Thieves in the Shop

In other words, Grace had to enter the Spirit Alliance headquarters and earn the right to access the Celestial Library—only then could she obtain the key to the fourth floor.

Grace had heard of the Celestial Library in her previous life—it was the grand archive of the Spirit Alliance, filled with ancient and mysterious tomes.

It was a place shrouded in mystery.

Without direct authorization from the Spirit Alliance elders, no one could enter.

Rumor had it, the Celestial Library didn’t even exist in the human world. If you’d never been there, you wouldn’t even know where to look.

...

Grace had no idea which floor the Ten Wilds Herbal Codex was hidden on, but she suspected it might be the fourth.

Since there was even a chance, Grace refused to leave anything to luck—she’d prepare for everything.

But now she couldn’t even register!

Sophie Sun would never let her register.

What should I do now?

Forging medical records? Out of the question.

The Spirit Alliance checks everything—one look and they’d know if it was fake.

Kidnap Sophie Sun and force her to cooperate?

Yeah, not happening.

What if she’s stubborn to the end? Then what?

...

Just as Grace was lost in her thoughts, Claire rushed in and announced, "Mr. Wayne and Morgan Jewel are here!"

Grace quickly welcomed them in.

Every month, Mr. Wayne dropped by to go over the books and update her on Lucky Star, the magical artifact shop.

She’d been away on a campaign for two months and hadn’t seen Mr. Wayne in all that time.

"We made a tidy profit this month," Mr. Wayne said, beaming. "About seven hundred gold pieces, plus a few top-grade spirit jades—some customers even used those as payment. Here’s the ledger, take a look."

Grace nodded. "Thank you for all your hard work, Mr. Wayne."

"Oh, and this—these are the accounts for Regulars' Tavern. Mr. Giles asked me to bring them for you to review." Mr. Wayne handed her another ledger.

Grace glanced through them. The tavern specialized in Antler Serpent dishes. Sure, it didn’t rake in money as fast as the blacksmith shop—which made spirit weapons for cultivators, so obviously it was in a league of its own—but the profits weren’t bad either.

She put the ledgers back and asked, "Has anything happened at the shop lately? If there’s any trouble, you have to tell me right away."

"No real trouble—after all, it’s a Zhu family business, so nobody dares mess with us," Mr. Wayne replied. "But... some Zhu family members had spirit artifacts made and didn’t pay for them."

"Oh? Who was it?"

"Heh, two ladies. Their maids called them Queenie Zhu and Quinn Zhu."

Grace shook her head. "Just put their bill on my tab."

"Alright," Mr. Wayne agreed. "By the way, there’s something else—did the Prime Minister mention it to you?"

"What is it?" Grace asked, casual as ever.

"While you were away, the shop was robbed!" Mr. Wayne blurted out.

"Oh? What happened?" Grace asked, her interest piqued.

At the mention of the robbery, Morgan Jewel perked up and jumped in, "That night, I got up to pee and saw a shadow—scared me so bad I yelled for help! My dad and the others rushed over, and we saw more than ten masked people break in!"

"More than ten masked intruders?" Grace gasped. "Is everyone alright?"

Morgan Jewel grinned, "Aren’t we all standing here, safe and sound?"

Grace laughed, "You clever rascal! Go on, what happened next?"