Chapter 830: A Moment of Madness
Chapter 830: A Moment of Madness
"Would you like to go out together tonight?" Albert coughed lightly, attempting to divert everyone's attention from the previous topic, which was making things rather awkward.
"It's not very safe here at night, especially for outsiders," Catherine replied in a lowered voice, as if worried that their conversation might be overheard. "Moreover, many of the products sold in Cahier Square are cheap imitations targeted at wizarding tourists. They're overpriced and of terrible quality."
"That's usually the case everywhere; it's hard to find merchants with a conscience these days." Albert was not surprised; he had seen this in his previous life. Talking about a merchant's conscience was pointless; it was better to talk about money.
"You seem to know a lot about everything," Valerie remarked, winking at Albert. "But I'm curious, do you know that Catherine actually likes you too?"
The atmosphere suddenly turned peculiar.
"I'm flattered," Albert smiled and nodded at Catherine.
Indeed, during his last visit to the United States, he had vaguely sensed that feeling, though it might not have been as strong as 'liking'. Perhaps it was just a slight fondness.
Just as men naturally favored beautiful, gentle, and kind-hearted women, women also naturally favored handsome, gentle, talented, and wealthy men.
However, he never expected Valerie to bring it up directly in front of Isabel. Was she trying to stir up trouble?
Catherine, too, remained silent, glaring at Valerie as if to say, "It's fine if you're the one in heat, but don't drag me into this."
Isabel, the one at the center of this, maintained her composure, completely unfazed by Valerie's little scheme. She had long ago realized that both Valerie and Catherine had a soft spot for Albert.
But so what?
Even if Valerie chose to be blunt about it, it changed nothing.
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
The only one feeling awkward was Albert.
Perhaps he should make a quick exit and leave the battlefield to the three ladies.
Was this the legendary 'harem scuffle'?
Albert sighed deeply.
He couldn't believe that in his previous life, he had once considered having two or three girlfriends. He must have been out of his mind.
He truly envied those guys who had a bunch of girlfriends and were still alive to tell the tale.
The arrival of Sierra and Nicholas broke the awkward silence that had enveloped the four of them.
"It's been a while, Mr. Nicholas," Albert said, heaving a sigh of relief as he stood up to give the elderly man a hug.
"I heard you recently won the Barnabas Finkley Outstanding Spellcasting Award," the old man said as he sat down next to his granddaughter. "At this rate, you'll soon have collected all the major international awards. But now, I'm curious: what alchemical creation do you plan to present to win the gold prize at this International Alchemy Conference?"
"I've made a small discovery regarding the Mandrake plant," Albert said as he brought out the Mandrake wine and the Flying Ointment once more.
Then, he proceeded to explain the effects of the two creations to the two elders.
Upon learning of the effects of "Youth and Love," Catherine and Valerie both gave Albert a peculiar look.
On the other hand, Sierra and Nicholas exchanged glances after listening to Albert's explanation.
"There's something you should know," Sierra said in a lowered voice. "Participating in the International Alchemy Conference means you'll have to provide the formula and related information about your research. You should understand what that implies."
"Our suggestion is to display both the Mandrake wine and the Flying Ointment, but only submit the Flying Ointment for the Conference," Sierra continued. "If all goes well, you shouldn't have any trouble winning an award."
"Why?" Valerie asked, sensing that there might be some hidden agenda regarding the Conference that they weren't aware of. When she noticed that the others remained silent, she took it upon herself to continue the conversation.
"Because providing the formula means that other alchemists will also know how to create it," Albert replied, guessing the reason. "Although the Egyptian Alchemy Research Center will help with patent applications and keep things confidential, patents are essentially useless since others cannot be relied upon. They can easily produce it privately, and it's nearly impossible for the affected party to pursue accountability across borders."
In his previous life, he had heard that applying for a patent was akin to handing over your technology to others.
However, Albert wasn't too concerned about these semi-finished products. Both the Mandrake wine and the Flying Ointment had room for improvement. If he could complete a rewarding panel task with these half-finished products, it would be quite a profitable deal for him.
"There's another reason," Nicholas added. "Wizards under thirty years old who participate in the International Alchemy Conference can only receive the Pioneering Contribution Gold Award. On the other hand, wizards over thirty can receive the International Alchemy Grand Prize. While the medals and prizes are the same, the significance is different."
"Why separate the awards like that?" Valerie inquired, noticing that the others were silent again. "Is it to give younger wizards more opportunities to win?"
"That's right," Sierra nodded. "It's to give the youth a chance, but it's also to save face for the other alchemy masters. When there's no conflict of interest, the International Alchemy Conference is a more harmonious event."
"Of course," Nicholas interjected, "there's also the fact that young people are easier to persuade. They're more willing to share their alchemical creations with others, and the Pioneering Contribution Gold Award serves as a form of compensation for them."
Everyone turned to Nicholas, waiting for him to finish his explanation.
"To be honest, many wizards are reluctant to hand over their research findings, especially for inventions that are highly profitable," Nicholas said, pointing to the Mandrake wine in front of him. "Remember, there's nothing more lucrative in this world than a monopoly. Especially with this concoction, believe me, many wizards will desire it, and that means a lot of money."
"I recall that someone in the black market was selling 'Honey Man's' honey, which was said to have an aphrodisiac effect and was very popular," Albert added.
Sierra couldn't help but sneer, "If you want to sell this wine in America, you can find Catherine; after all, I assume this isn't your first collaboration." Nicholas was quite pleased with Albert and had even considered matchmaking between him and Catherine.
