“So what’s wrong with being a cold-hearted businessman?” Aahz snorted. “How about the other guy? Everybody thinks he’s a villain, and he’s crying all the way to the bank. He retired on the profit from that one sale alone.”
“Unless Nanny misled me horribly when she taught me my numbers,” Chumley interrupted, “I figure your current bankroll could eat that fellow’s profit and still have room for lunch. Any reason you’re so big on squirreling away so much gold, Aahz? Are you planning on retiring?”
“No, I’m not planning on retiring,” my partner snapped. “And you’re missing the point completely. Money isn’t the object.”
“It isn’t?”
I think everybody grabbed that line at the same time . . . even Pepe, who hadn’t known Aahz all that long.
“Of course not. You can always get more gold. What can’t be replaced is time. We all know Skeeve here has a long way to go in the magic department. What the rest of you keep forgetting is how short a life span he has to play with . . . maybe a hundred years if he’s lucky. All I’m trying to do is get him the maximum learning time possible . . . and that means keeping him from using up most of his time on nickel-and-dime adventures. Let the smalltime operators do those. My partner shouldn’t have to budge away from his studies unless the assignment is something really spectacular. Something that will advance his reputation and his career.”
There was a long silence while everybody digested that one, especially me. Since Aahz had accepted me as a full partner instead of an apprentice, I tended to forget his role as my teacher and career manager. Thinking back now, I could see he had never really given up the work, just gotten sneakier. I wouldn’t have believed that was possible.