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“Have you heard?”
“About what?”
“The entirety of [Sword Clan] became fugitives!”
“What? Isn’t [Sword Clan] the royal family’s guardian clan? Why would they become fugitives? It must be fake news, right?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, their bounty posters practically occupied all space on the notice board. How could it be fake news? If you don’t believe me, see it for yourself.”
“Hiss! What terrible and heretical thing did they actually do? So much so that the entire clan is wanted?”
“Treason. I heard they colluded with foreign powers and made plots to harm the royalty or something like that.”

“Is this for real?”
“I don’t know, I also heard it from someone else. But it’s true that they committed treason. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be wanted dead or alive by the entire Empire!”
“This clan has existed since the founding of the Empire but ended up like this. What a shame.”
“Huhu. I heard people in the inner-district say that their residence was reduced to a pile of rubble not long ago!”

Along the way, Yaeger learned a lot of latest news about [Sword Clan].

‘What a quick reaction. I suppose the d̲a̲m̲n̲e̲d̲ Emperor isn’t as incompetent as I expected.’ She couldn’t help but be impressed by Richard. Just a tiny bit.

“Lowly slave, you finally decided to come back. I’ve been waiting for a long time!” The moment she returned to Layna’s Item Shop, she heard a familiar voice. Looking over, as expected, it was Kastina. At this moment, Kastina was crossing her arms. She was joyous the moment she saw Yaeger but instantly soured her expression—changing her emotions instantaneously.

“Thank you for the hard work.” Yaeger smiled. She was already used to seeing such behavior from someone who masked their emotions due to pride.

“Hmph. I’ve naturally worked hard!” Kastina pouted and glanced at Yaeger’s face. ‘So beautiful, so smooth. I want to lick it!’

“Where’s Yunuen?” Yaeger was already used to people ******* after her beauty.

“I see, that’s the servant’s name. I’ll remember it. She’s refining medicine inside there.”

Kastina spoke with a sour expression. If Yaeger didn’t personally ask for her help, she wouldn’t have stayed in this Item Shop since she couldn’t endure the stench of herbs.

“What a devoted worker.” Yaeger nodded in satisfaction.
“No. I saw her being dragged inside by the shop owner.” Kastina said.
“Layna’s so terrible.” Yaeger spoke with an indifferent expression.
“Let’s not talk about this first. Lowly slave, we’ve made a lot of money this time!” Kastina was a lot more interested about the money than Yunuen.
“How much?” Upon mentioning money, Yaeger’s eyes lit up as well.

As she used to be impoverished, just like Kastina, she was very interested in money as well.

“One hundred and eighty million.”

Yaeger’s mind went blank after hearing this sum. “Why is there so much?”

According to her predictions, they would earn just about 100 million.

“Hehe, all thanks to the ‘big fish’ that you talked about…” Kastina smugly recounted what had happened in the gambling stall. Yaeger couldn’t help but laugh after hearing it. Kastina’s heart skipped a beat as a response.

“Taurus Zhang is such a nice person.” He had to be one since he had earned her an extra 80 million.

“Lowly slave, how do you plan to split the money?”

Kastina’s eyes twinkled, then she immediately remembered something and explained herself, “Wait a minute, I’m not a greedy person… I… I’m your partner! So, you must distribute the profits fairly!”

“It’s not time to split the money yet. If we invest it into the market to monopolize resources and selling prices, we’ll make even more money. Isn’t that better?” Yaeger said.

Due to her current predicament, she wasn’t the best person to do these things. Firstly, she was receiving pressure from the Emperor. Secondly, she had no time to spare. Hence, letting Kastina handle it on her behalf was the best decision.

Yaeger didn’t believe that the Emperor would resort to targeting his own daughter in order to suppress her. Even though the ruler of any country was known to be cruel, she knew that it would be too much if he resorted to such extreme measures.

“That’s a good idea! Lowly slave, which resource do you think will make us the most money if we monopolize it?” Kastina said excitedly.

She wasn’t too interested in running a business. However, she was always happy to snatch more money from people. The two of them sat down and had a discussion before deciding to target the outsiders—also known as players—by purchasing all the rare basic components.

Now that the players were all low-leveled, they needed astronomical amounts of basic components. If they could monopolize this part of the market, then they would be in control of the players’ wallets.

Since she had less money back then, Yaeger could only earn money by selling potions and equipment. Naturally, she decided to do bigger things since she had enough money now.

However, she knew not to involve herself with the common goods that might influence the native residents’ way of life. After all, the consequences would be severe if they failed. Moreover, it would definitely attract the Emperor’s attention. All in all, it was a bad idea.

Once the plan was finalized, Kastina left with joy. She was ready and eager to display her might.

“One hundred and eighty million… I scammed the players too much this time. It’ll definitely affect the sales of my potions. I must find a way to stimulate their desire to spend money.”

While whispering, Yaeger opened the forums to check out the trending posts. Immediately, she saw the video of Wild Arrogance being whipped by everyone.

She felt complex emotions after understanding why it happened.

“Oh Taurus Zhang, you’re really the perfect scapegoat this time. Come to think of it, these players seem to hate me very much.”

So far, there were numerous anonymous posts on the forum and they were all related to Yaeger. Curses, criticisms, accusations, mockery—everything was there.

