Page 460

0% 1.

At the crack of dawn, Amelia and Siwoo got up, checked out of their hotel, and headed back to Gehenna.

Sophia, who had been notified in advance, was waiting for them at the immigration office.

Her violet hair, an unnatural color to have on one’s hair, seemed to seamlessly integrate into her appearance.

At one point, Amelia stepped away to talk with the immigration officer, giving Siwoo a chance to have a chat with Sophia.

“Janitor Siwoo—ah, wait, you aren’t a janitor anymore, are you? I’ve been calling you that for so long it’s stuck in my head...”

“You can call me whatever you like.”

“A-Ahem, alright then, Mr. Siwoo, how was the trip?”

“It was great.”

Sophia always felt like she owed Siwoo something.

Even if she had good intentions, she had turned a blind eye to Amelia’s clumsiness, and that had caused Siwoo no small amount of trouble.

Knowing that, Sophia always felt a tinge of guilt when talking with him.

But, as Amelia’s self-proclaimed best friend, there was one question she couldn’t resist asking.

“Really? So, how was it?”

“Ah...”

It was the same as Siwoo remembered; Sophia had a rather sultry charm, matching her figure.

Catching her coy look, he quickly understood what she was hinting at.

“Well, nothing really happened...”

“Ugh, I figured as much.”

Sophia nodded in understanding, as if she had expected that response.

Her intention behind the question aside, he had plenty of things he wanted to ask Sophia about.

Since she seemed more ‘worldly’ than most witches, he thought she might give him more straightforward answers than Amelia would.

Since Amelia was away right now, this was a perfect chance for it.

“More importantly, I want to ask about Ms. Amelia’s fine. I heard that she planned to sell her perfumes—”

“I’ve already got that covered.”

Siwoo was about to ask, ‘Do you think she can pay it all off in 10 years with just that?’.

But she cut him off with an ever-so-casual answer.

As if she didn’t even consider his concerns to be worth thinking about.

“I’ve set up all the necessary equipment, the workshop, and the shop itself. The place is at a quiet corner of the Malkuth Gallery, but that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve also ordered the necessary materials, and even lined up customers from the salon.”

Sophia pulled out a pile of documents.

Even at first glance, the pile looked thick.

“T-This is all the customer list?”

“Yep. Technically, it’s a reservation list since they’ll visit the shop later. I’ve made it pretty comprehensive, since we’re aiming to sell them to the wealthy witches. Since the inquiries are still pouring in, I’ll keep updating it and send the details to the shop.”

Her explanation caught Siwoo off guard.

It had been less than two full days since Amelia and Siwoo left for the trip.

Yet, in that short time, Sophia had gathered what seemed to be hundreds of reservations.

“That’s impressive...”

Amused by his admiration, Sophia shrugged and handed him the list.

“You’d probably have gotten just as many if you were the ones who handed these over.”

“It’s just perfume, though...”

Siwoo had a vague idea that Amelia’s perfumes were popular among witches.

After all, even the infamously picky Flora Arabesque was instantly swayed by the ‘Perfume of Fatigue,’ they offered, going so far as to make an outfit for Siwoo on the spot.

“‘Just perfume,’ you say? Perfume is part of fashion. Even witches who study magic are, at heart, aristocratic ladies who love to dress up. For example, me. Amelia’s perfumes are famous not just for their magical effects but also for their captivating scents.”

Sophia explained proudly, almost as if she was showing off her protégé.

“But Amelia rarely made perfumes unless I forced her to do it. That’s why supply never came close to meeting demand. But now that she, the best perfumer in Gehenna, is offering custom-made fragrances, who wouldn’t jump at the chance?”

That explanation sounded logical, but some things still didn’t add up in Siwoo’s mind.

“She’d need to produce in large quantities to pay off her debt... But that means her perfumes wouldn’t be as rare, and the price would drop, no?”

Limited-edition items fetched higher prices for a reason.

Amelia might’ve been able to sell each bottle for a high price due to scarcity, but if she was forced to make hundreds or thousands of bottles...

“I get what you’re worried about, but you’re way off.”

Seeing his genuine concern for Amelia, she let out a warm smile as she lit her cigarette.

“Didn’t I tell you that it’s custom-made? It’s to prevent a disaster like running into someone at a ball wearing the same perfume.”

“That does make sense.”

“Also, Amelia’s perfumes have a shelf life of centuries. Their scent won’t change no matter how long they’re stored.”

That was when Siwoo realized that he was still trying to understand witches from a human perspective.

Witches didn’t age.

They could live for centuries if they so wished.

Even if supply and demand temporarily balance out due to a sudden influx of her perfumes, over time, they’d become rare again.

“In the Modern World, luxury goods are all about the brand’s value, but in Gehenna? They only care about the product itself.”

“Like a work of art?”

