City ​​of Witches 460

Chapter 460 – #97_Perfume

#459

1.
Amelia and Siwoo, who had woken up at dawn, checked out of the hotel and returned to Gehenna.
Sophia, who had been contacted in advance, was waiting for them at the immigration office.

A witch who naturally pulled off purple hair that couldn’t exist naturally.
While Amelia went to see the director for a moment, Siwoo was able to talk with Sophia.

“Siwoo, you’re not a manager anymore… are you? I’ve been calling you that for so long, it’s become a habit.”
“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Ahem, then Siwoo, how was your trip?”
“It was fun.”

In fact, Sophia had a debt of gratitude to Siwoo.
Even though her intentions were good, she was aware of Amelia’s clumsiness and neglected it, which resulted in great harm to Siwoo.
Knowing this, Sophia always felt sorry when she faced him.

However, as someone who claimed to be Amelia’s friend, there was a question she couldn’t help but ask.

“Really? How was it?”
“Ah…”

As far as Siwoo remembered, Sophia had a lewd side, like her figure.
Looking at her subtle gaze, he realized the meaning of the question.

“Um, nothing happened.”
“Oh, I knew it.”

Sophia nodded as if she had guessed it.
Whatever her intention was, Siwoo had many questions for Sophia.

She seemed more knowledgeable about the world than other witches, and he thought he could get more honest answers than from the person involved.
Now that Amelia was away for a moment, it was the perfect opportunity.

“More importantly, I have a question about Amelia’s compensation. Amelia is planning to sell perfume…”
“I’ve already prepared for that.”

Siwoo brought this up to ask, ‘Can she pay it back within 10 years with that?’
But Sophia’s answer was too nonchalant.
It was as if she didn’t even consider Siwoo’s question.

“I’ve prepared the manufacturing equipment, workshop, and store. The store is in a corner of the Malcuth Gallery, but it shouldn’t be a big problem. I’ve also ordered the materials… and I’ve secured customers from the salon.”

Sophia rummaged through some papers.
They were quite thick at first glance.

“Is… is this all a list of customers?”
“Yes, it’s a reservation list, to be exact. They’ll come to the store later. I’ve made sure to include wealthy witches. Inquiries are still pouring in, so I’ll organize them as they come and send them to the store.”

Siwoo was a little dumbfounded.
Amelia and Siwoo had been out for less than two full days.
In that short time, she had managed to get reservations from hundreds of witches.

“You’re amazing.”

Sophia shrugged her shoulders and handed him the list, impressed by his skills.

“You could have gathered this many if you had recruited them yourself.”
“It’s just perfume, though?”

He vaguely knew that Amelia’s perfume was popular among witches.
In fact, Flora Arabesque, who was extremely picky, changed her attitude as soon as she received the ‘Perfume of Fatigue’ and made clothes for Siwoo.

“Just perfume? Perfume is fashion. Even witches who study magic are mostly noble ladies who like to dress up. Even me. Amelia’s perfume is famous for its beautiful scent, even apart from its magical effects.”

Sophia explained with a proud expression, as if she were bragging about her own child.

“But Amelia hardly ever made perfume unless I pushed her. So, the supply was far short of the demand.
But now, the best perfumer in Gehenna, Marigold, is making custom-made perfumes. Who wouldn’t want to take this opportunity?”

It seemed so, but there were some confusing points.

“I thought you had to release a large quantity to pay off the debt… If the scarcity decreases, won’t the price go down as well?”

It wasn’t for nothing that items called limited editions were traded at a premium.
Now that Amelia had been selling one bottle at a time, it might have been traded at a high price, but if it reached hundreds or thousands of bottles…

“I know what you’re worried about. But you’re wrong.”

Sophia smiled as if she was proud of Siwoo, who was seriously worried about Amelia, and lit a cigarette.

“I told you it’s custom-made. At least, the terrible disaster of meeting someone at a ball wearing the same necklace and dress won’t happen.”
“That’s true.”
“Also, Amelia’s perfume has a shelf life of hundreds of years. At least, the scent won’t change during storage, even if time passes.”

Only then did Siwoo realize that he was still trying to understand witches from a human perspective.

Witches don’t age.
They can live for hundreds of years if they want to.
Even if the supply and demand were temporarily balanced due to a temporary release of goods, they understood that it would eventually become scarce in the long run.

“The value of luxury goods in the present world is determined by the brand, but witches look at the product itself.”
“It feels like a work of art.”
“That’s right. That’s why all the customers on this list want to buy as much perfume as possible.
They also know that Amelia won’t make perfume for a while after she pays off her debt. So… if we work hard for a few months, we should be able to pay it all off, right?”
“Wait a minute. A few months…?”

