When Arkz returned to the commercial street of Mondstadt, Blanche was at the Mondstadt Department Store, using her sweet voice to solicit passing customers.
"Welcome to the Mondstadt Department Store, may I ask if you need anything?"
Arkz waved his hand, greeted her, and said, "Hi, Blanche, do you still remember me? I placed an order for a batch of strawberry seeds here three days ago."
Blanche widened her eyes looking at Arkz, then tried hard to recall.
"strawberry seeds?"
"It's you, Mr. Arkz from Springvale Farm!"
Arkz smiled and said, "That's right, it's me. I came to buy some seeds and to visit the beautiful Miss Blanche."
Blanche covered her mouth and chuckled, "Haha, Mr. Arkz is quite the joker."
"The 100 sets of strawberry seeds you ordered just arrived this afternoon, you came at the perfect time."
As Blanche spoke, she bent down, retrieved the already prepared seed bags from under the counter, and placed them on the counter in front of Arkz.
Arkz was not at all surprised by Blanche's reaction. Given Blanche's appearance and figure, if she were so easily fooled, she wouldn't be working as a sales clerk here; she would have already been whisked away by some young Adventurer.
From the misunderstanding of passersby when he first went to the department store to buy seeds and ask for directions, one could guess that Blanche had many suitors. Ordinary sweet talk could not move the girl in front of him.
Arkz picked up the seed bags from the counter, opened them, and carefully inspected the quality of the seeds. Finding the quality satisfactory, he nodded in contentment.
Blanche wasn't angry seeing this, smiling as she promoted her own shop: "Mondstadt Department Store, quality guaranteed, full refund if you're not satisfied!"
Arkz agreed and nodded, "The quality of the seeds is indeed good. My farm still has a lot of empty space, and I need to purchase another batch of seeds."
"A big order!"
Blanche's eyes lit up a few degrees upon hearing this, and her attitude became even more enthusiastic.
Blanche sweetly asked, "I wonder what seeds Mr. Arkz needs? carrot seeds, potato seeds, green bean seeds... cauliflower seeds, cabbage seeds, the quality of the seeds is absolutely guaranteed."
Arkz had already planned the farm's layout on his way to Mondstadt. Currently, the farm lacked startup capital. The Mora spent on the previous seed purchase was all earned through his hard work. Continuously relying on old savings, Arkz planned to plant more carrots.
carrots are great crops; they only take three days to mature, allowing for rapid accumulation of startup funds. The only uncertainty was how the Mondstadters would react to the carrots he grew.
Arkz's psychological bottom line was double the market price of ordinary Mondstadt carrots. Even setting aside the special effects of the carrots grown on his Springvale Farm, this price shouldn't be considered excessive just based on the taste.
Of course, he also needed to plant some other types of spring crops, just to enrich the farm's inventory. Moreover, he wanted to see what differences the ordinary crops would exhibit when nurtured by his farm's soil and the system's power.
Arkz looked at the product price list provided by Blanche: "Give me 200 for the carrot seeds—no, make it 300. For the cauliflower seeds, green bean seeds, and cabbage seeds, give me 50 of each."
Blanche's smile became even brighter, and she immediately calculated: "carrot seeds are 20 Mora per set, cauliflower seeds are 80 Mora per set, green bean seeds are 60 Mora per set, and cabbage seeds are 70 Mora per set."
"That totals... 16,500 Mora."
"Mr. Arkz, we also have various flower seeds here. I wonder if you need to buy some to decorate your farm."
"Furthermore, the flowers you cultivate can be sold to Miss Flora at the flower shop."
Arkz took the seed bags Blanche handed over and considered her suggestion. Planting some flowers on the farm did seem like a good idea. Beautiful flowers could not only beautify his farm but also support beekeeping for honey.
Moreover, flowers were extremely suitable as gifts for others. Wasn't the essence of the game Stardew Valley about farming and then giving gifts to NPCs? Since the system's designer seemed to have copied this game, perhaps giving gifts to others would earn him system rewards.
Although he hadn't triggered any system rewards so far, even though he had given Venti Mora, did it only work if the gift was what the corresponding quest liked? Did Teyvat really have someone who disliked Mora?
Arkz guessed that perhaps it was because the gifts he gave were too few, causing the friendship increase from Venti to not meet the system's reward threshold, or perhaps deities like Venti were un-romanceable characters in the system's design?
Although it seemed Arkz had been thinking for a long time, only an instant had passed in the outside world.
Blanche gently waved her slender, beautiful hand in front of Arkz's eyes, trying to wake him up.
"Mr. Arkz? Mr. Arkz! Are you alright?"
"Mmm—!!!"
Arkz snapped back to reality, finding a fragrant, slender, beautiful hand—the kind that would drive Yoshikage Kira mad—suddenly appearing before his eyes. He quickly leaned back, and fortunately, his body control was good enough that he didn't fall.
Arkz: "Sorry, I was just thinking about the flower seeds, so I zoned out."