“Exactly. That’s why everyone on this list wants to buy as much perfume as they can for now. After all, they all assumed that once Amelia pays off her debt, she’ll stop making perfumes for a while. That’s why, if she puts in a few hard months, she might just clear all her fine.”

“Wait, in just a few months...?”

There was a saying that went...

No matter how small the market was, as long as you were on top, you could still make a fortune.

In Gehenna, where witches were crazy about luxury, it wouldn’t be surprising if Amelia, the Queen of Perfumery, could make a great fortune.

But still, he still didn’t believe that she could pay off her hundreds of billions won of debt in just a few months.

“Do you want to know how much her perfumes sell for?”

“Yes. Honestly, I haven’t been this curious in a while...”

Sophia took something out of her pocket.

It was a tiny, pretty blue bottle, about the size of her thumb.

Siwoo remembered seeing similar bottles on Amelia’s desk before.

“This is the perfume she used to sell, 0.5 fl.oz per bottle. If used daily, it could last about two months. Since it was auctioned off, there was no fixed price for it, but typically, its price was around 20 gold pounds.”

“What?”

“Meanwhile, the bottles she’s going to sell this time are around 2.5 fl.oz per bottle. And since they’re custom-made with premium ingredients... I’d say each of them could go for at least 100 gold pounds.”

Hearing that, he realized that back when he was a slave, escaping Gehenna probably wasn’t an impossible task like he had expected.

If he had just stolen a few bottles from her office and sold them to smugglers, they might just be willing to help him escape in secret.

“If she started a perfume shop earlier, her shop would’ve been as big as Flora Arabesque’s tailor shop.”

As Sophia casually said that, Amelia, the walking money machine, was heading their way.

It was probably just his imagination, but it was as if a radiant golden glow came from behind her, like sunlight glinting off piles of coins.

The perfume is worth 80 million won per bottle...

He could almost hear Sharon pounding the ground in frustration somewhere.

2.

Siwoo offered to help Amelia with her perfume production.

It wasn’t out of pity for her though, he really just felt responsible since he was part of the reason why she was left with such a massive debt to begin with.

Meanwhile, Amelia was happy to spend more time with him, so she agreed and headed to the workshop Sophia had prepared.

She used to make perfumes in a small lab attached to the research building, but for a large-scale production that she was aiming for, she’d need proper setup.

Sophia had covered all the costs—from the construction cost, to the various manufacturing equipment costs.

The moment Siwoo saw the massive workshop standing on a vacant lot not far from the Malkuth Gallery, his jaw dropped.

Its size was almost the size of a football field.

Though it was likely constructed with magic, and it was clear that it wasn’t built to last for a long time, completing such a facility in such a short time was still an astonishing feat.

Calling it a workshop would be a disservice of it, it was a whole factory.

But, that was all the good impression it brought.

“This building is just begging to be torn down...”

“...It really is.”

That was a perfectly accurate assessment.

Since they made it in such a short notice, it looked extremely ugly.

It was as if someone slapped together a bunch of logs to make a warehouse in the middle of a field.

Apparently, the City Hall issued a demolition notice as soon as Sophia finished building it.

But, thanks to Gehenna’s rather lenient laws, they gave her a three-year grace period before they’d actually take action, which Sophia willingly exploited.

“Let’s head inside.”

“Okay.”

After that, the pair stepped into the building.

As soon as they entered, they felt a warm, dry air circulating through the air, as if the place was divided into separate levels.

What caught their attention, however, was how empty the vast building was. So much so that their voices even echoed.

Except for about twenty copper distillation sets and a few tools piled in the corner, the space was completely bare.

The wooden crates scattered around only amounted to a few hundred at most.

Altogether, the equipment barely filled a tenth of the available space.

Siwoo, who had expected a factory-like scene based on the building’s exterior, was puzzled, understandably so, though.

“Is this where you’ll be making the perfume?”

Amelia shook her head.

“No, this is just for producing essential oils.”

“Essential oils...? What are those?”

“They’re the ingredients that give perfumes their scent. Perfumes are made by mixing high-purity alcohol with different essential oils.”

Siwoo was actually trying to ask if such a large space was needed to make perfumes, but...

Amelia just gave him a fundamental answer before adding:

“I have some leftover oils from my master, but if we are aiming for a large-scale production, we’ll need more than that.”

“I see.”

She didn’t fully address his question.

But that question of his was soon answered.

“Excuse me! Delivery for the items you ordered!”

“Order?”

“The roses are here.”

Amelia signed for the delivery from a worker that was sweating at the entrance.

Siwoo followed behind her, peeking outside. There, he saw a wagon filled to the brim with rose petals which stems were already removed.

There were so many of them that it seemed as if they had picked all the roses in Countess Gemini’s garden.

But, his astonishment didn’t stop there.

While he was intoxicated by the scent of roses—which he could smell from where he was standing at—he saw it.

A line of wagons, dozens in number, stretched beyond the horizon, all headed straight for the workshop.