It was at the very moment she saw Fang Yuan standing alive outside the shop that Huo Duoduo realized what had happened.
This was the Candidate's 【Blessing】.
With a flick of her nose and her hands on her hips, she let out a long huff from her nostrils. “So what if you ran off using a 【Blessing】? My general store is the only one in Ryder Town. You Candidates need to get lodging and 【Divine Relic】 items from me one hundred percent of the time, and naturally, I have the clues for the pass as well. If you don't pay your debt, I won't do business with you.”
Fang Yuan pointed at the corpse slumped on the floor inside. “That money was owed by that me. What does it have to do with this me? Go wake her up and make her pay.”
Huo Duoduo: “?”
In all her years traveling far and wide doing business, this was the first time she had ever seen someone so brazenly shameless about defaulting on a debt!
Huo Duoduo's nose twitched. She turned around to wrap her nose around a pitch-black sheet of paper from the shelf, snatched up a quill, and looked at Fang Yuan threateningly.
“With one stroke of my pen, your name will become famous throughout Ryder Town. Not a single resident will treat you with kindness, nor will they answer any of your questions. You will be completely stranded and helpless in Ryder Town!”
Fang Yuan rested her chin in her hands as she leaned against the window sill. Wearing a slight smile, her gaze landed with great interest on the quill and pitch-black paper in the boss's hands.
“Pointy-Eared Boss, are you short on workers?”
Huo Duoduo rolled her eyes at her.
Of course she was short on help. Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirits either engaged in commerce or theft. Among the Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirits on this floor, only Huo Duoduo had managed to gain a solid foothold by selling 【Divine Relic】 items, lodging, and clues about the pass. The other Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirits couldn't compete with her, so they became thieves on this floor instead.
She didn't dare hire members of her own species; she wouldn't even know when her goods were stolen, nor when those stolen goods would end up displayed in a new general store.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan summoned the blue screen with her mind, nodding repeatedly as she curiously scanned the description of the divine creation displayed on it.
【Divine Creation: Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirit】
【Physical Characteristics: Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirits stand around 80–100 centimeters tall and wear pointed hats. They have round bodies shaped like oak barrels, short limbs with broad palms, and soft, flexible conical noses up to 20 centimeters long with slightly upturned tips. Their long, pointed ears hang down to their shoulders, with fine spiral patterns growing naturally on the inner surfaces.】
【A Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirit's nose is not only an olfactory organ, but also their "third hand"—used for wrapping around goods, flicking abacus beads, writing, bookkeeping, and more.】
【A Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirit's ears are not only auditory organs, but also their portable ledger—the Merchant Spirit dictates transaction records onto their ears by lightly touching the ear pinna with a specially made quill, causing the spiral patterns to temporarily change color. Sweeping their nose tip across the ear reads the day's accounts.】
【A Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirit's pointed hat has no functional purpose; they simply feel they are too short, and the pointed hat happens to help them solve this issue.】
【Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirits do not only engage in commerce; they also practice theft. They are professional merchants, as well as professional thieves.】
Unfortunately, this screen could only display descriptions of divine creations she had already encountered; she lacked permission to view information on any she hadn't seen yet.
Through the blue screen, Huo Duoduo was twitching her ears. Standing on a wooden stool, she used her nose to poke Fang Yuan's elbow. “If you have a way to help me find free workers, I can consider reducing the amount you owe at my discretion.”
Fang Yuan wiggled her eyebrows at her, grinning cheekily. “Great minds think alike, Pointy-Eared Boss. But let's get one thing straight first: if I bring you two free workers, we wipe the slate completely clean.”
Huo Duoduo turned her head, her ears whipping up a gentle breeze with a rustling noise. “Three won't cut it. Four.”
Fang Yuan raised a finger to point at the top of her own head. Huo Duoduo's eyes subconsciously followed the gesture. From Huo Duoduo's perspective, she could clearly see the nickname floating above Fang Yuan's head.
