Outside the door, the burly men lifted their weapons and began smashing up Liya's shop in a wild frenzy.
Even the magic potions displayed at the entrance weren't spared, everything was smashed to pieces.
Blue liquid flowed onto the floor, filling the air with the smell of money.
Liya watched their rampage expressionlessly, instead appearing unusually calm.
"Miss Liya, aren't we going to stop them yet…?"
The voice behind her sounded anxious, she knew how valuable those potions were. Just one broken bottle was already a loss.
But Liya sat unhurriedly on her chair, watching the thugs make a mess with a leisurely look.
"It's fine. Let them smash."
"The more they destroy, the more they'll have to pay."
Of course, Liya also understood, these people were probably just a bunch of hooligans someone had hired. How could they possibly pay for anything?
When she felt the time was about right, she stroked the Mage's Hand on her wrist and stood up, just about to go out.
"What are you doing?!"
A sharp voice came from outside the door.
Liya paused slightly, 'Someone stepping up to act heroically?'
She stood inside and looked out through the door.
A blonde young lady with a noble air stood beside a carriage, furiously scolding the tattooed brutes.
'Who is that?'
Liya looked closely at the familiar face of the blonde girl and suddenly realized who it was.
'The Duke's daughter?'
'Why is she here, just passing by?'
Or… deliberately?
Lady Erica, the Duke's daughter, had been a prodigy since childhood and was still famous even now.
Some people believed her future achievements would surely surpass those of the once-renowned genius, Victor.
After all, if Victor had harassed some other family's daughter last time, it wouldn't even have made the headlines.
But Erica's popularity and influence were simply too great.
Liya thought to herself, this time, she must be here out of kindness again, and no doubt another wave of news would follow.
In reality, Erica hadn't thought that deeply.
Although today was a rest day, after Victor left, she didn't feel like studying at the academy either.
Because except for Victor, the other teachers' standards were honestly too poor, not even as good as her own.
So, since it was a day off, she decided to give herself a little holiday, stroll around the city, and relax a bit.
While doing so, she overheard some of her family's servants chatting, saying that the Clavenna family had opened a magic item shop in the eastern district of the capital.
Clavenna, that was Victor's surname. Of course she remembered.
'But the eastern district, huh…'
Erica was interested, though it was quite far from where she lived in the central district, which was full of nobles like her.
The capital was vast, so vast she couldn't even finish exploring the central district in a day.
Still, she decided to go take a look.
'What kind of shop would Professor Victor's family open?'
After half an hour by carriage, she arrived, only to see a group of men vandalizing the shop in front of her.
The shop bore the Clavenna family crest. It really was Victor's property.
The scale wasn't very large, compared to the bustling shops around, it seemed rather modest.
But she wasn't here to criticize. Seeing people smashing things, Erica instinctively grew angry.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Her sharp voice rang out as she stepped down from the carriage, looking every bit the noble lady adored by all.
Many passersby recognized her and gasped.
"It's Erica du Croy!"
Simply put, there wasn't a single person who didn't know this beautiful and kind-hearted young lady.
She was known for giving food and coins to the poor to help them through hard times, and for never bowing before evil.
"It's the Duke's daughter! Run!"
The leader of the thugs saw Erica, shouted to his men, and they all panicked, fleeing in a hurry.
Liya exchanged a look with the shop assistant behind her, and suddenly, a gust of wind swept past from behind.
When she turned back, there was no one left outside.
Having finished her work, Liya finally put on a pleasant smile and walked out to greet her.
"Miss Erica, thank you so much for your help!"
"I'm just a weak woman, when something like this happens, I really don't know what to do. If you hadn't come, I'd have been at a total loss."
As Erica listened to Liya's emotional words, she examined her carefully.
The woman before her was stunningly beautiful, tall, slender, with delicate and flawless features.
Especially the mature charm she exuded, it made the still-young Erica feel somewhat inferior.
She was about to say there was no need to thank her, but when her eyes lowered, she suddenly froze, her gaze fixed on Liya's hand.
'Isn't that Victor's glove?'
Erica clearly remembered seeing it the first day Victor arrived.
Because it had many magic stones embedded in it, she'd noticed it right away, since it was the first time she'd seen such a glove.
After that, she'd never seen it again.
And now, that glove was on this woman's hand?
Erica couldn't be sure if it was the same pair, after all, their hand sizes were different.
'So… she's Professor Victor's family?'
At that thought, Erica suddenly felt sorry for the woman in front of her.
Those thugs must have come because of Victor's bad reputation, and she was the one bearing the consequences.
