Author's Note:

  Everyone, I sincerely apologize for the delay. My PC has been acting up and is barely turning on, and when it does, it tends to shut down due to overheating.

  I’ve been taking extra shifts and trying to get the parts needed to fix it as quickly as possible, but I hope I can count on your understanding in case of any delays.

  Once again, I’m truly sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy the chapter, everyone.

  Sincerely, KamiSlayer.

  "Send my most sincere regards to him… Or her," said Alexander upon collecting and storing the piles of black coins. "Have a good day."

  Upon leaving the private room and meeting Diana again, Alexander noticed she was happy, but confused. "Let me guess what happened: you bet on me and received more than you should have gained?"

  "How do you know?" asked Diana, confused.

  "Because they also paid me extra," replied Alexander, smiling.

  "Accept it," encouraged Alexander. "I 'gave' this betting house, and all the ones in the Empire, a colossal profit… And as they must know you are linked to me after investigating me for betting so much on myself, they extended their goodwill to you as well."

  Alexander's conjecture wasn't far from the truth.

  The betting house really investigated him as thoroughly as they could as soon as he placed his bet.

  Its owner also managed to obtain an astronomical profit when the young underdog broke most of the tournament bets with his winning streak.

  What Alexander himself didn't know was that the betting house owner had passed on the bet and obtained an even greater value than his with his unexpected victory in the final.

  As the group barely spent time at the betting house, Alexander decided to go to the Black Moon store to buy some things before returning to the academy and picking up the items.

  However, during their journey to the store, he saw a young woman sitting in a dark corner of the street with her eyes swollen from crying so much.

  "This is not the right place for you," said Alexander upon approaching the young woman and extending his hand to her. "Come with me and you will have the most incredible night of your life so far."

  Alexander had no idea, and probably never would, why the young woman accepted his invitation so easily.

  However, as she accepted, he helped her up and they continued together to the store.

  Diana's family was, at the very least, surprised by Alexander's attitude, but they said nothing.

  They didn't know what his intentions were.

  "Excuse me, could you show me your most expensive cloaks that fit this estimated size?" asked Alexander to one of the beautiful Black Moon attendants while specifying the desired size at the entrance counter.

  Upon hearing the request, the attendant looked them over but didn’t even bother to assist.

  Not wanting to waste time, upon seeing another employee pass by, Alexander dismissed the receptionist without hesitation and made the same request to another employee.

  The new employee also measured Alexander and his group from head to toe, but took them to the clothing section.

  Alexander had barely taken a step when a store customer recognized him and told another person about the tournament—alerting the employees, who hadn't watched the tournament because they were working, about his "identity."

  Upon discovering that Alexander was simply the Imperial Tournament champion, the receptionist was shocked almost to the point of fainting.

  Not only did she let a potentially large commission slip away, but she also put her job at risk.

  As soon as the news of "Alexander's" presence circulated among the store employees, the employee who had previously brought him the cores didn't take long to appear before him. "Great pleasure to see you again, Mr. Alexander. Can I be of any help to you today?"

  "I'm already being assisted," said Alexander. "But these ladies are also going to a party tonight… Can Black Moon help them with that?"

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  The employee was visibly a bit sad about the first part of the response, but as soon as Alexander left three women who needed to get ready for a party under his care, he almost fainted from happiness.

  "Of course, sir," assured the cheerful employee. "I guarantee you they will be dazzling for this party."

  The man was obviously exaggerating a bit, as Black Moon didn't directly handle all the preparations they would need.

  But that was why it—like the Guilds—kept some partner professionals.

  "I don't really care about your promise to make them dazzling, because they are already dazzling," said Alexander, very seriously. "But I really care that THEY are happy with the result."

  "This way, ladies," said the employee showing the way while swallowing hard looking at Alexander.

  The message was clear: you can try to sell the most expensive ones, but don't force it and ruin the night for ALL of us.

  As soon as the employee left with the women of the group, the employee who was attending Alexander returned. "These are our best cloaks, sir."

  After displaying the cloaks on some hooks, the employee began looking for the group's women, at which Alexander explained: "I ended up finding a familiar employee and asked him to take care of them to save us time."

  The woman immediately felt a bit discouraged upon hearing that, as, generally, it's the female audience that needs more pieces when getting ready.

  However, she tried not to show it and kept smiling.

