"Thank you, you're pretty brave yourself."
The girl named Aurora seemed to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Her words left Ian a bit puzzled.
Noticing Ian's confused expression, Aurora averted her eyes a little and quickly looked at the three books Ian placed on the table.
"Craft said that if you come to sell books, you can get three Galleons to recycle them."
This was clearly a change of subject.
Only Ian didn't notice it.
He just felt a wave of disappointment.
"The old man specifically left instructions." Ian initially wanted to tell a little lie to get a higher buyback price, but to his surprise, the bookstore owner was so thorough.
"I've kept them in great condition and only looked at them for a few days, maybe they're worth four Galleons!" In the end, Ian still couldn't let it go and spoke to test his luck.
Unexpectedly.
"You're right, let's make it four Galleons."
To Ian's surprise, Aurora nodded and agreed so readily.
This left Ian at a bit of a loss.
"Uh... then could you get me some second-hand textbooks on Magic Potion?" Ian had prepared a whole bunch of persuasions but swallowed them back down.
"Alright, I remember Magic Potion is around… " Aurora looked around at the surroundings, which were cluttered with stacks of books, and her eyes began to look a bit confused.
"I'll find it myself."
Ian noticed her embarrassment, but fortunately, he was quite familiar with this bookstore. Soon, he rummaged through the piles of scattered books and found the Magic Potion textbooks from first to seventh grade.
"How much?"
Looking at the stack of books piled almost as high as himself, Ian felt a bit nervous, not knowing if the money left in his money bag, plus the money from selling his Magic Rune books, would be enough to cover the cost.
The cursed monopoly of knowledge!
The corrupt Wizarding World!
Isn't there a single Boss Lei in the Wizarding World who can stand up and bring down the prices of Magic Books?
"Let me see… "
Aurora wanted to check the price on the back of the books, however, these were old textbooks, and the price tags on most of the books were either worn out or torn off.
The girl with a cold appearance now seemed to turn into bean eyes.
"What do you think they're worth?"
After a long pause.
Aurora, pretending to be calm, probed.
"I think... one Galleon?"
Ian, with the belief that shamelessness knows no rivals, gave his response.
"Hiss, with that price, if Craft knew, he'd be furious enough to... hit his own face!" Aurora took a sharp intake of breath.
Her odd description left Ian feeling a bit baffled again. However, now wasn't the time for Ian to think about why Craft wouldn't hit Aurora.
"I'm not buying, I'm renting. I'll return them eventually."
Of course, Ian wouldn't dare spend one Galleon just to take home books worth far more than that. He believed that buying a pen could surely let him copy down all the book's contents.
The Wizarding World has Feather Pens that can automatically transcribe.
"He'll find out, won't he?"
Aurora's tone was full of hesitation.
Renting books?
The shop didn't seem to have such a service.
"There are so many books here that he couldn't count them all. He only took over a few months ago and never seemed to organize the inventory, so how would he know if you rented some out cheaply?"
Ian lowered his voice.
He began his specialty: "reasonable" analysis. It's not that he couldn't afford it; it's just that renting would be more cost-effective, after all, a book can only provide so much knowledge.
He is destined to need many, many books.
"Think about it, if he can't even be bothered to cast a simple organizing spell, it shows your elder doesn't care about these books, while I, on the other hand, treasure knowledge like a precious gem."
"Miss Grindelwald! You must understand this! The existence of knowledge is for people to learn, not to slowly decay in a corner until it eventually turns to dust!"
Having practiced fortune-telling at stalls, Ian had developed a flair for dramatic persuasion. His rhetoric left the girl named Aurora wide-eyed.
Her expression was dumbstruck.
And her gaze toward Ian was full of admiration.
"I admire your eloquence, but Craft would definitely not agree, he cares a lot about the Galleons." Aurora hesitated for a moment but eventually shook her head.
"I don't deny that, but it's quite apparent that neither of us can figure out these books' prices, right?" Ian stealthily glanced at the doorway.
Then put on a highly sincere expression.
"As a customer, I definitely don't want to be at a disadvantage."
His words.
Made Aurora nod in agreement.
However.
"But I don't want to be at a disadvantage either."
Aurora's delicate face was full of seriousness.
"Of course."
Ian's expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
"I don't want to be at a disadvantage, you don't want to be at a disadvantage, so, let's talk about renting the books, and inconvenience your elder Mr. Craft a little, shall we?"
"If I may ask, is he your grandfather or grandfather?"
Ian
"Of course not."
Aurora shook her head.
"He's one of my guardians."
The young girl seemed unwilling to disclose more.
However.
That's fine.
"Okay, a guardian it is. Trust me, he won't know which books are missing from the shop, I could even pay you three Gold Coins to hide away as pocket money."