CHAPTER 108: OFFICIALLY CLEARED

When Leonard brought out the harvested crops, a look of astonishment appeared in Wesley’s eyes.

His pupils constricted slightly as he hurriedly inspected a few of the harvested crops.

With his status, he had enjoyed many gourmet meals and fruits. Hence, he had some experience in determining the sources of the crops.

’It’s actually from Veridale. And these fruits do seem to have been freshly harvested a few weeks ago.’ Wesley was dumbfounded.

Given the distance between Veridale and Velastra, being harvested a few weeks ago was considered fresh.

Moreover, Wesley could confirm that these fruits were the best of the best.

Not a single flaw or any spoilage could be spotted!

In other words, these were flawless crops. Unless one personally owned the agricultural land or held tremendous influence. It was impossible for them to get their hands on such high quality fruits!

The so-called influence didn’t factor in a merchant’s rank either, because most of the agricultural lands were under the nobles. Only a very few individuals could own agricultural lands while being a noble and a merchant simultaneously.

"Mr. Vincent sure knows how to stay low under the radar." Wesley chuckled softly. His words were laced with hidden meaning.

For someone like Leonard to remain unknown until his appearance made Wesley understand the former was by no means a simple gold ranked merchant.

"It’s not that I want to say low, Lord Wesley." Leonard sighed and shook his head. "These crops must be planted with utmost care. Just one minor inattention to them and the crops would come out terrible."

Nodding, Wesley agreed that the fruits on the table had been grown with lots of attention and care.

What astonished him was the fact that some of these fruits actually contained a dense amount of mana.

"Are there some special properties with these fruits, Mr. Vincent?" His hand trembled briefly as he held a ripe apple.

"It appears that nothing can escape your eyesight, Lord Wesley. Some of these fruits had mutated, capable of restoring mana and even healing."

"A mutation, huh!"

Wesley tapped on the ground a few times with his walking cane, clearly intrigued and impressed by the fruits’ properties.

Suddenly, the doubts in his mind began to clear up.

"Was this the reason why you sought Miss Caroline?"

Leonard smiled and nodded. "The mutation happened unintentionally, so I need an expert to investigate the matter for me. And to do that, I need them to travel with me back to Veridale so I can mass produce these kinds."

Upon hearing the explanation, Wesley’s suspicion of Leonard had effectively quenched.

At the same time, he realized why he became a gold ranked merchant.

If such crops could be mass-produced and sold all across the Valdoria Continent, then he definitely deserves such a ranking, especially when it would raise the Merchant Guild’s prestige to a whole new level.

In fact, Wesley reckoned that once he succeeded, the gold ranked status would be beneath him. ’Looks like the murder and incident on the Sunfire Road really has nothing to do with Vincent.’

With such information and concrete evidence, he also came to an understanding of why his bodyguard was willing to accompany him, as well as her earlier reaction.

It wasn’t that his bodyguard reacted from guilt or anything. Instead, she reacted because she was afraid he might try to steal away these special crops from her.

"Does Lord Wesley wish to have some of them?" Leonard suddenly mused amidst Wesley’s silence.

"I don’t mind offering you some, but please don’t have me share it among the others. I only have very little and brought just enough samples for Miss Caroline here to do some preliminary testing."

Since the doubts and suspicions had been cleared, Wesley laughed heartily.

He got up from his seat and grabbed a few of the special fruits.

"Then I won’t be polite with you, Mr. Vincent." It would be a lie to say he wasn’t interested in this kind of new special crop.

After storing them in his magic pouch, Wesley signaled Ethan to bring over a few high quality female dancers, who had been concealed backstage.

In less than a few minutes, Ethan approached their table with 3 female dancers who exuded a heavenly charm and beauty unparalleled by those who were dancing on the stage.

"Mr. Vincent’s table can’t be the only one left out with no entertainers in this banquet." He calmly said and explained, "These particular female dancers are all top-notch, expertly trained by the Enchanted Oasis. They are clean and know a lot of techniques. Please accept them as a gift and my late greeting to you in Velastra. I’m sure Miss Caroline wouldn’t blame you now when it’s my insistence."

The clean aspect naturally referred to the female dancers being untouched, essentially a virgin and ready for the plucking.

Such an action could be considered the highest form of a gift to another respectable individual according to Velastra’s standard!

Having made his stance clear, Leonard knew that he had to accept these gifts.

Otherwise, all his previous efforts would be nullified.

"I shall gladly accept these gifts, Lord Wesley." He stood up and thanked him sincerely. To emphasize that he loved the gifts, Leonard made sure to wander his gaze around the female dancers from top to bottom, expressing a lustful behavior.

Wesley was relieved and promptly excused himself. "Alright, I won’t stay at the table for long to avoid disturbing your mood. People tend to be very cautious when being around me."

He didn’t even give Leonard a chance to reply when he had already made his way toward other tables to check up on things.

Looking at the departing Wesley at another table, Leonard heaved a sigh of relief.

’It’s a good thing Uncle Marco has given me a handful of these special fruits previously to taste test.’

The harvested crops were indeed sourced from Veridale, albeit they were actually from his uncle, Count Marco Lawson. He didn’t eat any of the fruits and had stored them in the magic pouch instead.

Who could have imagined it would turn out to be a wise decision in the end?

He was officially cleared from Wesley’s radar!