  "But I would appreciate it if you showed some party clothes for my… friend," completed Alexander. "I don't care about the price, but I believe he will prefer something comfortable and not too flashy."

  Delighted to have another request, the woman turned and ran inside the store without even waiting for consent or specifications from Diana's father—who started looking at Alexander.

  "You can also choose to simply not take anything and wear whatever you want to the party," said Alexander calmly. "I myself wouldn't buy clothes like these if I didn't have to represent the academy."

  Alexander knew Diana's father was simple and straightforward, but he also knew that everyone has their limits.

  He didn't want to force him to do anything, much less to wear certain clothes.

  He just wanted to give him the same treatment he gave to the other members of his group.

  Upon seeing that Alexander seemed sincere, Diana's father merely nodded to him, who went back to looking at and evaluating the cloaks they had brought him.

  When the attendant returned with clothes for Diana's father and showed them to them, Alexander turned to her and pointed to a black cloak. "I'll take that one."

  As soon as the woman saw the piece he pointed to, her eyes began to shine with happiness.

  That wasn't just the most expensive item she had brought, but also one of the most expensive pieces in the store.

  "You clearly have very good taste," praised the attendant. "This cloak is a work of art like no other in this city."

  "It was made from the hide of a 4th evolution creature. It was sewn with 3rd evolution silk treasure threads. And finally, it was textured with majestic ascending dragons in platinum and mithril," detailed the saleswoman.

  Alexander already knew most of this information, as he used |Appraise| on all the pieces before choosing his.

  What he really found interesting about this specific cloak were the benefits it provides.

  [Twin Dragons Cloak (Elite): A wearable art made from the hide of a 4th evolution creature. Besides its enormous beauty, which exudes its own aura of prestige, it also possesses great resistance.]

  +50 defense.

  +25% Charisma.

  Skill: |Aura of Prestige|

  [|Aura of Prestige|: Emanates an aura that doubles the effect of the user's Charisma on people within a radius of up to 100m.]

  Satisfied with the [Twin Dragons Cloak], even though it was almost 10 cm longer than indicated for his current size—and seeing Diana's father choosing an outfit—Alexander turned to the attendant.

  "I need you to locate the other attendant and send him here as soon as they choose what they want," said Alexander. "If possible, in the meantime, set aside and bring me 2 basic spells of the elements Earth, Fire, Wind, and Darkness: one offensive and one support; and also a basic support spell of the Lightning element."

  With a new objective, the employee hurried to fulfill the requests as best she could.

  Some time after the woman left, the attendant Alexander had requested appeared panting—as if he had run as fast as he could.

  "So, how are the preparations going?" asked Alexander.

  "They are going well, sir," assured the attendant. "They have already chosen almost everything. Some people are already helping them get ready."

  "Good," nodded Alexander, satisfied. "Wait here a bit. I will have some new instructions soon."

  With the employee attending to his request and Diana's father having chosen the outfit he would take, only the employee returning with the books he had requested was missing—which also didn't take long to happen.

  "Calculate how much everything cost," requested Alexander, already storing the books.

  "Sir, one of the ladies said she would pay for them," said the attendant.

  "And I am telling you both to calculate EVERYTHING," retorted Alexander.

  Preferring to offend Diana over Alexander, the employee stepped back and joined his colleague and they began to calculate the cost of all the group's expenses so they could present the bill to Alexander.

  Upon receiving the bill, which detailed each expense, Alexander wasn't surprised to see that the [Twin Dragons Cloak] alone cost 1 large Black Diamond coin.

  That wasn't what mattered to him, he looked at the total amount of the bill and used |Minor Lightning| to destroy it still in his hand.

  Seeing Alexander destroy the bill, the two employees stepped back thinking he was angry.

  When they least expected it, he handed them 3 large Black Diamond coins. "You did a good job holding back, but now I want you to do exactly the opposite… Jewelry will go well with the party we're going to."

  The moment they realized Alexander had destroyed the note so no one else would see its value, the two couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "Why didn't they have someone to do that for them too?"

  "Use the amount that exceeds the bill to provide them with some jewelry," said Alexander, knowing the bill didn't exceed 2 large Black Diamond coins. "Whatever is left you can split between yourselves."

  "Sir?" asked the two surprised employees.

  However, as soon as they turned to Alexander, he was already walking away while waving with his back turned.

  The employees then looked at each other.

  Their profit would increase if they offered less jewelry, but would it be worth it to anger Alexander?