With that slightly plump face of his set in a grim expression, Busca glanced at Anthony's Magic Cottage, then turned to head back inside. But just then, at the edge of his vision, he caught sight of a burly man walking past on the street.
The man wore iron armor, an iron sword hung at his waist, and a pack was slung across his back—the very picture of someone setting out on a journey. Perhaps he had felt Busca's gaze on him, because he paused for a moment and nodded with a smile.
"Aydon." Busca knew this burly man: a mercenary hunter, and an old customer of his shop. He smiled and went on, "Heading out on another mission, are you? All your equipment squared away? My shop's been closed over a bit of trouble lately, but out of our old friendship, I can give you special treatment."
He hadn't had the heart to open for business these past days, but a sale had just walked right up to him—who in their right mind would turn that down?
Busca's implication carried the distinct air of doing Aydon a personal favor. Other gear was one thing, but magic scrolls—a hunter's bare necessity—were something no ordinary magic shop could keep much stock of, and around here, the only place that could guarantee that kind of supply was his own Busca's Magic Shop.
But Aydon shook his head. "No need to trouble yourself. I've got everything ready."
"Everything ready? Then the magic scrolls too?" Busca blinked.
Aydon patted his pack. "I just bought eleven. Heh, that's enough for several missions."
"Don't tell me you went all the way to Morgan's Magic Shop on Stardust Avenue?" Busca pressed. Eleven magic scrolls—that was five silver coins. If he hadn't shut his doors these past two days, would Aydon, who lived right nearby, have gone anywhere else for that many scrolls?
"Why would I go that far?" Aydon laughed and denied it—then a flicker of mockery surfaced on his face, and he pointed toward Anthony's Magic Cottage. "These days Anthony's Magic Cottage has a steady supply of magic scrolls every day. A scroll goes for a rock-bottom forty-eight coppers, buy ten get one free. I've made up my mind: from now on, whenever I need magic scrolls, I'm buying them at Anthony's Magic Cottage."
"What?" Busca was stunned. "How could a little shop like that possibly supply so many magic scrolls?"
"Word is that rank-two mage in the shop has gotten really handy at making scrolls lately—he can turn out thirty scrolls a day, more than enough to sell." Aydon could no longer hide the mockery in his voice. The business of Busca's son Kairui being battered into a cripple with a scroll by that rank-two mage had become common knowledge around these parts lately, and it had invisibly advertised Ye Chui's scrolls for him, naturally making countless people favor them all the more. And the man was even running discounts and promotions—who could resist buying a few?
Watching Busca's astonished face, Aydon sneered a couple of times, said nothing more, and left.
Busca's expression turned even grimmer, and he could scarcely believe it. Back when Ye Chui had produced over a hundred magic scrolls, he had assumed the man had paid a hefty price to buy them somewhere else. Now it turned out Ye Chui had inscribed them all himself, in the space of three short days? Thirty magic scrolls a day... that talent was simply heaven-defying. In a business like theirs, magic scrolls were absolutely the most profitable goods of all!
Suddenly, a cold gleam flashed through Busca's small, utterly ruthless eyes, as though he had hit upon some interesting idea. That gleam slowly spread across his face and became a cold smile...
"Debbie, I'm stepping out for a bit."
A few days later, in the afternoon, Ye Chui walked in from the back courtyard into the shop, speaking as he came. He was dressed in a black robe, with a specially made pointed hat on his head—the standard getup of a mage.
Debbie was in the middle of a sale with two neighborhood women. The pair were pooling their money to buy ten magic scrolls, angling for that buy-ten-get-one-free deal at Anthony's Magic Cottage, but Debbie would have none of it. She was telling them that only a single buyer counted, that pooling didn't—and if they pooled, there would be no buy-ten-get-one-free.
She was right in the middle of haggling with them when Ye Chui's words made her blink. She beckoned the two women over and asked him, "Hammerhead, where are you going?"
"I've used up all the parchment and magic ink for inscribing scrolls. I'm going to buy some more, and a few more quills," Ye Chui explained. These things counted as magic items, sold only by the Magic Guild, and the Magic Guild sold only to mages—which was exactly why Ye Chui had deliberately put on this mage's robe. The robe and the pointed hat were a mage's insignia.
Debbie looked a little worried. "I'll come with you."
"No need. In broad daylight, Busca wouldn't dare do anything to me." Ye Chui was in a relaxed mood. In his memory, Busca was not a man who was easy to deal with, but even though he had offended the fellow before, more than half a month had passed and nothing had come of it, and it was the middle of the afternoon besides. Ye Chui sensed nothing amiss.
Debbie thought it over, decided that was indeed the case, and nodded. "Then go and come straight back."
She turned back to haggling with the two women, but soon realized something was off, and turned to look at Ye Chui. "Why haven't you set off yet?"
