Close Combat Mage
chapter-83

Chapter 83 – The Relationship Between Friends Pt. 1

For the remaining few days, Suo Jia focused on cultivating the Ice and Snow Pact. Under the protection of the blue glove, Suo Jia was able to cultivate for longer periods of time and gain even better results. Although it had only been a couple days’ worth of time, the results obtained were not easily achievable within a week using his previous training method.

Finally, the travel worn fire wind warriors finally arrived home. Although the expressions on their faces were awfully exhausted, their eyes glowed even more brightly. Suo Jia knew that on this trip, the girls ate quite a few Snow Lotus fruits. Otherwise, there was no way they could have improved so much!

These girls were directly welcomed into the underwater training area, and right when they entered, one of the girls excitedly said, “Mr. Suo Jia, this time we made quite the harvest!” While speaking, all of the girls placed their packages on the floor.

Looking at each of the abnormally large packages, Suo Jia could not help but secretly admire them. These packages were about twice the size of their normal packages! The contents would most likely also be double of what they used to be; it seemed like… in order to earn more money, these girls really risked a lot!

While thinking, that girl continued, “For the sake of delivering a bit more this time, we increased the package weight by 25kg. We really made a fortune this time, haha…”

Looking at the girls who had tired faces yet unusually excited spirits, Suo Jia sorrowfully said, “You girls, seriously. Why did you girls do so much? Although you girls need to cultivate, there’s still no need to go too far.”

“Hehe…” Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the girls embarrassingly smiled, and began to explain. “We also originally did not decide to return with so much, however there were too many Snow Lotus fruits. We accidentally picked too much, but didn’t want to waste any so…”

Looking at the group of silly girls, Suo Jia helplessly shook his head. How could there be too many Snow Lotus fruits? The main reason was that these Snow Lotus fruits were too precious and uprooting them did not take too much work. This was the reason why the girls picked up too many.

As a matter of fact, gathering the Snow Lotus fruits was not too difficult, the main thing was that the location was simply too dangerous. In addition, there were magical beasts defending the area. If these conditions could be cleared, then besides the factor of time, you could pick as much as you wanted to.

Right when Suo Jia was pondering over this, the girls excitedly said, “Mr. Suo Jia, this time we returned with a total of 900kg. This should sell for a lot of money right?”

“This…” Hesitantly looking at the girls in front of him, Suo Jia knew that during these past two months, other than the two weeks leaving and returning, they picked for nearly half a month. How could things earned with such difficulty not be worth a lot of money?

The only thing was that these girls were simply asking for too much. Since they came back with approximately a ton of the Snow Lotus fruit, this was simply too f*cking outrageous! Others sold the Snow Lotus fruit in ounces, but they really did it this time, they were now talking in terms of a ton!

Faced with so many Snow Lotus fruits, Suo Jia was put in a difficult situation. The rarer it was, the greater its value. Now that they came back with so much this time, how was he supposed to sell this? While he was helplessly considering this, Suo Jia could only send someone to find Eldest Sister and see if she had some solution.

Soon after, Eldest Sister rushed here. Seeing the 36 packages of Snow Lotus fruits, Eldest Sister also helplessly smiled bitterly. This was completely different from the lychee which everyone could eat as if they were just another fruit. This was something sold in ounces, and a single ounce was something that was worth 10,000 gold. In addition, this was something without a market price. Now that there was a ton at their disposal, how would one sell it?

Thinking over this for quite a while with furrowing her brows, Eldest Sister said, “There’s no way around it. Just by relying on the White Villa, there’s no way we can get rid of all these high quality goods. We must think of other ways.”

After pondering for quite a while, Eldest Sister’s eyes suddenly lit up and excitedly said, “Young Master, how about we remove a small section of the perimeter wall that is facing the street, and set up a highest grade shop?”

“En?” Furrowing his brows in confusion, Suo Jia was puzzled, and questioned Eldest Sister. “I did not really understand what you just said. Can you be a bit more specific?”

“En…” After pondering for a while, Eldest Sister confidently said, “Let’s open up a professional store, one that especially sells food and medicine that are good for cultivation. This way, there is no need for reception, and we could also quickly sell the items that these girls deliver back. We can kill two birds with one stone!

Speaking until here, Eldest Sister smiled and continued, “The location of our White Villa is very good; it’s near the main street. There are too many places that don’t fully exploit their geographical advantages, which is too unfortunate. This is Holy Light City’s liveliest area. No matter what kind of shop is opened, it will always have a stable income.”