After browsing for a while, Yaeger noticed many posts that talked about lynching her.
Like this one:

«Black-hearted Princess has committed unforgivable sins and terrorized the people. Us players are also dissatisfied with her. It’ll never be enough unless we kill her until she loses all her levels!»

There were a lot of replies under the post. However, most of them were posted by anonymous users.

“Aren’t they just lamenting?” Yaeger shook her head and paid no mind to these keyboard warriors.

Compared to this, she was more concerned about the players that were targeting [Princess Alliance].　

These people had an objective and had made plans. They were definitely threatening.

“Nangong and the rest aren’t in Jade City, so I don’t need to be worried about them.”

Among [Princess Alliance], only Yunuen and her were currently present in Jade City. If those players wanted to do something, Yunuen was undoubtedly their best target.

“Hehe. I hope I won’t traumatize you all when that happens.” Yaeger came back in a hurry because she wanted to resolve Yunuen’s affairs.

She was ready to execute the ‘Priest-Strengthening Program 2.0’!

“Yunuen.” After closing the store entrance, Yaeger knocked on the workshop’s door, “Come out for a bit. I need to talk to you about something.”

“[Princess]!” As if she had heard an angelic choir, Yunuen’s fatigued body was revitalized once she heard Yaeger’s voice. She instantly ran to the door and opened it.

“[Princess], save me!” The moment she opened the door and called for help, a black shadow pounced over and grappled her, pulling her back inside.

“Yunuen, you need to refine another hundred bottles before you can rest.” That shadow said.

“Master, [Princess] needs to talk to me about something! Ah, Master, where are you touching me?” Suddenly, Yunuen let out an adorable shout.

“Your belly button.”
“That’s what I’m asking! Why are you touching my belly button?”
“Enough, stop fighting. Layna, I need to borrow Yunuen for a bit.” Yaeger chuckled after seeing them interact.
“Just for a bit.” Layna let go reluctantly.
“[Princess]!” Hearing that, Yunuen felt the urge to cry. She was only allowed to leave for a bit!

‘Bad master! Terrible master! Indeed, [Princess] is the best!’

She ran over immediately. If possible, she really wanted to jump into Yaeger’s embrace right there.

“Yunuen, extend your head. I’m going to give you a super buff.”

Yet, Yunuen felt chills down the spine when she saw Yaeger saying those words while smirking. She instantly felt a bad premonition.

“Come here.” Yaeger extended her hand and stretched out her fingers. Her actions made it seem like she would really press her hand on Yunuen’s head.

“P… [Princess], I still have lots of medicine to refine. I’ll be leaving!”

Instead of being brave, it would be plain foolish if she approached despite sensing danger. Hence, Yunuen decisively ran away. Unfortunately, it was impossible for her to escape Yaeger due to her short legs.

Yaeger managed to grab her with a pounce and then dragged her away with a smirk.

“Master, save me!”

Layna could only shrug and express her helplessness in response to her cute disciple’s cry for help. No, she even followed them eagerly. She wanted to see what Yaeger would do to Yunuen.

The three of them went to a nice and tidy guest room.

“[Princess], I don’t want any buffs. I just want to refine medicine… No, I want to be immersed in the world of alchemy and lose myself in it!”

Layna was moved after hearing those words. ‘As expected of my disciple. You’re going to surpass your predecessors!’

With that, she decided to give some more unrefined medicine to Yunuen to work on.

‘Yunuen will definitely cry tears of joy by then~ Hehe, I’m such a considerate Master.’

“I’m glad to hear that you are so passionate about your Sub-Job as an alchemist.” Yaeger was a little touched as well.

She didn’t expect Yunuen to be actually so passionate about refining medicine. In that case, she decided to increase her number of orders.

“I… I’m going back to refining medicine now!” Yunuen felt chills down the spine after seeing their heated gazes.

“Refining medicine might be good, but you can’t be greedy. You must take the appropriate rest and relaxation in order to persist in your work.”

Yaeger grabbed Yunuen, who attempted to escape, with a fake smile on her face. “Come, open your mouth. I’m going to buff you. It’s permanent.”

Ignoring Yunuen’s resistance, Yaeger stuffed the thick and black… No, she stuffed the Black Dragon’s Bloodline Gem inside her mouth. The gem instantly melted and was absorbed into her body within an instant.

Immediately after, Yunuen’s eyes were wide open and her pupils shrank to the extreme as her body trembled wildly. Then, powerful energy surged within and enveloped her entire body! Moreover, she realized that her body was now much lighter than before, so much so that she would probably fly if she hopped gently!

Feeling the unusual change in her body, Yunuen was stunned at first before being overwhelmed with joy. She finally realized what Yaeger meant when she mentioned the ‘permanent buff’.

Bloodline! Her Bloodline was strengthened by [Princess]!

“[Princess]… Sob sob sob!” At this moment, Yunuen was incredibly moved and countless tears poured out of her eyes.

As a response, Yaeger stretched out her hands and gently wiped off those droplets of tears with her slender white fingers.

“Didn’t I tell you before? As long as you stay in our guild, you’ll get both money and power.”

Yaeger continued speaking while caressing her small head. “Be a good girl. Don’t cry. I have another treasure for you.”