There’s a common saying.
Even if the market is small, if you’re at the top of the industry, you can become rich enough.
It wasn’t strange that Amelia, who had reached the top of ‘perfumery’ in Gehenna, which was full of luxury-loving witches, could make a lot of money.
But the calculation that she could pay off a debt of hundreds of billions in a few months was…

“Are you curious about how much Amelia’s perfume costs?”
“Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve been this curious.”

Sophia took something out of her pocket.
It was a pretty, small blue bottle, about the size of a thumb.
He remembered seeing a few of them on Amelia’s desk in her office in the past.

“This is Amelia’s 0.5 fl.oz perfume that she used to sell. If you spray it every day, it lasts about two months… They were all auctioned off, so there’s no fixed price, but they usually traded for around 20 gold pounds.”
“What?”
“The bottles I ordered this time are 2.5 fl.oz, and since they’re custom-made, if you add a premium depending on the materials, well… wouldn’t it be possible to get at least 100 pounds?”

Maybe escaping Gehenna wouldn’t have been that difficult.
If she had stolen perfume from her office and taken it to a smuggler, they might have smuggled her out…

“If Amelia had opened a perfume shop earlier, she would have made as much money as Flora’s dress shop, if not more.”

Along with Sophia’s relaxed guess, Amelia, the walking money-copying machine, was seen walking in the distance.
It was just a feeling, but a brilliant glow like gold coins was blooming behind her shoulders.

80 million won for one bottle of perfume…
Somewhere, Sharon seemed to be pounding the ground in frustration.

2.
Siwoo expressed his intention to help Amelia with perfume making.

It wasn’t just out of pity for her difficult situation, but because he deeply felt that he was deeply involved in the reason why Amelia had incurred such a huge compensation.
Amelia was happy to be able to spend more time with Siwoo and moved to the workshop that Sophia had prepared.

Amelia had originally made perfume using small facilities attached to the research building, but production facilities were essential for large-scale production.
Sophia had paid for the purchase, construction, and production of various manufacturing equipment.

Siwoo was speechless when he saw the size of the workshop, which stood tall on an empty lot about 5km away from the Malcuth Gallery in Lenomond Town.
It was almost as large as a soccer field.

Even though magic must have been used, and the structure was simple as a temporary building, he couldn’t believe that such a building could be built in such a short period of time.
A workshop was supposed to have a cozy feeling, but this building was definitely more like a factory.
Other than that, his impression was.

“This… this looks like it should be demolished.”
“…It does.”

That was it.
Perhaps because it was built only for speed, the exterior was not very impressive.
If you built a warehouse of a parcel delivery center out of wood on a wide field, it would look exactly like that.

For reference, Sophia was said to have received a demolition order from the city hall as soon as the building was built.
However, there was a three-year grace period from the administrative warning to the actual execution, so it could be seen as taking advantage of the lax Gehenna law.

“Let’s go inside first.”
“Okay.”

Siwoo and Amelia stepped inside the building.
As soon as they stepped into the building, a warm and dry air circulated as if the floor was divided.

But what was more embarrassing was that the building, which was so large that it echoed, was virtually empty.
Except for about twenty sets of copper distillation equipment and a few pieces of equipment piled up in the corner, it was completely empty.
The wooden boxes piled up were only a few hundred.
It barely occupied about one-tenth of the given space.

Siwoo, who had expected a factory-like scene after seeing the exterior, couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“Are you making perfume here?”

Amelia shook her head.

“No, we’re only going to make essential oils here.”
“Essential oils… what are they?”
“They’re the fragrances that are responsible for the scent of perfume. Perfume is made by mixing various types of essential oils in high-purity alcohol.”

Siwoo’s question was meant to ask if it was necessary to have such a large space to make perfume.
Amelia gave a rather fundamental answer and added.

“I have some that my teacher left me, but I think there will be a shortage of oils that are used a lot.”
“I see.”

Amelia didn’t give a precise answer.
However, Siwoo was soon able to find the answer to the question, ‘Why is this much indoor space needed?’

“Are you there! Please receive the items you ordered!”
“Ordered?”
“It seems like the roses have arrived.”

Amelia signed for the worker who was standing at the entrance, sweating.
Siwoo, who followed her and looked out the door, found that the back of the covered carriage was filled with red roses that had been stripped of their stems.
There were so many that it could be said that all the roses in the twin mansion’s garden had been picked.

Siwoo’s surprise didn’t end there.
As he was deeply intoxicated by the scent of roses that could be felt even from afar, he saw it.
A procession of dozens of carriages stretching to the horizon was heading towards the workshop.