After a brief moment of astonishment, Maya Yotsuba turned her gaze towards Luo Shu's smiling face.
"Miss Maya wouldn't do something like temporarily raising the price, would you?"
Looking at Luo Shu's ambiguous smile and teasing, Maya Yotsuba sighed helplessly:
"It seems I underestimated my own value."
"Not underestimated." Luo Shu shook his head, then joked about himself: "Rather, the prices I offer are always quite high."
Speaking, Luo Shu said in a joking tone: "For the Hidden Management Department, producing one Demigod isn't particularly difficult. Even producing an Apostle might not be impossible."
"But all this premise is that you have the value that would make the Hidden Management Department pay such a price."
Hearing Luo Shu's pragmatic words, Maya Yotsuba fell into silent contemplation for a moment before sighing:
"Pure utilitarianism?"
"Correct." Luo Shu's smile returned to his face: "But I should remind you that defining value is my prerogative."
Upon hearing this, Maya Yotsuba showed an understanding expression, then looked up at Luo Shu:
"Then what is my value, or that of the Yotsuba family? What can we obtain in return?"
"The opportunity to acquire an exclusive Class."
Maya Yotsuba's eyebrow twitched. Though she felt the offer was already substantial, seeing that Luo Shu hadn't finished speaking, she patiently waited.
Then, Luo Shu's claims grew increasingly extravagant.
"Information about a Common Demigod Class."
"Details of a High Tier Class, along with assistance during the Demigod ritual."
"Support regarding channels for advancement materials across various class ranks."
"Provision of cultivation resources at the Demigod level and beyond."
Hearing this, Miya Yotsuba couldn't help but feel Luo Shu had come today specifically to tease her.
'Are you pretending to be a wish-granting turtle in a fountain?'
At that moment, Luo Shu casually remarked: "These are just the basic benefits for core internal members."
Now Maya Yotsuba was certain.
This wasn't a wish-granting turtle - this was a dragon turtle from a mythical fountain.
She must be experiencing auditory hallucinations.
Just after listing these benefits, Luo Shu then quipped:
"Sometimes I feel like I'm running a charity too, which is why I'm quite wilful when it comes to personal matters."
Hearing this, Miyuki Shiba beside them finally couldn't restrain her urge to comment, murmuring quietly:
"With conditions like these, I'd even be happy to become a nanny for younger siblings."
Maya Yotsuba found this quite reasonable after listening.
Never mind Miyuki Shiba becoming a nanny for Miya Yotsuba's future children - even if Luo Shu had a bunch of illegitimate children outside, she'd probably be all smiles every day.
Of course, all this was predicated on these conditions being genuine.
But... honestly, weren't these benefits just too astonishing?
Maya Yotsuba didn't need to think hard to imagine what achievements the core members of the Hidden Management Department could attain with Luo Shu's level of investment.
Demigods weren't even the main point - there was considerable confidence in reaching Apostle level beyond Demigod, and they might even attempt to break through beyond Apostle.
Thinking this, Maya Yotsuba couldn't help sighing:
"I'm starting to understand why the Hidden Management Department has the most Demigods of any organisation in this world."
With such resource investment, having many Demigods was normal - it would be strange if they didn't.
Rather than it being strange to have many Demigods, the real oddity was that the Hidden Management Department had so many resources to train members.
After all, even the Five Great Powers couldn't guarantee cultivating a proper Demigod.
Whether it was basic Class intelligence, advancement materials, or corresponding mystic side knowledge, all these were heavily restricted.
Every power possessing Demigods was extremely wary of the Five Great Powers, creating various obstacles to prevent them from obtaining Demigod cultivation information.
Yet such things were basically standard equipment within the Hidden Management Department.
And this standard equipment hadn't leaked even the slightest intelligence to the outside until now.
From this perspective, Maya Yotsuba was quite certain that the Hidden Management Department must have some compulsory method to ensure intelligence doesn't leak.
Was it the legendary Divine Rank Abyss Artefact? Or some method beyond Demigod, perhaps even beyond Apostle?
Reaching this speculation, Maya Yotsuba stopped thinking and instead pondered why Luo Shu was explaining these things to her.
Considering their needs and Luo Shu's offered conditions, Maya Yotsuba couldn't help laughing:
"It seems we've become begging paupers in Luo Shu's eyes."
Hearing this self-mockery, Luo Shu didn't really refute it, merely saying:
"It's just a perspective gap caused by information differences - that's an environmental issue, not your fault."
Hearing Luo Shu say this, Maya Yotsuba took a deep breath, then asked him curiously:
"I have one final question."
"Why would the Hidden Management Department, possessing such strength, actively restrict its influence rather than expand further?"
With the largest number of Demigods, a cultivation mechanism beginning to take shape, and the SDS possibly possessing Divine Rank Abyss Artefacts - why maintain the scale of a mystic side transnational organisation rather than replacing the Five Great Powers?
Maya Yotsuba couldn't quite understand the reasoning here.
Facing Maya Yotsuba's inquiry, Luo Shu simply said calmly:
"The Hidden Management Department isn't prepared to take over the world yet."
Hearing Luo Shu's description of not being prepared, Maya Yotsuba immediately understood:
"I see."
As she spoke, Maya Yotsuba suddenly raised her hand and reached for her ear, removing a pendant with a four-leaf clover pattern. She then turned to Miyuki Shiba beside her and said:
"Miyuki!"
Hearing this, Miyuki Shiba similarly raised her hand and removed the four-leaf clover earring from her right ear.
After removing the earring, Miyuki Shiba handed it to Maya Yotsuba.
At this moment, Maya Yotsuba also took out a four-leaf clover necklace and a four-leaf clover ring, then looked up and handed them to Luo Shu with a smile.
"What's this?" Luo Shu looked at the jewellery in Maya Yotsuba's hand.
The pendant, earring, necklace, and ring - four different styles of jewellery, all featuring the four-leaf clover pattern, clearly custom-made items.
"These are gifts I bought for my sister, Miyuki, and Tatsuya after coming to this world. The four leaves on the jewellery represent the four of us, and also represent the entire Yotsuba family."
Having said this, Maya Yotsuba reached out, held Luo Shu's palm, and placed the four pieces of jewellery in his hand:
"Now, I'm entrusting them to you..."
At this point, Maya Yotsuba tilted her head and smiled:
"It's your responsibility to keep them safe and sound."
"My dear~"