Chapter Eight: Kindness Is Often Taken for Weakness, Foolishness... Sorry, Wrong Set.

“Mhm!” As the needle was withdrawn from Moyuna’s hand, a faint, soft sigh escaped her lips. After half a month of treatment, Moyuna had long since grown accustomed to the sensation, barely sparing a glance at the cotton Ruby pressed to her wound. She was used to it all by now.

Her attire had changed as well. She had shed her plain white dress in favor of Ruby’s short-sleeved shirt, while her lower half was clad in thin black trousers. Thanks to purification magic, the clothes looked as good as new. After all, this was the underground—though there were vents, the temperature left much to be desired, and dressed like this, she no longer felt stifled by the heat.

She strode to the refrigerator, opened the door with practiced ease, and took out a glass cup of pudding, a subtle smile playing on her lips. The Moyuna who once called upon ice spirits at the fridge was long gone. Cradling the chilled dessert, she settled onto the sofa, pulled out a sheet of magic-infused paper, and began to read. These enchanted pages could store mana and were typically used for recording text. Moyuna was currently absorbed in a novel from another world, courtesy of Dragon’s friendly sharing.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked without turning, her senses keen now that much of her power had returned—she could feel Ruby’s gaze on her back.

“You can leave now,” Ruby replied, having silently observed the many changes in Moyuna. Habits truly were a frightening thing; humans adapted to convenience at an alarming speed, and even a grand mage was now straying ever further under the light of science.

“Hmm?” Moyuna put down the page, the magical script still floating in the air, and turned to Ruby with a puzzled look.

“You’re cured. Today was your last treatment. I’ve prepared your medicine for you—if you feel unwell after returning, remember to come find me.”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s just, now that your treatment is over, our doctor-patient relationship is finished.”

“Anyone would say that I’m a stunning beauty, right? Are you really so eager to get rid of me? Or do you prefer men?” Moyuna, though she had sometimes suspected Ruby would send her away as soon as she recovered, hadn’t expected him to be quite so resolute. There wasn’t a trace of reluctance in his eyes. She could never doubt her own looks—the problem must be with him.

“...No.”

“Fine, then let me reason with you. I have nowhere else to go.”

Naturally, Moyuna was lying. If she made a triumphant return to the Holy Empire, the emperor would probably weep with joy. But she had no desire to return to that cold, impersonal manor, where she was constantly attended and the vast estate felt utterly lifeless. This cramped, stuffy basement—even with its emotionally distant, stone-faced occupant—was genuinely preferable.

“I don’t believe you.”

“When I came here, I was on the brink of death, wasn’t I? It’s an unspoken rule among mages to leave their possessions to others before dying. My home, my wealth, all of it is now in the hands of my… former acquaintances. So I’m penniless—if I leave here, I’ll have no choice but to sleep outdoors.” Moyuna raised her finger and explained to Ruby with perfect seriousness. She wasn’t lying; besides a few everyday items, there was nothing of value left in her spatial ring.

“But you’re a grand mage.”

“Grand mages don’t need to eat? Should I rob someone just because I’m powerful? Where am I supposed to live without money? And let’s be clear, I’m not going back—I’ve already settled my affairs, and to return now would be utterly humiliating.”

With a string of pointed questions, Moyuna stuffed Ruby’s protests back down his throat, and sternly informed him that a grand mage’s pride was no trivial matter; she absolutely could not go back.

“I…”

“Alright, let’s set aside whether I’m leaving for now. You haven’t forgotten that this place belongs to me, have you? This entire area, including the underground, is mine.”

In her heart, Moyuna silently apologized to the house’s original owner, but she refused to give ground. The idea had come from a confession she once overheard at a capital ball, spoken by a merchant: “In my eyes, there are only two kinds of things in this world: things that are mine, and things that aren’t. What’s mine is mine by right; what isn’t, I find a way to make it mine. That’s why I’m so rich.” Even her teacher, Eula, greatly admired this philosophy, and Moyuna had tucked it away in her memory—never imagining she’d actually use it one day.

“So?”

“You’ve lived here rent-free for fifteen years. Don’t you think you owe me something for that?”

“How can you say that? I saved your life!”

“True, but I never begged you to save me. Or is it that in your world, it’s fine to live in someone else’s house for free?”

“Well, I did, in fact, appropriate someone else’s property… But then I should charge you as well: the medicine I used on you—penicillin—during Earth’s wars, the international price was—”

“Stop. I don’t need to know what your medicine costs. After all, it was used to save my life, so it’s only fair that it’s worth as much as my life itself.”

Moyuna brusquely interrupted Ruby, for haggling was like sailing upstream—she couldn’t give him the chance to gain the upper hand.

“Well, that makes sense…”

“Here, this is a silver coin. That’s what my life is worth, no more, no less.”

A shiny silver coin traced a graceful arc through the air and landed in Ruby’s hand. In this world, there were only gold and silver coins, exchanged at a rate of one hundred to one.

“…”

Ruby stared at the coin, which could barely buy a bun, feeling thoroughly insulted.

“The value of one’s own life is for oneself to decide—surely you can’t set the price for me? Now, as for the price you owe for staying in my house rent-free: this place, nestled by the mountains and water, with abundant resources—I’ll be generous: ten thousand gold coins per year. Fifteen years makes one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. And I won’t even charge for the damage you caused digging around underground.”

“I…”

Ruby was dumbfounded. Who would have thought that a well-intentioned act of saving someone would saddle him with such a colossal debt? An ordinary mage, dabbling in small business, could earn about a thousand gold coins a year. If Ruby wanted to repay the debt as a normal person, he’d spend the rest of his life paying it off—and still owe tens of thousands more when he died. Moyuna even offered him the “privilege” of continuing to repay the debt as an undead.

“I’ll give you two more options: one, move out and pay your debt; two, keep living here, but you’ll pay rent—which I’ll deduct from the meals you cook, since that’s your only real use.”

Moyuna had gained complete control. In her eyes, Ruby was now a lamb awaiting slaughter. She knew perfectly well he wouldn’t leave—the underground had more than one level, and the things below had cost Ruby years of effort. He was thoroughly trapped.

Of course, Moyuna would never admit that her real reason for staying was how delicious Ruby’s cooking was. Absolutely not.

“This is, this is…”

Poor Ruby—he’d barely spoken to anyone on Earth, and after coming to this world he’d spent over a decade as a recluse. He had no skills for bargaining, nor could he suddenly acquire them from his Earthly knowledge. All he could do was stand there, speechless.

‘Excellent. Victory.’ Moyuna rejoiced inwardly, while outwardly she calmly resumed reading her enchanted page. Her sharp tongue wasn’t innate—her teacher Eula had always told her, “Words are power,” and taught her the art of rhetoric. Sadly, she’d never mastered her teacher’s true skills; if Eula were here, Ruby would be kneeling and weeping with gratitude by now.

“Tsk. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but what’s with this man having his stomach tied up by someone else? I won’t just stand by and watch my partner get bullied. A mere hundred and fifty thousand…”

Dragon, who had been watching from the sidelines, couldn’t bear it any longer. He hopped off Ruby’s head, intending to help him find some ill-gotten gains. But before he could move, Moyuna swept him up with a wind spell.

*Snap!*

“Oops, slipped.” Moyuna tossed the now-split branch disdainfully to the ground and lightly called out to Ruby, who could only shake his head helplessly and return to his research, burdened with staggering debt.

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PS: The other party has no intention of reasoning and has bombarded you with relentless arguments.
PS: Power Ranking: Moyuna > Dragon > Ruby