Looking at the broken glass and spilled potion everywhere, Erica thought for a moment and decided to compensate her to ease her distress.
"I'm terribly sorry that something like this happened in the capital. I'll personally compensate you for all your losses today in the name of House du Croy."
"Please calculate the total damage, and if there's anything left in stock, I'll buy it all."
"Oh my?"
Hearing Erica's generous words, Liya placed one hand on her chest, touched her face with the other, and smiled.
The du Croy family's innate charm in winning people over, indeed worthy of a duke's daughter.
Even if she was only seventeen.
"Miss Erica, let me confirm, you truly wish to compensate my losses?"
"You do realize, the prices aren't cheap."
Before Liya could finish, Erica had already called her maid to bring money.
Liya smiled brightly and quoted her the price, "One thousand Gios."
'These losses, one thousand Gios?'
In an ordinary person's eyes, that was already extremely expensive.
But Erica thought it was reasonable and signaled her maid to pay.
Just then, she heard Liya add casually, "One thousand Gios, per bottle."
"What?"
The maid froze mid-motion.
Even Erica thought she must have misheard.
Not just her, the surrounding bystanders were all dumbfounded.
'Is this a joke? One potion costs a thousand Gios?'
'What, is the stuff in your bottle made of gold?!'
The maid quickly did the math and hesitated, while Erica's face turned awkward.
That much money was basically her entire monthly allowance.
But she couldn't just spend money this unclearly.
Now she finally understood why Victor was so hated.
He was a total conman.
Before she could respond, Liya continued apologetically, "Although I'd love for you to compensate me, the master said each person can only buy two bottles a day, no more."
'There's even such a rule?'
This was the first time Erica had ever heard of someone limiting how many things you could buy, especially when you were trying to compensate them.
She thought for a moment. The "master" she mentioned was obviously Victor.
Still, the restriction made Erica curious.
'Could this potion really be something extraordinary?'
She picked up one of the few bottles that hadn't been broken and asked, "What does this do?"
Liya smiled at her and explained, "It restores mana."
Erica could hardly believe it.
She had never heard of any item that could restore mana.
She wanted to buy some to study, but the shattered mess around made her hesitate.
Soon, though, she firmed her resolve.
What's said is said, spilled water can't be taken back. Besides, Victor had taught her so much knowledge.
So what if she spent this money today? She could treat it as cutting ties with Victor once and for all!
She declared, "I am Professor Victor Clavenna's student. Since I saw his shop suffer damage with my own eyes, I cannot just ignore it."
"I'll compensate you at the potion's original cost plus the labor fee, but on one condition."
Hearing that, Liya raised an eyebrow.
"I want to buy all the remaining potions as well."
When it came to anything related to magic, Erica was always serious.
She planned to take them back and study them.
Liya glanced up at the shelves, only ten bottles remained unbroken.
Seeing that, she didn't bother with Victor's rule and nodded.
Victor had said before that he didn't fear anyone figuring out the potion's recipe, because no one but him could make it.
Liya believed it must involve some special kind of magic, and since he said so, she had no reason to worry about trade secrets.
"Since Miss Erica is so generous, I won't refuse."
"Then, including labor and material costs, each broken potion is three hundred Gios, and the remaining ones are full price."
Hearing that, Erica readily agreed.
"Deal."
Liya handed over the ten bottles to Erica's maid, took the compensation and payment with a smile, and watched Erica with admiration.
Spending tens of thousands of Gios just because she was Victor's student?
Who knows what that black-hearted man had done to bewitch this young lady so thoroughly.
After Erica left, Liya went back inside and brought out fifty more bottles of potion, still priced at one thousand Gios each.
The mages passing by almost fainted when they saw it.
'So, you did have more stock after all.'
———
[In a Narrow Alley]
The thugs who had smashed the shop were now sprawled across the ground, battered and half-dead.
Their bodies were covered in wounds, it was a gruesome sight.
"Who sent you?"
A masked figure in a cloak stood over them, only the upper half of her face visible, eyes a piercing green.
She held a wooden sword, pressing it against the tattooed leader's head.
He lay on the ground, all four limbs broken.
The pain was unbearable, he wanted to faint right there.
But the wooden sword hovering above his head made him scream out hoarsely in panic, "It... it was Duke Levi! Duke Levi!"
He blurted out the name of the mastermind behind it all, desperate to bargain for his life.
Thud!
The wooden sword swung down, and the tattooed man finally got his wish, passing out cold.
Then, the masked woman grabbed him by the leg and began dragging him away step by step, disappearing into the alley.
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