"After taking off your clothes, lie down on this side... Why are you still standing there?"

While flipping through an old notebook, Xiao Li walked over to the metal platform that appeared to be an operating table. In stark contrast to the magical world style, this thing was filled with a sci-fi vibe, with a surgical light fixed on top and various operating devices connected to the vertical pillars at the corners, all brightly lit with indicator lights.

Although Aya had gotten used to this style after visiting the magitech kingdom, she couldn't help but panic when she saw this thing. It looked like an operating table and functioned like an operating table, so it must be an operating table! Is this really the rhythm of dissecting me?

"Don't be so hesitant. It's just the two of us here, both girls. What are you worried about? Do you think I would do something excessive?" Xiao Li urged impatiently.

"Your flushed face and excited eyes don't convince me at all!"

Aya tightly gripped her collar with both hands and bit her lower lip.

"It's just pure excitement that I can study a live Dragon, nothing to do with your body, absolutely not..." Xiao Li shook her finger, his tone unexpectedly calm... but still felt unbelievable.

"...Does it have something to do with dissection?"

"It's just taking a tissue sample for research, and I also wanted to check your internal organs... Although the specialized instruments you broke, I made a makeshift version last night, which should also work..." The girl took out a long, black, cylindrical object from behind as she spoke.

"Goodbye!" This time, Aya didn't hesitate. She clasped her hands together and bowed, then turned and left.

"Are you planning to avoid paying?" Xiao Li paused, calling out to stop Aya as she was about to leave.

"Stop being so long-winded! I'll find a way to pay you back the money!"

...

"How can I make money?"

Tiran, wearing a tank top and with sleepy eyes, sat cross-legged on the bed, with a manga she had just read a few pages of on her lap. She still had the appearance of a homebody otaku, while Aya was there, clasping her hands together and speaking softly.

"Hey, didn't you already decide to voluntarily dedicate yourself to Xiao Li's research? How come you're hesitating again?"

Tiran had the expression of someone who had discovered something interesting and sat up straight. "Come on, tell me what you've been through."

"Get lost!" Aya swatted her hand away unhappily. Who would want to talk about that kind of thing?

"How boring. So, you're asking for my help, aren't you? Is this your attitude?" Tiran rolled her eyes and lay back, sinking into the soft mattress.

"...It's about dignity." Thinking of the thick, hard, black cylindrical object Li Ai had taken out earlier, Aya's cheeks immediately flushed with two patches of red, burning hot. Damn, don't let your mind wander!

"So, you still have dignity?" Tiran looked at her astonishingly, almost unable to hold back from laughing, with a pained expression. "But judging from your expression, I guess I can guess what happened..."

"Don't you dare say it!" Aya pounced on her like her tail had been stepped on, but the prepared Tiran rolled over and avoided her, burying herself in a pile of blankets.

"Relax, relax. I have that much decency. At most, I'll just laugh to myself. I won't tell anyone." Tiran said, lying on that pile of blankets, one hand propping up her chin and the other playing with the stupid hair standing up on Aya's head.

"So, in the end, what can we do to earn a large sum of money quickly?" Aya looked like a gray ash that had burned out, too lazy to even turn over, burying her head in the blanket and saying muffled words.

"In fact, there are ways to make money quickly, such as drug trafficking, smuggling, kidnapping, and robbery. Let's leave out drug trafficking for now. Kidnapping and robbery are actually quite convenient. As long as you target those rich families and make a few hits, your debts can be paid off," Tiran's eyes sparkled.

"Rejected! I won't get involved in illegal activities... And it seems like you just want to have some fun!" Aya lifted her head from the blanket and stared at Tiran. She had proposed the idea of robbing people on the way to the beacon last time. How come this Princess hadn't been caught yet?

"Uh... Well, it's the fastest way, after all," the Princess pouted, showing a disappointed expression. But soon, she perked up again. "Since robbery is not an option, I'm sure you wouldn't do drug trafficking or smuggling either, right?"

"Of course not. I, the Golden Dragon, have principles, you know?" Aya raised an eyebrow.

Watching the excited expression on this person's face, Tiran couldn't help but reflect on whether his own behavior was truly terrible. When did his silly little sister turn into this? Could it be that the saying "birds of a feather flock together" was true?

"Fine, if illegal activities are out of the question, how about something a little less scrupulous? How about sacrificing a little dignity?" Tiran coughed twice and said seriously.

"Sacrificing dignity?" Aya repeated, wearing a miserable expression. "Is there a way to do that without sacrificing dignity?"

Tiran rolled his eyes. "Sure, find a job, save money slowly, pay off the debt in installments over a few thousand months. It'll probably take around seventy years. You live for a long time anyway, so wasting this little time doesn't matter."

