Chapter 39: Princess Workshop
Note: Sorry for the website error 😔! I was freaking out too 😱 , but it’s back now!
It wasn’t easy to earn money or even earn a lot of money especially with the depressed economy in the Dark Moon. Chen Rui didn’t have a detailed plan at once, but the ultimate goal of making money was for aura while the purpose of aura was to enhance strength. Although the blue lake’s special training was hard, the effect was obvious. Paglio was equivalent to a high-standard coach. Besides, it was actually free, so he definitely should continue.
However, the blue lake was far away and riding the tri-horned rhino was too conspicuous. Also, visiting frequently would raise suspicion.
Chen Rui thought of Mengda and Kegu, and he suddenly thought of something: Isn’t there two helicopters with me? What if I ride the wyverns there at night?
He carefully pondered for a while. He felt that it was feasible. Besides, traveling in the sky was much faster than on land, and the time spent back and forth could be greatly saved.
“Kegu, Mengda, aren’t these meats delicious? Are you willing to be my mount?”
“Kegu doesn’t like to be a mount!”
“Mengda doesn’t like it too!”
Chen Rui frowned and suddenly thought of a joke.
A father asked the son about the son’s life pursue. The son answered wealth and beauty, and the father ruthlessly slapped the son’s face; he then answered career and love, and the father pats the son’s head as praise.
“Kegu, Mengda, are you willing to be my flying partner? We can soar together freely in the sky. In the future, we can even go to Silent Night Wetland together.”
“Kegu is willing to!”
“Mengda is willing to!”
“…”
Compared with the sly poison dragon, these naive wyverns were too cute.
Just when Chen Rui successfully scammed the wyverns, Alice came along with Athena.
Little Loli unprecedentedly apologized to Chen Rui for not keeping her promise of the 50 vine stones. It was deducted by her sister, leaving only 6 pieces. Little loli said that when the 6 vine stones arrived, she would give it to him immediately.
Chen Rui was a little moved. Then, the little loli’s pretty purple eyes suddenly dilated seeing the 2 unrestrained wyverns.
Since it was just Athena and Alice, Chen Rui obviously didn’t hide from them and told them about the beast-taming skill. However, he deliberately emphasized that he just recently awakened the ability. He still had a hard time using the ability.
As Athena thought of the scene when Chen Rui quickly affiliated with the griffin during the special training yesterday, she had a sudden realization and immediately felt unhappy, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier during the training?”
Chen Rui thought for a moment and smiled bitterly, “At that time, the beast-taming skill was just awakened… As for after, did you give me a chance to explain?”
Athena thought of the “revenge” and her face was hot. She pointed at Alice who was looking at the wyverns excitedly and made a threatening gesture, hinting to never tell Alice about that, and Chen Rui nodded quickly.
“Chen Rui, can I try to ride the wyvern up the sky?” Alice threw a piece of fresh meat to Kegu. Seeing Kegu wasn’t as violent as she thought, she started to think.
“That can’t be done! Wyvern’s skin and breathing are very poisonous. Little princess is so beautiful. You wouldn’t want your skin to rot.” Chen Rui quickly eliminated little loli’s vain hope. Alice along with wyvern, the destructiveness was definitely more than 1+1=2; they might even destroy the palace.
“Isn’t it possible to develop antidote? If not, how do the dragon knights ride them?” Alice protruded her lips in dissatisfaction and suddenly screamed, “Athena, why is your face so red? Are you sick?”
“Well… maybe because I’ve just been promoted to Greater Demon not long ago, so I can’t freely control the power of the flame in my body.” Athena quickly shifted the subject, “Alice, the wyvern aren’t toys. An ordinary antidote can only last for a short time; just like what happened to Alan previously. I’ve heard that the training method of the dragon knights seemed to be long-term exposure to poisons so that their body has a certain poison-resistance. Then, they gradually get used to the poison of wyvern. Due to the exposure to the poison, the appearance of dragon knights is usually uglier.”
“Fine, I don’t want to be disfigured,” Alice looked afraid. She changed her mind and said, “Chen Rui, your ‘advertising’ method was not bad. There are a lot more customers in the store, and the income is also higher. Can you go to my store to help every day?”
“Sorry, little princess. I truly don’t have the time. Currently, Princess Royal has appointed me as a secretary; I have to work every day.” Chen Rui hurriedly refused. “After returning, not only do I need to practice beast-taming skill, but I also need to learn pharmaceutics from Master Aldas. I’m busy the entire day; it’s really exhausting. How can I have the energy to help?”
“Practicing beast-taming?” Alice’s big eyes lit up, and she subsequently thought of the wyvern’s poison, she said in dissatisfaction, “Once a long-lasting antidote is developed, remember to bring me along to have secret trainings. I want to ride and play with the wyverns!”
Chen Rui casually agreed. Alice thought for a while and said, “Chen Rui, I know that you have a lot of ideas. What do you think… if I find a way to establish a Chamber of Commerce, can it contend with the despicable Joseph?”
Chen Rui was stunned. Alice’s mind was very clear. She actually had the idea of establishing a Chamber of Commerce. It seemed that she really wanted to help Shea resolve the biggest economic crisis in the Dark Moon. She was indeed a little loli that had a sensible hidden attribute. Yet, no matter how smart the little loli was, after all, she was too young. She simplified most of the things.
“For the Chamber of Commerce, little princess shouldn’t look into it for the time being. If you truly want to go with this path, operate a store well first.”
Alice frowned her lovely brows and said, “Yet, I think my shop is operating pretty well already.”
“Not enough!”