Ye Chui held his hand out to Debbie. "I don't have any money..."
Even parchment and magic ink cost money, after all.
Debbie said oh, and fished a coin purse out of her pocket. She rummaged in it for a good while and produced twenty silver coins, which she handed to Ye Chui. Parchment and magic ink were magic materials Anthony's Magic Cottage used all the time; back when Old George went to buy supplies, twenty silver coins were just enough for four hundred sheets of parchment and two bottles of magic ink, with a few coppers to spare for quills.
Ye Chui took the silver coins, sweating a little. "Could you give me a bit more? I want to look around some other places too—might come in handy."
"What other places are you planning to go?" Debbie's eyes went wide, fixed hard on Ye Chui, as if he were planning to go paint the town red.
The two women both teased him with a laugh. "Debbie, you can't be that stingy with Hammerhead—careful, or he'll go find himself some other girl." "That's right, that's right. A girl ought to be generous. Don't you think so, Hammerhead?"
Debbie muttered something under her breath, then, with the utmost reluctance, took another silver coin from the purse and handed it to Ye Chui. "Spend it sparingly, you hear? When you get back, I'm checking how much you have left."
Having been reborn this long, Ye Chui could roughly gauge, by the prices of his old life, that one silver coin was worth about a hundred yuan. Going out with a hundred yuan of pocket money—isn't that a bit shabby? Didn't I just swindle—no, earn—a hundred gold coins? That works out to a fortune—a million yuan! Do I really need to be this stingy?
And most important of all...
Ye Chui looked at Debbie, sweating a little. "I still have to have money left over? How much were you planning on me leaving?"
"Ninety-nine coppers." Debbie's expression was dead serious.
Ye Chui: "...Girl, why don't you just give me one copper coin and have done with it."
Debbie's expression grew even more serious. "It's not like I have any change, is it?"
Ye Chui: "..."
What was there to say, saddled with such a stingy little junior sister? It looked like he'd have to get his own secret stash ready, and fast. He waved a hand and left Anthony's Magic Cottage with eleven silver coins. Behind him came the sound of the two women's laughter, which clearly enraged Debbie—there was a smack as she slapped the table. "If you want the buy-ten-get-one-free deal, each of you has to buy on your own! If you two pool your money, I am absolutely not selling!"
Listening to his little junior sister's voice come booming out of the shop, every inch the roaring lioness, Ye Chui shook his head with a bitter smile. Thinking of Old George's charge, a sliver of worry rose in his heart. Hmm, if I really do marry her and bring her home one day, who knows what I'll have to suffer...
Of course, for Ye Chui that was still a long way off—he and Debbie were both only fifteen this year. Plenty of time, plenty of time.
Walking out onto the main street, Ye Chui took in the bright sunshine of this world of magic, and his mood grew light and cheerful. All this time he had been painstakingly studying Intermediate Magic Language and Advanced Magic Language, reading both textbooks over and over more times than he could count, and still he had gotten nowhere—no wonder he had been feeling so glum. Getting out now was a relief. Maybe he had been too impatient; better to take it slow.
This world was far more dangerous than his last one, but there were still beautiful, happy days waiting for him, weren't there?
For instance, when he had walked past the second street corner, Ye Chui suddenly looked over at the two-story building beside him with a surge of delight. Hammerhead's memories held this place with a peculiar vividness, strong enough that the sight of the building brought Ye Chui to a halt of his own accord—
This place was called Linchun Court.
The linchun flower is a flower with a special meaning, and that special meaning is that particular business between men and women. So... this Linchun Court was a... brothel.
Gales of girls' giggling kept drifting down from above; looking up, he could see one uninhibited woman after another sitting at the windows, romping and carrying on. The moral high ground in Ye Chui's heart could not help but shoot straight up, and with a scrutinizing gaze he fixed on those pretty girls—who couldn't even be bothered to dress properly before coming out to fool around—not blinking once, thinking coldly, I'm not doing anything else here, I'm just watching to see how much more shameless they can get!
Ye Chui studied those shameless girls with a critical eye, and perhaps his critical spirit was so strong that he had gone a little transfixed by it—because what Ye Chui never noticed was that a carriage which had been trailing him all the way from the main street abruptly pulled up behind him.
The carriage's shadow jolted Ye Chui out of it. He hurriedly turned around, one hand already nimbly reaching for the wand at his waist—but he was a mage, and of course he could not move faster than a sturdy swordsman. The rank-two swordsman Quinn, whom he had once hit with the [Lightning] spell, had already swiftly and deftly clamped a hand over his mouth, and with the greatest speed seized both his hands and dragged him into the carriage behind him.
From this incident we should all understand the importance of taking precautions when admiring beautiful women...
I've caught a cold, and I wrote this all dizzy and bleary-eyed~~~~ Begging for recommendation votes and favorites to comfort me~~~~