Working to get the coins out of the paints took almost no time at all, the dragon smiling at the 3 coins of red, with black, white, yellow, and blue getting 4 of each in total. With the basic colors out of the way, he started working on getting more of the [Color] ability, wondering for a moment if he should have gotten a canvas to see what kinds of abilities it had. A new popup screen distracted him as he was working through the other jars of paints, frowning as he looked at the message.

  Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t looked at the description for the ability in a good bit, filtering through his [Status] until he found what he was looking for.

  ‘That’s… huh?’ he thought to himself, grunting as he read the screens a few times. ‘So just… [Storing] coins can get me new abilities? Or is it only particular ones?’ The only problem Roge had was the fact that he didn’t have enough paints to get 10 coins for any of the colors, though he did get four more blues just to see if he got a buff at five coins. When no screen popped up, and with a slight sigh, Roge turned the rest of the paints into [Color] coins. He was a bit angry at the fact that he now didn’t have enough to do the amount of plants he wanted, but he reasoned he would just start with one of each instead of four.

  After putting each of the colors into one tobacco plant each, Roge holding back a chuckle at how odd the colored plants looked, he moved on to see the other abilities he could take from the garden. Unfortunately, while all of the plants had decent medicinal properties, most were just repeats of what he already saw. Yes, [Stomach Calmer] and [Intestinal Calmer] were separate things, but they basically would have the same effect. He thought about asking Madam Madrid about him taking those properties for the buffs, but he decided he would tackle that later.

  Two plants stood out to him out of the mess, most not necessarily being medicinal plants. He wasn’t even sure why Madam Madrid had venus flytraps, but he shrugged that off as he looked at the two windows.

  The vines weren’t really a part of the greenhouse itself, just a plant he’d noticed clinging to the outside. But if he combined the two, it’d give him a better idea of how different abilities worked. Besides, having a vine as pest control might be a good item for them to sell. Taking from the venus fly trap first, he [Inspected] the coin, feeling a bit… put off by the description.

  Definitely not something he wanted a buff for, Roge making sure to give the plant a bit of extra magic before moving on to one of the vines outside. Before he made any adjustments, however, he decided to pull each ability out of two plants, seeing how much the plants could handle the damage by themselves.

  He groaned as he looked over the error message once again, flicking it out of the way as he puzzled over the uses section. ‘So… since the first one was ‘Ao = A1 + A2’, does this one make it more of a modifier? Like it will lend power to whatever it is put to the right of?’ Since whatever information it was trying to give him was bugged for now, he tried an experiment. Taking one of his blue [Pigment] coins, he turned to another creeper vine, putting it right before the [Strangle] ability to see if it affected things.

  Besides making the plants rank go up by one, the [Inspect] window didn’t change at all, not that surprising to the dragon as he’d yet to unlock any kind of description for plants. What did surprise him, however, was the physical change to the plant. It seemed pretty tightly wound to the outside of the greenhouse, proved when Roge pulled at one of the unmodified ones and barely got it to move. The modified one, however, wasn’t clinging as hard anymore, as well as its blue color being so vibrant, he couldn’t stare at it for too long.

  “Theory confirmed,” he muttered to himself, moving on to the last vine he could see on that side of the greenhouse and pulling out the [Munch] coin. This one was a ruby red in color, the symbol on it being a set of sharp teeth. He didn’t know how it gave off the impression that the teeth were sinking into the coin, but he would have sworn that’s what they were doing. To not have to look at the coin again, he focused on placing it before [Cling], not wanting to make eating more powerful for the vine.

  Surprisingly, the vine started glowing once he inserted the coin, a blood red energy coming off the plant before going away. He quickly moved his claw away from the plant at that, noticing each of the leaves splitting into hungry maws and nearly biting one of his fingers.

