Chapter 2251 - "The Ugly Duckling"

In the end, Mag completed his procurement mission at the price of 889.

Mm. Fabulous.

"I want this peeler." Mag passed the dwarf blacksmith a silver coin. He took the shiny peeler and whistled a merry tune as he walked out of the blacksmith's shop.

"I thought he would be a big customer," the blacksmith grumbled. He put the silver coin in his pocket and pulled his book out again to read by the fireplace.

Mag had no intention to custom-make his kitchenware at the blacksmith. The products were not well-done and could not even be compared to Mobai and Lulu's skills, much less the System.

The System's kitchen set was completely sufficient for a professional chef to use, much less to teach with.

As for the other furniture like tables and chairs, Mag also completed his procurement from the System.

Right now, he only had to wait for the building's construction to be completed, to put everything in, and wait for the students to arrive.

Mag was in a good mood, so when he returned to the restaurant, he glanced at the little blackboard hanging by the restaurant's door and brought it in. After a while, he came out again with the blackboard with the following words written on it: Today's new product: Spicy Escargots!

The weather was cold and there were fewer customers drinking beer. Rum had become a rather suitable replacement.

However, few restaurants had dedicated side dishes to go with the drinks and that was the reason for the launch of the Spicy Escargots. It was a dedicated side dish to go with the drinks.

Mag returned to the restaurant and watched Annie draw as she sat by the window. He walked up to her with a smile and looked over to see what she was drawing.

It was a simple drawing with blue skies and white clouds. There was also a corner of Aden Square. There was not much technique involved and so it was a comfortable drawing to look at. It did not even have a clear subject, it was just everything one could see seated from here.

But Mag felt that the drawing was very enjoyable to look at. It was as though the scenery was all in the picture.

Annie added the last stroke and placed her pen down. Only then did she turn back to look at Mag with a smile.

"It's a very beautiful drawing." Mag praised her with a smile.

Annie took a picture book that was on the table at the side and passed it to Mag as she signed, "New picture book."

Mag received the picture book and saw a giant orange swan drawn on the cover.

The name of the picture book was: "The Ugly Duckling"

"…" Mag.

Mag flipped through the picture book with a complex feeling. After a while, he looked at the grill rack over a fire on the last page. There was a roast goose dripping with golden oil on it. He gulped and could not contain his laughter.

This must be a demonized version of Amy's 'The Ugly Duckling'. What a sad ending…

However, the story still had a moral. Did you think that life had lied to you? It did not. Your life was already predestined. No matter how hard the Ugly Duckling worked, it would still end up as a roast goose.

Oh yes.

The Ugly Duckling did not turn into a roast goose at the end of the story.

It escaped and the duck who bullied the Ugly Duckling since young became a roast duck, while the latter became an orange swan.

Mag looked at Ugly Duckling, who was laying on the counter sleeping as he wondered what it would feel if it were to see this story.

"It's… pretty good." Mag nodded. If one were to cast that preconceived notion out, this version of The Ugly Duckling was way more exciting and magical. It was also rather interesting in its sense.

After all, he did not understand how a four-limbed animal that was hatched from an egg at first could end up becoming an orange swan flying in the sky.

The two little ones, together with imagination, made the story even more interesting and fun. The story of a little orange cat striving hard to grow up, defeating the bad duck, and chasing its dream to fly was even more encouraging.

"Can it not be printed?" Annie looked at Mag with a little disappointment.

Mag replied with a smile, "It can, let's try printing 5000 copies after the mermaid picture book is sold out."

Annie's eyes lit up as she nodded eagerly.

Mag sat in front of Annie and reread the picture book that he browsed through quickly just now.

Annie's drawing skills were still improving. Although it was not an obvious improvement compared to Miss Black Cat, the details had made the drawings come to life even more.

The protagonist of this story is the Ugly Duckling and some other small animals. Compared to the complex characters and costumes in Miss Black Cat, the characters in The Ugly Duckling were much simpler but the details were done better, and that would make the reader more absorbed in reading the picture book. The reader would be easily touched by the cuteness of the little animals.

In particular, the Ugly Duckling's cuteness and clumsiness were brought out perfectly in the picture book. That showed how meticulous and observant Annie was usually.

"I think we can print 10,000 copies." Mag changed his mind. This was a picture book targeted at toddlers. There might be an unexpected result once it enters the market.

There were more and more customers buying The Little Mermaid in the recent couple of days and many even queued just for the picture book.

Annie had also become the idol of many young children. Mag would often hear Annie being mentioned by children who were trying to catch a glimpse of her.

The little one had truly become an illustrator and was loved by many.

***

"Young Mistress, we're all sold out for the 1000 copies today! There were even customers asking to buy the remaining stocks we have at 3000 copper coins each," Mala told Eiffie excitedly as she ran into the tavern.

"Sold out?" Eiffie was stunned. That was 1000 picture books sold at 2000 copper coins a copy and they were sold out.

She just received the picture books that Mag got someone to send over last night and sold them outside Titan Tavern this morning according to Mag's arrangement.

She did not expect that the picture book, which was limited to two per customer, would be sold out in just half a day.

That was 2 million copper coins earned!

"Yes, there weren't many who bought it at first but after one customer bought it and advertised it around, suddenly a group of people came running over to buy them, and in no time at all, 1000 copies were sold out." Mala nodded. Her fingers were still a little limp from counting all that money.

"I see." Eiffie thought. It seemed that the picture book's value was way higher than its selling price. otherwise, no one would request to buy everything at a 50% price increase.

Mala urged Eiffie. "Young Mistress, the customer is still waiting outside. Should we just sell our remaining stocks to him and earn 900,000 copper coins more for Master?"

Although Mala was not good at calculations, she was very clear about the math for this one.

Not only could they earn more money selling the picture books to this customer, but they could also save the trouble of having to sell them themselves.

"Tell him that we will not be selling the rest to him and we will also not increase the price of the picture book. From tomorrow onwards, each customer is only limited to one picture book and priority will go to customers who spend time in the tavern," Eiffie replied with a shake of her head.

Mag had already foreseen this situation in his letter and even instructed Eiffie not to sell them all to any one person. He would prefer to sell the books to as many people as possible because this was not just a very outstanding picture book, it was also an advertisement for the Black Cat Opera Troupe.