Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Raising a werewolf is quite expensive.

After watching helplessly as Herford devoured all the potatoes stored at home, Zag still wasn't satisfied, so he roasted the few pieces of Twilight Root that the tree spirit had given him to fill his stomach.

After Herford finally let out a satisfied burp, Zag said sincerely, "With your appetite, I'm afraid I'll have a hard time feeding you."

Snowball chimed in angrily, "I only had two sips of Rosa's soup!"

Zag's resentment was no less than Snowball's: "I only drank half a bowl too."

Helford rubbed his hands together awkwardly. "I haven't eaten human food in so long, I couldn't control myself. Sorry..."

It's worth mentioning that Agorah seems to be a really good god, or rather, he's very indulgent towards the fairies' prayers.

Who could refuse Hakimi's request?

He not only turned Helford into a big white dog, but also gave him the ability to change at will—Helford could transform between a werewolf and a big white dog whenever he wanted.

Of course, this is on the condition that he always carries with him a seemingly plain stone given to him by Agorah.

According to Xueqiu, it was this stone that could conceal Helford's soul state while granting him the ability to transform.

As Helford explained, his spirituality had been drained, rendering him unable to learn or use any magic. This stone served as a vessel for external spirituality. However, the spirituality contained within it only allowed Helford to perform specific transformation spells blessed by Agora, namely, transforming into a large white dog or reverting to a werewolf.

On this point, Snowball fiercely sided with Helford, choosing to remotely huff at the demon named Dirichlet: "Its spirituality has been drained! Dirichlet is disgusting! Treating his own followers like this, no wonder he can't become one of the Nine Holy Spirits!"

After a busy day, Zag lay in bed, his pillow taken up by Snowball, while Helford could only curl up on the blankets around Zag's legs.

It claims that its thick fur makes it feel too hot, so it doesn't use a blanket.

As for snowballs...

Its fur is not short either, so it chose to lie on Zag's pillow, while Zag could only keep a third of the pillow for itself when facing Hakimi.

The next morning, fearing he might cause trouble, Zag finished filling out the grain store's commission file and hurried to Mrs. Weyland's aromatherapy shop to inform Matthew about the "Blessing of the Sea God".

"Damn it! Damn alchemist!"

Matthew was so angry his face turned red. He banged his pipe loudly and cursed for a long time before looking at Zag with a glimmer of hope: "Didn't you buy a bottle too? It seems you're alright, maybe that means it's not dangerous?"

"I didn't drink [Blessing of the Sea God], I drank [Healing Hand]. You remember, I also bought a bottle of Healing Hand." To make it easier to convince Matthew, Zag chose to lie directly and pass the buck to the association: "Besides, we can't gamble on right or wrong. Moreover, this is an order issued by the association's headquarters, and I'm just responsible for relaying it."

Matthew dared not oppose the association, and could only keep cursing everything else that might be related to this matter: "Fine, fine, fine, damn it, I knew outsiders couldn't be trusted! Those from the Dawn Mage Tower are even less trustworthy! Damn it!"

"Just consider it bad luck. It's better to intercept these alchemical potions than to have the lord come knocking on our door and hold us accountable if something really goes wrong," Zag comforted him, not forgetting the treants' request from last night, and then asked, "By the way, you should have [Meretra's Mercy] here, right? I need to buy two bottles."

Matthew's attention was immediately diverted: "You don't farm, so why did you think of buying this?"

Zag now lies without batting an eye: "The villagers at the Red Currant Mill wanted them. They specifically asked me to buy two bottles when I went back last weekend."

"That's true. You have to keep this on hand in the countryside, otherwise it would be terrible if a pest killed a whole crop."

As Matthew spoke, he picked up two bottles of brown alchemical potions from the shelf and quickly wrapped them up.

"Yes, this is indispensable."

While Matthew was packing up the alchemy potions, Zag casually inquired, "Mr. Matthew, do you know if there are any alchemy potion shops in East Harbor that sell [Healing Hand]?"

Matthew, pipe in hand, replied, “Of course, Mrs. Weyland’s aromatherapy shops are all over the Eternal High Kingdom, and Eastgate Port is no exception. I even know the shop owner! He’s the daughter of my mentor’s friend, named Rowan. She studied at the Golden Palace Mage Research Institute for a while, but like me, her spirituality was limited, and she remained at the apprentice level. Later, she really didn’t want to stay there anymore, so she came to Eastgate Port to open her shop… Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

"I plan to leave Cabbage Town. The environment here is too bad, which is not conducive to my mother's recovery," Zag replied. "Besides, the sentry's salary is still too low, only 30 shillings a week. Even if I save for a lifetime, I'm afraid I won't have the chance to cure my mother. I want to see if there are any better jobs in the Eastern Port."

"Then you've come to the right person! If you can count, I can recommend you as an apprentice at Mrs. Weyland's Aromatic Apothecary in Eastgate. You know, alchemy doesn't require much spirituality. Just last week, Rowan wrote to me complaining that she'd tried seven or eight people for alchemy apprenticeships in the past month and was dissatisfied with them all. Either their counting skills were appalling, or their handwriting was crooked. I guess you've been dealing with the guild all this time, writing so many files, your quill pen handling skills must be quite good!"

As he spoke, Matthew handed the two bottles of Meredra's Mercy that he had packed to Zag.

To be fair, aside from his greed and bad temper, Matthew is a decent guy; at least his proposal really piqued Zag's interest.

If the pay for being an apprentice at the alchemy shop is higher than that for being a sentinel, he has no reason to refuse.

"How's the weekly wage? Is it higher than 30 shillings?"

"Much higher. Living expenses in East Port are already higher than in Cabbage Town, so the salary is naturally higher too. An apprentice's weekly wage is at least 45 shillings, which is much more than what you earn as a sentry here!"

Zag was increasingly tempted: "That's indeed a good salary!"

Matthew reached for his pipe, blew a smoke ring, and continued, "Of course, of course it's great. If you're interested, I can help write a letter of recommendation. You can just go directly to Rowan; she'll give me face—but if you don't do a good job and get fired, that's none of my business!"

Zag would never refuse a deal that offers him a good deal.

He quickly and shamelessly said, "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, but you have to do a good job. I don't just do favors for anyone!"

As Matthew spoke, he found paper and pen and began to write the recommendation letter in a flamboyant style.

Zag glanced at it furtively a few times and found that he couldn't understand a single word—

Matthew's handwriting was not only all cursive, but the strokes were also exactly the same, just like the handwriting of doctors in modern hospitals who like to write Latin drug names when prescribing medicines, making it completely incomprehensible!

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【Lady Weyland's Aromatic Apothecary】: One of the most famous businesses of the renowned mage family Weyland, it is almost ubiquitous throughout the Eternal High Kingdom—except for Dawn Territory.

Perhaps this is the earliest chain store on the Dawn Continent?