Juxi rejected the offer without changing expression. “You should keep that money, shouldn’t you? We Tiandao Masters aren’t exorcists. We don’t charge anything upfront before completing a mission.”

“Oh, is that how it is…? Then you’ll complete the job?”

“Yeah. That’s how the Tiandao Academy operates. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the mission, do whatever you want.”

“What? Didn’t the rumors say how much exorcists charge?”

The girl wasn’t concerned about the mission. Instead, she had started worrying about her own worthless dignity.

The weather was still just as terrible. Unfortunately, they had no choice but to set out through the pouring rain like this. It would be bad if their fellow Tiandao Academy members found out.

Juxi glanced at the rain that still showed no sign of stopping and the muffled thunder. That immediately made him lose it.

“Disgusting!” Seeing that Juxi wasn’t moving, the girl secretly muttered, “Your personality really is awful, huh?”

“Let’s put those trivial matters aside for now. Rumors always exaggerate the facts. If I remember correctly, your princess… no, your queen, right? She promised me thirty thousand gold coins. I didn’t get that wrong, did I?”

“That’s right. Oh, and don’t forget the bride, either.” The girl grinned and teased him.

To be honest, aside from Ling Yukari, who was also a Tiandao Master of the Tiandao Academy, Juxi had never been this close to another woman before.

Notebook…

What were we talking about? It was obvious. From the very beginning, there was no way we could get all that money. After all, it didn’t belong entirely to us.

I’ve never believed that powerful magic could exist in this world. How could something that went against Taoism and Buddhist teachings possibly…

……

Nothing else was recorded in the back of the book. I found that a little strange. It seemed my ancestor had the good habit of writing down only the important points.

“And what makes you say that?”

The girl suddenly slammed the table in front of Juxi, startling him.

“I’m telling you, don’t ruin my good impression of Tiandao Masters! This thing has been hanging over us for six years!”

“Before the mutants appeared, they could kill five thousand people every year. There are fewer deaths now only because everyone stays inside the royal palace and doesn’t dare go out.”

“No, I don’t believe in magic at all. I’ve seen quite a few things, and to a certain extent, I do believe in the powers of exorcists and Tiandao Masters. But this is obviously just some nonsense made up by that stupid old hunchback. He probably went into seclusion somewhere in the north. Nobody believes this sort of thing except him.”

“I can’t believe it. Humans actually gave birth to monsters. That’s the truth. No magic can change it.”

After who knew how long of talking nonsense, Juxi and the girl finally managed to bring their topics together.

Juxi knew a thing or two about the study of magic. He couldn’t possibly be as proficient as a true exorcist, but when it came to hunting demons, Tiandao Masters were the more professional choice.

The time he had agreed on with Yuanhui was drawing closer and closer, so Juxi had to hurry and conduct a more thorough study of every characteristic of the mutants that had appeared in Harilan.

A man-eating incident had occurred in Harilan. Just like all monsters, they had to be killed. It was as simple as that.

Two years ago, in a godforsaken town near the Ural Mountains, a bunch of brainless farmers had beaten a sheep-eating dragon to death with clubs. They hadn’t even thought to boast about it as some kind of heroic deed.

And what about the people of Harilan? They were still waiting for a miracle. Every Wild Moon night, they locked their doors tight. Otherwise, they tied criminals to a stake at the entrance of the village, hoping that once those monsters had eaten their fill, they would crawl back into their coffins.

“What a wonderful solution,” Juxi said with a loud laugh. “Did the crime rate go down?”

“How could it?”

“It didn’t? Then what’s the point of doing all this?”

“I’ll take you there. What do you think of my proposal, from this brilliant little girl?”

“Is that so?” Juxi said. “Why rush things? Honestly, occupational accidents can happen, whether intentionally or otherwise. When the time comes, the truly brilliant person will be the one who thinks carefully about how to appease the source of the calamity. Once the mission is complete, you can take the prepared gold at the same time.”

“Really? I don’t think you’ll necessarily enjoy this job.”

“No, this isn’t about whether I like it or not.” Juxi turned his head and said firmly, “The people you planned to pay a few thousand gold coins before this ran away the moment they saw the mutant. They didn’t even try to negotiate. That means the danger is worth more than ten thousand gold coins.”

“Since you’re so certain, I’ll accept it, then… fifteen thousand!”

“You cut the price a little too aggressively. The cost of making just this silver spear of mine floats around that amount. If it’s really troublesome—twenty-five thousand!!!”

Juxi named a price a full ten thousand higher. Yet compared to the reward originally posted, it was still who knew how much lower—by a full five thousand gold coins.

“As for whether it’s higher than the price I named, we’ll see. Don’t worry. I won’t ask for a single coin before the mission is complete.”

The girl scratched her head, feeling a little heartbroken. She thought Juxi was making an outrageous demand. Twenty-five thousand gold coins was enough to cover Harilan’s living expenses for an entire year, while this guy would only need a few days to… Huh, maybe he really did have a way. Whatever. She’d take a look first…

“Fine. You, um… You’re called Juxi, right? How about twenty thousand?”