260: Chapter 260 The Transaction is Complete! Forbidden Knowledge of the Red Moon Reconstructs the Core of the Witchcraft Array!

In the reception hall.

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting soft light and shadows on the floor.

When Melissa pushed the door open and entered, she immediately saw the figure standing by the window.

Commissioner Veronica was around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing a form-fitting, waist-cinching deep purple gown, with the iconic emblem of the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance embroidered on the hem.

Her figure was tall and upright, with her long, dark brown hair pulled back into a neat bun, revealing her slender, fair neck.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Veronica turned around. Seeing Melissa walk in, a smile appeared on her lips, and she nodded slightly: "Miss Melissa, long time no see. Looking at your complexion, you haven't been resting well lately, have you? The situation in the North is truly worrying."

Melissa also smiled, walked forward, and shook hands with Veronica lightly: "Thank you for your concern. It is you, Miss Veronica, who has it hard, traveling all the way from the East every time."

The two sat down opposite each other by the coffee table. A maid refilled their tea and then quietly exited the room.

After chatting casually for a few moments, Melissa did not delay further. She took a list filled with materials from the folder she was carrying and handed it over: "Miss Veronica, this is the list of materials needed for the next procurement. Please take a look."

Veronica took the list and scanned it quickly.

A moment later, she looked up, her gaze fixed intently on Melissa, and chuckled: "Miss Melissa, it seems your castle has a highly accomplished Potion Master."

"Most of the materials on this list are ingredients needed for specialized potions, not the common potion ingredients found on the market."

"Whoever could come up with this list has an understanding of pharmacology that is certainly not ordinary."

Hearing this, Melissa's heart stirred slightly, but she remained calm on the surface. She just smiled, did not pick up on that topic, and instead gently steered the conversation away: "Miss Veronica, you are joking. Please give me an estimate for these materials."

Seeing that she did not want to talk more about it, Veronica did not mind. She smiled, turned her gaze back to the list, calculated quickly in her mind, and then quoted a figure: "The total value of this shipment is approximately 1,365 magic crystals, plus 905,000 gold coins."

"Some of these materials are a bit hard to find and need to be sourced from the South, so the cost will be higher. Therefore, the price will be slightly higher than in peaceful times; please understand."

Hearing this, Melissa quickly calculated the current balance of the castle's treasury in her mind. Confirming that they could afford it, she nodded: "That is acceptable. Now, can the batch of supplies agreed upon last time be delivered?"

Veronica nodded, took out a pre-prepared handover document from her storage magical artifact, and pushed it in front of Melissa: "Of course, we can hand it over at any time."

"This is the cargo list and quantity confirmation form. Please verify it."

As she finished speaking, she lightly raised her slender hand, and several heavy wooden crates appeared on the floor of the meeting hall.

Melissa took the document and began to check it line by line carefully.

...

The transaction verification was complete, confirmed to be correct.

Melissa put the confirmed document into the folder, stood up, and was just about to see her guest out when Veronica suddenly spoke, her tone natural: "Speaking of which, Miss Melissa, you are also from Weixino City in the East, right?"

Melissa's footsteps, about to take a step, paused slightly. She turned around and looked at Veronica with some confusion.

She had not been dealing with Veronica for long and had never voluntarily mentioned her background or origin.

Seeing her confused expression, Veronica smiled and explained unhurriedly: "It's just that last time I heard your accent, it carried some of the unique trailing tones of Weixino City in the East. I thought it sounded similar, so I just happened to check."

Hearing this, Melissa was silent for a moment, then nodded and said calmly: "Is that so... I was indeed born in Weixino City. However, that is already a thing of the past."

Veronica looked at her, her eyes filled with concern, and said softly: "Then, would you like me to bring some news back to your family in the East for you?"

"If you have any letters or messages to send, I can convey them on your behalf."

Melissa lowered her eyes, her voice soft: "No need. Now that I have joined the Golden Flame Castle, I am a person of the Golden Flame Castle. Let the past be the past..."

Veronica looked at her calm eyes, understood in her heart, and nodded gently: "Understood."

She stood up, straightened her skirt, agreed with Melissa on the approximate time for the next transaction, then nodded slightly in greeting, and turned to walk out of the castle.

Melissa stood in place, watching the direction she left in, took a light breath, then withdrew her gaze and turned to walk toward the second floor.

...

Meanwhile, in the Wizard Tower.

Rowan and Aurora sat opposite each other.

Aurora was looking down at the magic node diagram in front of her that had been modified by Rowan, saying excitedly: "My Lord, you truly are a Vampire Prince; you actually know so much forbidden knowledge of the Red Moon."

"When I was studying the structure of the Seal of Andalas Strife before, there were always a few key nodes that I couldn't figure out how to handle, and I could only rely on temporary magic pathways to forcibly bypass the bottlenecks."

"But the improvement plans you provided, My Lord, directly restructured the core structure of the nodes."

"In this way, the efficiency of the entire Spell Array can be increased by at least thirty percent! And it's even more stable!"

She looked at Rowan with burning eyes, her beautiful eyes filled with pure admiration at this moment.

Rowan leaned back in his chair, picked up the teacup on the table, took a light sip, and smiled: "I've just gained a little insight recently."

He was also pondering in his heart how to combine the forbidden knowledge he heard from the Red Moon whispers with the profession of Alchemist.

Aurora listened, her smile sweet.

Previously, after learning the news about the Seal of Andalas Strife, if she hadn't known that Rowan's identity was a Vampire Prince, her first suggestion would have been the same as Garuvi's, which was—Run!

But she knew this information, so her thoughts coincided with Rowan's; they just needed to wait for the right moment to come...

By then, with Rowan's strength, under the Red Moon, taking over a Duke's territory would be a matter of course!

Then, they would just need to wait for the Dark Night Church to come, and then smoothly join the Night Federation; that wouldn't be a big problem either.

After all, the Night Federation was essentially loosely organized; adding another faction wouldn't be difficult.

At most, it would just be internal competition within the Federation.

If it weren't for the common goal of conquering the West this time, it would have been very difficult for the various races and factions to unite.

Just the number of factions that had visited her father's Wizard Tower was more than one; she understood the landscape within the Night Federation too well.

Therefore—she had absolute confidence in Rowan!