The burly men outside raised their weapons and started smashing Lia's shop indiscriminately.

Even the magic potions displayed at the entrance weren't spared.

Everything was smashed to pieces.

The azure potion flowed onto the ground, filling the air with the scent of money.

Lia watched their violent actions impassively, appearing remarkably calm.

"Miss Lia, shouldn't we stop them yet...?"

The voice behind her grew anxious. She knew the value of those potions; even breaking one bottle was a significant loss.

Lia sat calmly in her chair, watching the thugs continue their rampage with composure.

"It's fine. Let them smash."

"The more they break, the more they'll have to compensate."

Of course, Lia was well aware.

These people were likely just a bunch of ruffians sent by someone else. How could they possibly compensate?

Feeling that enough time had passed, she touched the Mage's Hand on her right hand and was about to stand up and go outside.

"What are you doing?!"

A voice of rebuke came from outside.

Lia was slightly startled. Someone intervening?

She stood inside, looking out.

A golden-haired young lady exuding noble aura stood by a carriage, angrily scolding the tattooed thugs.

Who was that?

Lia raised her head, carefully examining the familiar face of the blonde girl, and already had an answer in her heart.

The Duke's daughter?

Why was she here? Just passing by?

Or... was it intentional?

The Duke's daughter, Erica, had been renowned for her exceptional talent since childhood, and her reputation remained illustrious to this day.

Some believed her future achievements would surely surpass those of the once-genius Viktor.

Including last time, if Viktor had flirted with a girl from any other family, it wouldn't have been worth making the news headlines.

But Erica's public influence was simply too great.

Lia thought to herself:

I'm afraid her appearance here, showing kindness, will spark another wave of news hype.

......

In reality, Erica hadn't thought too much about it.

Although it was a day off, after Viktor left, she didn't have much interest in studying at the academy.

Because apart from Viktor—the level of other teachers was really too poor, even worse than her own.

Taking advantage of today's break, she decided to give herself a day off, go shopping, and relax a bit.

It was also a way to ease her mind.

As a result, she overheard the servants at home chatting privately about the Kravina family opening a prop shop in the eastern part of the capital.

Kravina, that was Viktor's surname, of course she remembered.

However, the eastern district...

Erica was very interested, but the shop was in the eastern district, quite far from where she was.

She lived in the central district, which was full of nobles like Erica.

The capital was so large that she couldn't even explore the entire central district in a day.

But she still decided to go and have a look.

What would a shop owned by Professor Viktor's family sell?

After spending half an hour riding in a carriage to get there, she saw a group of people causing trouble in front of the prop shop.

The Kravina family crest hung above the shop, confirming it was indeed Viktor's property.

The scale wasn't very large; compared to other bustling shops, this alone was enough to lose quite a few points.

But she wasn't here to score it. Seeing people smashing the shop, Erica instinctively became angry.

"What are you doing?"

Her shout rang out as she got off the carriage, looking like a young lady surrounded by stars.

Many passersby saw her figure and couldn't help but exclaim.

"It's Erica du Cloye!"

Simply put, there was no one who didn't recognize this beautiful and kind-hearted young lady.

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She would always send food and coins to help the poor and needy through difficult times, and she wouldn't back down when facing villains.

"It's the Duke's young lady! Run!"

The leader of the thugs, seeing Erica, shouted to the others around him, and they hurriedly left, seemingly "frightened."

Lia gave a look to the shop assistant behind her, and immediately, she felt a gust of wind pass by her back.

When she looked back, there was no one there.

After doing this, she finally put on a smiling face and went out to greet Erica.

"Miss Erica, thank you for your help!"

"As a weak woman, I was really scared when this happened. If you hadn't come, I really wouldn't have known what to do."

While listening to Lia's tearful account, Erica was sizing her up.

The woman before her was very beautiful.

Tall and slender, with features that could be described as exquisitely perfect.

Especially those mature charms about her made even this underage girl feel a bit inadequate in comparison.

She was about to say it was nothing to thank her for, but as her gaze moved downward, it suddenly paused, lingering on Lia's hand.

Was that Viktor's glove?

Erica clearly remembered seeing it on the first day Viktor arrived.

Because it had many magic stones, she had particularly noticed this kind of glove on Viktor's hand for the first time, and hadn't seen it since.

This glove appeared on this woman's hand?

Erica couldn't be certain it was the same pair, after all, their hand sizes were completely different.

"So, is she Professor Viktor's family member?" she thought.

Thinking of this, Erica felt a bit sorry for the woman before her.

Those people must have come seeking trouble because of Viktor's bad reputation, but the consequences had to be borne by the girl in front of her.

Looking at the shattered pieces on the ground and the spilled potions, she thought for a moment and decided to compensate the woman before her to soothe her emotions.

