Chapter 93 93: Swindling The Swindler

It was a normal day for Amelia and she had nothing much to do. Grandmaster was out today as well (as he often was these days) so Amelia could not even run into him and talk with him.

'Ugh, this is such an unfortunate time. Master Shinzou is out as well and Clair is too busy. Shimi does not get along with me and the new kid is too hyper for me to handle. I guess it is time for me to head out into the town.'

Amelia decided this and she hurriedly walked off outside the guild. She had finally gotten comfortable with not asking for permission to do everything.

She was still in awe of this capital and her impulse wanted Amelia to buy anything and everything she could to satisfy herself.

But she held herself back because she did not want to be a burden to the grandmaster and the guild. She wanted to prove that she was a useful asset to the guild.

'So, this time I will control my spending and not waste as much money as I previously did.'

That was Amelia's goal. But as soon as she entered the first shop and saw a shining handbag, all her intentions flew out of the window.

When she exited the shop, she had four bags and three pairs of shoes she did not need. And the guilt of it happening did not hit her until she was in her second shop.

But the same thing happened again anyway so there was not much to Amelia's feelings of guilt.

"Ugh, Clair is going to be so disappointed in me. I did not even bargain to get a better price for these things and I do not need them…but what if one of my bags got damaged? And I might need this bag. No, I did alright. It might come in handy."

Amelia tried to console herself as she entered another shop. This time, it was the potion shop so Amelia knew she could not back down.

She knew how costly these potions were and how much they were worth in the market. And she refused to pay anything more than necessary.

"Excuse me, how much is this?"

Amelia asked and the shopkeeper took one look at Amelia's arms full of bags and decided to swindle her out of her money.

Thankfully, Amelia was not going to fall for his tricks and she fought to get a better price than the man was offering.

It was also then that Amelia noticed the man out of the corner of her eyes. His black hair and blue eyes were dazzling but there was something about him that looked familiar to Amelia.

She could not quite put her hands on what she found familiar about this man but she was sure she had seen him before.

'Hmm, I need to get a better look at him if I want to figure out where I had seen him before.'

Amelia's attention dropped toward the man and he noticed Amelia's stare as well. Their gaze met and then the man did what any sane person would do when they were being stared at.

He hid behind a counter so that Amelia could no longer look at him.

"Hey man, tell me if you are going to buy this potion or not. I will not lower the price any longer."

The shopkeeper of the potion store was getting irritated now. He wanted this customer to stop bargaining and finally buy something from this stash so that he could finally get rid of her.

"Oh, this. I do not need it since it is the price is not worth the effect it gives. You will not be able to rip me off like this."

Amelia denied the potion which caused the shopkeeper to curse under his breath. But he held his temper in check and decided not to focus on Amelia.

She was just one of his customers and there were bigger fish to catch in the ocean. The shopkeeper decided to focus on the new customer who had walked into the shop.

Unlink the pink-haired girl, this man looked experienced but innocent at the same time. It gave the shopkeeper hope that he will be able to swindle this man out of his money easily.

"How may I help you, young sir? What kind of potion are you looking for? Whatever it is, I assure you that this shop will have it in stock."

The shopkeeper rubbed his greedy hands together as he welcomed Keith inside his shop.

Keith recognized the greedy look in that shopkeeper's eyes in an instant so he knew he was about to get ripped off.

He likely looked like an easy target to this man after Amelia.

'Just try me, you foolish man. You do not know the power of a modern-day man who needs to save money daily. You will not find someone with better bargaining tips than myself.'

Keith picked up a potion that looked halfway decent and the shopkeeper noticed that.

The shopkeeper could not help but be pleased as he watched the foolish customer pick up a faulty potion from his stock.

It seemed like he would be able to sell his unusable stock today and still make a killer profit.

"So, how much."

The customer asked as soon as he saw the shopkeeper and the shopkeeper happily announced "3 coins" to him.

Amelia walked over to the group as well and paid attention to the potion in Keith's hands.

"Hey, are you sure you want to pay for that thing? It's faulty and way past its expiry date you know."

Amelia pointed out and the shopkeeper hissed at her words.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ This woman was bad for his business and now she was even interfering with his other customers? He wanted to drive her out.

But he could not drive this woman out in front of how new big fish. All the shopkeeper could do was insist that nothing was wrong with this potion.

"O-Oh no, this is not spoilt in the least. You see, this is a new way of packing this potion. The green stuff you see in it is decorations. And since it's a new thing, I am even willing to give you a discount."

The shopkeeper quickly added before the rude female could do any more damage.

"You cannot be seriously thinking of buying this potion man. You are being ripped off."

Amelia warned Keith with a hard voice. She did not like it when people got ripped off by greedy people since she had often been a victim of the same in her youth.

The male customer was still not looking at Amelia and it made her feel bad for this man. Was he that intimidated by her presence? Should she back down?

Finally, the man looked back up again and sighed.

"I know this potion is spoilt and I also think there's a misunderstanding here. I was asking the shopkeeper how much he was willing to pay *me* to get this spoilt thing off his hand."

Both the shopkeeper and Amelia were dumbfounded at Keith's logic. They both looked at each other before looking away in disgust.

"C-Customer, what are you saying? Surely you cannot be asking me to pay for the products I am selling? How will I take care of my family if I did that."

The shopkeeper made his sob story known to Keith. This man looked like he had a soft heart and he would not push the shopkeeper more.

"I am a father of three children and I also have a sick wife. How can you ask me to pay for such a thing? Please customer, think of my family for a second and have mercy."

The shopkeeper continued his bad acting, not realizing that he had been caught a long time ago by these two.

"Oh, so your family is important to you? I wonder what would happen to you if I fall sick and died on a mission because of your faulty potion? I will be sure to speak everything about your family in my will. And now we even have a witness from the guild, right?"

Amelia was startled when she came up in the conversation. She was about to ask how the man knew she was from the guild when she remembered that she had the pendent of the guild on.

The shopkeeper paled as soon as he heard that the female customer he had tried to swindle was from the guild.

"I-I apologize. Ah, looks like my old age is catching up with me and I cannot even see a spoilt potion. Now, why don't I treat you both for this misunderstanding? You can pick up any one poster from this shop free of cost."

It hurt the shopkeeper to speak such words but he needed to keep his business going. He did not know what these two could do but he wanted no beef with the guild at least.