"Huh? How come the landlord's bookstore is so busy today?"
I remember that small bookstore usually didn't have customers. The landlord would just sit there reading books.
Could it be that he took out some old unsold books and is selling them at a discount? But even so, there shouldn't be this many people, even if he was giving them away for free.
When I walked closer, I realized these people were not holding books, but bottles of holy water!
"No way! Since when did the landlord change his business to selling holy water?"
I squeezed through the crowd to take a look. There was a table in front of the bookstore with a basin on it. The landlord stood behind the table, taking money and bottles from customers. With one hand he took money, with the other he poured water into the bottles.
The price was written clearly on a sign under the basin:
"Good news! Holy water sold at cost price! Authentic, natural, pollution-free, high-quality holy water. Only 88 per bottle (Note: Standard bottle size only)! Check on the spot, money back guaranteed if not satisfied!"
"This is..."
Such a familiar sales pitch. Could it be the True Church expanding their business to the bookstore?
I remembered the news I heard earlier in the Adventurers' Guild square, turned out the so-called holy water sold at tens of dollars a bottle was right under my room!
Seeing the landlord busily taking money with both hands, I didn't want to bother him with questions. I could only leave the crowd and go upstairs to my rented room.
"Cyra? What are you doing?"
I opened the door but saw her sitting in the room with her wings spread out, hands in a bucket of water, seemingly releasing light elemental power continuously.
"You're just in time, come help me quick! The holy water downstairs is selling like crazy!"
Seeing me enter, Cyra immediately called for help.
"This is..."
Seeing this scene, I immediately understood what was going on - this scoundrel took my idea again!
"The holy water the landlord selling downstairs is made by you, right?"
Considering the bustling scene at the bookstore entrance, I asked worriedly,
"Could it be he knows your angel identity?"
"No way! You're overthinking it..."
Cyra quickly shook her head and clarified,
"Didn't you guys already warn me to not reveal my identity in the human world, especially in cities? So I've always remembered that. The landlord only thinks I'm a light mage."
"I see... but shouldn't it be quite difficult for human light mage to make holy water? Otherwise it wouldn't be so expensive. Didn't he notice anything different?"
Hearing her explanation I felt relieved. Although exposure wouldn't lead to big trouble, since angels appear frequently in this country, it would still bring some inconvenience.
"Don't worry! Your landlord is just an ordinary person who can't even use magic. How could he understand the difference?"
Cyra waved her hand dismissively.
"At first when he saw me selling holy water alone on the street corner from my storage ring, he thought I got my supply through special channels from the True Church. If not for the need to immediately make more after selling out, I might have just went with that excuse!"
"What are you standing around for? Come help me! Don't worry, I'll share some of the sales with you!"
Seeing me standing motionless at the door, she urged impatiently.
"Uh..."
Hearing her explanation, I realized there was no big issue after all.
Strictly speaking, the True Church always preached that holy water was normal water blessed by priests or bishops, bestowed with grace by the Lord. But in reality, most people knew clearly, this stuff was just water infused with light elemental power by light mage.
It's just that human light mages were so rare, and most gathered in the True Church, so the Church maintained a monopoly over the source.
In fact, it was said that some freelance light mage outside the Church previously made and sold holy water themselves. But these people could only make limited quantities. The profits from selling a bit did not compare to joining the Church for legitimacy.
As for angels, it was not a question of ability, but willingness and dignity to do such a thing.
"How is holy water made? Just put your hand in the bucket and release light elemental power?"
Thinking of this, I could only spread my wings and go over to follow her instructions, putting my hand into the bucket. Since Cyra already made such a big fuss over this, I shouldn't oppose her, right?
Moreover, getting money didn't sound too bad! Judging by the sales downstairs, the day's revenue should be quite substantial. I would probably get a good share.
"That's right! The steps are simple. Just release your light elemental power externally and let it fuse into the water."
Under Cyra's guidance, I quickly grasped the knack. But since my previous testing emptied my internal light elements, and it hadn't fully recovered yet, I could only go slowly, not daring to release too quickly.
Even so, my remaining light elements still exceeded Cyra's by a lot. Soon I finished making a bucket of "freshly made" holy water.
"With your help the speed increased so much. And the concentration of this bucket seems a bit too high..."
Cyra examined the holy water in the bucket, then fetched a few more buckets, added some clean water, and started diluting.
"Shameless profiteer!"
I watched as she added at least five times the amount of clean water. The single bucket of holy water instantly turned into four or five buckets.
"The concentration of the True Church's holy water is diluted five times more than ours!"
Cyra shrugged nonchalantly, then stored all the buckets of holy water into her storage ring.
"This is called profit maximization, understand? Weren't you complaining about me being poor? Now watch how I earn money!"
"That ring you took from interrogating Yvonne, right?"
I stared at the ring on her finger and asked, suddenly feeling that storage rings were so useful! Without it, carrying five buckets of holy water downstairs without revealing my wings would be very difficult.
"This should be Yvonne's. It's usually empty and barely used. But it's very helpful today."
Cyra casually explained, then went downstairs with me to the bookstore entrance.
"You're finally here! Hurry and restock, my basin is empty! So many customers waiting!"
Seeing us come down, the landlord called to us eagerly like seeing a lifeline.
"Don't rush everyone! Our holy water is guaranteed quality and quantity! Best price!"
Cyra took out the five buckets of holy water from her ring, and had the landlord pour them into the basin while she announced loudly to the crowd:
"Due to the excellent sales so far today, to thank all customers for your support, and ease the pressure on our staff, I've decided to expand sales channels and implement a win-win policy for all! - "
"Starting now, customers only need to purchase eight bottles of holy water at one go to gain sales agent rights, joining our sales channel! Agents can spread this news to family and friends. Bring in a new customer and enjoy 15% rebate on the spot, the more the merrier, until all holy water is sold out!"
"Oh - I want to sign up, I want to sign up..."
This immediately caused a huge commotion. The surrounding crowd rushed over frantically, waving silvers wanting to buy ten bottles of holy water.
"Don't rush, there's enough holy water for everyone!"
The landlord was overjoyed and quickly calmed the crowd.
"Still need to recruit two temporary workers to maintain order, and a temporary clerk to record the names of agents! Wages 100 silvers per hour. Those interested can sign up with me!"
Seeing the situation, Cyra frowned slightly and announced a recruitment notice.
This wage was pretty good, comparable or slightly higher than low rank adventurer quest rewards. To take missions from the Adventurer's Guild required registration and tests. There was always danger. But ordinary people could handle this job safely with no risk of injury, so a long line formed on Cyra's side as well.
"You're running a pyramid scheme!"
Watching everything happen, I glared at Cyra and said helplessly,
"Who said it's a pyramid scheme?"
Cyra randomly picked three people as temps before pulling me upstairs to start making more holy water. She retorted casually,
"The biggest feature of pyramid schemes is no real product, only earning from recruitment fees. But I have hot-selling holy water as a foundation. At most this is direct marketing... No, maybe not even that!"
"Direct marketing is not illegal! Moreover, even if it were a pyramid scheme, so what? There are no laws against it in this world!"
Hearing her justify herself so unabashedly, I was left speechless. She was right that even if it really were a pyramid scheme, Earth's laws don't apply in this world.