"I'm very sorry that such a thing happened here in the capital. I will compensate you for all your losses today in the name of du Cloye."

"Please tally up the losses of these props, and if there are any left, I will buy them all."

"Oh my?"

Hearing Erica's generous offer, Lia cupped her chest with one hand and touched her face with the other, smiling.

The du Cloye's ingrained ability to win people over, as expected of the Duke's daughter.

Although, she was only seventeen.

"Miss Erica, let me confirm, do you really want to compensate for my losses?"

"You should know, the price is not cheap."

Before Lia could respond, Erica had already called over her accompanying maid, ready to pay.

Lia smiled and quoted the price:

"One thousand geos."

These losses, one thousand geos?

In the eyes of ordinary people, this was already a very expensive price.

But Erica thought it was reasonable and signaled her maid to take out the money.

However, she then heard the other party add a sentence.

"One thousand geos, per bottle."

"What?"

The maid's hand paused slightly as she was taking out the money.

Even Erica felt like she had misheard.

Not just Erica, even the passersby felt it was bizarre.

What kind of joke was this, selling a potion for one thousand geos?

Is the water in your bottles made of gold or something?

The maid calculated the price and was slightly stunned. Erica also showed a difficult expression at this point.

This amount of money was just about a month's pocket money for Erica.

But money shouldn't be spent so carelessly.

Now she understood a bit why Viktor was so resented.

He was completely a profiteer!

Before she could respond, Lia added with some difficulty: "Although I'd like you to compensate, the head of the family said that one person can only buy two bottles per day, no more."

There's even such a rule?

It was the first time Erica had heard of limiting sales like this.

Especially when trying to compensate, the other party actually didn't want to take more.

She thought for a moment, realizing that the "head of the family" the other party mentioned was obviously Viktor.

However, being able to purchase only two bottles made Erica very interested.

Could this thing really have some miraculous effect?

So, she picked up a bottle of potion that was still undamaged and asked Lia:

"What effect does this have?"

Lia looked at her and smiled, explaining:

"It's used to restore magical power."

Erica could hardly believe it.

She had never heard of such an item that could restore magical power.

She wanted to buy a few to take back for research, but the shattered pieces on the ground made her hesitate.

However, Erica quickly firmed up her resolve.

Words spoken and water spilled can't be taken back, and besides, Viktor had taught her so much knowledge.

What if she spent this money on compensation today? It would just be settling accounts with Viktor!

So, she said directly.

"I am a student of Professor Viktor Kravina, and since I've witnessed his shop suffering losses, I can't just ignore it."

"I will compensate based on the cost of the potions plus the labor cost for making them, but on one condition."

Lia raised an eyebrow upon hearing Erica's words.

"I want to buy all the remaining potions as well."

She cared more about things related to magic than anyone else.

So, she planned to take them back for research.

Hearing this, Lia looked back at the remaining goods on the shelves.

There were only ten bottles left intact.

Seeing this, she didn't care about those rules Viktor had mentioned and nodded.

Viktor had said he wasn't afraid of anyone figuring out the potion's ingredients because no one but him could make it.

Lia believed this was some special magic that could only be made by him, and since the other party had said so, she naturally wouldn't worry about any business secrets being revealed.

"Since Miss Erica is so generous, I won't refuse."

"So, including labor and cost price, each broken potion will be three hundred geos, and the remaining ones will still be at the original price."

Hearing this, Erica readily agreed.

"Deal."

Lia handed the ten bottles of potion to Erica's maid and reached out to receive the compensation money and the regular payment for the potions from the maid.

Looking at Erica before her, Lia marveled, spending thousands so freely, just because she was Viktor's student?

She wondered what kind of love potion that black-hearted fellow, who would cut open his own chest, had given this young lady.

After Erica left, Lia took out another fifty bottles of potion from the shop, still priced at one thousand geos each, and continued selling.

The mages passing by saw her take out fifty more bottles, and half of them nearly fainted.

So you still had stock.

......

In a small alley.

The thugs who had earlier smashed the shop were sprawled in corners, half-dead.

Their bodies showed various wounds, presenting an extremely gruesome scene.

"Who ordered you to do this?"

A masked person in a cloak, only revealing the upper half of their face and emerald green eyes.

She held a wooden sword, pointing it at the head of the lead tattooed thug.

He lay on the ground, all four limbs broken.

The pain made him wish he could pass out on the spot.

But the wooden sword hanging over his head still made him panic and cry out hoarsely.

"It's... it's Duke Levi! It's Duke Levi!"

He hastily reported the mastermind, hoping to gain a glimmer of hope for survival from the masked person.

Bang!

The wooden sword came down, and the tattooed thug finally got his wish and passed out.

Then, she grabbed this person's foot and, step by step, dragged him out of the alley.