"Apparently, that plot of land was compacted by the Construction School, so when the body was found, it was broken into pieces. Now they are looking for who placed the order for that work."
"The Construction School guys are so unlucky! I bet those brothers didn't know a thing and were just dragged in for interrogation. Luckily I didn't choose the Construction School back then, it's too miserable..."
Furan's mouth twitched, and her mood plummeted. How was it discovered?
She had checked a lot of information before deciding to act, knowing that since it was crushed to bits, there were very few magical means that could find the body.
Could Richter have informed someone else before she acted? That seemed unlikely.
Furan couldn't quite figure it out. She took a deep breath to clear her head.
Now that it was discovered, it was a settled fact. Although she was confident that conventional methods couldn't trace it back to her, there was no guarantee that some magical means couldn't find the killer directly.
She looked at the signed receipt, and a sense of urgency inevitably rose in her heart. She had to hurry.
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