"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to Moirai! Today is a bright day filled with adventures, sponsored by our lord and saviour, Mr. Error!" Caster shouted with a solemn face, wearing wizardly robes which were exactly what a priest of Mr. Error should wear according to Amon.
This day was quite special, at least if we believe what Caster said. Holding the holy Bible of Error, he glanced at the crowd with a gentlemanly smile. All around him were people of great power and influence. In truth, these people were delegates who had visited from the Song and Sword Domains, along with government agents and members of independent clans.
Why was this happening? Mr. Jacob wanted to broaden his influence and attract more Awakeneds to join Rose Redemption. It was disguised as a simple celebration for the opening of the temple, and the Great Clans used the excuse of wanting a peaceful relationship with Rose Redemption to come and see what was really happening.
Mr. Jacob was really exhausted from transporting so many people here az well, but the other saints helped, so the burden lessened. What surprised Amon and the gang was that Mr. Jacob allowed their potential enemies to anchor themselves to the citadel. At the same time, he killed the limbless, chained creature imprisoned in the depths of the spire that acted as a spirit conduit, and instead became one himself, saying that a saint's soul was much more potent and powerful and did not need as many sacrifices.
That was also good in a way, since they no longer needed to sacrifice as many soul shards as before, because a saint's soul was vastly more powerful than that of a mere Awakened beast. And Mr. Jacob's soul was even more powerful than that of a normal saint. He was an exception.
Caster, though, did not bother thinking about any of that anymore. Frankly, he did not really care, since his whole attention was focused on the streets. This was more of a festival anyway. As Amon and Mr. Jacob discussed, culture was very, very important.
And thus, this day was called Adventure Time. Caster was not aware of the reason why Amon named it that, but he remembered the things Amon said about Adventure Time raising him or something along those lines, which left him a bit confused. Amon was also cursing some princess and calling her Makima's mom, and Caster had no idea who Makima even was.
However, Caster wasn't bothered by it. Mr. Error was the patron God of Adventurers, Thieves and Pranksters, so Caster was quite glad that there was a day dedicated to celebrating the blessed ones of The Lord.
Caster originally wanted to honor Mr. Error with this day, but Amon insisted that it had to be a special day, which was 29 February. This day existed to make logic out of an illogical cosmic reality. Amon said that 29 February was also a fixed error in the calendar, that it held power and had a mystical connection to Mr. Error, directly pointing at Him.
Because of that, Caster could only nod silently. While he was a bit saddened that he would not be able to celebrate Mr. Error's day this year, at least he could do it in the next one, so that was something to look forward to as well.
As for Adventurer's Day, it was held during the winter solstice, which was also the same day when sleepers were transported into the dream realm.
What could he say? Moirai was becoming cooler and cooler. As he glanced at the festival stalls, the bustling streets and the gathered people, he felt a bit emotional, if he was honest.
The gathered Awakeneds were also a bit awed as they looked around. The city was not finished, but it was still beautiful and classy. This street was called Swindler's Trick and it was a bazaar, and while the name sounded funny, the moment you experienced shopping there, it stopped being funny entirely. Why? Well, there was one very important reason.
There was a guaranteed chance of getting scammed...
The Temple of Mr. Error wasn't located here, though. It was in the north, where the water flowed into the city. It was a bit of a lonesome and ominous place, shrouded in fog that made everything barely visible to normal people. Luckily, no one here was normal. Even so, it was still a little difficult to see when walking through that fog.
But we'll get back to the church later. For now, it was time to have fun… if you could manage that while getting scammed, that is.
Anyway, since there were stalls, it meant things could be bought. And that meant there had to be a currency. Luckily, Forgotten Shore was a rich land, filled with ores, gold, silver, and many other valuable treasures.
"Woah! You guys have oil!?" a certain red-haired guy shouted from somewhere.
Yes… they had oil too. For some reason, Caster felt a chill run down his spine as excited laughter followed that question.
Back to the point, the currency used here was mainly made from two of the most common crystals. One was red in color, though it wasn't a ruby, and the other was gray. The one made from gray crystal was called Amantes.
The head of an Amantes coin depicted a bizarre symbol. It was streaked with faint veins of light, like frozen lightning or fragments of stars trapped in coin. At its center glowed a white, radiant spiral, ringed by five smaller circles connected with finely etched lines. Within each circle was a motif resembling a clock's face, its hands frozen in impossible arrangements. Indeed, it was a symbol of Mr. Error's power.
Its tail, meanwhile, showed two figures, a man and a woman. There wasn't any grand design like the head, but for some reason, it was more intricate. To put it simply, the tail depicted the card of lovers.
As for the other coin, made from red crystal… well, it was called Luna. Caster grimaced at the thought and cast a glance at a certain man sitting atop the roof of a pagoda, adjusting his monocle with a gentle smile.
