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Join the Server“There, there, don’t cry. It’s alright.”
Su Mu had only sought the old ledgers to confirm a few suspicions brewing in his mind. Ultimately, the investigation into the counterfeit holy water held little direct connection to those past records.
Katusha, however, seemed deeply remorseful. To avoid putting Su Mu in an awkward position, she had even deliberately shifted to a formal address when speaking to him.
“Your Highness, I’m sorry…”
Katusha was an exceptionally shrewd merchant. Upon seeing the ledgers vanish, she must have pieced together much of the truth.
Yet, her strong affection for her family prevented her from directly revealing what she believed to be the truth to Su Mu.
Despite being merely a victim herself, she was willing to make such profound sacrifices.
‘This child has truly suffered,’ Su Mu mused, a flicker of dissatisfaction arising in his heart toward the head of the Foren family.
He raised a hand and gently placed it on the girl’s head, offering comfort. “It truly is alright, Shasha. Look up.”
Katusha’s tear-filled eyes gazed at Su Mu, her sobs still catching in her throat.
“Listen to me. When you go home, you absolutely must not mention the missing ledgers. Let’s pretend we never even looked into it, understand?”
Katusha didn’t grasp Su Mu’s meaning, stammering, “But… but they were the ones who did wrong…”
“But whether they were right or wrong has nothing to do with what we need to investigate right now, does it? Trust my intuition. The widespread prevalence of counterfeit holy water is definitely not due to expensive stockpiles. There must be another hidden reason.”
Su Mu stated it with unwavering conviction.
Katusha ceased her crying, wiped the tears from her face, and said, “Thank you, Your High— Ouch!”
Su Mu flicked her forehead sharply.
“Hm? Still calling me ‘Your Highness’?”
“Mu… Mu Mu Ge, hehe.”
Despite being playfully struck, Katusha broke into a joyful smile.
“Come on, let’s continue looking at the ledgers. There are some things I don’t quite understand, and I’ll need your help to explain them.”
“Alright!”
The two returned to the inner room.
Katusha meticulously explained the contents of the existing ledgers to Su Mu.
Su Mu pondered deeply.
According to Katusha, the sales of holy water were far from ideal. Since she had taken over, there had been fewer than five transactions in total, each order pitifully small.
Logically, with holy water’s potent properties, it should have been incredibly popular among adventurers. Yet, the number of adventurers actually purchasing it was lamentably low.
‘Could it be because counterfeit holy water was already rampant before Katusha took over, severely encroaching upon the market for official holy water?’ he wondered. ‘That shouldn’t be the case. After all, official holy water has been available for much longer than the counterfeit version. Based on customer loyalty alone, it shouldn’t have fallen to such a state.’
Su Mu was utterly perplexed, but his confusion vanished the moment he learned the holy water’s selling price.
“What did you say?! A single small bottle of holy water costs 100,000 Moen?!”
Su Mu exclaimed in utter astonishment.
He recalled that a full night of entertainment with the most expensive succubus lady at the Enchanted Paradise only cost 180,000 Moen, and a more ordinary one was just a few thousand. How could a tiny bottle of potion possibly be sold for such an exorbitant price?
Katusha meekly replied,
“I also think it’s a bit overpriced, but Father said the price of holy water is set by the Holy Healing Institute, and it has always been this way…”
She had argued with her father for a long time about the price of holy water, but ultimately, it wasn’t something she could decide, leaving her helpless.
Su Mu let out two dry laughs.
No wonder adventurers had all flocked to the counterfeit holy water the moment it appeared. It was such a predatory product; he wouldn’t bother buying it either.
Su Mu rubbed his temples.
He now understood the underlying reason for the customer shift and the proliferation of counterfeit holy water. The real headache now was figuring out how to uncover the underground channels distributing it.
Just as Katusha and Su Mu were brainstorming solutions, Bai Ji returned, carrying a shimmering silver ring.
“Your Highness, your ring.”
“Oh! Excellent, you found it!”
Su Mu happily took the ring, then tucked it back into his pocket.
“A-Bai, you’ve worked hard.”
Katusha casually remarked, “Mu Mu Ge, you didn’t really need to make Sister Bai run all the way there. I could have found a chance to get you a similar one later.”
Su Mu toyed with the ring in his pocket, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. “It’s fine. It’s only useful if I have it now.”
Katusha didn’t quite understand but didn’t press further. She was still racking her brain over how to solve the case.
“Mu Mu Ge, have you thought of a good plan?”
Su Mu suddenly reached out and pinched the collar of Bai Ji’s black robe, a smile playing on his lips. “You have mud… Hehe, as for a plan, of course I do. But some preparations aren’t complete yet, so we’ll have to wait.”
Bai Ji tensed up shyly, a faint tickle tracing her delicate neck from His Highness’s fingers. The sensation was both discomforting and strangely pleasurable.
Katusha exclaimed excitedly, “You already have a plan? That fast! Mu Mu Ge, you truly are amazing!”
“Hmph, hmph, keep it low-key, low-key.”
Su Mu noticed Bai Ji’s unusual reaction and, feeling playful, kept his fingers on her collar, gently teasing her.
Bai Ji’s ears flushed crimson. She bit her lip, remaining silent.
Sensing the intimate atmosphere, Katusha wisely said nothing more, struggling to suppress a giggle.
Su Mu was freely enjoying the cool beauty’s shy demeanor, and just as he was about to press further, the sound of heavy footsteps rapidly approached the entrance of the Holy Water Institute.
Su Mu quickly turned Bai Ji’s collar inward, withdrawing his hand just in time.
The next moment, Roland burst in.
Seeing Katusha successfully rescued, Roland’s face was alight with a joyful smile.
However…
The resentment in Katusha’s eyes, and the icy gaze in Bai Ji’s.
These two peculiar stares instantly froze Roland’s smile.
He said with some embarrassment,
“Um, did I come at a bad time?”
Su Mu gently patted Katusha and Bai Ji on the shoulders, then said with a smile, “No, my dear Roland, you’ve arrived at precisely the right moment.”
The awkward atmosphere instantly dissipated.
Roland cast a look of profound gratitude at Su Mu. ‘This rescue operation, my good brother, I’ll remember you for life!’
“How did you know we were here?” Su Mu asked.
Roland chuckled. “I was originally going to Katusha’s house to see if she had been rescued, but her aunt told me you all came here, so I just came straight over.”
Then, he continued excitedly, “Oh, by the way, do you know what I saw on my way here?”
“What?” Katusha obligingly asked.
Roland’s eyebrows danced as he replied, “Sir Ling Guang, the Blazing Knight!”
Katusha immediately retorted, utterly uninterested, “What’s so special about that? I was personally thrown into the dungeon by Sir Ling Guang yesterday.”
“No, no, that’s not it. At that time, Sir Ling Guang was leading the Royal Knights through the streets when suddenly, right in front of them, over a dozen corpses appeared! More than a dozen murders occurring all at once—that’s unheard of in the Central District, let alone the entire capital. It’s a huge commotion over there right now.”
Roland excitedly shared, “And the strangest part is yet to come, do you know? Those dozen or so corpses, they seem to be the same group of hooligans who caused trouble at Katusha’s place yesterday!”
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