“Of course it’s possible, but what about these Snow Lotus fruits? They can’t wait for the day it takes to construct a shop!” Suo Jia frowned at Eldest Sister’s words.

At this, Eldest Sister also knit her brows. These Snow Lotus fruits could at most be preserved for a weekend. However, even if the shop was set up within a week, there was no time to advertise it.

It was impossible for the White Villa itself to get rid of the fruits; if they were sold by 0.5kg, there were 900 kg worth of fruits. Even if the customers were extremely wealthy and could eat a lot, if each person ate 0.5kg, they’d still need 1800 customers. This was an impossible feat.

After contemplating for a long time, Eldest Sister helplessly said, “I also cannot think of any better idea. For the sake of urgency, if you don’t want to see those Snow Lotus fruits go to waste, you can only go to Emma and see if she has any ideas.”

Eldest Sister smiled and shook her head as she persuaded, “You are always too afraid to owe others, and refuse to ask favors from people. If you do so, then others won’t ask you for favors either, and your relationships will stay distant. How could that even be considered a relationship at that point? Relationships are built through communication. Owing people things is not anything scary; as long as you return them, it’s fine.”

Eldest Sister paused for a bit then continued, “Everyone says that walking down a path with more friends is always better. If you need any help, then you can just get aid from your friends, as long as you also offer to help when they are in need. With exchanges like these, everyone becomes more intimate with each other.”

Conflicted, Suo Jia scratched his head as he bitterly smiled, “I know, you always have reasons; I can’t argue against you. Either way, the Snow Lotus fruits were already shipped here, so there’s no way I can just watch them waste away. Otherwise, it’d really be a shame. Putting aside the rarity of the Snow Lotus fruits, this was gained from everyone risking their lives on an expenditure. They went through a lot to bring it all back. No matter what, even if I have to sacrifice face, I still need to go and request for help!”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, Eldest Sister didn’t react. She was pleased at Suo Jia’s maturity, however the group of fire wind warriors that had a deep mutual understanding with Suo Jia, were far more touched by his actions.

The fire wind warriors understood Suo Jia too well. They were afraid of other people owing them, and also didn’t want to owe others either. Back when they had begged for Suo Jia to help them, they had to spend a lot of effort into doing so. In reality, if he had a choice, Suo Jia would definitely not ask for help. However, for the sake of making sure the girls’ efforts to ship the fruits weren’t in vain, he had no choice but to request for aid right now.

While all the girls were silently moved by this, Eldest Sister laughed, “Oh Suo Jia, Emma just happens to be at the White Villa. She wants to meet with you. When you see her later, you can tell her about this situation at the same time.”

Eldest Sister paused slightly here, then smiled and said, “You don’t have to look that needy. This doesn’t really count as asking for a favor; a merchandise so high in demand like this will definitely benefit Emma’s family too. Everyone would just be working together. You can be bold and forceful when you speak to her; even if it doesn’t work, it’s not too big of a deal. We can come up with our own ideas to resolve this issue. It’s just that we would definitely suffer from losses in terms of costs that way.”

Quietly standing up, Suo Jia sighed deeply as he said, “Alright, you should lead these girls to go rest. I’ll go meet Emma right now. I believe that as long as I bring it up, she will definitely agree to help.” Suo Jia resolutely turned around, and walked out of the door.

“Brother Suo Jia, Emma’s here!” A few minutes later, as soon as Suo Jia had entered the White Villa, he heard Emma’s upbeat voice ring out.

Looking towards the direction where the sound came from, he saw Emma sitting on a tall stool, as she waved at him with a happy expression. Seeing the innocent and adorable Emma, Suo Jia organized his thoughts, and slowly walked towards her.

Emma sat in the corner of the Villa. On the table in front of her was a large plate of fruit. Although this girl had successfully lost weight, by relying on Suo Jia, she hadn’t dieted at all. Just as before, she continued to eat heartily, and her mouth was never empty.

She casually reached out her hand to stuff a grape into her mouth, and her eyes closed in contentment. Her small fists were tightly gripped together, giving Emma an adorable appearance that people could not help but smile at. After a while, Emma opened her eyes, and sincerely said to Suo Jia, “I have to tell you, Emma recently got fatter again. You’ll need to help treat Emma again.”

Emma’s appearance had changed, as well as her personality. The most important part was that even the way she spoke had become childish, making it impossible for people to refuse any of her requests.

Suo Jia smiled and nodded, before he replied calmly, “That’s not a problem. Since I’ve already made a promise with you, I’ll definitely be willing to help treat you at any moment of time. However….before I begin working, I need to talk to you about something.”