Lancelot left the old butler overseeing the work with a sour expression on his face while he yawned and stepped directly into the teleportation array to head home for some rest.

The night before, he had traveled back and forth through three regions for the pet store's business, constantly teleporting between locations.

The impact that the beast pets had on the professionals was even greater than Lancelot had anticipated. Both his teacher and his mother were desperate to examine Little Seven thoroughly.

As a result, Lancelot hadn’t slept a wink all night. Even as a seventh-level knight, he was feeling quite tired.

Laurent, on the other hand, found a piece of leaf paper and began listing the various live exotic beasts he needed.

Aside from the brain-feeding monkey, there were quite a few other exotic beasts missing from the other breeding routes he was exploring.

He listed them one by one, planning to hand the list to Lancelot later to see if he could help acquire any of them.

One week later, the pet store was officially completed.

Laurent personally hung the signboard engraved with “Blue Star Pet Store” above the entrance.

Looking at the wide facade of the shop, a strong sense of belonging welled up in his heart.

This was his first real enterprise since arriving in this world, and from today onward, his very own pet store was officially open for business.

The storefront, which faced the main road, was entirely open, and upon entering, one would see the ground to the right occupied by the softly glowing teleportation array.

Behind the teleportation array was the counter Laurent had designed himself. The waist-high wooden counter was adorned with a carving of a Liuli Flame Hound’s head. The best carpenter had sculpted it to appear lifelike.

At the center of the shop was a marble countertop, made to resemble the displays in mobile phone stores from Laurent’s previous life—perfectly suited for customers to examine items placed on the counter.

The countertop was currently sparse, holding only a 20-centimeter-high statuette of a Liuli Flame Hound.

This was specially made over the last few days by a mage from the Magic Council, thanks to Lancelot.

The figure seemed like a living Liuli Flame Hound, wagging its tail and scratching itself within the confines of the image.

Beside the figure was a stack of pamphlets providing information on the Liuli Flame Hounds. Laurent had modeled these after his own [Compendium], with the expensive, animated magical version kept for his personal use and the paper copies made for the pet store customers.

On the far left, Laurent placed an entire row of shelves where he arranged small bags of dog food for the Liuli Flame Hounds, all neatly packed in leaf paper.

Each bag was marked with a special magic seal that displayed the words “Blue Star Pet Store” and a faint outline of a Liuli Flame Hound's head, giving the packaging an exquisite look.

This magic seal served as an anti-counterfeit mark.

The idea wasn't Laurent’s original; magic-based anti-counterfeiting labels already existed, and any brand of moderate size would have such marks.

The world was strange in its extremes: while commoners’ lives hovered at a medieval level, the lives of professionals and nobles had reached a state of unimaginable advancement.

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Laurent had never thought there could be something akin to "intellectual property" in this world.

It wasn’t until Lancelot handed him a mysterious-looking “Beast Pet Knowledge Patent Certificate” that Laurent started to get a sense of what kind of world he was truly living in.

Behind the counter was the door to the backyard, which led to a weather-protected corridor.

The purple cedar-wood corridor, equipped with a roof, connected the back door of the pet store, the living area of the house, and the pet storage building.

The stream that flowed from outside the fence, a branch of the Holy Shield River, divided the entire yard into four pastures. The area directly in front of the pet store and the house consisted of two smaller pastures.

A small white gazebo with a round dome sat among them, with a few broad-leaved plants scattered around for decoration.

The Liuli Flame Hounds, who had already been transferred over, were frolicking freely across the yard.

The two-week-old Liuli Flame Hounds were no longer held back by the narrow one-meter-wide stream; these lively pups, full of energy, chased each other, leaping across the water as if discovering a brand-new game.

Following the path from the back door led to Laurent’s new home.

While the lack of glass meant that he couldn't have the beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows he’d imagined, the sturdy, aesthetically pleasing purple cedar walls and the magical lighting made up for much of the regret.

Ruth stood at the entrance, eyes wide with a mix of surprise and unease.

She had been born into a regular farming family and had never seen a house as beautiful as this in her life.

Having a home of her own to shelter from the elements was enough to satisfy Ruth.

Let alone the magic crystal-powered enchantments throughout the house and the gleaming teleportation array that, in her eyes, practically shone with gold.

The teleportation array, which she had always been reluctant to let her son use for trips to the Black Forest, now existed right in their home.

It was a scene she wouldn’t have dared to dream of.