Yeah… favoritism was a thing. It wasn't hard to guess that Amon was biased as fuck.
Luna was a red coin. Its head depicted a crimson moon, dripping with blood that fell onto the scarlet sea, as if the sea itself were made of blood. The water reflected the moon in a bizarre, unsettling way, while the moon shone with a blinding radiance, illuminating the surrounding darkness. Its tail showed a colossal winged woman, composed entirely of stacked reproductive organs. She stood loftily on the earth, holding up the heavens themselves to prevent them from collapsing, yet her abdomens were entirely hollow.
Gee, if that wasn't disturbing. Caster shook his head.
Basically, a dormant soul shard could be exchanged for one Luna. An Awakened soul shard was worth ten Luna. Ascended was worth a hundred, and Transcendent was worth a thousand.
There were, of course, Supreme shards that could be exchanged for ten thousand Luna. If there was a sacred shard, it could be exchanged for a hundred thousand and if divine, for a million. But seriously, no one was bringing Supreme, sacred, or divine shards. They were just there for show. Even Transcendent shards were too rare to exchange. So mostly it was dormant, Awakened, and Ascended shards.
As for Amantes, a hundred Amantes could be exchanged for one Luna as well.
Not to mention, Mr. Jacob used certain methods to make the coins special. He hired specialists who could imbue objects with mystical qualities. For example, Amantes could be used to recover a bit of essence while Luna could be used to heal yourself. There were plenty of memories as well in Mr. Jacob's arsenal to create such effects.
Oh, and the denominations of Amantes were 5, 10, 50, and a 100. The same applied to Luna.
Caster was still a bit baffled by how Mr. Jacob and Amon had created new currency, but at this point, he was neither surprised nor did he care much about it.
So why was he explaining all of this? Well, it was because their guests were about to get scammed.
Right now, Saint Eunbin, Beastmaster, and Saint Hel, Death Singer, were exchanging shards to get coins.
"Right now, I have eight Ascended shards and two Transcendent ones," Eunbin counted the shards in her bag, which was a memory with a pocket dimension inside it.
"That would be 280 Luna, my lady," Aiko answered with a pleasant smile.
Caster stared at her, not knowing what to say. So she was just removing zeros. A Transcendent shard was, in fact, a thousand Luna, and Aiko exchanged it only for a hundred. While an Ascended shard was worth a hundred, and she exchanged it for just ten.
Haaaaa... such a blatant display of greed, how shameless... Caster thought, exasperated, and then gave Aiko a thumbs up. As expected of the followers of Mr. Error!
She wasn't alone in this. Everyone in Rose Redemption agreed to rob their guests, and everyone had learned the same script in case questions were asked. Not to mention, those pitiful guys wouldn't even question them or demand justice, why? They were filthy rich and didn't care.
To be honest, this was Amon's idea, saying something about scamming Arabs at the beach and other things he didn't really understand.
"Hey, you two ladies... any spare change?" Many might have already guessed who this peculiar individual was. It was none other than the Laughing Storm, Gunlaug, the greatest bum of Moirai and a local beggar who was also a gambler and an alcoholic.
Eunbin and Hel stared at him for a moment, their expressions blank, but then Hel exclaimed with a loud gasp.
"Oh, you poor thing. It's not much, but here, take a hundred Luna." Hel said with a sad look as Gunlaug nodded, put the coins in his pocket, and left whistling.
"Now... maybe I shouldn't go to Gambler's Bliss... hmm, nah. Let's bet on black again, lady luck will not betray me today." Gunlaug murmured and went on his way, which was business Aiko had started by taking a huge debt. But because of those pitiful buffoons, many thought that she would pay it back more quickly than expected. Gambler's Bliss was the street where casinos and all kinds of shabby things were located.
"Such a poor fellow, right?" Hel asked, almost tearing up. Perhaps life was always hard no matter where you were.
"Hmm... indeed. But I find it quite strange that the coin is named after our dear sister." Eunbin smirked teasingly at Luna, who was eating ice cream. Where did those guys get it? Ask Amon and his fraudulent bag.
"Right right? That's so endearing. I didn't know that vile man could be so romantic. I'm kind of envious now." Hel giggled softly, hugging Luna.
Luna had a warm and joyful expression as she ate her ice cream. Her eyes practically sparkled while a bit of cream dirtied her cheek and mouth. But as she heard Hel, she grimaced, her expression instantly becoming irritated.
"Ughh! Why would he do that? I'm so embarrassed right now." She complained, taking a bite of strawberry from her ice cream.
"Now, don't be so hard on him. It's pretty cute, don't you think?" Eunbin smiled, crossing her arms under her chest.
Luna paused, her expression contemplative as she fell into thought. Then her cheeks reddened a bit as a warm, dreamy smile appeared on her face. "Right? He's so adorable."