  ‘So… [Cling] and [Munch] make [Bite]?’ he thought to himself while feeling unsure about leaving the apparently ravenous plants out in the alleyway for anyone to see. Pushing the feeling away to think, Roge thought of the only other example he’d gotten. [Toxic] and [Detox] made [Purify], which made sense if you thought about it. Getting rid of a toxin made something pure. Clinging while munching, then, would make each stronger, leading to more of a bite. ‘But how does it decide when to combine and when not…?’ he thought to himself, looking this way and that at the vines. One of them even reached out and snatched a bug flying past, Roge chuckling at the plant’s antics.

  ~~~

  Out of ideas for the day, and feeling like he just needed to check the abilities of more items to get more effects he could use, Roge decided to not experiment more and just continue to work. Tending to the plants and harvesting them used to take a lot longer, his breath ability and his [Novice Gardening] increasing to rank three making the task simpler and faster. Once he had the drying machine filled up for the next day with normal and purified tobacco, he had not much else to do. Unsure what the protocol normally was, Roge went up to the front of the store. He immediately knew he was interrupting something private as he came within range of the conversation, deciding to stay back and listen in.

  “But I paid up front to have access to him!” one voice boomed, Roge not recognizing the voice, though the low pitch and snooty tone made him think male noble.

  “And when you did, the contract specifically stated *when* you could have access,” Madam Madrid countered back, Roge feeling his skin (er… scales?) crawl at her cold tone.

  “But that’s unfair! My wife is only gone for a few more hours and she said she didn’t want to see it-“

  “That’s not my problem, sir. My employees are only available during certain hours. If you want to hit him up during his shift at the store…”

  “No,” the noble scoffed. A soft hum soon followed, Roge tempted to take a step back at what was said next. “What about your day employee. I know you said he’s having medical issues, but that dragon was one of my favorite toys.”

  Madam Madrid sighed at that, her jewelry clinking as she lowered her voice. “I don’t think he’s ever going to be back on the market. He’s just gotten adjusted but seems no longer interested.”

  “Well why don’t you work your [Charisma] skills on him. I know-“

  “Enough of that!” his boss shouted, her voice white hot with anger. “Out! Now! I’m done with you today. Come back another time for your refund.” As squawk was then heard as the noble was presumably pushed out of the front door, the bell jingling as it was opened and closed. “Roge…?” Madam Madrid called out, causing the dragon to flinch. “Come out, boy.”

  Rounding the corner to the front of the store, Roge looked warily at his employer. He’d gotten several… hints at what her side business was, but nothing that overt. “I… I used to work…” the dragon mumbled, looking to the trap door hidden behind the counter and feeling hesitant to continue his sentence.

  “Yes. What do the kids call it? Being a pimp?” Roge couldn’t help but snort at that, though his good mood faded quickly. “And yes, you used to work for both of my businesses.”

  “Why haven’t you… asked?” he asked, noticing the wince she tried to hide. “Have you used your skills-“

  “Only once, boy. A truth sensing one.” The orc woman grinned at that, though Roge was tempted to take a step back. “And you know what? It bounced right off of you. Couldn’t tell if you were faking memory loss or not. And so I decided to believe you, because there’s only one way that I know of to get mental shields like that…”

  “But why didn’t you ask me?!” Roge shouted out, feeling a bit of anger coil inside of him at being lied to, even by omission. “I just thought I’d been really good at saving, but if I’d been a prostitute before… And popular according to him…”

  “Because that’s not how I run my business.” She stepped up to Roge at that, tilting his head up and giving him a tusky smile. “People ask to work for me, not the other way around. Besides, how do you think I keep my employees happy with pricks like him requesting their services?” At his confused look, she continued, “With [Mind] skills. I help them handle the customers, while also helping them in everyday life. It’s part of their contracts.”

  “And because none of them work on me…”

  “I knew that line of work would never be for you without it.” Madam Madrid laughed softly at that, rubbing Roge’s muzzle. “When you worked for me before, you always asked to not remember the jobs. That noble only liked you because you were the most customizable. Assertive one day and a total robot the next. Whatever they wanted.”

  Roge sighed at that, feeling his anger calm down some. “Just… no more hiding things. Please?” He would need to think over the new information she gave him, his mixed feelings from his views before the storm mixing with how common [Mind] skills could be. “Also… I’m going to be asking you more. About all of that. I want… I want to know what I was involved in.”

  “Of course, boy. And I’ll try not to hide more from you. But you’re going to have to trust me on that too.”

  ~~~

  With the heavy revelation, Roge barely saw any of the city on his way home. Walking more on autopilot, he thought over the implications. With nobles involved, even if prostitution was illegal, it was something that they allowed. The fact that she only hired people who *asked* *her* made the whole thing easier to swallow, though he would need to see how she treated her employees. ‘If they’re being mistreated… I’m putting a stop to it.’

  He was so distracted on his way home, his mind going in circles as to how to approach things moving forward, that he didn’t notice the person trailing behind him. Even if he had, their black cloak and the fact that no one could see through the shadows inside the cloak, he wouldn’t be able to know who it was. And that was the point of the Church’s spies. They were never seen. Never heard. Only saw and observed. Still, this particular spy couldn’t help a frown coming across their face, silently thinking, ‘What is going on with that dragon?’