Chapter 135: No Backsies

Su You didn’t notice Meike’s actions at all, because her gaze had been fixed on Buguo the entire time. It was only when she saw Buguo place her bundle on the table that Su You finally shifted her attention to it.

Buguo slowly unwrapped the bundle, and then, one handful after another, she took out silver coins from the small parcel. The coins piled up on the table, forming a small silver mountain.

Su You didn’t know exactly how many coins there were, but she was certain there were far more than a hundred—definitely more than a hundred and three.

“Where did you get all these coins?” Su You figured that if she didn’t speak up, Buguo probably wouldn’t either, so she just picked a random topic to break the silence.

Buguo paused as she took out the last few coins, then said, “Don’t worry, this money is clean. It’s not stolen, not robbed, and not swindled.”

As she spoke, she pushed the pile of coins toward Su You. The coins made a pleasant clinking sound as they slid across the table—somehow, the sound of money was never grating.

As she pushed the coins, the pile was so large that the coin on top wobbled and rolled down the little silver hill. But just as it was about to fall off the table, a hand caught it and put it back in place.

“I want to buy a piece of land here to bury someone,” Buguo said calmly, showing none of the gloominess she’d had before.

Since she was buying land, it was obvious why Buguo had brought out all this money—this was what she intended to use for the purchase.

“If it’s not enough, I’ll owe you the rest and pay it back later.” Honestly, Buguo herself didn’t know exactly how much money she had. People had just stuffed coins into her hands, and she’d accepted whatever they gave without counting.

Since they’d given it willingly—she hadn’t stolen, robbed, or tricked anyone—she didn’t feel guilty about taking it.

That said, Buguo had assumed that buying a burial plot in a small territory like Su You’s would be cheap. But when she saw Su You fall silent, she suddenly felt a pang of regret—if she’d known, she would have asked for more money.

She instinctively thought Su You’s silence meant the money wasn’t enough.

If it really wasn’t enough, Buguo had no idea how she’d earn more—after all, aside from her knack for trickery, she didn’t have any other skills. But she didn’t want to use ill-gotten money to buy a burial plot.

As for why it had been okay to steal or swindle for the soul-burying ritual before, maybe Buguo felt that the ritual would cleanse the sins attached to the money.

“Well? Is it enough or not? Just give me a straight answer!” Buguo grew anxious at Su You’s continued silence. She bit her lip, not wanting to drag things out any longer.

Meanwhile, Su You had just snapped back to reality. She hadn’t been silent on purpose—she’d just received a notification about someone applying to join the territory and had gotten distracted.

Now that she’d dealt with it, Su You recalled what Buguo had said and asked, “You want to bury someone? What about yourself?”

Su You didn’t really care whether someone was buried in her territory or not. Eventually, as the territory developed, they’d need to build a cemetery anyway.

Even though it wasn’t time to build one yet, planning ahead wouldn’t hurt.

But more than the cemetery’s location, Su You cared about Buguo’s intentions. She definitely wanted Buguo to stay—not just because of the time-limited quest, but because Buguo’s abilities made her a very valuable NPC.

“I…” Buguo lowered her head and stayed silent for a long time.

Maybe she’d never even considered the question. All she’d thought about was burying this person properly; as for herself, she didn’t care. After wandering for so many years, what was the worst that could happen—starve to death?

“How about this: I’ll take the money, and you stay and join the territory. I’ll arrange a place for you to live.” There happened to be a vacant resident house, number 6, which Buguo could have all to herself.

“I’ll give you a two-person house for just yourself, and this money will count as payment for the house. You can put the person you want to bury in the other room, and that way you can visit her every day.” The resident houses were basically two-bedroom apartments, so both occupants would have their own space.

With Buguo living alone, she’d only need one room, and the other could be used for whatever she wanted.

It might seem like a waste of space, but Su You wasn’t losing out—in fact, she was making a killing. With all these silver coins, she could build a small luxury villa, let alone buy a house.

“Are you serious?” Buguo looked at her suspiciously.

Maybe she’d been tricked too many times, and suspicion had become second nature. Even though she knew Su You had no reason to deceive her—after all, she’d already handed over the money willingly.

Su You didn’t bother to answer. Instead, she took action—she swept the coins off the table and, without hesitation, grabbed Buguo’s hand and led her straight to Resident House 6.

…

“This is the place.” Su You pushed open the door to Resident House 6 and led Buguo inside.

No one had ever lived here, so it was completely empty and dusty. But Buguo didn’t mind—she’d spent most of her life wandering, staying wherever she could. Just having a roof over her head was already a luxury.

With a place like this, Buguo could definitely live quite happily on her own.

After showing her around, Buguo stopped and turned back to confirm, “You said this place is for me. You can’t take it back.”

“Mm, it’s yours,” Su You replied, eager for her to stay. “If you need anything, go to the tailor shop across the street and ask for Sister Dolly.”

Su You had barely taken a few steps before she turned back, took five silver coins from her bag, and handed them to Buguo.

