I Rely on Drawing Cards to Set Up a Persona

Chapter 11: One Thousand Gold Coins

Ilir looked at the red gem in front of him and then at the white-robed man.
What does this mean?

Exchange for what?

The white-robed man did not explain.
Ilir frowned, and his eyes once again fell on Qiao Xingnan, who was looking off somewhere.
He was just about to ask when his arm was suddenly tapped.

The person who tapped him was Joel, who was standing next to him.

Joel was the first to notice that Qiao Xingnan kept looking outside the store.

As a knight who was still a little wary, Joel was more attentive to the job and kept an eye on the crook’s movements after he went out.

Sure enough, daring to come to the manor pretending to be an emperor to deceive and do crazy things, there must be something wrong with him.
On this, he showed his feet1 when he went out.

Halfway through picking something, he suddenly looked outside without blinking his eyes.
Was there something outside? There was definitely an accomplice!

Joel praised himself as a really serious and responsible excellent knight.
He turned his head to follow the other party’s line of sight, trying to find the other’s companion.

Then, he found that within the liar’s line of sight, there was no suspected accomplice’s existence, just a young boy carrying his sister on his back.

Joel rubbed his eyes and looked over again to confirm that there was no mistake.
Ah, the dark-haired man was definitely looking at the two children.

Joel blankly sought the help of his chief, only to find that Ilir was worse than himself.
He at least knew what the other side was looking at.

Moreover, what exactly was the mysterious white-robed man trying to exchange? Could it be that he wanted to exchange the gemstone for those two children?

Then, Joel dismissed his suspicions.

Impossible, how could a liar care about insignificant people?

At Joel’s alert, Ilir also saw the two children in the distance.

Those were just two ordinary orphans.

The war had just subsided, and it was not uncommon to see children in Arilance who did not have enough to eat and were at least still alive.

Under the watchful eyes of the group, the boy outside the store came out of the alley with his sister on his back.
He found a small, less conspicuous corner, put a rag on the ground, and set up some small wooden carvings.
It looked like he wanted to make money from those poor-quality wood carvings.

The boy was dressed in rags, and his body was dirty.
The blood marks on his arms were mixed with dirt from who knows where, and it looked like it hurt.
On the other hand, the younger sister in swaddling clothes was well protected.
The boy gave her water from time to time while his own lips were dry and peeling, and he did not think about drinking water.

Ilir’s eyes once again turned to Qiao Xingnan.

The other side has stopped looking at the two children at this time.
He lowered his eyelashes, and the long and thick eyelashes covered the expressions in his eyes.
It seemed that the two children across the street were no longer worth his attention to them.

The look just now was no more than watching the fun.

But the dark-haired man’s white fingertips were tapping on the wooden board where they were placed, and his mood was not calm, as if he was caught up in some memory.

Ilir withdrew his eyes and pondered.

The white-robed man on the side seemed to notice that Ilir was ignoring his words and repeated again, “The emperor said, exchange.”

Ilir frowned, with some vague speculation in his heart: “Exchange for what?”

“Silver coins.” The white-robed man again felt that it was not very clear and then added, “Find a store and sell the gem.”

A gemstone can be exchanged for many silver coins, and if it was of good color, it could even be exchanged for many gold coins.

Then, the white-robed man pointed his finger at the gray eyes they were looking at before, “Emperor, want this.”

Ilir thought the white-robed man’s speech was strange, but it didn’t matter.
He originally thought that this man was trying to help the two children, but now it seems that he really thought too much.

“Your Excellency even has gemstones but no silver coins?” Ilir was a little puzzled.

The white-robed man hmmed, “There are many gems.”

Ilir pursed the corners of his lips and looked at the red gemstone in the other’s hand.
It was beautiful in color.
Even in the main city, such a jewel was extremely precious, far from what a crook can get.

His elder brother was fond of inlaying gemstones on his scabbard, and the day after tomorrow, he will come with the emperor.
Ilir came to town this time with the intention of getting a gift for his elder brother.

“”

“Your Excellency, how much does this gemstone roughly cost?” Ilir asked, Could I buy it?”

“You want it?” There was some doubt in the white-robed man’s flat voice: “Yes.”

“There is an appraiser at the manor, I will bear all the expenses for the two gentlemen in town, and I will send the rest of the money when we return.”

The white-robed man uttered a sound and threw the gem to Ilir.
In the blink of an eye, his figure flashed and stood by Qiao Xingnan’s side.

Ilir looked down and fondled the jewel.
Under the sunlight, the red gemstone emitted a faint luminescence, making people unable to take their eyes off it.
Even without the appraisal, Ilir knew that it was expensive.

He couldn’t help but speculate that the man might actually be in an honorable position? How was that possible? But if not, then was there really someone who was willing to spend a lot of money to let Qiao Xingnan, a man who could be seen as a fraud at a glance, mix into Arilance?

“The gray magical beast eyes, wrap it all up.” Qiao Xingnan casually pointed a finger, “Go back and watch the fun.”

What’s so great about beast eyes?

Ilir did not understand.

He watched the boss bumblingly pack up the large set of eyes, and without the dark-haired man’s gesture, the white-robed man picked the stuff up very easily.

Immediately after, the two walked directly toward the two children outside the door.
With their backs to Ilir and others, Qiao Xingnan loosened his clenched hand without a trace.

He originally wanted to exchange gemstones for gold coins in the small store, but once he entered the door, he knew he thought wrong.
These small stores in the town were already very shabby, and the total value might not even compare to his gems, so it was impossible to come and exchange them for money.

