Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop, second-floor lounge.
"Your Highness Ron, I'll be taking my leave now."
"Mm, take care."
Ron rose from the sofa, watching as the assistant from the Magic Academy exited the shop. With a sigh, he flicked the contract in his hand with mild frustration.
The assistant had been sent by a professor to sign a contract with the flower shop for 100 Scalevine plants per month.
That number might look decent at first glance, but compared to the main quest's requirement of 5,000 Scalevine units, it was a drop in the bucket.
A few days earlier, this assistant had purchased 50 Scalevines to run tests. The results? The plant's defensive performance wasn't quite what they'd hoped for.
Or more accurately, not up to the high expectations set by the shop's growing reputation.
After three days of blood bonding and mana infusion, they had successfully established ownership over the Scalevine specimens.
On its own, a Scalevine could withstand basic-level magic attacks.
With the mana boost from a low-rank mage, it could barely hold up against Tier-3 magic.
And if powered by a mid-rank mage, the best it could do was block Tier-5 spells—and even then, the mage would still suffer some damage.
All in all, the defense was decent—but hardly revolutionary compared to other methods.
Worse still, using the Scalevine consumed a ton of mana.
To block a single Tier-5 spell, a mid-rank mage would need to burn at least half of their mana reserves.
Afterward, they'd have to infuse even more mana into the Scalevine just to keep it alive—otherwise, the plant could wither and die.
From the academy's point of view, Scalevine was alright in terms of cost-effectiveness… but nothing extraordinary.
So, the contract was finalized at a modest 100 units per month—and that was only because one professor found the magic-reactive defense mechanism of the Scalevine intriguing enough to warrant further study.
Compared to the Nether Orchid, the Scalevine clearly lacked appeal among magic academy circles.
Ron wasn't overly concerned about how long the main quest might take—what puzzled him was why the system would assign a plant with such mediocre performance in the first place.
After all, the system's plants were usually highly specialized and top-tier in their field.
So why was Scalevine… kinda underwhelming?
He couldn't figure it out.
The Radiant Mercenary Corps had also sent someone to report their findings.
Apparently, Battle Aura didn't power up the Scalevine nearly as well as magic did.
Whereas a mid-rank mage could use half their mana to block a Tier-5 spell, a mid-rank warrior—even burning through all of their Battle Aura—couldn't fully block that same spell with the plant.
To the mercenaries, the cost-benefit ratio was even worse.
Even though Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum was priced at 30 gold per plant, it could be brewed into tea and shared among dozens of warriors.
Meanwhile, the 5-gold Scalevine could only be used by one person. And once bonded, it couldn't be transferred.
That severely limited its value.
[System prompt: "Daily quest triggered."]
[Daily Quest: Increase Flower Shop Sales]
["Current status: Sales of Nether Orchid and Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum have stabilized. Scalevine sales have hit a bottleneck. Please investigate and resolve the issue. Goal: Double the flower shop's total revenue."]
Reward: [Puppet Tree] and cultivation method
Ron read the quest without much surprise.
As always, the system's goal was to get him to make more money, which in turn would burn through more of his wealth points. Classic pay-to-win behavior.
What did catch his attention was the reward—Puppet Tree?
Would this tree grow little dolls as fruit?
He shook his head, stuffed the contract into the drawer, and put the matter aside for now.
There was no rush on Scalevine. He'd wait for Harper's research results before making his next move.
Right now, he had more pressing things to do.
It was almost the end of October.
The Harvest Goddess's ceremonial delegation had arrived in Chaos City just yesterday.
Today, Ron planned to visit the temple to check in and ask about any preparations required.
As for the Elemental Card production, that would have to wait until he officially became the Goddess's Proxy, at which point he could recruit the sisters from the convent to help.
For now, all the groundwork—land acquisition, factory setup, riverside convent construction, coordination with Kiel—had already been delegated to Guy.
Ron wasn't good at handling such things anyway, so it was best left in capable hands.
Noon.
Ron cooked lunch himself.
Nora ate quietly while sneaking glances at her boss.
Even though she had been working with him for over a month, she still felt like she was living in a dream.
At first, she thought he was just some illegitimate noble's son trying to make a living with a flower shop.
Then she found out he was actually the Seventh Prince of the Human Empire.
And before she even had time to fully process that, he became the Chosen One of the Goddess of Harvest.
Now, the ceremonial delegation from the royal capital had arrived in Chaos City, preparing the Divine Ritual at the temple.
Her boss was about to become the star of the ceremony, formally assuming the title of the Goddess's Proxy.
Every time she thought about it, Nora felt dizzy.
Especially since Ron didn't carry himself with any royal pride or divine authority.
He treated her—his little employee—with kindness and humility, never once acting high and mighty.
Her cat ears twitched instinctively, and she suddenly felt a sense of... incredible luck.
Meanwhile, Ron was eating and mentally reviewing his recent tasks. He suddenly recalled the system's new quest and, after a brief pause, spoke:
"By the way… for the upcoming ritual, why don't you come with me?"
"Eh?!"
Nora had still been lost in thought when his words startled her to the core.
"You don't want to?" Ron asked with a raised brow.
"N-No, it's not that…" she waved her hands nervously. "But someone needs to watch the shop. I'll stay here."
"Just close up the shop for the day," Ron said with a smile. "Besides, I need your help with something during the ritual."
"Huh? I can help?" Nora blinked, clearly curious now.
"Mm... not sure yet," Ron admitted. "I'll swing by the temple this afternoon and ask. I'll tell you more once I find out."
"Oh…" Nora mumbled, then hesitantly asked, "Boss… once you become the Goddess's Proxy, will you… get really busy?"
"Hm? What makes you think that?" Ron looked puzzled.
"Being the Proxy… doesn't that mean you'll be in charge of all the convents? Won't you have to visit them all regularly?"
"Probably not," Ron shrugged. "The position's been vacant for a while, and the convents have still run just fine. I doubt they need me for daily stuff."
"Oh, I see…" Nora lowered her head and took a bite, doing her best to hide the little smile on her face.
After lunch, she cheerfully ran off to wash the dishes.
Ron rested for a while before setting off toward the Harvest Goddess's temple.