Ruth stood at the door, too afraid to step inside, as if setting foot inside would shatter this beautiful dream.

Laurent couldn’t help but smile, gently pushing his mother forward from behind. “Mom, go in and take a look! See how our house is!”

Opening the door facing the courtyard revealed a spacious living room.

Ruth gingerly touched the fireplace, which was stacked with firewood, allowing her to imagine the warmth it would radiate when lit.

Several uniquely shaped armchairs sat beside the fireplace, stuffed full and looking very comfortable.

The soft leather sofa in the center, which Laurent had custom-made, wasn’t quite as cozy as a fabric sofa but was still a thousand times more comfortable than wooden benches.

Heading up the stairs led to a small terrace surrounded by four doors, each leading to a bedroom for Laurent, his family, and his partner, Lancelot.

Each bedroom came with its own private bathroom, and the clean, built-in marble bathtubs looked incredibly comfortable.

After sending his mother to explore her room, Laurent returned to the counter, activated the teleportation array, and prepared to open for business, leaning on the counter and waiting for customers to arrive.

Though he appeared to be daydreaming, Laurent was actually utilizing the "Breeding Simulation" feature of his Compendium to run various experiments.

Over the years, Laurent had only managed to stumble upon five viable breeding paths through sheer luck.

“Brother!” After who knew how long, Silaim’s voice, full of excitement, came from the entrance.

Laurent looked up to find Silaim and Simon, along with at least twenty well-equipped knights carrying a large number of cages, standing at the shop’s entrance.

“Silaim, what's all this?” Laurent stepped forward, staring in surprise at all the cages.

“Brother, our mission is complete, and Senior Lancelot sent us ahead to deliver this to you,” Silaim said proudly, pointing behind him. “Look, these are all the exotic beasts we caught with Senior during the mission!”

Laurent took a glance and saw that among the twenty or thirty cages were clawed wolves, brain-feeding monkeys, and wind-blade foxes—exotic beasts he’d specifically requested—as well as a few first- and second-level exotic beasts he’d only seen in the Compendium.

“Great, thank you all for your hard work. Come this way, and let’s put them in their proper places,” Laurent said, leading them through the courtyard gate by the side of the shop and directly to the vacant rooms in the exotic beast storage area.

Of the entire row of storage rooms, only a tenth was occupied by the current exotic beasts, leaving plenty of space.

Guiding the young knights to carry the cages into the storage rooms and sort them accordingly, the sights and sounds of the long, magically imbued storage area astonished everyone, including Silaim.

“Thank you all for your efforts, Silaim. Come and rest in the courtyard, and I'll get you something to drink,” Laurent said, watching the two apprentice knights close the door after stacking the final clawed wolf cage and turning to address the curious young knights.

All of the knights who had come to deliver the beasts were part of the team that had completed the mission with Lancelot, most of them either apprentice or level-one knights.

A week of shared life in the wilderness had long made them familiar with each other.

Those willing to help with this delivery were all on good terms with Silaim.

As they sat in the elegantly designed gazebo, everyone started giving Silaim curious looks.

“Silaim, what does your family do to be so wealthy?!” a female knight couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah, you’re usually so low-key, Silaim!”

Though the others didn’t speak, their eyes were full of curiosity, and even Simon couldn’t help but give his friend a once-over.

“Well... I don’t know either. You all know my family situation—Simon knows best. Both our families live in Academy-sponsored housing!”

Silaim shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling oddly out of place in the beautiful courtyard.

“But aren’t those lights on the ceiling all Illumination Magic? That’s not something an average person can get their hands on!” another classmate chimed in.

“Exactly! My father wanted to get something like that recently, and the Magic Council said there’s a waiting list until at least the year after next,” said a boy from the Green family, a viscount’s house. Talented and prominent at the Academy, he couldn’t help but feel a bit envious.

“But my brother is amazing! He rented this place, and he’s the one who bred all the pet beasts,” Silaim said proudly.

“Pet beasts? Oh, right, I saw that the shop sign says ‘Pet Store’ at the entrance,” the boy, Green, said with confusion. “What exactly are these pet beasts?”

He prided himself on being well-informed, but he had never heard of pet beasts before. What sort of pet beast could bring such wealth in such a short time?

“Here, look over there. I’ll call one over to show you.” Silaim glanced around, and seeing a Liuli Flame Hound in the distance, he called out, “Little Eight! Come here, Little Eight!”