Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 1184

As Jenkins and Dolores spoke, they reached the start of the red carpet at the bottom of the theater’s towering stone steps. Dolores hesitated for a moment, motioning that she wanted to take his arm.

Even a complete fool would have understood what she meant. Their plans for the afternoon and evening were already a bit unconventional, and he didn't want to give her the wrong idea.

But before he could think of a polite way to refuse and suggest an alternative, Dolores had already taken his arm. With that, Jenkins no longer had to agonize over the decision, as he couldn't possibly shrug off the princess’s arm.

"Why are you frowning?" Google seaʀᴄh novel⁂fire.net

Dolores asked as they stepped through the entrance into the magnificent, gilded hall.

"Ran into a bit of trouble. That flower girl just now wasn't a real flower girl. Well... to be more precise, although she was indeed selling flowers, it wasn't her profession, not even a side job. It was just a disguise."

Jenkins possessed the divine domain of [Protector of Flower Girls]. While the associated abilities were mostly useless, it was at least reliable for telling whether someone was a true flower girl or not.

He couldn't do anything back then in front of everyone, and he didn't know who the girl was targeting, so he was only bringing it up now.

He had thought his luck would improve after leaving the vortex that was Nolan, but here he was, running into trouble on his very first day in Ruen. It forced him to wonder: over the past six months, had his presence caused the endless incidents in Nolan, or had the constant chaos in Nolan soured his luck?

He hesitated, deciding not to voice his other conclusion. He suspected the "flower girl" might not have even been a girl at all, but rather a man with a condition like dwarfism and excellent makeup skills.

Of course, that was just a feeling. He had no evidence to back it up.

Dolores had, of course, purchased tickets for a private box. As a princess, she didn't need to squeeze in with the "ordinary" audience in the rows of seats below.

The decor and service at this theater surpassed even Nolan's Royal Opera House. Although Jenkins wasn't particularly interested in opera, he took an immediate liking to the enormous sofa.

To be honest, it was practically a single bed.

The opera was titled "The Scammer's Sin," a classic, traditional play. Nolan's Silver Jasmine Opera Troupe occasionally performed it, but Jenkins had never happened to see it.

Speaking of scammers, no one these days could avoid the topic of the "Fabry Fraud." Even though the matter had been concluded this past January, the kingdom's financial reforms and the rise of church-backed banks meant the non-existent "Miss Fabry" remained one of the favorite topics of discussion in all the major newspapers.

"I've always thought it was a scam with no real sophistication," Jenkins remarked to Dolores as they waited for the show to begin. Somehow, their conversation had drifted to the Fabry case. "Anyone with enough time could have done what I did. If you don't count the cost of the stamps I forged, a single person could have pulled off the whole scheme without any problem."

Of course, Dolores and Julia knew the whole story. Long before Jenkins had turned himself in, they had heard him complain many times about what a hassle the whole affair was.

"Actually, just coming up with the idea isn't simple at all," Dolores countered. "So, in your opinion, what kind of new scam would you consider complex?"

Dolores asked, glancing sideways at the cat lying on Jenkins's lap. The cat was also looking at her—with a very human-like gaze.

Jenkins didn't notice what Chocolate was looking at; he just thought Dolores had asked an excellent question. Recalling that the princess was now taking charge of the kingdom's newly established financial department, he felt obligated to give a serious answer. He considered it carefully before replying.

"In my opinion, the most sophisticated scam of all is finance itself. But if you want to be more specific..."

He thought of the tulips Dolores grew in her greenhouse and the flower girl they had just encountered, and continued.

"There are no existing examples, but we can make some hypothetical assumptions and bold extrapolations."

He reached into his pocket and, under the cat's expectant gaze, took out some flower seeds. They were a gift from Dolores—seeds from the tulips in her greenhouse. The batch of unusually colored tulips she had grown were all cultivated from these very seeds, so she had given the rest to Jenkins.

Seeing what they were, Chocolate immediately lost interest, hopping up from Jenkins's lap and onto the table, preparing to wage a heroic battle against the pastries laid out there.

"Let's use tulips as an example," Jenkins began. "The premise is this: in Ruen, at this time of year, tulips are an exceptionally precious flower. Certain tulips with rare colors and unique petal shapes can sell for a price that would leave even the middle class speechless."

When he finished, he looked at the princess, who nodded. Julia then added:

"It's a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a realistic assumption. The nobility wouldn't hesitate to spend on such high-end flowers, especially at this time of year."

"Good. And as everyone knows, because of the mosaic virus, tulips can easily develop special stripes and colors on their petals. These flowers are regarded by the public as valuable and rare, a view shared by merchants and the market. Although tulips are expensive, not all of them can fetch an astronomical price. The scenario I'm proposing is about how to use tulips to make a quick profit."

Seeing that neither the princess nor her maid spoke, Jenkins gathered his thoughts and continued his explanation.

"It's not actually that difficult; it just requires a lot of manpower to monitor the market. First step: hype up the value of tulips among the nobility and get the general public to widely accept that tulips are an exceptionally precious flower. This isn't hard to do. A large-scale auction, a few well-placed shills, and a couple of influential newspapers would do the trick.

"Second step: while the buzz around tulips is hot, systematically guide local merchants to take notice of the flower and promote an example of someone who got rich selling them. This isn't too difficult either. You'd still need newspapers, plus some merchants you can control and a large amount of liquid capital.

"The third step is quite simple. As long as merchants are making a profit, others will follow suit. And as long as the followers are making money, even more people will jump on the bandwagon. Once it reaches a certain scale, it won't just be wealthy merchants who notice the flower's profitability. Small shop owners with some assets and a few middle-class folks willing to take a risk will all join the game.

"And the masterminds of this game just need to constantly control public opinion to make people believe the price of tulips will only go up, never down, and then exit at the right time—that's the critical part. Do that, and making a fortune is absolutely guaranteed."