"Halt! Identify yourself!" A female Knight stood before Aiden so fast she nearly clipped his shoulder. Aiden barely acknowledged her, his attention fixed on the elegant woman behind the guard. He wore a warm smile and stated, "Lady Riley, you look as if something's weighing on you. Trouble again? I'm guessing you could use help." "Oh?" Lady Riley regarded him quietly, her tone barely above a whisper. "I misplaced something important. If you can recover it for me, you will have my thanks." Aiden lowered his voice playfully. "Then tell me, lovely lady—what exactly am I looking for?" She paused, as if choosing her words. "A flower. A very beautiful flower." Ding! New quest received: Lady Riley's Request. Retrieve the Bloom of Grace. The familiar notification tone rang in his ears. Aiden offered a soft nod. "I'll bring it back to you." He turned toward the street with calm certainty.This quest was the whole reason he came. Lady Riley's request served as the critical opening step toward buying property early and unlocking longer gameplay hours. The quest wasn't truly hidden. In Aiden's previous life, after countless players failed to deliver results, Lady Riley posted the request publicly with a hefty bounty attached. It carried no penalty for failure, so nearly everyone in Leafport eventually picked it up. The clues practically didn't exist, though. The community searched for days without locating anything close to a flower. Lady Riley eventually discovered the item on her own. Aiden knew what others didn't. The "Bloom of Grace" wasn't lost in the wilderness. It sat inside a particular store in Leafport the whole time. He followed his memory straight to a small props store near the southern wall. The place resembled a cheap sidewalk stall. A few NPCs browsed the dusty shelves, picking through random trinkets. The owner, Dwayne Waylon, stood behind the counter in a worn white robe, his tiny mustache twitching as he watched customers. His narrow eyes and sly expression branded him instantly as the type who made a living tricking rookies. His gaze sharpened once he spotted Aiden. "Traveler, welcome! Looking for something special today?" Aiden scanned the cluttered merchandise. "I heard you carry gift boxes." Dwayne perked up like someone who had just smelled money. "Of course. Which one caught your interest?" His hands rubbed together as if he were polishing invisible gold. Anyone asking for gift boxes usually meant one thing to him: a big spender or an easy meal. Aiden kept his voice relaxed. "I'll take everything." "Everything?" Dwayne stalled, sizing the young man up with a sharp look. "You actually sure, kid?" "I'm sure," Aiden replied. Dwayne hesitated. His gift boxes had earned a citywide reputation for highway robbery. The one priced at ten thousand marks hadn't left the shelf in years, mostly because players realized the contents were glorified junk. His expression flickered between greed and suspicion. He figured, This kid either has real cash or zero judgment. Or maybe he's just messing around. Aiden caught the hesitation instantly. He lifted a hand and summoned a bright stack of marks in full view. "No worries. I can cover it." Dwayne lit up like a slot machine hitting a jackpot. "Right away! Give me a moment!" He hurried off and returned with four glimmering gift boxes, neatly arranged in a row. The price tags read: two thousand marks, three thousand marks, five thousand marks, and ten thousand marks. "That's expensive." Aiden clicked his tongue softly. No wonder nobody found the flower in my last life. These prices scared everyone off. No sane early-game player would gamble on this. Indeed, the cost alone reached absurd heights. Yet, the real problem rested in the store's legacy as a trap for rookies. Early players who blew money here became instant horror stories. Word traveled fast, leaving Dwayne's props store deserted afterward. No one dared purchase those hollow gift boxes again. The flower Lady Riley wanted came from inside one of these overpriced boxes. Without the knowledge of how desperately Lady Riley had searched in his previous timeline, Aiden might have suspected she and Dwayne ran the quest as a profit scheme. Dwayne leaned forward enthusiastically. "Everything's ready, sir. Which one do you want?" Aiden remained calm. "All of them." Dwayne's grin stretched dangerously wide. "Four boxes come to twenty thousand marks. If you'll just—" Aiden cut him off instantly, "I'm not buying four. I want every gift box you have in this entire store. I'm buying the full stock."