"Forget it, just tell me the way to sacrifice dignity," Aya weakly collapsed back into the blanket.

"Psychedelic drugs, ever heard of them?"

"What's that?"

"It's like adult comics," Tiran rubbed his chin, nodding and humming.

Retracting her previous comments, Aya truly lacked experience. When it came to sacrificing dignity, she couldn't compare to the Princess.

"What the hell... How much can those things be worth?" Aya clearly didn't believe it.

"Heh, naive, aren't you?" Tiran sneered and then named a number.

"What!? How is that possible? Do people earn that much from drawing fan comics? Otaku money is too easy to make!" Aya widened her eyes. Understanding human thinking with a Dragon's mindset was indeed difficult.

"Assuming you're a master, newbies may not even have a fan base... I'm currently at that level."

"Then what's the difference from not saying anything!"

Aya turned around and sighed helplessly. Come on, did Tiran expect her to become a master-level artist in just a few days? If it was stick-figure drawings, she could manage, but anything else would be at a child's level of art.

"Don't be impatient, I haven't finished yet. I'm not asking you to draw. As long as we can get them, that's enough."

"What do you mean?"

"There are suppliers, like that guy Rogers. He has a warehouse full of collector's edition masterpieces and quite a few unique pieces... As an exchange for providing this information, after we steal them back, print me a copy and then you can sell the rest."

It suddenly dawned on Aya, and she clapped her hands: "Isn't this still robbery?"

"Can you call it robbery when it benefits fellow enthusiasts?" Tiran waved his hand grandly. "Besides, that guy sold me counterfeit goods last time, so I'm just seeking revenge."

So, it was just revenge after all?!

...

"Achoo!"

An artist with messy long hair suddenly sneezed and continued to sit in the corner, rubbing his nose while staring unwaveringly at each passing beautiful girl.

"It's strange, why do I suddenly feel a chilling cold?"

...

"Well, even though it can be considered robbery, don't you think it's much better to rob that guy than to randomly cause trouble for strangers? Besides, he's not a good person anyway, so think of it as justice being served."

Remembering the artist who called himself an artist and used girls on the street as inspiration for his sketchbook, Aya nodded in agreement and silently took note of it. If there's no other way, she'll just have to do it.

"Is there another option?"

"...Hey, isn't this enough?"

"No, unless it's absolutely necessary." Aya shook her head.

"Ugh, Aya, why are you so troublesome? This indecisive personality is worse than my sister's."

"Your sister?"

"Nevermind, forget it." Tiran impatiently waved his hand. "If this still doesn't work... you might as well tie yourself up and sell yourself as a slave on the black market. Your face is pretty enough to fetch a good price. Or maybe you can do household chores like a maid?"

"That's a big problem! Just a moment ago, I lost my self-respect, and doing that would mean losing my chastity too!"

...

Leaving Tiran's bedroom, Aya had completely lost any hope in this master of hers. Each of the three suggestions was more disappointing than the last. Is he playing with me?

But then again, she needed to repay the money as soon as possible, right?

Anxiously leaning against the corner wall of the hallway, Aya stared at her palm, her expression conflicted.

Actually, her parents weren't completely irresponsible. Before leaving, they did leave something behind. In her mental sea, they bound a contract that would notify them when activated. However, when Angel was chasing her, Aya realized it too late and didn't have time to call her parents, so she simply kept quiet about it.

She never expected to be forced to use it here...

Aya sweatdropped. If her parents received the message and rushed over here only to find out that their son was in debt and had no money, would they be so angry that they'd slap her to death...?

Damn it! Is there any other way?!

"Aya? What are you doing here?"

Looking up, Aya saw the head maid with shoulder-length pink hair staring at her.

"Mi... Mimi?"

"Why do you have such a desperate expression?"

Maybe it was because Fiona had attracted the head maid's attention, but Aya felt that Mimi's attitude towards her wasn't as hostile as before.

- Maybe it's like the second cooperation between the GuoGong in the Anti-Japanese United Front?

Sighing, Aya briefly explained the situation of how she unknowingly ended up with a huge debt.

"Earning money? Isn't that easy for high-level individuals? Just go to the Adventurer's Guild and take on a mission, you can easily make a decent income."

"Wait, Adventurer's Guild?"

Aya's reflexes were delayed by three seconds.

What the heck? How did I forget about this, it's the standard way to earn money in a magical world!

"Ah ah ah, thank you Mimi, I love you!"

Excitedly giving Mimi a tight hug, Aya happily ran off, leaving the blushing head maid standing in place, still in a daze from the hug.