Seeing Alan's pained expression as he paid, Olivia grinned with delight.
She deftly helped him pack the box and even shared an interesting anecdote.
"Alan! You probably don't know, but woad hearts come in two varieties: male and female!"
"The one I'm selling you is a female heart!"
"There's also an ambitious heart!"
"If you're interested, I can collect them for you, or I'll pay you today's price. How about that?"
"What's the difference between a female heart and an ambitious heart?" Alan inquired curiously.
"I can't really explain the specific difference," Olivia rolled her eyes. "But ambition is definitely better than ambition! People often say 'ambition,' but never 'ambition,' right?"
"No... your perverse logic is so convoluted!" Allen rolled his eyes at her. "It's completely irrelevant, okay?"
Olivia knew she was making a point, and her smile was a little awkward.
Alan pondered for a moment, then said, "I'm more interested in the origin of the heartwood. Can you take me to see it?"
"Hehehehe..." Olivia sneered twice, then said flatly, "Sorry, no!"
"Don't be upset yet. I'm not taking you because I want to protect you!"
Olivia's smile faded, and her face became serious.
"Woad heart is only found in the island's revitalized plant areas."
"When you first came to the island, you must have passed through that area. You should know how dangerous it is."
"If it's so dangerous, why did you dare go there?" Allen asked.
"I have a special technique that allows me to temporarily change my appearance and trick the revitalized plants into thinking I'm one of their own."
"That way, they won't attack me."
Olivia lowered her voice.
"Using this technique, I can infiltrate the tree people's territory."
"Collect the heart from the remains of woad tree people that have died of natural causes. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
Alan nodded in realization.
"Olivia, as for that male woad heart, I'm not sure I want it yet."
"Unless I can examine it in person and confirm it's indeed useful to me, I'll buy it for the price we agreed on today."
"No problem!" Olivia agreed readily. "I'll go collect heartwood in a few days and bring one for you!"
"Okay, how about we meet next Sunday?"
Alan asked her.
"Next Sunday... I have classes that day, so I won't be open for business." Olivia hesitated, then continued, "Sunday is fine, but we'll have to meet somewhere else. I can spare an hour."
"The dessert shop across from the market, okay?" Alan pointed outside.
"No problem! If we can close a second deal, I'll treat you to juice!" Olivia said eagerly.
She was eager to make this deal.
After all, aside from Allen, the unlucky... well, connoisseur, no one would be willing to pay such a high price for a pair of useless woad hearts.
After the business was concluded, the two exchanged arcane seals.
Alan said goodbye to Olivia and returned to the dormitories at the martial arts gym.
He copied Olivia's seal into his correspondence book.
It was placed behind his thirteenth patron, "Vega."
Olivia's seal looked like a cartoon tree figure.
It was quite adorable.
Thinking of this seal and Olivia's atavistic transformation, which was a kind of animated plant form, Allen naturally had a hypothesis.
Olivia, who had sold him the woad hearts, was the most famous naturalist!
The Warlock Academy currently boasts three talented young women:
Pamela of the Elemental School.
Tanya, the violent type.
Olivia, the natural type.
According to Flynn, Olivia is a little beauty.
Seeing her today... what a beauty!
Of course, Allen wasn't one to judge people by appearances.
Besides her looks, his overall impression of Olivia was quite favorable.
He didn't sense any condescending, overbearing arrogance from her.
Even though they were both talented girls, Olivia was far easier to get along with and more reasonable than Pamela.
Besides, Olivia didn't necessarily show her true face when she was running the shop.
…
Alan withdrew his thoughts.
He picked up the woad heart.
He carefully split it open with his dagger, following the wood grain.
A thick wooden shell encased a small blob of blue substance.
It looked like coconut flesh dyed blue.
Alan picked it out with his dagger and chewed it.
It had a slightly sour taste, but not too bad.
At the same time, a system notification appeared.
"Consume special ingredient: Woad Heart (female)!"
"Potential +1!"
"Agility +1!"
Alan nodded in satisfaction.
Looking forward to next week's trade.
Hopefully, the other Woad Heart will also bring me potential and attribute bonuses.
...
Nature Warlock Tower.
"Senior Sister! I'm so lucky today!"
Olivia said happily to Angela.
Back at the Warlock Tower, she lifted her "Disguise."
From an ugly little witch, she transformed into a beautiful girl with blue hair and blue eyes.
"Yeah, it's rare to see someone spend so much money on woad heart."
Angela agreed.
Olivia opened her storage bag and counted out ten magic stones for her.
"Senior Sister, these are for you! We'll have so many left if we make a follow-up deal next week!"
"Will that kid really buy a second one?" Angela expressed doubt.
"I think he will!" Olivia said confidently. "I don't know why he's buying the heart, but I have a feeling it's very important to him!"
Angela shrugged, noncommittal.
"Senior Sister! I'm going to take a bath. Are you coming?"
"You go first. I have another question for Master regarding spell materials."
"Tsk tsk! So diligent?" Olivia grimaced at her. "No wonder my uncle likes you the most of all the students!"
"Don't talk nonsense," Angela rolled her eyes at him resentfully. "Of course, Master's favorite student is you, his own niece!"
"Say goodbye to Olivia and go to the second floor of the Warlock Tower."
"Bending down, she peered through the keyhole into Hubert's office.
"Confirming Hubert was alone in the room, she didn't even knock, but opened the door and went in, locking it behind her.
"Where did Olivia go today, and who did she interact with?"
"How's business in the store?" Hubert asked the female disciple in his arms.
"Not bad... Haha, I caught a rich guy today. He spent a lot of money in the store."