The Strongest Curse Master

"What about me?" I asked Mandy, who was done helping Janice apply sunscreen and rested her arms on the latter's lap with her back toward her.

"Don't you have arms?" Mandy snapped, reaching for her sunglasses and putting them on.

"Uncle Dan was right, you sisters are ungrateful," I snorted, preparing to leave and make arrangements for the demo, but paused, hearing Janice ask, "I heard you, aunt and nephew duo, are planning to start an industry here? Is it true?"

"I don't know, I am just following his lead," Mandy said indifferently, because she truly had no picture of what they were doing and was just blindly trusting her nephew's lead.

"I guess we finally found your kryptonite," Janice said with a hint of envy and complaint.

Back when Mandy retired, Janice tried her best to get Mandy to work for her, but was rejected repeatedly. She even offered to start a real estate business together as partners. She offered a generous 50:50 split partnership with Mandy in charge of all decision making, even though she was paying for everything and taking all the risk, yet her offer was still ruthlessly rejected by Mandy. Unable to persuade Mandy to come out of retirement, Janice persuades herself to give up.

But today, learning that Mandy came out of retirement for her nephew, blindly trusting his vision, Janice's old wounds reopened, and she couldn't help but complain.

Taking out one of the fasting pills that Emi prepared for the demo, I handed it to Janice and said, "This is our product. Taste it and give your honest review to your bestie."

Janice smelled the pill. It was odorless, and then, reluctantly, she swallowed it, seeing Mandy tilt her head back and look at her expectantly.

Janice was a curse user; the pill was downgraded to fit a mortal's needs, so eating it on a full stomach wouldn't affect her; at most, she would feel bloated.

After digesting the pill, Janice's eyes opened wide as she explained, "This is a nutrition pill. However, it's made using day-to-day ingredients found in this world instead of rare herbs. So, even an average human can use it, or to be more exact, it's designed to meet the nutritional needs of an average human. Whoever made this must be a great alchemist?"

"Alchemist? What century do you think this is? Anyways, does it help with weight loss and dieting? Does it have any side effects?" Mandy was confused by Janice's particular choice of words, but still understood that the fasting pill was legit as Ace advertised, but she was still skeptical if it would deliver on other promises he made.

"If one were to substitute their daily nutrition with this pill over a few days, they will notice reasonable weight loss and subtle improvement in their overall health. If they stick to this diet long enough, they can achieve their weight goals and maybe even see improvement with their digestion, GRED, and their fatty liver, even if it's at stage-III," Janice gave her expert opinion. She appeared to be genuinely impressed the pill, enough to cuss out aloud, "Mandy, you hit a fucking gold mine from the comfort of your home."

"Wait, would there be any complications if one were to entirely replace their daily diet with these pills?" Mandy asked to be thorough. Knowing that there were people out there who would be crazy and stupid enough to do that.

"Nah, the pill contains all the nutrition they need for the next 24 hrs. Even if they eat after taking this pill, at best, they will only feel bloated. The manufacturer of this pill has put a lot of thought into it to ensure that one cannot harm themselves in any way by abusing this pill," Janice assured her bestie.

I was impressed by Janice's complete appraisal. It was accurate enough for me to make me fear that she had already deduced the ingredients used to make the pill. Also, hearing her praise, I felt that I hadn't praised Emi enough for creating a downgrade version of the fasting pill.

Janice suddenly turned to face me and said, "I know you are not short on money, but I can help you with the legal hurdles and setting up trustworthy channels to procure the ingredients."

"We are planning to grow all the ingredients in-house, and as for the legal hurdles, I have hired the best law firm money can buy, and I happen to know a guy. But, hey, you can ask your friend, she is in charge, I am just a silent partner. I'm fine with whatever she decides. I fully trust her decision," I said, throwing up arms in the air. Kicking the ball to Mandy's court.

"No wonder you guys are buying so much farmland. I don't think I need to tell you that the bigger your operation is, the stronger your security department needs to be. Also, regardless of which legal team you hire, sometimes the legal procedure can be too damn slow. You sure you don't need my help?" Janice asked, bending over to rest her chin on her bestie's head.

If I did not know about Janice and Mandy's deep friendship, I would have misunderstood her legitimate concerns as a threat. Therefore, I decided to leave the decision-making to Mandy. Besides, initially, I did promise her that this would be our family-owned venture and no outsiders would participate. I didn't plan to change that, but if Mandy wanted to, then I won't stop her. After all, she would be the one running it.

"I can give you ten percent in exchange for everything you just promised. Not your family, but you. You are not allowed to decide for or represent the company in any capacity unless you have my or Ace's permission to do so. Also, you will not receive any dividends, and if you ever want to sell your shares, you can only sell them to us at 1.25 times the market price. So, do we have a deal?" Mandy suddenly offered, because the concerns that Janice brought up were her concerns, too. It's not that she didn't trust Ace with them, but it's just that he was already doing too much alone. She wanted to share the load before it broke him. Besides, she trusted Janice with her life, let alone this small business venture.

"Deal," Janice agreed immediately without haggling, knowing that Mandy had given her generous terms. After all, the things she promised her weren't quantifiable, meaning nobody could tell if she was doing her job well enough to deserve the ten percent shares. Besides, with her moving to the town, the security concerns were already handled, as for the legal hurdles, just the name Aurelian Eyes alone could open many doors.

I nodded, signaling my approval. Considering their relationship, I knew that Janice would help Mandy even without her offering the shares. However, the act of Janice accepting the shares for me meant that I could hold her liable now. With this, I had one less thing to worry about before leaving.

Speaking of my worries, just then I received a call from my biggest worry. I truly miss Dame Wasp. With her away, I had to physically answer the calls. letting out a long sigh, I answered the call, putting it on speaker, only to hear a loud cry, "Ace, Dee3's dead. She died because of me."