Beside the text reading "Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star," there was a small line of red text that noted: This Candidate's Righteousness Value is below 20. Possesses vile and degraded moral character; not a good person.
Huo Duoduo stretched out a short hand and scratched the edge of her nose.
Over the past five hundred years, she had certainly seen all sorts of Candidates. She had encountered those with Righteousness Values under 20, and plenty with vile moral characters, but she didn't feel this Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star had anything to do with having a vile moral character.
At least from their interactions so far, she could only say Fang Yuan was a normal Candidate.
If it were really those other Candidates she had met whose Righteousness Values fell below 20, they would have long since fled using their 【Blessing】. Why would they stand at her general store's window and keep chatting with her?
Besides, she didn't seem to intend to default on the 200 gold coins either; instead, she planned to exchange labor of equivalent value for it.
So why was her Righteousness Value below 20?
Logically speaking, a Candidate like this should have a Righteousness Value around 50 or 60, right?
Fang Yuan loosened her shoulders and slid the shovel down from her shoulder, its edge grazing the tip of Huo Duoduo's nose.
Before Huo Duoduo could react, Fang Yuan grinned at her. “It's fine if you don't want to make a deal with me. So what if I don't pay back what I owe you? Can't I just squat at an intersection and rob people after they buy stuff?”
Huo Duoduo: “?”
She wanted to take back what she had just thought.
This Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star really was of vile moral character, but her Righteousness Value was probably sitting right on the edge of 20—at least she was still someone who could be traded with normally.
However, Huo Duoduo didn't plan to back down either. Her general store was usually quite busy, and now with the arrival of the Candidates, there was no way she could handle everything alone with just one Nose-Pouch Merchant Spirit, brown leather gloves, and quills.
“That's between you Candidates. Whether you live or die, or whether you rob someone or not, has nothing to do with me.”
“But think carefully: none of the other residents of Ryder Town will pay any mind to you either, let alone give you a pass. You had better be prepared to bear the consequences of standing against me!”
Huo Duoduo delivered her threat.
She hoped Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star would back down.
She needed free workers.
She needed four of them.
Not one less.
More would be fine.
Fang Yuan's expression didn't change at all. Grasping her hammer, she peeked through the window with a cheerful smile.
Huo Duoduo glanced at the hammer in her hand and didn't pull back.
Ordinary human gadgets couldn't do any damage to her anyway; it was like tickling, causing no pain whatsoever.
Taking in Huo Duoduo's reaction, Fang Yuan twirled the handle of her hammer. “Pointy-Eared Boss, how about this: I find you four workers, and in exchange, you give me a list of divine creations and a map of Ryder Town for free. What do you think?”
As she spoke, she gestured with her chin toward the corpse behind Huo Duoduo. “Plus, I'll throw in a fresh corpse of a Candidate of the God of War—use it however you like. You can even use my corpse's head as a vase. I think it works pretty well.”
Hearing Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star back down, Huo Duoduo was quite satisfied with her tact.
As for the list of divine creations Fang Yuan wanted, her general store had plenty of those lying around. They didn't sell well, but she wouldn't lower the price just because they were unsold, so they had simply piled up over time.
That included the map of Ryder Town, priced at 1 gold coin.
Both items Fang Yuan requested were things that were only sold during the 【God Selection】. In their everyday lives, everyone was a divine creation, so nobody needed either of these items.
Huo Duoduo wrapped her nose around a green scroll and a red scroll, flicking them right into Fang Yuan's arms.
Fang Yuan, who had originally only aimed for the list of divine creations and had thrown in the request for the map on a whim thinking Huo Duoduo would give it anyway, grinned at her. “Pleasure doing business with you, pleasure doing business!”
Sending her four fans here to work as laborers worked out perfectly, and establishing a connection with Huo Duoduo would make things much more convenient for whatever she wanted to do later.
So Fang Yuan stuffed the scrolls into her arms and flashed another smile. “By the way, Pointy-Eared Boss... is there any kind of 【Divine Relic】 here that can steal someone else's 【Blessing】?”
Rate on N.U.
