Ch. 260: The Understated

Flora frowned and rose to her feet. "That's enough for now."

Sebastian and Ledger followed her, and Mo Fei trailed out of the living room after them.

They crossed the front courtyard. Outside the main gate, a crowd had already packed in, shouting at the house in a jumble of voices. Bibi rushed the few steps up to them, swung up the morningstar, and slammed it into the ground.

Thud!

Gravel sprayed. The people in the front row all stumbled back, and the shouting broke off. By her feet lay a fresh crater, and beside it were several patches in a newer color.

Bibi held the hammer and put on a polite but stiff smile. "Dear guests, please stand back."

"We're not here to make trouble!" A middle-aged man squeezed back to the front and held the thing in his hand high. "This purification device, my son wore it the whole time, and he still caught the disease!"
"We took it to the counter, and they glanced at it and said it wasn't theirs!"
"The counter won't recognize it, so we came to find someone who can actually make the call!"

Mo Fei looked at the flat metal ornament in the man's hand and scanned it with All-Seeing Gaze.

[Metal Ornament]
[Status: Intact]
[Composition: brass 90%, dried aromatics 8%, tin 2%]

This is just an empty shell stuffed with aromatics.

He looked at Flora beside him. "Miss, if we break that thing open in front of everyone, they'll see what's going on."

Bibi looked at Flora, and Flora tipped her chin toward the device.

Bibi promptly pulled it out of the man's hand, pinched both ends, and pressed her thumbs against the middle.

Snap.

The casing broke in two.

Mo Fei's eyes went wide. Wait... how is she snapping metal like a sandwich cookie?

A pinch of dry, crumbled aromatics spilled to the ground, and a heavy fragrance drifted out. Bibi held up the two halves to the crowd, then tossed them back at the man's feet.

Mo Fei pointed at the pinch of aromatics on the ground. "There's nothing but aromatics inside, no runes. Of course it does nothing."

Silence fell.

"O-only aromatics?" The man stared at the ground, his mouth opening and closing. "Th-then what about my money?"
"My son's still lying in bed. What am I supposed to do now!"

The shouting came back louder than before.

Flora frowned. "All this noise over this? The counter already checked it. It's a fake."

"You already knew?"

"It's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning." She turned away. "Sebastian, give them some money and send them off."

"As you wish, Miss."

"Wait!" Mo Fei hurried in front of Sebastian and lowered his voice. "If you pay them now, isn't that the same as admitting liability? The goods clearly aren't the Chamber's, but the moment you pay, they become the Chamber's. Once word gets out, everyone who bought a fake will line up, and you won't be able to patch this gate often enough."

"Then we pay as many times as it takes."

"Didn't someone file a complaint with the Development Bureau that the purification devices were fake? How was that handled in the end?"

"We spent some money and kept it quiet."

"Kept it quiet? What about the case?"

"It was never closed."

So this is what "the Chamber will handle it" looks like?

"See? The money's gone and the case is still open, and anyone who wants to dig it up can do so any time. It's the same with the crowd outside. Pay them, and the fakes will still be sold out there."

Another roar came from outside the gate.

Flora glanced that way, turned back, and fixed her eyes on him. "Then tell me, what's a better way?"

"Tell them to keep the fakes for now. Later, when they buy the real thing at the counter, the fake can be credited toward part of the price. We'll work out the details afterward. Right now, we just need to calm things down."

"Sebastian, do as he says. Go and tell them."

Sebastian walked to the main gate and tapped the tip of his cane lightly on the ground. He waited until the shouting dropped before he spoke.

"The Bizness Chamber of Commerce did not sell these goods. However, should you bring them to a Chamber counter and purchase genuine goods in the future, part of the cost will be credited. The procedure will be announced separately. Please keep your goods safe."

"Keep them? How long do we have to wait for this credit?"
"Even with the credit we couldn't afford it!"

The crowd grumbled for a while longer, but they still drifted away in twos and threes.

The middle-aged man stayed where he was and looked at the two halves of the casing at his feet.

"It's snapped in two. Can it still be credited?"

Mo Fei walked over. "It can. By the way, where did you buy this?"

"A stall on the street." The man didn't lift his head. "A whole lot cheaper than in the shops. The seller said the goods came from the Black Market, which is why the price was that low."

