Her eyes widened in shock.
"Did I misheard you?"
Dotty shook her head with a grin.
"How much are they worth, Dotty," Lycster asked.
Dotty chuckled and replied, "For the ones you have found, at least 1 gold coin for each piece."
Lycster almost dropped the clusters he held in his arms when he heard.
"We could sell these and turn a profit," Lycster exclaimed excitedly.
"Do you smell more of them in the area," Vy asked out of curiosity.
He shook his head, "Yes but the rest aren't ready yet. Only these are."
"That's alright, we can just take these back with us. We can leave the rest," Vy replied.
After gathering all the clusters they managed to find, they made their way back to the Prism Sector, ending their little excursion of the day. Along the way, they discussed what they were going to do with the truffles they had found. Dotty provided more information to both of them about the truffles.
If they wanted to make even more profit, they could use the truffles they found to make truffle products. Truffle butter and truffle oil were very popular items that could rack in even larger amounts of profit.
"I think we should bring these to The Memory Lane. Dotty mentioned that different types of truffles would bring in different amounts of profit. I'm sure Elayna, the chef, would be able to tell us more about them."
Lycster agreed with Vy's plan. Upon being back in the Prism Sector, they headed straight for the restaurant. It was the afternoon and the restaurant was quite empty. Chef Elayna and her other chefs were having a late lunch together when Vy and Lycster came into the restaurant.
Elayna immediately welcomed Vy and Lycster with open arms and invited them to have a seat. As they were about to take a seat, Elayna noticed something interesting. She could smell the truffles on them. Knowing that she would not be able to keep it from her, Vy took out a drawstring bag and showed Elayna the truffles.
As soon as she opened the bag, the smell of truffles permeated all of their senses and spread throughout the entire restaurant. All the other chefs and staff members were intrigued.
Elayna was the most excited of them all. One look at the truffles and she quickly picked one up for a closer inspection.
"These are fresh truffles! Miss Vyrena, you must sell them to me! Name your price, I will take them all!" Elayna exclaimed.
Vy smiled, "You have a keen eye, Chef Elayna. I'm not certain of the current market rates at the moment and I trust you. You name the price. I will sell them to you, and if you ever need more, I'm sure Lycster and I would be able to find you more."
Elayna nodded with glee as she continued to inspect every single truffle. Some of the other chefs helped her too, checking the truffles one by one. Another assistant rushed off and returned with a weighing scale.
"My apologies for having to do this. It's just that there had been cases of fake truffles on the market. While I trust you, I just want to be sure," Elayna explained.
"No worries, I understand," Vy replied.
After the inspection, each truffle was weighed and recorded down. Once they had all the numbers, Elayna had a discussion with her restaurant manager. At the end of their discussion, they offered Vy 15 gold coins for the bag of truffles.
Vy immediately accepted the deal but she had one more deal to make with Elayna.
"What do you have in mind," Elayna asked.
"I have a smaller batch of truffles left and I would like to make them into truffle oil and sell, would you happen to know anyone who might be able to do so?"
"Well, we can make that here easily. I assume you plan to sell it for greater profits," Elayna asked.
Vy nodded, "Yes."
Elayna thought for a while and pointed to a small shelf of goods for sale that stood next to the counter near the entrance of the restaurant.
"You see that shelf over there," Elayna asked.
"We sell locally made products and some of our own creations as well. If you entrust the truffles to us to make the truffle oil, we can bottle them and sell them here. We can split the profits from the sales," Elayna explained.
"That sounds fair, let's make that happen," Vy replied and both parties shook hands to seal their deal.
Just like that, Vy found an additional stream of income and her finances grew. With more confidence, she began investing her money wisely in various businesses. While she remained a silent investor for most deals, if the situation arose, she would still step up to offer advice or assistance.
Not every deal was a winner but Vy knew when and where to put her money. Within the next two years, her wealth grew steadily. She did not forget about Lycster's contribution either. Vy ensured that Lycster had a share of the profits and guided him on where to spend his money.
The life they led was one of greater luxury and their reputation preceded them step by step.
But after all the wealth they had gained, they did not forget their friends back in Timbretune. Not only did they invest in the town, but they also made sure their friends would be comfortable. However, it was only a year later, in the middle of winter, when Vy and Lycster made a trip back to Timbretune.
Carole had sent them a letter and an invitation, asking them to join her back in the town for the winter celebrations.