High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 2382 - 603: Helping with Household Expenses
One Blood Symbol Bullet costs a hundred jade coins.
Zheng Qing had to be very careful to suppress the urge to swallow loudly.
As a cost student, his yearly scholarship was only ten jade coins! Roast chicken sold on Pedestrian Street went for only twenty-four copper coins per bird! Zheng Qing wouldn’t bet that the Atonement Hunting Team’s earnings from the school hunting competition along with D&K’s entire year’s net profit would even reach a hundred jade coins. What he could confirm was that for Christmas, to prepare gifts for the witches, he pooled together hunting rewards, D&K dividends, and various miscellaneous incomes to assemble a hundred jade coin budget.
And now, all he needed was to draw a Blood Talisman, wrap a charm bullet, and hand it over to the Trident Sword to cover a big holiday gift budget. Was there a deal more tempting than this?
For a moment, the thought of wrist-cutting to draw talismans flashed in the boy’s mind.
But immediately, he thought of the uniqueness of his blood and forcefully restrained the impulse, while quickly calculating in his mind.
According to the current market rates in Beta Town, the sale price for a standard talisman with a three-month validity is one gold bean, which is the rate a skilled registered wizard-level Talisman Maker can get.
A hundred jade coins are equivalent to a thousand times one gold bean.
No precise data can prove that a charm bullet made by a top Big Wizard has explosive power equivalent to a thousand fireball talismans of registered wizard level exploding simultaneously. However, Zheng Qing remembered his first experience participating in Winter Hunting, thinking of the scene after he ignited hundreds of explosion charms, and figured the two shouldn’t be much different.
So in terms of sincerity, the price offered by the Trident Sword was barely satisfactory.
The only concern was that this charm bullet used his blood for drawing, besides the curse risks possibly involved by blood, the forbidden spell aura contained within the blood also posed a troublesome matter.
The former could still be dodged through some special talisman-making skills, such as any attempt to dismantle the charm bullet would lead to its collapse, using unicorn or other magical creatures’ fresh blood for shared composition, sketching deceptive magic runes at the talisman’s feet and so on.
The latter was much more complicated.
Indeed, through the Battle of the Black Prison, his identity was no secret among some high-level wizards, but there was still a significant difference between detailed knowing and vague knowing.
Zheng Qing did not believe that members of the Moon Council or Dark Council could accurately connect him with the fourth-generation forbidden curse—it required unimaginable prowess to calculate such an inconceivable conclusion—he was inclined to think that outsiders only vaguely believed him to be related to the forbidden curse, like pollution from stargazing, or having contacted the forbidden curse, hence contaminated with some forbidden spell aura.
With such a premise, it became imperative to continue concealing clues that involved his identity.
"Those charms weren’t drawn by me," he said weakly.
"We only need finished charm bullets," the Milly Wizard looked at him kindly, saying sincerely: "We won’t pursue the source of the talisman for making the charm bullet... just want to make a simple trade."
"However, according to ’Wizard Alliance’s Management of Magic Amulets’, talismans with over three months validity and general lethality are prohibited from circulating in the market."
Zheng Qing cautiously cited sections from the Wizard’s Code, reminding the few black-robed people across the coffee table: "My charm bullets, in terms of validity or lethality, exceed the limits by far..."
In fact, before these black-robed people suggested this, Zheng Qing had considered similar plans. But the Alliance’s management of talismans and other lethal magic items is very strict, for instance, a single customer purchasing fifty charms needs to be reported etc., a typical small shop finds it tough to verify the purchaser’s identity, so ultimately he only sold some scattered talismans in D&K.
Outside legitimate channels, the Wandering Bar stands as the best gray-area transaction negotiation site.
However, Zheng Qing really couldn’t trust letting charm bullets with his blood—despite all preventive measures—circulate in the world rampant with Black Wizards.
Upon hearing the warlock’s concerns, a peculiar expression appeared on the faces of a few black-robed people.
"Ahem... you mean, the clause requiring the reporting of super-tier talisman transactions to the Magic Association Investigation Bureau?" Andrew coughed dryly, pointing to his nose with his finger, and gave a dry laugh: "We are the Investigation Bureau itself, thanks."
If he hadn’t reminded, Zheng Qing almost forgot this point.
He glanced at Su Shijun for help.
The witch was still fiddling with a piece of green letter paper folded into a strip, noticing the boy’s gaze, she covertly pouted: "I’ll offer one hundred and one."
"Hmm?"
All four male wizards froze momentarily.
"High-tier talismans have always been a hot commodity in the market; charm bullets with reliable sources and powerful effects are even more sought after. One hundred jade coins per bullet is cheap." At this point, the witch suddenly tilted her head to glance at Zheng Qing: "How many of those powerful charm bullets can you provide each month?"
"Eh?"
Zheng Qing gloomily looked at his fingers—others perhaps thought he was calculating on his fingers, only he knew he was grieving his punctured fingers—drawing Blood Talismans needed bleeding, bleeding was painful, coupled with the Little Green Snake residing, the blood quantity carrying forbidden spell aura grew less daily, consequently, the number of charm bullets provided became extremely limited.
"Ten pieces, no, eleven or twelve?" The boy uncertainly mumbled.
"Well then," the hostess of Greenhill Mansion leisurely withdrew her gaze, and lightly answered the guests: "Just ten charm bullets per month, priced at one hundred and one each, only amounts to a thousand and one hundred jade coins... this quantity doesn’t need the Moon Council, our Su Family can casually eat it up."
The Milly Wizard’s face turned somewhat unpleasant.
Once again, it was the seemingly least conspicuous Li Yijin speaking again, he used a voice smaller even than Zheng Qing’s to remind the Big Wizard in front: "Um... super-tier talisman transactions need reporting to the Magic Association Investigation Bureau for filing... the Alliance forbids private wizard transactions."
It seemed Su Shijun had anticipated his comment, and upon hearing, immediately revealed a satisfied smile: "Illegal transactions are certainly a no-go. Ours is called ’supplementing household expenses’. Exchanging small gifts between spouses, is that considered trade?"
Suddenly Zheng Qing felt as though the cushion beneath him sprouted many pins, making it hard to sit comfortably. Andrew and Li Yijin gazed at him with envy, their stares were also laced with pins.
"One hundred and twenty jade coins." The Milly Wizard stopped entanglement with the ’The Code’ details, wore a stern face and offered a new price.
"One hundred and three." The witch nonchalantly admired her pretty nails.
"One hundred and thirty-five... you aren’t truly married yet!" The Milly Wizard pressed both hands against his knees, seemingly ready to leap and smite Zheng Qing’s face any second.
"One hundred and forty." Su Shijun sat firmly and replied righteously: "A dignified Trident Sword, are you forcefully seizing an ordinary little wizard’s property? This kind of lawsuit, brought into the Danhag Supreme Court, we still have reason!"
Zheng Qing had never seen Su the Beauty’s mesmerizing side before.
"One hundred fifty!" The Milly Wizard stiffly expressed his final offer: "One hundred fifty jade coins per charm bullet, tax-exempt... this is the bureau’s bottom line... if rejected, we will report to the Alliance, applying for unified purchase and sale by the Alliance."
The Alliance’s unified purchase and sale meant Zheng Qing’s charm bullets must be handed over to the Alliance, re-distributed by them, hence not only would the purchase price be very low, but the ’production tasks’ would also become semi-mandatory.
"Deal."
