Chapter 512 - The Angel Wine
"What"s the reason?" Constantine narrowed his eyes, and his gaze became dangerous.
"Young Master, please tell the truth." The servant behind Constantine could not help but shake his head when he saw Payge"s eyes.
Even if the Young Master was not a genius, he was still a handsome young man. The young man only knew how to eat since he was young, and he even received the derogatory t.i.tle of Duke Piggy. His appearance was like a mountain of meat, and others often ridiculed him. Some of the servants even looked down on him.
When the servant saw the gold coins and how Payge had stuttered when he was trying to answer his father, he had the same thought as Constantine. Payge must have obtained the gold coins through improper channels.
"Young Master Watson gave me the coins because he valued my talent. He even asked me to work for him. This is my monthly salary. But please don"t ask why he"s paying me this many coins."
Constantine laughed. It was not a happy laugh but an angry one. "Payge, do you take me for a fool? You said that Watson valued your talent, but I watched you grow up. How could I not know what kind of talent you have? You can convert the food you eat into other food. Is there something amazing about that ability?"
"I—" Payge fell into silence. His father was right; his ability was very weak. He thought the same until he met Deena and Watson. Deena said he was strong, and Watson was even willing to pay a million gold coins a month for his talent. He had changed his mind somewhat, but it seemed like he was still useless.
"Don"t have anything else to say?"
Constantine"s face was filled with unconcealable disappointment. "Give me the money; I"ll get someone to deliver it to Watson later! Remember what I just said? From now on, you"ll stay at home. I"ll explain to the teachers at the Royal Academy why you won"t go to cla.s.ses in the future. I should not have agreed to let you go to the Royal Academy in the first place."
Even if Payge was not lying, Watson must not have had any good intentions to give so much money to him. His son was not an intelligent man. What if other people had cheated him?
"Father, that won"t do. I have already promised Young Master Watson to help him with his work."
"You keep calling him Young Master Watson. You don"t even have that much respect for me. Tell me, what did Watson ask you to do?"
"I can"t tell you."
Payge"s unyielding refusal made Constantine"s face darken. He felt like his son had changed. Payge had been quite weak usually. As long as Constantine threatened him casually, he would tell him everything. At that moment, Payge appeared very firm.
He even felt Payge"s appearance had changed. He had always been covered in fat, and he had to take a breather every two steps. However, he realized that Payge"s body showed the edges and muscles. He did not know if it was just his imagination.
Of course, he did not care. Payge had been accepted into the Royal Academy"s warrior department, and he would have undergone a lot of training during cla.s.s. It was not strange for him to have muscles.
"Take him into the house and let him reflect on his actions."
He was too lazy to continue talking nonsense. Constantine waved his hand, and the servant behind him immediately came to Payge and was about to take him away.
At that moment...
"Lord Constantine, some people from the Holy Dragon Tavern just sent a message saying that they want to raise the price of the sun fruit and moon fruit. In the future, the price of each fruit will be raised from 500 gold coins to 1,000 gold coins."
A merchant rushed in from outside, wiping the sweat off his head as he ran.
"One thousand gold coins? Has the owner of the Holy Dragon Tavern gone crazy?"
Constantine widened his eyes. Initially, they could make a few bottles of red wine with the sun fruit and moon fruit for 500 gold coins, and they could earn quite a bit. However, if the price of the fruits had doubled, they would not be able to earn much.
"The owner of the Holy Dragon Tavern, Count Gray, asked me to send a message to Lord Constantine saying that they are willing to sell the sun and moon fruit wine directly to us for 1500 gold coins per bottle."
"One thousand and five hundred gold coins? It"s daylight robbery!"
Constantine"s expression darkened. The price of that wine was typically 1,000 gold coins, and the prices are the same all over the capital. If he spent 1,500 gold coins to buy the wine, he would have to lower the price to 1,000 gold coins. Otherwise, no one would buy it. If he did not buy the wine, his tavern would lose many customers in the future, and the losses would be even more significant.
No matter what he chose, he would suffer a loss. The problem he was worried about had happened so quickly, which made him very uncomfortable.
"How many sun fruits and moon fruits do we have left?"
"Lord Constantine, we have less than a hundred left. Those fruits can produce a thousand bottles of red wine."
"Use those fruits first, then go to the black market to buy some potions. Mix them with other fruits and then with the sun fruit wine and moon fruit wine. I don"t believe our tavern would close without supply from the Holy Dragon Tavern."
Constantine gritted his teeth and made a difficult decision. At that moment, Payge, who was in front of him, scratched his head and said, "Father, it looks like you"re in trouble. Those sun fruits and moon fruits sound very important. If it"s possible, I can help you make them."
"How can you help? It"s already good enough that you don"t get into trouble. Go back to your room and reflect."
Constantine rejected his idea. He thought that Payge could only transform some food. For example, the sun fruit and the moon fruit would only mature after thousands of years, so Payge would not be able to complete the transformation.
Furthermore, the food that Payge transformed would always retain some of the characteristics of the original food. For example, the food transformed from chicken drumsticks would retain some of the chicken meat, and the food transformed from bread would be mixed with bread crumbs. Most importantly, Payge had to complete the transformation in his body. If people knew that Payge spat out the original ingredients of the wine produced by Constantine"s family, then their reputation would be ruined.
"Very well, Father."
Payge wanted to say something else, but seeing his father"s determined expression, he could only shut his mouth and obediently follow the servant into the house.
Constantine tidied his clothes and waved at the merchant who had rushed in. "Go, prepare a carriage for me. I want to see Count Gray and discuss the price with him."
..
At the Severed Fingers Gang headquarters.
"Gray, is it really okay for you to increase the price of the sun fruit and the moon fruit? It"s not just the fruits. You"ve also increased the price of the wine. Other n.o.blemen might just boycott your tavern."
Marcus was wearing a long robe that sparkled with starlight. He sat in front of a table and drank tea as he spoke to Count Gray.
"Marcus, you don"t have to worry about that! Even if we raise the price of the raw materials and the wine, those n.o.bles will have to pinch their noses and bear it. We have the ingredients they need. Besides the sun-fruit wine and moon-fruit wine, we"ve also developed a new type of wine. It"s called the angel wine. The ingredient is the Blessings of the G.o.ds and Demons potion created by Young Master Watson and the Abedor family. If you dilute a platinum-tier potion, you can create a thousand bottles of angel wine. Its effect will increase one"s strength, and there"s also a chance to awaken the angel bloodline and gain a certain increase in one"s lifespan."
Count Gray held a teacup in his hand and said, "After the launch of the wine of angels, I believe that it will cause another wave of excitement in the capital. I am prepared to set the price at 10,000 gold coins per bottle! Also, don"t blame me, Marcus, for the price increase. Didn"t you increase the prices of our weapons as well? I heard that you have already changed the price of our platinum-tier weapons from 10,000 gold coins to 20,000 gold coins.
"After all, it was Young Master Watson"s request. The person who has contributed the most this month can get the Dragon Transformation Potion and turn into a diamond-tier dragon. All of us have taken action to get that. I heard that Elven and Veronica had already gone to the house of the subordinates that Young Master Watson had just recruited.. They want to rope in Young Master Watson"s new subordinates and use them to raise their status."