Little loli wasn’t convinced and wanted to refute, but when she saw the confidence in Chen Rui’s eyes, she changed her words, “What should I do then?”
Chen Rui thought of his personal money-making plan, and his heart was moved. Isn’t that a readily available shop?
“That depends on whether little princess truly wants to run the store well. If you just want to play, this level is good enough. Yet, if you are serious and even want to help Princess Royal further, then you truly have to put in the effort to do it well. There is a saying in our human world. In this world, there are only things that you don’t want to do, but there is nothing that you can’t do well.”
Little loli had a rare, serious look and replied, “I truly want to succeed! I truly want to defeat the bad guy, Joseph!”
Chen Rui nodded and said his objective, “Little princess, I’ll tell you the truth. As the training of the beast-taming skill requires long-term consumption of a variety of magical materials, for example, vine stone is one of them, which requires a lot of magic crystal coins. I’m thinking maybe we can form a partnership and open a store. You will provide the store and the capital while I will come up with the ideas and plans. The earning will be evenly divided between the two of us. What do you think?”
“No wonder you asked for half of the vine stones today.” Little loli had a sudden realization, then she shook her head, “However, you’re too despicable. I have to provide the store and the capital, but you’re just giving ideas. Yet, you still want half of the earnings. Am I not losing too much? This seems to be what you said… earning without any investments!”
Sure enough, when it came to money, Alice was smart with her calculations. Chen Rui smiled and said, “Little princess, it’s not calculated like that. For example, if you earn 4 black crystal coins a day initially, but after implementing my ideas, you earn 40 black crystal coins a day; even if you give me half, your income is still five times more than your initial income. Think about it, are you still losing?”
“Can you really make my store’s income a few times higher?” Alice suddenly became serious.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Chen Rui continued to lure the greedy little loli, “We can accumulate experience while operating the store. When the time comes, we’ll then open branches. Not only can it help Princess Royal increases income, but it can also suppress Joseph. If we have enough strength in the future, establishing the Chamber of Commerce and defeating Joseph isn’t impossible.”
“Really?” Alice’s big and beautiful eyes were flashing with a bright light. She immediately made a decision. “It’s decided! I know that you’re capable; you have already created a few miracles, so I believe in you! Alice’s future… is in your hands, Brother Chen Rui.”
The last sentence was too much! Chen Rui instinctively shuddered and calmed his mind with difficulty. He then said, “Don’t aim too high. For now, we need to make sure this store operates well first. The simple advertising previously was just to expand the popularity of the store. With more people coming into the store, the chances of them buying things naturally increase. To operate the store well, relying on that is far from enough. The goods in your store is very expensive, but expensive goods have their own way of selling which is taking the high-end route. Just nice that you are the Dark Moon’s princess, you can use that to make a brand effect so that people are proud of owning the goods in your store. Of course, this is just a rough idea. To truly operate the business well, there are a lot of aspects to look into. For example, the attitude toward customers and communication problems of your employees in the store. You have to let them pay with their magic crystal coins while feeling respected and comfortable so that they’ll come again to purchase. You must also change your selection and appointment of your employees. Taking Kaguri as an example, she can be a security that maintains order, but she isn’t suitable to attend customers; there are also classification, display and price issues of the goods…”
Chen Rui said a lot, Athena wasn’t interested, but Alice’s eyes were getting brighter and brighter. She raised some questions from time to time, but Chen Rui patiently answered one by one, and the little loli actually took out a pen to write it down.
Looking at those two planning to open a store and having an agreeable discussion, but Athena couldn’t join in the conversation, so she was unhappy for no reason.
“I’ve decided, my shore will be called Princess Retail Store!” Alice pointed at the sky with one finger and looked ambitious. “I want to make Princess Retail Store the most famous and upscale store in the Dark Moon! Then I want to open more… chain stores. In the future, I will establish a Chamber of Commerce to drive the Red Spirit guys out of the Dark Moon Estate!”
Alice did have talent in commerce. She could easily understand things when being taught. However, Chen Rui’s experience was limited to just opening a store, so discussing establishment of a Chamber of Commerce was way too early.
“No way, I am going to the store now.” Alice had a smug look. “First, rearrange the goods and facilities in the store first. After it’s ready, we’ll have a grand re-opening as you said! Athena, do you want to come with me?”
Athena shook her head, “You can go. I don’t know anything about operating a business, and I want to observe these two wyverns longer.”
“Your face is still red. I’ll give this to you for your reference; remember to be gentle.” Alice blinked her eyes in a playful manner, handing a booklet to Athena in a mysterious way and leaving the lab in by skipping.
Athena took the booklet and didn’t look at it. She was just looking at the wyverns with admiration, “I want to be a dragon knight since young. Can you find a way to let me try the wyverns?”
Chen Rui knew that Athena was skilled in beast-taming. She wouldn’t act recklessly like Alice, so he nodded and said, “Once the master develops an effective antidote, I will inform you first. I still need to ask you some questions about beast-taming, but you don’t tell Alice. If she rides the wyvern, who knows what troubles will she cause.”
“Really?” Athena heard that it was a secret between them, and she was secretly joy. The little unhappiness instantly disappeared without a trace.
“Yes, I promise!” Chen Rui asked in curiosity, “Oh right, what did Alice give you just now?”
Athena raised the booklet in her hand and Chen Rui went closer to look curiously. The lines of words on the booklet’s cover was actually – ‘Away from Blushing! Teach You How to Control A Male in Your Hands’
The blush that just faded immediately covered Athena’s entire face instantly. She could no longer stay; she left in a hurry, leaving a “male” being shocked on the spot.
Sure enough, no matter how bright her hidden attribute was, a demon girl was still a demon girl.