The man froze for a moment. He looked terrified. I smiled and said,
"What's wrong? Not going to say anything? I'm here to do business. If you're not interested, I'll leave."
"Wait!" the man shouted. "First, I want to know who you are. And how... how is this even possible?"
Sweat was dripping down the man's face. I glanced at the magic stones and items scattered across the floor, then said:
"It doesn't matter who I am. I don't even have an identity in this world. I'm not important—no one cares about me. If you get involved with me, there won't be any problems."
That was partially true.
Madara himself isn't important. The Familias don't even know he's one of my clones—at least, not yet.
But if this man finds out that Loki and Freya are after me, he'll definitely refuse to get involved.
"I do care who you are. There's no way someone like you isn't important. What was that just now? I've never seen anything like it. The stones and items appeared out of thin air. Magic?"
"Are you going to buy this crap or not?" I asked, starting to lose my patience. "I already told you—it doesn't matter who I am. I just want to sell this stuff and make some money."
The man seemed a little shaken. The sweat on his face worsened, and he clenched his teeth.
"Alright, alright... So it doesn't matter who you are, huh?" He let out a nervous laugh. "Fine, I'll buy the magic stones and items. But it'll take a while to calculate everything."
"I don't mind."
"Alright then..."
The man was still clearly nervous in my presence. I wonder what's going through his head. He must be thinking something crazy.
Then I laughed. "Hahaha."
"What are you laughing at?"
"I'm just wondering what's going through your head. Something like, 'Is this guy part of an important Familia?' I bet you're thinking along those lines."
"Like I said before, if you were part of a Familia, you wouldn't need some backdoor method to sell all this."
"Sure, sure."
I stood up, and all the magic stones and items on the ground began to disappear.
"Hey, hey, wait! Everything's vanishing!" the man cried out in a panic.
"I'm just storing everything. Wouldn't it be better if I put it somewhere else?"
"Ah, right…" The man smiled awkwardly.
He then led me to a room that looked like a storage area. There were lots of boxes filled with magic stones and items. Bigger than I expected.
He had me lay everything out on the floor.
I pulled out fewer items and stones than before, but he didn't seem to notice.
Hands on his hips, he smiled as he looked at it all.
"You're incredible."
When he said that, I left Madara's body and returned to my original one.
Then I spoke to him.
'Madara, don't leave this guy's side. Even if he tries to send you away, stay there until they finish counting everything. I don't trust these people.'
[Understood, Master. If they try anything, may I kill them?]
'I don't care. Kill them all.'
[Understood.]
I could feel the excitement in Madara's words.
####
Back home, I contacted Fang Yuan again.
'Fang Yuan, are you somewhere safe?'
[Yes, Master. I found a place to stay—I'm in a room. It's not a room worthy of you, but I believe it will suffice.]
'Not worthy? What are you even talking about?'
I sighed and took control of Fang Yuan's body to have a look around.
As soon as I took over, I saw a wardrobe in front of me. Beside it, there was a window.
I approached the window and looked outside.
'Hm…' I could already tell that the village's structure wasn't anything special. The buildings were smaller and of lower quality. The streets were also a bit narrow. But honestly, I didn't care much about that.
As long as I have somewhere to stay, that's enough.
'What stands out most to me are the people.'
I saw humans—and especially elves. There were quite a lot of elves. Well, it made sense since this village used to be an entirely elven community.
I expected more racial diversity—dwarves, prums, and so on…
Oh well.
'Seems like a warm place. Very quiet.'
I stepped away from the window and returned to my original body.
After that, I stored everything I needed in my inventory, then activated the "Swap" ability to switch places with Fang Yuan.
In the blink of an eye, I was in the room.
Then Fang Yuan contacted me again.
[Master, could you take me back to the village? I'd like to explore the surrounding mountains a bit more.]
At his request, I used the "Transport" ability to bring him to me.
When Fang Yuan appeared in front of me, he knelt.
"I've completed my mission, so I hope to be rewarded."
What? He wants a reward now? My clones are asking for things?
"What kind of reward?" I asked, curious.
"A new ability, Master. One related to cultivation."
"Cultivation? You know about cultivation?"
In his original world, cultivation exists—but I don't think there's anything like it in Danmachi.
Still, I think there's a skill on the list that's similar. I could buy it for him.
"Yes, I do. It seems interesting, so I'd like to give it a try."
"I'm sorry, but now's not the right time. I'm saving up points."
Fang Yuan didn't seem upset and simply smiled.
"That's fine, Master. I can wait. I'll keep hunting monsters and leveling up like the others. It's not a problem if I clear out all the monsters in the mountains, right?"
"If you can manage that, I don't mind."
"Alright. I'll be off then."
Fang Yuan stood up and left the room.
Then I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
The appearance of an old woman doesn't suit this place.
"I think I should copy the appearance of an elf I know and use it while I'm in this village."
There are a few elves in Frieren, aside from Frieren herself.
Should I take the appearance of one of them?
####
If you want to encourage me to keep writing and read more chapters, here is my patr eon:
patr eon.com/ZhangYe