Hel blinked, dumbfounded by the constant shift in mood... pregnancies are scary.
At the same time, because of a lack of soul shards, Medici stole money from someone he perhaps shouldn't have. It was Lady Morgan, princess of the Sword Domain.
And right now, she had figured it out and was searching for the red-haired man in the streets with a deathly serious expression, her eyes filled with bloodlust.
Meanwhile, Amon and Medici were just chilling while eating shawarmas. And the one cooking them was Harus.
Harus had discovered his talent too. He had always known he was especially great at butchering people and Abominations, but he hadn't realized he was a great cook as well.
"One more, please. Medium sized, with onions and peppers as well. I want it juicy and fresh. Also, add spicy cheese." The young woman asked with a satisfied smile on her face.
"I've got you, boss." Harus said calmly as he started cutting the tomatoes. As you could see, he was a proper kebab guy, or shawarma guy. He was selling both, so whatever.
Medici, hearing this, grinned, patting the young woman on the shoulder with a laugh. "I see that you also have great taste, my friend."
"Thank you." the young woman said softly.
"Hahaha, no need. I'm just admiring your taste in food. By the way, what's your name?" Medici asked, taking a bite of the shawarma.
"Oh~ I am Morgan of Valor." the young woman said, smiling warmly.
Meat, pepper, and tomato fell from Medici's mouth as his jaw dropped, and he stared at her with wide eyes. "Ahh... I'm cooked."
Amon nodded calmly, sipping his juice. "You think?"
"Mr. Medici, would you be so kind as to have a small conversation with me?" Morgan asked sweetly, gesturing for him to follow. When Medici didn't move and took a step back, Morgan grabbed his hair and dragged him along.
"Amon! Help! We've been found out!"
Medici thrashed around, trying to break free, his hand outstretched toward Amon, who only continued sipping his juice as if Medici didn't exist.
Who's we, hotdog? There's no we. You're on your own, lad.
Luckily, Morgan didn't believe his nonsense and just walked away, holding Medici's long hair firmly.
But because of Morgan's flaw, Medici's hair was cut to pieces. So she decided to grab his leg this time.
She expected screams… Well, he was screaming, but not in pain. Instead, he was calling for help, which was quite shocking. It meant Medici had some kind of attribute that resisted her flaw.
How intriguing… Morgan thought with a faint smile.
Amon, staring at them, tilted his head, a wide grin appearing on his face. Well, once again, he had kinda exploited a loophole. Medici's armor had a requirement to defeat seven thousand enemies or something. He didn't really remember the exact numbers, but that was fine. Once you fulfilled those numbers, the armor would become soul-bound.
But defeating so many enemies wasn't exactly easy. That's why Amon thought about it, and around three seconds later, advised Medici to use his subordinate.
Basically, they would fight, and in a second Rosrick would admit his defeat, and that's it. The runes never said anything about killing, and the armor certainly couldn't know that Medici was cheating. So it worked, and now he had a marble shell.
Well, enough about that, Amon thought, his expression becoming a bit amused. Why? Of course, because Changing Star and her merry band of autistic gremlins were looking around like country bumpkins.
When Nephis noticed Amon, she nodded to him and walked toward Harus's glorious restaurant, taking a seat.
"Hm… hi."
"Oh my, such a passionate reunion! I'm astounded by your stupendous way of greeting. I must admit, it was quite a splendid display of your special trait!" Amon exclaimed with a pleasant smile.
Nephis frowned, not understanding what he was talking about, until Cassie sighed. "He's calling you mentally ill."
"I wouldn't dream of it, my fair ladies~" Amon gasped, covering his face with his hand in mock shock.
Cassie's hand trembled, her expression showing a faint hint of displeasure and anger. "It doesn't matter..." She paused, a frown forming on her face. "Were you always that tall?"
"Hmm? I'm not really that tall. It's just, my lady, that I'm not as masterful in the art of being close to the ground as you are. My deepest apologies." Amon said with a gentle smile.
Cassie blinked, her jaw dropping as she adjusted her blindfold, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Calm down. He's just provoking you. He's always doing that to everyone. Stay calm… ughh, I hate this guy.
Effie glanced at Amon, raising an eyebrow before laughing. "Oh? Is it because of those, huh?" She pointed at his boots. "No wonder. Why don't you take them off and show us the real you?"
"Oh my~ how shameful," Amon murmured, hastily hiding his body with a panicked expression.
Random passersby overheard it, grimaced at Effie, and kept walking.
"Raised By Hoes."
"One who endured the nastiest backshots in the Forgotten Shore."
"Widened One."
They muttered to themselves as they passed. Effie lowered her head, fists clenched. I hate this guy…
Nephis blinked, staring at the stone road with a lost look. I… how can someone so adorable have such a sharp tongue?