Blanche smiled, "It's alright, as long as Mr. Arkz is okay."
"If Mr. Arkz has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you."
A flash of inspiration struck Arkz, and he smiled, "Miss Blanche, I actually do have a question for you."
Blanche's smile became strained; she had a bad feeling, but she still spoke stubbornly, "Please state your question."
Arkz stared straight at Blanche, raising the non-existent eyes on his face like a detective judging a Sinner, and declared loudly, "Miss Blanche, you've been trying to tempt me into buying flower seeds since just now."
"However, you failed to tell me that flowers are extremely delicate crops, and without the proper cultivation methods, they can easily die, leading to the planter losing everything."
"You even tried to distract me by telling me that Miss Flora at the flower shop would purchase the fresh flowers, making me ignore the potential losses from planting them."
Arkz pointed his index finger at Blanche and shouted, "There is only one truth—that is—"
"The flower seeds at Mondstadt Department Store have been sitting unsold for a long time, so you want to use this opportunity to sell them to me!!!"
Slap—!!!
Blanche collapsed to the ground like a Sinner, then said mournfully, "Please don't expose me, I—I'm willing to do anything!"
An evil smile appeared on Arkz's face, and he leaned close to Blanche's ear, whispering something.
Blanche stared at Arkz in shock, as if looking at a pervert.
Blanche exclaimed in shock, "So your demand is to sell these flower seeds to you at a discount, and to let you freely go through my trash anytime, anywhere?!"
Arkz said word by word, "No, not your trash can, to be precise, it's the Mondstadt Department Store's trash can."
"From my observation, the trash cans in places with higher foot traffic have a higher chance of yielding goods. The Mondstadt Department Store has many customers every day; the trash can here must have many treasures!"
Blanche mumbled, "I thought I ran into a pervert who wanted to take advantage of me for some indecent acts, but I actually ran into a pervert. Do I lack charm?"
Arkz: "What?"
Blanche shuddered, "Nothing, Mr. Pervert—no, Mr. Arkz, thank you for not reporting me to the Knights of Favonius."
Arkz wiped the cold sweat from his forehead speechlessly, "You just concealed some information while promoting the merchandise. At most, the Knights of Favonius would only give you a verbal warning; they wouldn't even bother to put you in the confinement room to freeload food and drink. Is it really that exaggerated to be willing to do anything over this?"
Arkz showed a comical smile, raising an eyebrow, "Or perhaps, Blanche is actually a girl whose mind is full of indecent thoughts..."
Blanche immediately blushed crimson, grabbed the flower seeds on the table, and threw them at Arkz, saying coquettishly, "Pervert, get out of here!"
How could Blanche admit that last night she had read an erotic comic where the female protagonist was a sales clerk? Because the scene just now was too similar to the plot in the comic, she momentarily lost her mind and projected herself into the role of the protagonist.
Now that she had sobered up, Blanche wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Seeing the shy, face-hiding Blanche, Arkz knew that teasing her further would make her genuinely angry. So, he tossed a bag of Mora onto Blanche's counter from a distance and then turned around to leave dashingly.
The Mora in the bag was about 20,000 Mora, enough to pay for the seeds. The remaining Mora was for the flower seeds. Arkz planned to ask about the price of the flower seeds next time Blanche calmed down, settling the difference later.
He had bought the seeds, but Arkz didn't plan to leave Mondstadt immediately. He intended to find a tavern for a drink, and then, under the cover of night, have a romantic date with the trash cans of Mondstadt.
But before that, he needed to go to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters to collect the reward promised to him by the Knights of Favonius.
Previously, at Star-Picking Cliff, when defending against the attacks of a Ruin Guard, Arkz and Ellin saved two Knights of Favonius. According to Ellin, she received a verbal commendation from the Knights of Favonius and a 2-star artifact as a reward. In the Mondstadt black market, a 2-star artifact could sell for about 100,000 Mora, which was a very generous reward.
The reward for the Knights of Favonius for Arkz, however, was only a mere 20,000 Mora.
However, Arkz could understand. Ellin was a reserve member of the Knights of Favonius, and joining the Knights of Favonius in the future was a sure thing. The Knights of Favonius would naturally not be stingy with their own people.
As for Arkz's status—an outsider who had only been in Mondstadt for less than a week—receiving a reward of 20,000 Mora already exceeded Arkz's expectations.
The location of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters was the same as in the game, so Arkz didn't need to ask for directions at all. He found the main gate of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters by following the roads himself.
After inquiring with the knight guarding the entrance of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, Arkz was led by another knight into the interior of the headquarters. The entire interior of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters was exceptionally large, and because the Mondstadt Library was built inside the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, commoners of Mondstadt were not uncommon in the outer areas of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters.
Of course, the core areas inside the Knights of Favonius Headquarters were heavily guarded by numerous knights, strictly prohibiting unauthorized personnel from entering.
Arkz took the opportunity to apply for a library card at the Mondstadt Library so he could come here to read books and check information when he had free time.
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