“For meals, go to the tavern. If you run out of money and want to work, check the bounty board—there are plenty of tasks, maybe something that suits you.” With that, Su You left, not forgetting to close the door behind her.

As the door clicked shut, Su You received another application notification—

(End of chapter)"

"136. Don’t Be Nervous

[Wanderer “Buguo” has requested to join Sunset Territory. Do you accept?]

…

[Current population: 9/13]

Just one more person to go…

Su You double-checked the population count, then got ready to check out the person who’d suddenly applied to join the territory while she was chatting with Buguo.

This person was the only wanderer among the four—his name was You Ai.

Although wanderers generally have a high chance of joining a territory—as long as you don’t give them a terrible impression, they rarely refuse—it was still a bit odd for someone to join so abruptly, before anything had even happened. Unless, of course, he was another “Yousen” with a hidden agenda, but otherwise, it didn’t really make sense.

As luck would have it, Su You was just wondering where he was, and after making half a round of the territory, she spotted someone lurking rather suspiciously at the entrance of the tavern.

“Lord!” You Ai was startled when a shadow fell across him, and when he turned to see Su You, he jumped again.

Seeing how jumpy he was, Su You asked what he was doing there, while at the same time opening up You Ai’s personal info panel—

[You Ai]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 69

Affection: 32

Talent: Magic (55)

Skills: None

Trait: Mediocre (No distinguishing features)

Description: A wanderer with a certain degree of magical talent, but nothing particularly special.

…

Su You had already glanced at his info when he applied to join, but since Buguo was there at the time, she’d only skimmed it.

Now that she looked more closely, she realized there wasn’t much to see—compared to the others, You Ai’s information was really sparse.

Still, even with so little info, Su You could guess why he was here.

“Why are you squatting here? You can just go inside, you know.” Su You’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for Meike inside to hear.

Meike, who had finally stopped what he was doing, played with a small flame in his hand, then looked up at the two people near the door.

“Oh, you’re still here.” Meike had noticed someone lurking outside for a while, but since the guy didn’t seem to mean any harm and wasn’t bothering him, Meike hadn’t cared about being watched.

Of course, he also knew this was Su You’s territory. Even if he didn’t like being spied on, he had to give Su You some face and couldn’t just act out.

But now that Su You had caught the guy, even Meike couldn’t just pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

“No, I just…” You Ai stammered, looking awkward.

He hadn’t really done anything wrong, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d committed some terrible crime.

He wanted to leave, but with Su You and Meike both watching him, he couldn’t just walk away. After hesitating for a while, he finally blurted out his reason.

“I—I just wanted to see the boss’s magic…” As he spoke, he glanced at Meike out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge his reaction.

His cautious little movements made it clear he was worried Meike would be annoyed or disgusted by his request, but Meike didn’t react at all—as if he wasn’t the one being spied on.

“Do you want to learn magic? Or are you just curious about it?” Su You could see his info panel, and with his magic talent, it wasn’t hard to guess that You Ai most likely wanted to learn magic.

Even though his talent was low, as mentioned before, people with any magical talent at all were rare on the continent. So even a low talent put him ahead of 99% of people.

“I want to learn magic!” Since he’d already been caught spying, and had basically told the truth, there was no point in lying now.

Might as well be honest, rather than leave a bad impression on the mage and the lord—though given his sneaky behavior, he figured their impression of him wasn’t great anyway.

If it were anyone else, Su You might have just nodded and left, but You Ai was different—he had magical talent, and he was now one of her people.

Even though their current combat strength was enough to handle the upcoming dark creature attack, Su You still wanted more fighters in the territory. After all, there was another monster cage to deal with in a few days, and the dark creature attacks were a recurring event—they’d only get stronger and more numerous each time.

“Meike.”

Hearing Su You call him, Meike curled his lip, clearly reluctant.

He’d already given up magic for cooking—why would he waste his precious cooking time teaching someone else magic?

No way!

Unless…

“Just help me test his attributes. I have something that can let him change class to mage, so you don’t have to worry about teaching him the basics. All you need to do is show him how to use magic and teach him a few simple beginner spells. If he learns quickly, I’ll get you a brand-new set of cookware.” Su You knew Meike’s temperament well, so as she asked for his help, she dangled a reward he couldn’t refuse.

Ingredients, cookware, recipes, cooking manuals… these were all irresistible to Meike.

“Deal!”

Sure enough, as soon as Meike heard Su You’s promise, he rushed out of the tavern and grabbed You Ai’s hand.

You Ai was startled yet again.

If he hadn’t just overheard Meike and Su You’s conversation, he would have thought the mage was about to attack him.

Since this was his first time interacting with a mage—the thing he’d dreamed of—You Ai was so nervous that his hands were shaking, especially the one Meike had grabbed, trembling like he had Parkinson’s.

Meike glanced at him, and thinking of the promised reward, resisted the urge to curse. He forced what he thought was a gentle smile, though it came out a bit twisted: “Calm down, don’t be nervous. I’m just checking your elemental affinity.”

Because he was so nervous, the magic elements inside You Ai were extremely active—so active, in fact, that they were practically chaotic.

(End of chapter)"

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