After arriving in the other world, Zhou Kun heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the location did not deviate much from the previous one this time. He was still near St. Lan City.
He asked a few passers-by for directions along the way and finally found the manor of St. Birmingham.
The person selling the golden dragon fruit was still Butler George, whom he had met the previous time.
"What's the price for golden dragon fruit today?"
Initially, George was wiping the counter with his back facing Zhou Kun. As soon as he heard that someone was interested in buying, he turned around to greet him. After all, it had been a long time since he managed to sell any golden dragon fruit.
However, he found the customer in front of him to be rather familiar-looking. An extraordinary talent of George's would be that he could instantly recognize someone whom he had met once or twice previously.
'When did I see this customer before?' he wondered.
"Dear customer, dragon fruits are sold at ten gold coins each now."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Kun frowned. He didn't expect the price of dragon fruit to fall again after two days of his absence. He wondered if George would be willing to sell him the dragon fruit and send his workers to deliver the fruit to him at such a low price.
"Customer, how many are you planning to purchase? If you purchase them in bulk, I can give you a discount," said George who got the wrong idea after seeing Zhou Kun's frown.
He thought that Zhou Kun must have been displeased with the high price. After all, the price of dragon fruit had been depreciating recently.
"I want a hundred." Zhou Kun was not sure whether George would sell him the ordinary dragon fruit as well, as he did previously. He thought that last time, George had only promised to deliver the fruit, only because he had purchased them at 10 Dragon Crystals. He felt that it shouldn't be a big problem to buy a hundred dragon fruits.
"A… hundred?" George was a little unsure if he had heard wrongly. Lately, the value of dragon fruit had been depreciating rather quickly. There had not been any customers in his store for a long time. Yet, Zhou Kun asked for a hundred dragon fruits at one go.
"Yes, I want a hundred. Do you not have enough in the warehouse?"
"We have enough, we definitely do. Since you'd like to purchase 100 dragon fruits, which is a large order, I'll give you a discount. I'll still charge you 10 Dragon Crystals, but I'll give you 105 dragon fruits. The five are considered gifts."
"Is that so? That'd be great. However, I have another request. I want all the ordinary dragon fruits in the manor that you haven't had time to get rid of today. If possible, I shall purchase 100 dragon fruits."
Upon hearing those words, George finally remembered where he had seen Zhou Kun. He thought, 'Isn't this the fool who bought 10 golden dragon fruit for the sake of the ordinary dragon fruit two months ago?'
He had even specially discussed the matter with the other butlers in the manor, all of whom agreed that Zhou Kun was a fool in the end.
"Oh, you're a returning customer. That's easy. I'll arrange it for you immediately." Lately, there had been plenty of golden dragon fruit in his warehouse, which had a tedious and painstaking storage process. If they were to incur any losses, George would still have to face the music and explain to his master personally.
Zhou Kun had done him a huge favor by purchasing a hundred dragon fruits at one go.
Besides, he had also recognized Zhou Kun to be the customer who had bought 10 dragon fruits the previous time. He thought that he ought to clinch the deal because Zhou Kun might not visit again the next time.
As for Zhou Kun's purchase of the ordinary dragon fruit, George felt that it was nothing much. Even the golden dragon fruit was going to be removed from the pedestal. How much value could the ordinary ones have?
Even the Storm Pigs in the manor had vomited from eating the ordinary dragon fruit and refused to eat any more dragon fruit lately.
"Has the price of dragon fruit been plunging drastically recently?" Zhou Kun asked casually.
"Is that not right? Recently, the price has fluctuated drastically, and the dragon fruit business may no longer be lucrative in the future," George said emotionally.
Zhou Kun could tell that there was a hidden meaning in his words and hence he asked, "Why? Do you have any insider information?"
"It's not really considered any insider information. I reckon most people will know about it soon. Dragon fruit is no longer monopolized by the church."
"Huh? There's such a thing?" Zhou Kun really didn't know about it. After all, according to the time in the other world, it had been more than two months since his last visit.
Zhou Kun's dumbfounded look had clearly satisfied George's vanity greatly, so the latter continued, "On the account that you're so curious, I shall reveal some other details."
"Hurry and speak!" Zhou Kun exclaimed, looking like he was all ears.
"The Besius Empire, which is a neighboring nation, somehow managed to get some dragon fruit seeds, and they've secretly begun reproducing and cultivating dragon fruit. They're one of the top three empires on the mainland, and even the church can't do anything to them."
"But weren't all the dragon fruit seeds monopolized by the church?"
"Since the dragon fruit was initially brought out of the Flame Dragon's lair by an adventurer, the people of the Besius Empire can also send adventurers to steal it from the dragon's lair. What's so strange about that?"
Zhou Kun nodded repeatedly after hearing those words and looked like he had been enlightened.
However, he knew very well that there couldn't have been any dragon fruit in Pilux's lair.
He reckoned that the Besius Empire had probably gotten the dragon fruit from Ross Bansai, which was given by him.
At that time, there were six dragon fruits that were publicly auctioned. The one that he gave to Ross Bansai was not known to the public. Everyone thought that all the dragon fruit seeds were with the church.
"The Besius Empire hid the news rather well. It was not until a large number of dragon fruit hit the market that the church discovered that the seeds of the dragon fruit had already landed in the hands of others. However, at this time, there is no way to salvage it, and the price of dragon fruit has also been seriously affected. It has decreased to one-tenth of the original price. "
"Doesn't that mean that the church has suffered a huge loss?"
"Do you think it's that easy to cultivate dragon fruit? The cultivation of dragon fruit requires a large number of Botanical Mages. If not for the church's recovery potions as support, no nation would be able to keep up with the consumption. This is the negotiation between the church and the Besius Empire! "
Botanical Mages?
When Ross Bansai was trying to cultivate the dragon fruit during the auction previously, the person who appeared should be a Botanical Mage, right? Zhou Kun thought to himself, unsure of his guess.
"But then again, why do you need so many dragon fruits?" George asked in a different tone.
"I just..." Zhou Kun stammered, not expecting George to ask that question.
However, George noticed his behavior and said with a faint smirk, "Oh, seems like you're buying it because you need help in that aspect."
"Which aspect?"
"We are both men, why do you need to cover up? Dragon fruit is really good for us in that aspect, and I do eat one or two during critical moments."
George looked as though he had understood Zhou Kun's plight. After hearing his words, Zhou Kun wondered if dragon fruit had any special efficacies for sexual impotency.
He thought, 'Forget it, I shall stop thinking about this. I still have more important things to ask George.'
"You want to go to the church's potion store? Walk toward Lan City. There's one on West Street."
Hearing Zhou Kun inquiring about the store belonging to the church, George smiled even more smugly with an expression that seemed to suggest that he understood everything.