However, ever since Catherine became his heir, such a thing was out of the question.
"I'll consider it," Albert nodded.
But he wasn't ready to think about such matters just yet.
Valerie winked at Catherine, feeling that Nicholas also intended to match the two of them, deepening their relationship.
As far as Valerie knew, Albert and Catherine not only collaborated on beauty potions but also secretly sold the Bafei Wake-Up Potion, and there were other reasons as well. However, since Catherine never spoke about it, Valerie suspected that there was something fishy going on between them.
"Here, this is for you. It's the ticket to enter the International Alchemy Conference." Sierra pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket and handed it to Albert, then reminded him, "You'll probably have to go to bed early tonight because you'll need to get up early tomorrow, around five o'clock. Any other questions?"
"I want to buy some specialties here, preferably some books and alchemy items to take back." Albert felt that there were some things he shouldn't miss during his trip to Egypt.
"If you want to buy alchemy items, you can go to the black market, which is open every Saturday afternoon. To get in, you'll need an introduction from a regular customer to the bar owner," Nicholas informed Albert. "Of course, you can also go to Cahier Square. Hmm, it's near Liberation Square in the Muggle world. But I suggest you just use Floo Powder to get there directly from here; it'll be faster, and you won't have to worry about getting lost."
"Do you want to go together?"
Isabel extended an invitation to Valerie and Catherine.
"No, we went the day before yesterday," Catherine refused, feeling that Cahier Square wasn't all that interesting, with nothing particularly new or exciting.
"I think it's more fun for all of us to go shopping together." Valerie said, "Last time, we went during the day, and in such hot weather, we just rushed through it and left. I heard that there might be a circus performance there at night."
"Who did you hear that from, yourself?" Catherine raised an eyebrow.
"I heard it from someone else yesterday. Apparently, there's a circus performance there recently."
That evening, the four of them dined at the inn, with the main course being grilled flatbread. As they ate, they stuffed the bread with grilled meat and fresh vegetables, dipping it into a thick gray-green vegetable soup. The taste was passable.
Albert particularly liked the grilled chicken, which had its cavity stuffed with green wheat and rice, similar to chicken wing stuffed rice, and it tasted fantastic.
The beverage was rose aubergine tea, which was said to have unique beauty benefits, hence the higher price compared to ordinary black tea. They added a small amount of honey to it, giving it a sweet and sour taste that many young ladies loved. In Valerie's words, it was "the taste of love."
After dinner, the quartet sat and chatted for a while before Catherine brought up the topic of using rose aubergine essence in beauty potions, a common practice in Egypt, and suggested that it was worth studying the fruit to gain inspiration for improving their beauty potions.
The four of them went to find the bartender, and under the guidance of a waiter, they passed through a fireplace to reach Cahier Square, for which they paid a gold coin.
The square was bustling at night, with oil lamps lighting up the streets and numerous vendors setting up stalls along the roadside, selling all sorts of knick-knacks aimed at tricking wizarding tourists.
Unfortunately, to their disappointment, there was no circus performance in the square that night. Apparently, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the circus troupe's arrival had been delayed, and they wouldn't be there until the day after tomorrow.
As they searched for shops around the square, they stumbled upon a cluster of food stalls, and to Albert's surprise, they were selling baked sweet potatoes.
However, having just finished dinner, the four of them only bought two portions to share, satisfying their craving.
"We didn't see these stalls the last time we were here," Valerie smiled at Catherine, "These are much better than baked potatoes."
Isabel took a bite of the sweet potato that Albert handed her, cheese dripping from it, and commented, "It tastes pretty good."
"If you like it, I can ask Dobby to make it for you. Though it might be hard to find sweet potatoes in Britain," Albert thought that he could hire house-elves to help him grow vegetables. Ideally, he'd set up a greenhouse and grow whatever he wanted to eat.
Since they had bought sweet potatoes, Albert casually inquired about the locations of bookstores and magic shops.
However, to his disappointment, there weren't many books that caught his interest. After a quick browse through titles like "Introduction to Alchemy" and "Overcoming Black Magic," he realized that buying them would be a waste of money.
In the end, Albert only purchased a few advanced books that piqued his interest, making the trip somewhat worthwhile. As for the magic item shop, it was even more disappointing. While Egyptian alchemy was indeed advanced, the shop didn't offer anything new or exciting. Most of the magic items were familiar to Albert, and he could easily guess their principles.
In the end, aside from the books Albert bought and a few suspicious Dark Magic defense items from the magic shop, it was just Isabel's rose aubergine essence and the pile of snacks that the two girls were carrying.
When they returned to the bar, they found an empty spot and continued chatting while munching on their snacks. Much of the time, Valerie ranted about the American magical community or discussed the progress of their beauty potion research and how lucrative the beauty potion business was. In Valerie's opinion, Albert was missing out on a fortune by not pursuing this further.
After 9:30 pm, the quartet wrapped up their conversation and prepared to retire to their respective rooms.
As they headed upstairs, Albert realized that their rooms were connected, with Valerie and Catherine's room right next to theirs.
"We're heading back to rest. See you in the morning," Valerie said softly as she closed the door.
"It's you who missed the chance," Catherine retorted without turning back, "We need to get up early tomorrow. If you can't get up, don't blame me for leaving you behind at the bar and going to the International Alchemy Conference by myself."
(End of Chapter)
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