Chapter 646 Street Sales
By the next morning, the lesser nobles had gotten smart. They didn't wait for the party events anymore, they were in the neighbourhood outside the Investigators' apartment tower, where Wolfe and Rail would certainly come for breakfast.
That would give them a chance to interact outside the formal Royal events, and perhaps gain a bit of favour with the Noxus Patriarch that could condense mana in an entire room.
They had no idea that he could do it over an area the size of most of their Baronies. If they did know, they would have been much more fawning about trying to get him to cast the spell for them.
Rail looked out over the balcony at the gathered crowd in the market below and considered whether they should have something sent up from the food delivery service. So many nobles had the same idea that the locals could barely walk through the streets, and Wolfe didn't have any decent food in his apartment.
"I've got a bunch of coins here with me, I got the store to give me all their copper pennies the other day. Why don't I make small mana gathering arrays to give out as gifts? That way we could go to the restaurant for breakfast instead of ordering in, and we can get some of them to leave?" Wolfe suggested.
"That's not a bad idea. It's what they want anyhow. Why not take donations? No set price, just a pay what you can sort of deal? I'm sure they will get you set up with good stuff." Rail added.
Chen stuck her head over the balcony from next door and nodded. "If they're making donations, I could use some new scents of shampoo. What? It's not like he's going to be able to bring home six hundred gifts."
Wolfe chuckled. "She's got a point. My apartment is only so big, and I have no idea where I'd put so many gifts. We could have them brought to the Palace, but that would just annoy someone."
Chen gave him an evil smirk. "Do you know what building isn't being used this week? The Investigator's office. We could have them drop them all off at the warehouse where we do our morning meetings, since nobody has to be at the office this week except the receptionist, and she can be bribed not to complain."
That sounded like something that would make the Chief Investigator lose his mind at some point this week, but it was a better option than anything else that they had come up with. Giving the spells out for free would be seen as suspicious, and an attempt to make the Nobles indebted to him. But if he let them pay for it, then he would just be a generous businessman.
Casting the spell over an entire bag of pennies took half an hour, but with so many of them, all set to increase mana density in the area by twenty percent, he should be able to get through the day without too many diversions.
Wolfe led Rail and Chen down for breakfast and into the crowd of Nobles that had been pretending that they were shopping in the commoner's district.
Of course, some were. There was good stuff here, and numerous cafés and restaurants that were worth visiting, but the shopkeepers all recognized that the primary reason the guests were here was to wait for someone.
"Patriarch, so good to see you out and about this morning. I do hate to be a bother, but I had heard that there is a chance you will be making a tour of the nation with mana gathering spells." One of the Barons greeted him.
A tour of the nation? That rumour was a new one.
"Unfortunately, a nationwide tour is outside my schedule, so I have devised an alternate method. If you would like to make a suitable donation to the people of my home village, I can provide you a mana gathering token that will cover your meditation room right now. I made them last night." Wolfe explained.
Technically, this morning. But they didn't need to know that he could cast them so quickly.
"Really? That would be wonderful." The Baron replied, doing his best to plead with his eyes so he didn't need to grovel in public.
Wolfe took out one of the pennies and handed it to him. "If you push a bit of mana into this to activate it, it will self sustain, so put it somewhere safe."
"Thank you, Patriarch. Where might I leave the payment?" He asked.
"You can leave it at the Investigation Department headquarters, they have agreed to allow us to use a room to hold the goodwill donations to Forest Grove until such time as I can send them along." Wolfe replied.
Chen nodded and smiled at the Baron. "I need to inform the receptionist, if you need a guide to the building."
As they stepped away, Wolfe saw a dozen more faces with the same pleading expression.
"Come on over. If you follow them, they will lead the way to the dropoff location. I will be in town for the duration of the parties, so there is no need to make the payment this morning." Wolfe explained, raising his voice enough that those down the block could hear.
Then he led Rail to a café and took a seat on the front patio, where the nobles could come talk to him from the street without interrupting the patrons of the shop.
The shopkeepers nearby all looked immensely relieved that he was going to sit down somewhere and allow the crowd to form a somewhat orderly line instead of blocking the road. So grateful, in fact, that they even paid for breakfast for him and Rail.
"I feel bad for exchanging such a valuable thing with a short interaction, but I am grateful for the opportunity." The first woman to reach their table greeted them.
"That's understandable, but it's the only way that so many nobles can get the chance without me assigning it to someone else for distribution. With everything that's going on, they're all quite busy, and I'm certain that they wouldn't appreciate the extra work.
If I do run out of time, I will see if I can bribe Chen, the lovely young woman who was with me earlier, to make the trade at a later date." Wolfe explained before handing the coin over and motioning for the next man to step forward.
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