I took out a piece of a large gold coin worth 100 Jules. I wonder if they will be able to trade using this. Well, gold is a universal trading item.
I decided to hide from the people while I tried melting the coin. The coin melted and dropped into a square-shaped mold I formed using shadow magic. And I waited while the gold froze and turned into a square golden plate.
Oh right… I should have melted the gold coins that I gave the old lady. Hope that won't cause any troubles.
After it cooled down, I lifted the gold plate. This much should be worth at least enough money to get me around.
All right. This should be good.
At least I won't have to steal just to go around the town.
I decided to go to a bank, and the nearest one is like five minutes away.
But, I won't be going there.
I went to a bank that is much larger, also not too far from Ren's housing complex but is still fifteen minutes of walk
The reason being, I don't want to go to a small bank only to get rejected. So, why not try the big one immediately?
I arrived at the bank and began walking in carelessly, as if I have done this a thousand times. I walked to the counter that is empty since it is in the middle of the day, and was greeted by the lady at the desk.
"What can I help you with?"
The lady asked me politely, despite me being dressed rather mysteriously.
Currently, my jacket is quite dirty and has a lot of holes in them. Mostly because they were ruined when I was sparring with Jrake a long time ago, but also because of other unbelievably ignorant reasons, like accidentally spilling coffee.
I'm also covering my face, so people won't be able to recognize my face.
In the end, I looked like a potential thief.
I can sense the guards behind me are also growing their guard on me, but as long as I don't do anything, I'll be fine.
So, let's get on with the business.
First, to act weak.
"Is it… possible to trade gold with money here?"
"Do you want to trade gold to money, or money to gold?"
"Gold to money."
I placed the small square golden plate on the desk, and she picked it up.
"I… I will check the authenticity of this, please wait."
The lady was quite surprised seeing me taking out a random plate of gold so casually, and it does look like there is going to be a problem with it. She ended up going to the back, and I waited for around two minutes until she returned.
"I'm sorry, but we cannot trade gold assets that do not have a face value."
… Uh??? What does that mean?
"Sorry. What does that mean, exactly?"
I asked politely while the lady returned me the gold plate, and she continued.
"A gold asset must have a face value to be sold to the bank. For example, gold coins that are already marked to be worth a certain amount."
Oh… Well, I'm fucked.
"I-I see… thanks."
I nodded at her, and turned around to leave the bank. And as I walked, I noticed a group of people walking right in front of me.
A lady with a fancy yellow outfit, a bright yellow hat, and followed by her three guardians behind her.
Oh dear, what a queen.
It's a good idea to visit a large bank near a mall after all.
We walked past each other silently, and neither party minded one another at all. She arrived at the desk and began demanding this and that to the lady.
Meanwhile, I walked away from the bank with a wallet in my hand.
In the end I had to fucking steal, huh!???
I exited the bank and went rather far from it. I then began taking the money out of the wallet but left some of the useless stuff, like ID cards or bank cards.
Those things are useless to me, so might as well return them.
I used my shadow magic to place the wallet on the road in front of the bank, rather far away from the security camera's line of sight. I checked where they are located one by one when I arrived, that way if things go wrong, I can always do something about them.
Also the camera inside the lobby is probably slightly broken, but that's not my problem!
Now, I have more than enough money to buy me a full box of clothes for the poor old lady. But, I'm not going shopping right away.
It's time.
Let's go home.
I have been to Ren's place a ton of times before, and I know exactly my way back home. The part that I didn't know is that public transportation costs twice as high now, and I even got scolded by the bus driver's assistant because I paid less without knowing it.
After transiting on multiple buses and microtranses, I arrived in front of my house's housing complex, and I began walking inside. There are not that many guards here, so I can just enter any way I want without being questioned.
I remembered this neighborhood like it was yesterday. It was so god damn familiar, and I grinned remembering all of these. The trees around the road look so much taller than before. The road is more messy than before, which probably made sense since they only fix the road like once every blue moon.
I kept on walking until I arrived at the black front gate.
My house…
It didn't really change much. Aside from the fact that there is no longer a car in the garage.
