novelzi Chapter 366 – Tarrif!?
Chapter 366 – Tarrif!?
Vanessa and Medea had to get up on their toes just to catch a glimpse of Alex, who was trapped in the middle of the crowd, answering questions and packaging orders at a dizzying pace.The moment he spotted them, Alex’s eyes lit up. He waved frantically like someone who had just seen a rescue party. “Vanessa! Mavis! Get over here!”
The two girls looked at each other, confused but curious, and began squeezing their way through the crowd to his side.
As soon as they reached him, Alex practically collapsed with relief. “Thank Merlin you're here. I need help, I’m drowning here.”
“Wait, what?” Vanessa blinked. “We just came to browse the night market, not clock in for a shift.”
Alex grimaced, gesturing to the chaos around them. “Yeah, yeah, but look at this! Too many customers, and I made the brilliant decision to bring all my stock with me thinking it wouldn’t all sell. Big mistake. I can’t keep up with the questions.
Everything’s labeled with the price, and you already know how most of this stuff works, please just explain it to people if they ask.”
He leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “I’ll pay you ten Galleons each for the night. Deal?”
The two girls exchanged a quick glance, and the moment they heard “ten Galleons,” they snapped into action.
“Deal!” they said in unison, rolling up their sleeves like seasoned shop assistants. It helped that Medea had worked with Alex before, so she was already familiar with the setup.
With their help, Alex could finally breathe again. The overwhelming pressure he’d felt since the afternoon slowly started to ease. Wizards had been coming to the booth non-stop ever since the lightshow kicked off, and he hadn’t had a moment to sit down.
What surprised him most was how effective the lamp publicity turned out to be. Many wizards who’d been browsing other parts of the market came looking for him specifically after noticing the Wilson’s Arcane Alchemica emblem on the lamps. The ambient lighting turned into a glowing advertisement that led customers straight to his stall.
By now, Alex had already sold nearly a hundred magic lamps and enchanted gramophones. Even his smaller products, like magical pendants, were flying off the shelves.
The only item that didn’t sell well was the humanoid target dummy, likely because there wasn’t space in the market to properly demonstrate how it worked. Only one had sold so far. But not all of his customers were casual buyers.
Several foreign merchants had also approached him. Some of them owned alchemy companies, while others were involved in different magical trades. Regardless of their industry, they all had one thing in common, they wanted to talk business. And more than a few of them were interested in forming long-term partnerships with Alex.
Seeing how popular Alex’s products had become, more and more companies approached him, all wanting to be agents. The terms they offered were quite generous too. But Alex didn’t rush to agree.
Instead, he handed over his contact info and made it clear he’d get back to them after doing a proper background check.
Thanks to his two assistants, Alex finally got a bit of breathing room. He’d been running around non-stop and hadn’t even had time to eat.
Right now, aside from the usual pile of alchemy items scattered around for restocking, there were also a few boxes of sausages, bacon, and ham stacked beside him.
Just then, he received a signal from Fang.
Without drawing attention, Alex pulled out a wireless earpiece shaped like an oversized bean sprout and placed it on his ear. At the same time, he tapped the monocle resting on his eye socket.
Instantly, Fang’s puppy-like head popped into his view. From what Alex could see, the little guy was currently hiding in the shadowy corner of a nearby building.
His tactical vest had shapeshifted to mimic his fur, blending in perfectly. Anyone walking by would just think he was a cute puppy with a leash on.
Moments later, Fang’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Master, I’ve been tailing that guy all afternoon. After lunch, he wandered around the market a bit and even stopped by your stall.
But then he went into a cold drink shop and spent ages chatting with two wizards. Since they were just talking spells, I didn’t bother to contact you earlier.”
Alex pressed a hand to his lips and replied in a quiet voice, “So, you’re calling now because you think something’s off?”
“Exactly,” Fang said, nodding on screen. “That man, Sebastian, just went into the building behind me. But before he did, he cast a Disillusionment Charm.
And from what I can tell, that building matches the spot where those Thunderbirds were stationed earlier.
Not long after he went in, Azalea showed up too. She used Disillusionment as well, but I could still spot her using the echo lenses.
All three of them are inside that building now. I don’t know what’s going on in there, and I didn’t want to barge in blindly. What do you want me to do?”
“You did well,” Alex nodded slightly. “Let’s not rush. Take out the surveillance spider, I want to see exactly what’s happening inside.”
“Got it.” Fang’s floppy ears twitched as he responded. Then he hesitated and added, “But Sebastian works at the Alchemy Research Center, right?
Wouldn’t a place like that have early-warning enchantments? If there’s some kind of detection system and the spider gets caught, Azalea could be exposed.”
“That’s exactly why we need to know what’s happening,” Alex said calmly.
“If Azalea is really on our side, then there’s nothing to worry about. But even though I used Legilimency on her and didn’t find any lies, the Silver Wand uses techniques I’m not completely familiar with.
It’s possible they’ve used some kind of charm to bypass magical truth detection.
I can’t afford to take chances. And about being discovered,” he added, “Thunderbird’s arrogance and hostility toward alchemy make it unlikely he’d expect anything subtle like a surveillance spider. If something does go wrong, they’re not going to immediately suspect Azalea. But if things turn sour, your top priority is getting out safely.”
“Understood,” Fang replied, nodding sharply. His round little face was serious now, his playful expression replaced by focus. He knew just how important this mission was, not just for Alex, but for everything that came next.
A moment later, a tiny spider no larger than a coin scuttled off Fang’s back and quickly slipped into the building. Almost immediately, a second visual feed appeared in Alex’s field of vision, low to the ground, fast-moving, and slightly jerky. It was the live footage being relayed by the surveillance spider.
The building appeared to be an ordinary Muggle inn, the kind that doubled as a modest bed-and-breakfast. Dozens of rooms lined its narrow hallways.
Thankfully, the surveillance spider was small enough to squeeze through the cracks under the doors. Room by room, it searched silently and swiftly, until it finally found them.