"…Does forging a sword… take that long?"
Baal set down her teacup, a troubled expression appearing on her delicate face, her eyes fixed on Totosai opposite her as she asked.
"If we leave, Totosai… you won't run away, will you?"
"…Hmm, probably… maybe." Totosai pondered for a moment with his arms crossed, then answered as if it were obvious, "After all, you haven't said what reward you're going to give me."
"…Uh, what reward do you want?"
Baal looked troubled.
In fact, she had already thought about the reward, but she couldn't think of anything worth offering.
And she didn't know what Totosai… wanted.
"Hmph, don't think I can't tell." Totosai's voice suddenly rose, and he raised a hand to point at Kikyo and Baal opposite him, "You and the Miko are both dirt poor, you can't offer any reward at all!"
...
...
The atmosphere suddenly solidified.
Baal and Kikyo were speechless; they really were very poor and couldn't produce much of value.
So, they really… couldn't refute Totosai's words.
"…Hmph, don't underestimate me!" Baal lifted her chin slightly, speaking as if with newfound confidence, "I am the Lord of Youkai, possessing my own territory, so I'm not… a pauper."
"Then what… can you offer?" Totosai reached up to pick his ear, a mischievous smile appearing on his wrinkled old face, "Don't think about scraping together wealth from human society as a reward; that stuff… is useless to me."
...
Baal fell silent.
If it was just money and food, she could indeed gather them, but for a Chimi Monster like Totosai… it wouldn't mean much.
Something valuable… would probably be natural treasures or similar items.
"Nothing to say now, huh?"
Totosai shook his head as if disappointed. Then, noticing a hint of mischievousness in Baal's eyes, he immediately rubbed away non-existent tears with his sleeve, his voice filled with sorrow and desolation.
"Wuwu, how tragic! Forcing an old man like me to forge weapons and not even giving me a reward…"
"…How about you name a Chimi Monster enemy?"
Baal twitched her lips, looking at Totosai's dramatic performance, and rubbed her temples with a headache.
"We'll help you kill them, how about that as a reward?"
...
Beside them, Kikyo's beautiful eyes showed surprise, and she calmly glanced at Baal, though she didn't voice any objections.
After all, exterminating Chimi Monster… was her duty.
And currently, they really couldn't offer a suitable reward. If they could use Chimi Monster extermination as a reward, then that would naturally be… a good choice.
"…It seems, that's not impossible either."
Totosai instinctively glanced at Kikyo, who was quietly kneeling beside him, and stroked his beard, pondering for a moment.
"Izumo, which is the burial ground of the Orochi, has seen some unexplainable anomalies. If you can handle it properly, using that as a reward… would work."
...
For some reason, an uneasy feeling arose in Baal's heart, and she asked Totosai.
"The Orochi… isn't it already dead?"
"That's right, the Orochi is already dead." Kikyo also slowly spoke, her voice serious, "Could the Orochi truly revive?"
Logically speaking, a dead life cannot be revived, but that doesn't mean everything ends with death.
Even humans after death… can become vengeful spirits.
And if a Chimi Monster of the Orochi's caliber were to undergo a corpse transformation, it would be an unimaginably huge crisis.
In any case… devastation would be certain.
"…Didn't I say it was an anomaly?" Totosai sighed, waving his hand casually to explain, "That's why I hope a professional Miko can handle it."
"…But how does that benefit you?" Baal frowned slightly, asking, "Even if an anomaly appears, shouldn't it be handled by gods and great Chimi Monster?"
If the Orochi truly had an issue, it should be handled by those powerful Chimi Monster or high-ranking gods.
And Totosai… didn't need to worry at all.
Or rather, he wasn't qualified to worry.
"Then do you have a better idea?"
Totosai didn't care, calmly picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and slowly said:
"Are you going to bully an old man like me?"
In truth, he didn't expect to get a reward from Baal. If he were to look for a reward, he would… go to Yakumo Yukari, her guardian.
Now, he was just… teasing Baal.
After all, when you get old, you just enjoy teasing young people.
It must be said, it was quite enjoyable.
...
Baal pondered for a moment, then, as if thinking of something, spoke to Totosai with some uncertainty.
"Perhaps, I can offer some valuable things."
With that, she closed her eyes, then projected her consciousness onto the system interface, opening the system's gacha section.
During her journey with Kikyo to collect materials for forging demon swords, she had earned many system reward points. Although most of them had already been used to purchase demon god residue, she still had… some points left for gacha.
So, if she was lucky… and drew something good, she could give it to Totosai as a reward.
Her consciousness, without hesitation, pressed the gacha button.
Then, light flashed.
[Rosiel's Book]
[One Million mora]
[Worn-out Bench]
[Electric Toothbrush]
[self-heating beef rice]
[raiden ei's fried rice]
[Yukino Yukinoshita's Panties]
[Dental Floss]
[Independent Tree of Life]
[Underworld Incense]
As the gacha pointer continued to spin, its speed gradually slowed down until it stopped on 'Underworld Incense'.
Congratulations, Host, you have drawn:
[Underworld Incense]
...
Baal looked at the mysterious and magnificent scythe in the system's storage, remained silent for a moment, then opened the system shop, found the mora option, located the [One Million mora] exchange option, and clicked to purchase.
"…Excuse me, is mora acceptable?"
She retrieved a box filled with mora from her system space, then placed it on the low table.
Opening it immediately, a golden light spilled out.
"This is… gold coins?"
Totosai looked at the golden mora in the box, then couldn't help but frown, picking up a single mora from the box and carefully examining it.
"This material… I've never seen it before."
This was no exaggeration. Although the mora in the box looked very much like gold coins, their material was very strange, as if it didn't belong to this world.
It must be said, for him, a sword smith, it was quite appealing.
"In the future, perhaps mora will become the currency I issue." Baal saw Totosai's interest and smiled faintly, "When I establish a nation, you can use mora to buy many things."
"…Hmph, we'll see when you succeed."
Totosai snorted softly, used his finger to forcefully bend the mora, slightly curving it, then stopped testing its hardness, and finally gave Baal a satisfied smile.
"However, given the rarity of the material, it still has collection value, and it's worth my special research."
With that, he closed the box full of mora.
"If you can get ten more boxes, consider it payment."