Did dad sell the car? Or are they just not home?
I checked inside using my magic senses, and I sensed a single person sitting outside on the front chairs.
I peeked inside from the small hole in the gate at the side of the wall so I wouldn't be seen, and it felt like I wanted to cry so bad.
It's my sister, Lila...
She has… grown up.
The difference in our age is merely three years, but they do say that girls age faster than boys. She looked like an actual teen already… well, she is in second year high school now.
She is wearing a casual white T-shirt and long training trousers. Her hair is tied in the back, and looks like she is wearing glasses now. She wasn't wearing glasses when I was gone. Looks like her eyes got worse just like me.
She is currently writing something on a book, while a cat is sleeping on her lap.
Hey, that's Chemo. That's my cat!
She never liked Chemo. She always complained that Chemo pooped and peed everywhere. And now look at her, being so friendly with it.
While she was studying, a person came out from the door and talked with her. My eyes widened immediately and my heart began to pound hard. I covered my mouth and cried as I watched her from the hole, talking with Lila.
It's… Mom.
She looked really old as well. Just a span of two years, and she already had white hairs all over her head.
And she still wore that old dress too... She really liked that thing.
Mom seemed to be scolding Lila for some reason, and then she went back inside. Lila cursed while placing her earphones back and continued writing.
Without realizing, Chemo left her desk and started walking towards the gate. Chemo noticed me outside, and it probably walked towards me because of that.
Lila called Chemo, but then her gaze dropped at the hole.
"Oh shit."
I quickly turned around and ran.
Lila dashed towards the gate and opened it to look outside.
"Who's that?!"
She looked around and caught a glimpse of someone running and turning to a corner. Seeing that the person was running, she spared no second and started chasing. She arrived on the corner, but she couldn't find anyone.
She looked around and got confused, because the road was long and empty. The person she chased shouldn't have gone far, and yet he completely disappeared from her eyes.
I have successfully landed at a nearby house roof like a ninja. I studied Lila who was standing in the middle of the empty road, just wondering where I went.
Hmm… What should I do?
Oh, I have an idea.
Lila spent some time searching the road and the sides, looking for any hiding spots. She really wanted to find me and beat me up, huh?
Somebody grew up to be a gangster. I like it.
After a while, she got tired and returned back to the house. But right before she entered the gate, her eyes landed at the ground in front of the house.
It was a piece of paper on the ground, and it looked like it was ripped off an empty book. The material looked quite old, and there's a sentence written on it.
She picked it up and read it.
'One day, I'll come home. Don't tell mom and dad yet! I'll bring my girlfriend too, so until then, study hard!'
I wrote that in a flash the entire time she was looking for me. It's amazing that my writing skill can still be that fast. Well, I flew from one kingdom to another in merely an hour, so this much is expected.
Also my writing is still stupidly bad, so she can probably tell it was genuinely from me.
After reading the letter, she mumbled not too loudly.
"Stupid brother... Even though you died…"
She mumbled, and a small piece of rock flew to her shoulder.
PLAK!!!
"Auch! What?!"
She looked around, but she couldn't find the source. It was a small rock, and I didn't throw it too hard. But, it should leave a mark on her shoulder.
She noticed that the rock was purposely thrown to mess with her, and she can't help but learn that this is a set up by someone.
She then began ripping the paper to pieces.
H-Huh!??!
After ripping them and throwing them everywhere, she walked to the gate with her hand lifted upwards. Her middle finger was lifted upwards, as if gesturing towards anyone who sees them.
She then closed the gate, leaving me watching just the ripped papers in front of the gate.
Once I realized what just happened, a vein popped in my head.
"You cocky little sister…"
I grinned and chuckled. It's been a while since the two of us had a quarrel.
She ripped the paper, but she definitely studied the contents. I just hope she knows what to do with that information.
I watched from the roof of the other house as she went inside to talk with our mom. And they seemed to be talking quite loudly about something, and I became rather curious.
Well, that was fun.
Let's get closer--
"You weren't supposed to return!!!"