(MC POV)

I asked one of the staff members standing at the side and he helpfully directed me towards what I was looking for.

It was situated all the way at the back where a lone female guild member was manning the counter. If I hadn't known better, I might have thought the people around had even vacated the area after they knew I was going to look for rings.

The girl stiffened up as soon as she saw me approach the counter.

"Gre… Greetings Master Lin… I… How may I serve you?"

I peered into the display case in front of her, "Looking for a few storage rings I'm planning to gift, got any recommendations?"

"Umm… Ye… Yes! That is… The best one we have right now is this one!" She placed a velvet cloth on top of the display case and unlocked it without prompting, reaching her gloved hand into the case before placing a silver coloured ring on top of the cloth.

"This one is made out of palladium and has a storage space of about thirteen million cubic metres. There is only one of this in the world right now."

Oh? That is really impressive, though now I fear what the price of such a ring might be.

I would've made one myself to give them but I wouldn't have time to source the materials and make a good one before dinner time tonight.

"How much is it?"

Somehow that question made her relax, "For you, Master Lin, the Guild has chosen to offer you at--"

"Hold it! This prince has already set his sights on that ring! Only this prince shall receive it!"

I glanced to the side, spotting the third prince strutting towards us with his arrogant smirk.

He took one look at me and scoffed, "Really now, it feels like the standards of the Merchant's Guild has fallen, to allow even such rabbles into the Premium Section!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the girl gasp, her hand covering her mouth in shock.

I gave a slight bow, "Well met, Third prince Bei Ji Xiong."

He gave no indication of having heard me but went straight to pick up the ring instead.

At this point, the girl looked like she was about ready to faint.

The prince held the ring up to the light, "Hmmm… Doesn't seem like much, but a storage space of thirteen million cubic metres? I guess I can use that."

He throws the ring back on to the cloth casually, the girl wincing at the action.

"I'll take it, how much is it?"

She glanced at me before turning back to him, "Six thousand gold, your highness."

The prince almost fell over upon hearing the price, his hands reaching out just in time to grab the display case to support himself.

Holy... 

That ring could probably buy out a number of the Grand Sects with that value alone.

I highly doubt this is a price that anyone on this continent would willingly pay for. Unless of course, this ring is just here to act as a psychological aid to make the other rings more attractive to purchase?

Seeing how business minded they are, that could very well be the reason.

"This… Ahem… There… There's a limit to jokes you know?" The prince chuckled humorlessly. "Six… Six thousand gold for this ring?"

"That is correct your highness…" The girl confirmed with a nod. She picked up the ring to inspect it, making sure it was not damaged by the prince's throw.

She placed it back carefully down on the cloth before turning herself towards the prince, "So, will you be paying by credit or gold?"

The prince spluttered, "That… I… This prince has changed his mind! The colour does not suit this prince! I do not want this inferior ring anymore!"

The guild member did not seem surprised by his proclamation and merely just nodded at him before turning to me, "Is Master Lin interested in the ring?"

Well, to be honest, not really.

Sure, thirteen million cubic metres of storage space is quite an impressive number, but it's still something I can make if you give me something to inscribe and roughly about two hours or so.

If you must know, the material of the ring doesn't really matter as long as the Practitioner is good enough.

Sure, the material does help bind the inscriptions to the ring better, but if you know where to put your inscriptions, you can even bind it to the air if you want to.

The last one was something I learnt from the Royal Spiritual Family's archives by the way. It was not supposed to be common knowledge but hell, I took full advantage of my position as one of the librarians there so it's within my rights.

"No, I think that's a bit too extravagant for me," I answered truthfully.

"Oh, is it about the price? Do not worry Master Lin, for the inconvenience that the Guild has caused you, we are offering this one free of charge."

Huh, neat.

But still not interested though, I don't think that's a suitable gift for my disciple's family. Also, I would rather they compensate me with free deliveries for life instead of this ring.

"WHAT?! This is ridiculous! Why does this nobody get preferential treatment over me?! I demand an explanation!" The prince roared, pointing an accusatory finger at me.

The girl merely tilted her head at him, "Your highness, I'm sure you remember our Guild rules? Anything that happens within the Guild is under our jurisdiction. We do not need to explain anything to you."

That is just stone cold. Where had the girl that was flustering around when I spoke to her gone? Is this how she normally acts around other customers?

Realising that he probably won't get an answer from her, the prince turned to me instead, "You! Who do you think you are trying to disgrace this prince, huh?!"

I raised my hands in a placating gesture, "Believe me Prince Bei, that was not my intention at all."

"Shut up! Guards! Remove this commoner from my sight!"

A few of the guards around marched towards us at his call, standing a short distance behind the prince.

He smirked upon seeing the guards stand behind him, "That's right! Get out of here you loser! This place is not for the likes of yo--"

One of the guards grabbed his shoulder, interrupting him, "I apologize, your highness, but you need to leave."

The prince took about three seconds to process what has been just said to him.

"What?! Why?! How dare you! I'm saying to kick that stupid, dirty--"

The guards grabbed his arms and lifted him off the ground, swiftly making a beeline towards the door even with the prince cursing and threatening death upon them.

"I will remember this! I know your face now! You will pay for this! I'll make you rue the day you were ever born!" He roared, kicking his feet while struggling against the guards' hold.

One of his shoes flew off and hit me square in the chest, I could have avoided it but I thought it might give me more bargaining chips if I were to get hit instead.

The sound of gasps filled the room and even the guards froze.

Bending down, I picked up the prince's shoe and tossed it towards one of the guards, the man snapping out of his daze just in time to catch it.

"Careful with that, don't make him lose another shoe," I warned.

A few more guards appeared and grabbed the rest of the prince's limbs, manhandling him out of the sales gallery.

"I apologise on behalf of the Merchant's Guild for that unacceptable conduct, Master Lin!" The sales girl bowed.

I waved my hand, "Don't worry about it. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Un… Understood!"

Seeing as how no one even reacted to his departure, this is either a relatively common sight or they were avoiding the acknowledgement of such a sight on purpose.

"Anyway, is that alright? He's the third prince isn't he?" I asked.

"Ah, it… It is fine. We have written permission from the king to remove his third son from the premises if the situation calls for it. He is a known troublemaker, you see."

 Huh… If he really is the Dark Sect leader, his 'troublemaking' persona would allow others to not take him seriously which lets him move around freely to discover secrets.

That means he is much smarter than he lets on at least. For all I know, he might have even recognised me and pretended he didn't in order to throw me off.

"So is Master Lin interested in the ring?" She asked again.

"No. I'm getting these rings as a gift for someone. I don't think giving them such an extravagant gift would be suitable."

She brightened up, "Ah! In that case, I can pick a few out for you!"

She took out another two rings from the case to place on the cloth, both were golden with a silver trim running around it's outer surface. It looked valuable but also not too gaudy at the same time.

"Both of these have about a thousand cubic metres of storage space and look quite stylish too, perfect as a gift! And, like before, the Merchant's Guild is giving these to you for free with no strings attached!"

I thought for a while before nodding, "That's perfect, wrap it up and I'll take them."

She gave me a low bow, "It will be done, Master Lin."

Yes, that should be good enough. Now I should go and check up on my disciples.

Hopefully they found something good as well and caused the Guild no trouble.

Oh what am I saying? They're such innocent girls, of course they hadn't done anything bad!

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