He was not sure where the better stores were, so he let Ilir exchange them, but he did not expect Ilir to be willing to accept them.

What a pleasant surprise.

Ilir consciously received the gem, took the initiative to pay, and followed them.
Watching these two go towards a small corner, his mind stirred.

Sure enough, the other party was going to the place where the two children were setting up their stall.

It was the first time the boy selling the wood carving came into such close contact with a noble lord that he couldn’t help but cower a little and shield his sister firmly behind him.

“Did you make the wood carving?”

The two mysterious people stood silently.
Ilir took the initiative to speak up as he looked at the green marks on the wood carving.

“Yes, lord.”

The boy nodded and was just about to say something when the little girl behind him started crying.

The little boy scrambled and hurriedly carried his sister off the back, coaxing her carefully.
On one side, he was afraid of angering the noblemen and hurriedly apologized to them.

Ilir was a little displeased, but he would not be angry with the child because of this.
He paid more attention to the attitude of Qiao Xingnan’s side.

After all, the other party was a proud emperor who would get angry because of the attitude of others, and now that he was ignored completely, the other party should be furious.

Unfortunately, he guessed wrong this time.

Qiao Xingnan’s persona was indeed a proud emperor, but he was still an older brother who loved his younger siblings.
At that moment, by chance, when he caught a glimpse of this pair of very close siblings, he planned to lay out the script that he hadn’t had time to lay out before the tyrant comes.

Privately, he also wanted to help these two siblings who were not yet adults, but his own life was not guaranteed, and all he could do was buy those wooden carvings.

So, after giving the gem to Ilir, Qiao Xingnan came to the two children’s stall with Zero.

Ilir vaguely felt that the dark-haired man, after seeing the boy ignoring himself and focusing on coaxing his sister, not only did not get angry at the other party for disrespecting him but looked at the little boy with great appreciation.

Question marks slowly rose up from Ilir’s head.

What was wrong with this man?

Was he holding back his anger, preparing to make a big move?

But it turns out that Qiao Xingnan was really not angry.
Not only was he not angry, but he also wrapped up all the things on the little boy’s spread.

Ilir: ……

Qiao Xingnan calculated that the gemstone was definitely worth a lot of gold coins, while the total value of the two packages he bought would still be less than a hundred silver coins.

And the most crucial thing was, who’s emperor would only buy one thing, little by little?

Packing everything is what an emperor should look like.

Thinking this way, Qiao Xingnan still looks cold on the surface.
After Zero carried the wood carvings to his side, his attitude was arrogant, ignoring the boy’s thanks and leaving the place on his own.

Ilir witnessed the whole process.
His eyes wandered to the boy and his sister, and he rushed after the other two without saying more.

After this, the group did not stroll further.
Qiao Xingnan pretended to have been tired of looking and returned to the manor by Rhett.

He only really relaxed when he sat back in the room.
Looking down at the wood carvings and gray magical beast eyes, Qiao Xingnan could not help but wonder what he could do with these things.

How about selling them to the system and see if it accepts them?

There are no magical beasts in the Chaos card pool, so the eyes of magical beasts must be a new thing, right?

While Qiao Xingnan was wandering, there was a sudden knock on the door.
The person who came was Ilir.
It was already late in the day, so he didn’t talk nonsense and directly explained the purpose of his visit.

“Your Excellency, this is the value given by the appraiser.
After deducting the silver coins from the town this afternoon, the total is one thousand and three gold coins.”

Qiao Xingnan slightly moved his fingertips, controlling Zero’s body to accept the gold coins, and heard Ilir continue: “Your gemstone was very precious, but it has not been processed and adorned, so it totals one thousand and three gold coins.
If there are any doubts, I can take you to the appraiser’s side.”

The thousand gold coins were beyond Qiao Xingnan’s expectations, and there was nothing to be doubtful about.

The next second, Ilir outside the door then heard the white-robed man hmm, “No matter, it’s just a gem.”

Ilir, who was about to continue explaining, paused.
Just a gem?

As a knight of the manor, Ilir’s salary for three months was five hundred gold coins, and the gem was worth half a year of his salary.
If his family was not short of money, he could not afford to buy this.

As if he suspected Ilir was not stimulated enough, the white-robed man continued with a sentence, “In the past, such things were only worthy of being smashed by the emperor to hear the sound.”

This sentence was Zero’s free speech.
Because it was true, the tone was much more real than before.
With the meaning of the words, it was easy for people to produce the illusion that their emperor was really aggrieved by the fact that he only had these gems now.

Ilir was silent.
He now really did not know whether the other party was pretending or not.

How come there are noses and eyes2, anything can be involved in how honorable their emperor is.

Ilir glanced into the room.
The dark-haired man sitting at the table, his golden eyes lowered, looking with curiosity at the gray eyes on the table.

Staring at eyes in the middle of the night, are you not afraid of having nightmares?

Ilir shivered.
He felt that whether this man was really the emperor, anyway, the appearance really looked like it.

In Ilir’s mind, emperors have strange aesthetics, just like their Arilance emperor, and this dark-haired man was not far behind.

Ilir withdrew his eyes and took his leave.

Qiao Xingnan, who had no idea what the other party struggled with, suppressed his excitement, controlled Zero, and sent the other party away, closing the door.

Then, he suddenly stood up and clenched his fist in excitement.

He finally had a thousand gold coins!

Footnotes

To show one’s feet is a metaphor for exposing the hidden truth or revealing the inside story unintentionally This phrase metaphorically describes in great detail things that have not been seen to be true, such as hearsay, rumors, legends, and fiction, as if they had been seen with one’s own eyes.