Jax grabbed the boots by the heels, slammed the appraisal fee onto the glass counter and said. "I appreciate the offer but I just needed a rough price tag to check its worth before I give it away as a present."

The shopkeeper’s entire professional mask shattered right in front of him like someone had taken a hammer to a porcelain smile. "Wait, hold on! You absolutely cannot just give away an item of this magnitude as a casual present! Okay fine, how about ten million credits? We can even settle the exact amount using pure gold coins or high-level monster cores if that works better for you!"

Unable to control the greed that was practically leaking from his pores the shopkeeper had already crossed the counter and was rushing toward Jax when a drawn sword found his throat and stopped him where he stood.

Jax held the blade steady against the man’s neck and said. "Listen closely, you pathetic scammer. You are completely wasting my time so forget the deal and just be grateful I am not beating your ass for that fraudulent appraisal. You proved your own lie the very second you opened your mouth because no actual merchant on this planet jumps their offer from one million to ten million in a single breath."

Realizing his usual tricks had been dismantled by someone who apparently spoke fluent con-artist the shopkeeper let out a quiet chuckle while staring down the lethal steel pressed against his skin. "Alright sir, you caught me red-handed. Let us drop the theatrics and talk proper business then. How does one hundred million sound?"

Jax lowered his sword slowly and the greedy keeper immediately took that as a sign of victory, thinking the boots were finally his. "We can definitely negotiate further and we will pay you in full. There will just be a slight waiting period to arrange the huge sum since we would need to contact Sir Claude directly. And do not worry about the heavy taxes because Sir Claude will happily handle that part as well."

Jax slid his sword back into its sheath and casually tossed the rare boots back into the shopping bag that Delphine was holding beside him. "Did I not make it perfectly clear that this is just a present for someone?"

The shopkeeper looked at him like he was completely insane. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?! This is a literal life-changing item! You and your next twenty generations could live a luxurious life without ever bowing or serving anyone ever again and you just want to hand it over as a gift?!"

Jax turned his back on the man and casually threw up his middle finger. "Dude, fuck you, fuck your little deal, and fuck this whole shop. I could not care less about your fortune. I just needed to verify whether the item was worthy enough to gift to someone precious to me. The price tag simply serves to prove to her father and everyone else exactly how much she means to me."

He kept walking without turning back. "And honestly, one hundred million is still incredibly cheap for her anyway. So I will need to find a primary worthy gift to pair with these to truly make her happy. Therefore, Stop arguing and stop wasting my time because I am in absolutely no mood for your nonsense."

With those words he left the shop entirely while the shopkeeper chased after him shouting progressively higher offers that bounced off his back like rain off a stone wall. Delphine trailed right behind carrying the bags while watching a man casually reject enough money to buy a small kingdom because his mind had already decided to give away this pair of fortune.

Once they were far enough away from the desperate shopkeeper Jax started taking the shopping bags from Delphine one by one until she was only holding a single bag. Then he said casually while walking. "I will admit I made a huge mistake in my grading."

Delphine frowned deeply at that. She searched the bag he had left her holding and found the incredibly rare boots. Her confusion only doubled. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Jax sighed and said. "I realized today that I possess absolutely zero fashion sense when it comes to girls. I need you to completely transform these ancient grandpa-looking boots into a cute girly design that Astrid would actually want to put on her feet."

He added. "You can find a perfect shop inside the academy for this kind of work with a great discount if you use your student card or even mine. Just go work with that elf granny in the crafting wing. That way you can easily settle this brand new debt of me gracing you with a score that was never meant for you in the first place. I know you despise being in anyone’s debt so just pay me back with this."

Delphine looked completely stunned at what she was being asked to do. "Are you seriously giving away your personal reward from the trials? I am absolutely certain this is an SSS-rank artifact because we all received relics of a similar grade. Wouldn’t it be infinitely more useful for your own future?"

Jax interrupted her without hesitation. "Astrid Is the future. And besides it would be infinitely more useful for her because she is a mage. I know for a fact that stubborn fool will be standing right next to me whenever real danger hits so the very least I can do is give her a solid buff."

Something shifted in his voice then. A weight that he couldn’t quite bury under the casual tone crept through. "Or at the very least, give her an escape tool that could save her life when I can’t."

Delphine stared at him for a long moment before realizing that arguing with this particular brand of insanity was completely and utterly useless.

She said. "Fine. I will do whatever I can to redesign these boots. But I am absolutely not doing this as some trade to settle a fake debt over my assessment marks which was all a misunderstanding to begin with. I am doing this purely as an act of appreciation. Nothing more."

Jax said. "Good. Now completely vanish from my side or prepare to get permanently deleted from this world the very second Astrid spots you standing next to me."

Delphine was already turning her back as she said. "There is no more reason for me to be here anyway. And besides I am going to sleep extremely well tonight. Not because we settled the heavy misunderstanding about my grades."

She paused with a grin forming on her face. "But because I finally got to witness a genuine miracle. The absolute joy of watching the insanely arrogant professor who showed zero fear in front of my mother and stood completely unfazed inside a death trap back in that dungeon get utterly humbled and terrified by the mere thought of a senior student catching him talking to another girl."

She was giggling as she walked away when she spotted Lavinia frantically looking left and right in the crowd. Their eyes met and Lavinia dashed toward her with the desperation of someone who had been circling the same mall for hours.