It was another weekend.
Inside the main hall of the Goddess of Harvest Church, Father Teresa stood before the statue of the goddess, leading the faithful in prayer.
Midway through, a familiar figure stepped through the front doors of the sanctuary, causing Teresa's eyes to light up.
The Goddess of Harvest Church had very few followers in the City of Chaos. Monthly donations were meager, and the branch barely scraped by.
If not for funding from the main cathedral in the Empire, this church would have gone bankrupt long ago.
Last weekend, a wealthy new believer visited for the first time—and donated 50 gold coins in one go.
Teresa immediately reported the event to the bishop that same night.
The bishop made a few inquiries through his contacts, eventually confirming through the Radiant Mercenary Corps that the generous donor was none other than the recently arrived Seventh Prince of the Empire, His Highness Ron André.
Though Prince Ron had fallen out of favor in the palace and had been sent away, it was assumed that while his livelihood was secure, his wealth was likely limited.
Donating 50 gold on a first visit likely meant that was the end of it.
After all, donating 50 gold every week would be too much even for a prince.
Still, even if he didn't donate that much again, a few gold coins a week from someone like him wasn't out of the question.
So when Father Teresa saw Prince Ron step into the sanctuary again, he immediately gave a discreet signal to a nearby missionary.
The missionary nodded and silently walked over to Ron, greeting him respectfully and staying close—as if ready to assist at any moment.
Ron sat among the common folk in the main hall, quietly drawing the symbol of the wheat stalk across his chest, then joined the others in prayer.
An hour later, he rose, left the main hall, and entered the side chapel.
There, from his Backpack, he took out 50 gold coins and dropped them into the donation box.
The missionary standing behind him watched the coins flow into the box and instinctively licked his dry lips.
Ron didn't wait for Father Teresa to come over. After donating, he left the church as quietly as he had entered.
When Teresa heard from the missionary that His Highness Ron had donated another 50 gold coins, he was stunned—then immediately rushed off to report to the bishop.
"Welcome back, Store Manager!"
Nora was sitting beside the coffee table, pen in hand, writing diligently in a small notebook.
When she saw Ron return to the shop, she stood up with a bright smile and greeted him cheerfully.
Ron nodded with a smile, walked over, and motioned for her to sit before leaning over to glance at her writing. "Any questions?"
A couple of days ago, after agreeing to teach Nora how to read, Ron had gone out and bought a set of literacy books designed for noble children.
The written language of this world resembled English more than anything else from his previous life.
Having inherited the original Ron André's knowledge, who had received a strict royal education from a young age, Ron had no trouble with reading and writing.
On top of that, he himself had gone through nine years of mandatory education in his past world, giving him a solid idea of how to teach others.
So teaching Nora was more than manageable.
Nora already spoke the common language of the continent. All Ron had to do was teach her the 38 basic letters and the pronunciation of common words. Once she knew that, it was easy for her to connect written words with the ones she already used in speech.
Whenever there were no customers in the shop, Nora would sit quietly, copying down words, building sentences, and even trying to write short diary entries using the words she had learned.
Whenever Ron had a moment, Nora would seize the chance to ask questions—just like a diligent student squeezing every drop of knowledge out of her teacher.
Ron answered a few of her questions, encouraged her to keep going, then opened the storeroom door and stepped into the dimensional space.
While operating the flower production line, he thought about other things.
Today was his second visit to the Goddess of Harvest Church, and once again, he had donated 50 gold coins, which should definitely attract the church's attention by now.
If not next week, then the week after, he would be able to "exchange" for the [Miracle of the Goddess of Harvest], creating a divine cover story for the flower shop's mysterious supply source.
In the future, if anyone questioned where the shop's miraculous plants came from, he could simply "blame the goddess."
Especially once he actually obtained the miracle, the story would gain serious credibility.
On top of that, the flower shop's biggest secrets were all hidden within the dimensional plane.
Entry into that space required system permission. Only those approved could use the storeroom door as a portal to the dimension.
Otherwise, even if someone broke into the shop, all they'd find would be a regular storeroom filled with miscellaneous items.
Everything was airtight.
The only real danger would be if someone captured him and threatened his life.
That was exactly why Ron had worked hard to build strong relationships with the Magic Academy and the Radiant Mercenary Corps.
At least for now, the area around the flower shop was extremely secure.
Jasper had already instructed the local patrol squads to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity near Ron.
And secretly, Jasper had also arranged for mercenaries to guard Ron's safety from the shadows.
With the major players in the City of Chaos keeping tabs on him, Ron was arguably safer than most.
And worst-case scenario, he still had the system as a fallback.
He'd been hoarding so much Wealth Value precisely for situations like this.
If something truly life-threatening happened, the system would definitely release a Daily or Emergency Quest—and the shop would offer items to help him get through it.
As long as he had the wealth, he'd have a way out.
And once he grew strong enough, he wouldn't need to rely so heavily on the system. He'd be able to face danger with his own strength.
After producing another batch of Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemums and Nether Orchids, Ron returned to the shop by noon and had lunch with Nora.
That afternoon, a representative from the Magic Academy came to negotiate a deal for the Chrysanthemums.
In the end, both sides agreed on terms: just like the Nether Orchids, the Academy would purchase 200 Chrysanthemums per month, delivered in batches of 50 each week. Payment would be made at the beginning of each month.
With that, Ron received another promissory note—this time worth 6,000 gold coins.
Later, under the astonished gaze of Gold Reserve Bank manager Guy, Ron deposited the 6,000 gold into his account.
His Wealth Value officially passed the 20,000 mark.
[Wealth: 23,861]
Guy respectfully saw Ron out of the Deposit Hall, his eyes fixed on the prince's back, deep in thought.
This Prince Ron... is not easy to read.
It had only been two days, and he'd already earned another 6,000 gold from the Magic Academy?
When did making money become so easy?
Did the Academy and the Radiant Mercenary Corps all go crazy?
What exactly was Prince Ron doing that made both factions willingly hand over thousands of gold coins?
As for that so-called flower shop Ron mentioned?
Guy didn't believe a single word of it.
A flower shop making over 20,000 gold in less than half a month?
Who are you trying to fool—ghosts?