Levine observed Agatha's expressions and knew what she was thinking. She chuckled before clearing the air for her.
"Don't worry too much, lassie. House Montmorency and House Derringers would bear the expenses of the construction for the time being.
I've already checked out the entrance to Minerva's Utopia before coming here. Therefore, I can say with absolute certainty that our investment in this project is worth it. You wouldn't have seen me take this huge risk if it wasn't."
Levine's assurance made Agatha breathe a sigh of relief. She had adopted some of the butcher's traits after being so close with him. So the talk of huge expenditures always made her stressed, especially when the returns weren't assured.
Levine looked at the spectral screen that was in front of Agatha and narrowed her eyes. She raised her brows before chuckling. The master looked at her student keenly before addressing him.
"It seems your timing to pump your product into the distribution chain was impeccable, Eren. The news about Minerva's Utopia is spreading. You just made use of that wave to your advantage, didn't you?"
Eren smiled at Levine's answer but stayed silent. He did not plan these things down to the last detail. However, he hoped things would align and acted accordingly.
He first made merchant unions look at his guild in a favorable light using Tuan's involvement, riding on the popularity of the Titus competition. Then he launched his products via his distribution chains throughout the kingdom of Edinburgh before the news about Minerva's Utopia was known to anybody.
The first line of customers had experienced the effects of the White Raven potions by then. Just when they had started their word-of-mouth campaign about the potion, the news about Minerva's Utopia broke out.
Finally, when some rankers started to have designs on Minerva's Utopia, another piece of news was intentionally spread out by the butcher. It was related to White Raven's official association with House Montmorency and House Derringer.
He also spread the rumors about the number of boots on the ground each of the houses had dispatched. Obviously, the numbers he spread through rumors were more inflated than their actual value.
White Raven's association with these prominent houses not only deterred most of the ranker organizations from making hasty moves but also aided in elevating the guild's status. Now almost every ranker knew that there was a guild named White Raven who was sitting on a gold mine that was Minerva's Utopia.
These compounding effects allowed White Raven's potion sales to shoot through the roof. Agatha would later find out that even with 1.7x the price hike, the shopkeepers, potion banks, and independent contractors still sought White Raven potions.
Eren had only hoped for the best when arranging these things. As a result of his preparations and the effort he put forth, it can be said that his hopes were not misplaced.
Levine chuckled when she saw Eren being humble in front of her. She took out a few scrolls from her storage and placed them in front of Agatha before commenting.
"Here, use these arrays. I'll give you my permission. These arrays will help you in your manufacturing of potions and processing of raw materials."
The set of scrolls contained two array variants of the spells Ingredient Age Expedite and Ingredient Age Reverse. These were the same spells Eren was used to using in his potion creations. He had to admit that they were a saving grace for his relatively limited potioneering time.
Along with these arrays, the scroll set also contained arrays that were usually used for large-scale potion manufacturing.
Agatha opened the scrolls and looked through them and their descriptions one by one. She couldn't help but smile as she kept on reading them. These arrays were going to be a huge help to the guild's manufacturing unit once she streamlined the whole process from scratch and incorporated them into their regular use.
Eren bowed toward Levine before speaking up.
"Thank you, Teacher. Your timing to release these scrolls is impeccable as well."
Looking up, the butcher smiled. He knew how much these arrays would positively affect his guild's manufacturing power up close. Things had finally fallen into place for him after he had decided to pursue his money-making career in potioneering.
The construction on the guild land was going to begin. Levine and Agatha started talking to each other, while Eren gave his input once in a while.
Levine was also going to aid the White Raven guild in constructing a potion bank. This way, they wouldn't have to depend on other channels for their storage.
Renar just stood beside Eren awkwardly not knowing what to do. He wanted to leave the hall since his job was done. But since the Master ranker was present among them, he thought leaving would be rude. So he stayed on.
Just when Renar mustered the courage to interrupt Levine's talk with Agatha and ask for a leave, someone else appeared outside the chamber. It was Tuan Aag. Agatha soon let him in.
"Eren, those people that you had told me about have come."
When he felt Levine's presence in the room, Tuan spoke slowly with his head tilted downwards. The butcher immediately knew what he was talking about and said out loud.
"Teacher Levine, Agatha, I'll let the two of you finalize our initial plans. I'll handle our recruits. Renar, come with me."
Eren said and kicked the butt of his almost finished smoke out of the window. He then gestured to Tuan and Renar to follow him outside.
***
White Raven guild building. Ground floor.
There were chairs and some furniture in the welcome hall. The runic details were still being drawn by a few Novice ranked array makers. There was only one Ace-ranked array maker who was in charge of them. He would step in only when he found out that the Novice rankers under him had made mistakes.
The guild also had a mortal staff that could be seen handling mediocre chores. A few pretty girls from the unranked staff were in charge of welcoming any visitors and leading them here.
The hall was well lit due to the natural light coming from the corridors and galleries. But it was apparent that the building was newly constructed and lacking in many amenities.
It was as if the White Raven guild that was supposed to be all the rage these days had emerged from the ground like a wild mushroom. It did not have any history nor did anyone see it coming.
In the welcome hall, another group of rankers was present that was not part of the construction crew. Nor were they the merchants seeking to become part of the guild's distribution chain.
"Drin, what do you think? Are we making the right choice?"