The Black Market, huh... I have to go pay Jimmy back that 100 gold today anyway. I'll ask him while I'm there.

The man bent down, picked up the casing, tucked it inside his coat, and left as well.

---

Back in the living room, Ledger opened his notebook. "Miss, if the credit goes ahead as Mr. Mo Fei says, for every fake we take back, the Chamber takes in that much less." He turned a page. "There's also one entry for repairs to the ground at the main gate. Miss Bibi, that makes nine now."

Bibi's mouth curled. "Want me to smash one more, to make it a round number?"

Ledger's pen paused for a moment, but he lowered his head and wrote it down anyway.

Mo Fei sat down at the table. "Don't rush to tally it up. You heard what somebody shouted from the back, didn't you? 'Even with the credit we couldn't afford it.'"

"And?"

"The fakes sell because people can't afford the real thing. Even after we've collected this batch, as long as that gap is still there, someone will buy the next one. So let's make a Lite... I mean, a basic model. Strip out the essential oils, the decorative patterns, all of that, and keep only the purification function. Make the exterior distinguishable from the current one at a glance."

"Don't forget the strategy we settled on." Flora's fingers began to tap on the edge of the table. "Move into the upper class first. Those people pay for what others don't have. If everyone on the street can afford to wear it, how is the business supposed to work?"

"If it's distinguishable at a glance, those people will still wear the original model. The fakes, on the other hand, are running all over the street right now, and under your name, no less. You have the counter tell customers that every coin out of the bank is genuine. But if everyone is convinced the Chamber sells fakes, who'll believe that? Paying out exactly what the books say is owed, isn't that the whole reason people trust a bank?"

The fingers tapping the table stopped.

After a moment, they started tapping again, faster and faster.

"Ledger, don't record the credit as a loss."

"Then under which item, Miss?"

"The people who came with fakes are all willing to spend money; they just can't afford it. The credit brings them to the counter, and the basic model will be sitting right there." She raised her head. "The people who blocked the gate and shouted at us today will all be customers at the counter from now on."

Ledger looked down at his notebook. "...Then I will enter it as a customer acquisition expense."

"Enter it that way." Flora turned to Mo Fei and lifted her chin slightly. "As for that 'basic model' of yours, a name like that won't sell. Call it the Understated. Once the decorative patterns are gone, the exterior will only be easier to copy. More people will be able to afford it, and more will take theirs home to pry open. Get the anti-counterfeiting and the anti-disassembly measures worked out first, and then this young lady will let it go on the shelves."

"...Fine."

Mo Fei had ZIP compress the equipment back into a cube. Remembering that the man's son had fallen ill, he asked, "By the way, does the Chamber have a source for Lungclear Herb?"

"No. Whoever has any these days won't let go of it, and the Chamber can't get stock either."

Jimmy doesn't have any, the Chamber doesn't, I can't reach the Witch Coven, and Phoebe has to be freed from her curse first... Should I just reroll this "Herb Gatherer" quest? But it's worth 5 EP.

He tucked the cube away and stood. "Then I'll head back."

"Wait." Flora stopped him. "Didn't you say that you can basically print anything on paper? Build this young lady another machine that can print flyers, tickets, and price lists."

"Miss, do you know how much I have on my plate right now? I can do it if you transfer Jacob back to the workshop to help."

"Jacob is handling other work. I can't spare him right now."

"Then it'll have to wait. The Understated needs anti-counterfeiting and anti-disassembly measures first, and the slip printer still lacks data conversion and scanning. Which of those isn't urgent?"

"You're the one who proposed this model."

"Then you tell me, which one first?"

"...Finish the slip printer first. The counters are still waiting. Then the Understated, with the anti-counterfeiting and anti-disassembly measures done properly. That machine goes last, and this young lady won't forget it."

Mo Fei nodded, took the cube, and left the villa.

---

Back at the workshop door, Lily happened to be coming out of the shop next door, her face an ashen white.

"Lily? You don't look well. Are you all right?"

Lily opened her mouth, but before any words came out, she began to cough. She braced a hand on the door frame; the harder she coughed, the lower she doubled over, until the hand slid off the frame.

She pitched forward.

"Lily!"