"What recipe?" Faye looked up from watching Milani doing somersaults in her palm, after hearing the question.
"It’s a potion to maintain the dignity of middle-aged and elderly men," Clovis said expressionlessly as she always did when talking about work. She looked at Malin, "I’ve read the books, Mr. Malin definitely won’t have a problem, this potion is only aimed at mortal men."
"Oh, I see now," Jessica was the first to get it, the wolf girl said, casting a suggestive glance at Malin afterward.
"I get it too, and come to think of it, it’s definitely worth 6,000 pieces, no, even more, if we could refine the formula. If we, sisters, pool money to open a potion shop, old folks across the continent would empty their wallets to save their faces!" Lillim, true to her commercial family heritage, was the first to spot the business opportunity.
"Lillim, you’re truly a devil," Faye commented as she pulled out a little notebook: "I can put in all my private savings."
"Counting mine, I can put in 3,200 pieces," Lillim said, her smile growing a hint more ambiguous: "Mr. Malin, how much do you plan to contribute?"
"Maya, how much money do we have?" Malin was a bit lost about what his girls had in mind, and he wasn’t an investment genius either, so his plan was simply to provide the money and wait to make a fortune.
"Leaving aside living expenses, we can invest 20,000 gold," Maya didn’t need to think, for her, money was a digit, already imprinted in her mind.
"...That’s great, we’ll be able to sleep on a bed piled with Gold Coins," Faye clapped her hands, then looked at Clovis: "Clovis, consider it a technical stake, twenty percent, how about that?"
"I, I’ll follow Mr. Malin’s lead," the Bunny Girl said, looking at Malin, shy for a change during work.
"So, when can the formula be ready?" Faye continued to inquire of Clovis.
The latter pondered for a moment, "I need to consider the ingredients some more. The current effect is very good, but it causes certain damage to the test subject’s brain." Returning to work mode, Clovis walked over to a small cage at the side and lifted the curtain.
In front of everyone appeared a scrawny mouse.
"After using the potion, this mouse couldn’t control itself, lasting for 27 hours straight without drinking water or eating," Clovis explained.
Malin, propping his chin, felt for the first time that he had stumbled into the wrong laboratory, observing Clovis’s calm demeanor.
"Will it die?" Jessica asked.
"It will die, its organs have all failed, and it usually dies within 12 hours," Clovis finished, picked up the cage, and placed it over a deep pit, pulling out the bottom of the cage. Just before the mouse fell into the pit, a pair of tongs rose up and grabbed it: "This is its only chance to be of some last use."
Malin continued to prop his chin, fearing the scientists of this strange world, "What’s that?"
"A North gray scorpion, not dangerous, it’s a pet I raised since it was young," Clovis said, snapping her fingers and immediately a scorpion’s upper body emerged from the deep pit.
"Fafa, say hello to everyone," Clovis instructed.
The scorpion, busy eating, very humanely lifted a free claw and waved.
"Gray scorpions, the most poisonous of all scorpionic Spirits on the continent, you Mages are truly terrifying," Jessica hugged her chest.
"If it fought Milani, who would win?" Maya inquired.
Milani did not hesitate to jump onto Malin’s head, clinging tightly to it.
"Milani would die; it’s a qualified Scout, not a warrior," Clovis frowned as she spoke, "Due to the toxicity, there’s no chance of mass-producing the formula as it stands."
"Looks like we won’t be able to sleep on a bed of Gold Coins for a while," Lillim sighed, "I’ve been dreaming about doing that ever since hearing the story as a kid."
Then she looked at Malin, who had propped his chin since the beginning, "Mr. Malin, what do you think?"
"I wonder if sleeping on a bed of Gold Coins would hurt one’s back?" Malin mused, opting to ask a more practical question.
"Unromantic Mr. Malin," the lambskin pouted, but she seemed genuinely happy.
Faye began discussing plans to go out for the weekend with her sisters, all speaking their minds, while Malin, acting as their humanoid pack mule, propped his chin but noticed a small branch on his wrist growing a new fruit. After a thought, he tossed it into the deep pit.
The scorpion named Fafa, upon seeing the fruit come its way, immediately dropped the leftover mouse tail and chased the fruit, then quickly began devouring it eagerly.
Milani wailed on Malin’s head, and he plucked another fruit, handing it to the top of his head to make the jealous squirrel be quiet... wait, how would it eat if it shut its mouth... nevermind, it wouldn’t have a chance to play the pity card for a while anyway.
With that thought, Malin heard the lab door being knocked.
The girls, like Malin, halted their conversation, turning their attention towards the door.
The old Mage who opened the door looked at Malin, "Someone from the Karna family is here, looking for you."
Revenge seemed to come a bit too swiftly.
The young man standing outside the Mage Tower clenched his teeth, consumed by immense humiliation and anger since noon.
Despite his brother and sister being dead, why was there no revenge?
His brother had been beaten half to death, his sister beheaded, weren’t these worth the Karna family’s fury?!