The way back to the starting line (part 4)

*ring*

"Welcome~"

The moment that the door opened, the bell attached to it let out a clear sound, and the smooth-skinned man with long violet hair and dark bags under his eyes so big they were taking over his face sprung up from behind the large counter and peeked through the bars at who his customer was this time.

"Good evening, mister~."

"Young master Medea!"

The black-haired man with a three-day stubble covering his jaw raised his hand and greeted the pawnshop owner, who didn't change even a bit in over eleven years and got welcomed back with the usual enthusiasm.

It seemed that the violet-haired man had absolutely no trouble recognizing the serious boy who had turned into a serious man with a dangerous aura.

"I'm here to buy some information, mister. I want to become a personal assistant to young Miss Zorivia Rotteloss, so let's make a deal~."

Medea took a step and a half and was already by the counter on which he leaned on and looked up at the pawnshop owner.

"This one will be a freebie. Why not go right up to her and ask her to make you her assistant? She keeps wearing the other half of your pendant – doesn't that mean that she favors you?"

The violet-haired man tilted his head and smiled, making his eyes turn somewhat fox-like as he leaned in and looked Medea face to face through the bars.

"I should be more clear from the start, shouldn't I? I want information on people mocking, plotting against, laughing behind her back, and harming her physically or mentally. My own list is already outdated too much."

"Ah~! But, of course, that is the case~!"

The black-haired man explained, beginning to smile in a friendly manner, to which the pawnshop owner's eyes lighted up with playful joy.

"Do you want to exchange information, or is there something that you want to trade in for it?"

After the polite exchange the violet-haired man went straight to business and began drilling holes in Medea with his eager eyes.

"I ended up finding something rather curious in some ancient ruins uncovered because of a flood. I want some information about it... and since I don't know its worth, just add its worth to my account after taking out the worth of the information I asked for."

The black-haired man straightened his back and reached out towards the inside pocket of his shirt and explained, returning to his standard serious expression.

"!!!"

"...oh...?"

He found the object he was talking about and took it out – as he did, the look on the violet-haired man's face actually gave him quite a shock.

The pawnshop owner was utterly stunned, staring at the coin the size of a bottle cap which was of an unusual ivory color that the black-haired man put down on his side of the counter.

"Young master. Close the door."

"..."

The violet-haired man gulped down his saliva and took out a key from under the counter, and handed it to the silently intrigued Medea.

As instructed, the black-haired man locked the front door of the pawnshop and turned back.

"Young master, the item in your possession is something that ancients would call a small orihalcion coin."

The pawnshop owner revealed with a deadly-serious expression, opening the small hatch in the gird of metal bars and taking up the ivory-colored coin.

"The copper, silver, and gold coins were already a thing with the same value they have now... Although it would be better to say that the monetary system we use now is copying the one from centuries ago."

The violet-haired man explained while carefully studying the point he put right in front of his face.

"The most glaring difference between then and now is magic – or rather the lack of natural magic that the humans should be born with... as if reflecting that, our monetary system lacks coins of greater value than big golds because of the same reason."

He added, taking out a handkerchief, gently breathing at the ivory-colored coin, and starting to polish it with great care.

"Back then, the small orihalcion coin was worth one thousand big gold coins with one big orihalcion coin being worth one hundred small ones."

"..."

The pawnshop owner gulped down his saliva and looked at Medea to make sure that he was paying attention – and got a nod of understanding.

"The orihalcion is an ore that contains magic – while the difference between the small and big coins of other metals is the amount of said metal, it's all about the concentration of magic with the orihalcion ones... enough said about that, you are more interested in its worth nowadays, right?"

The violet-haired man breathed out and wiped off the sweat from his forehead as he got quite heated up during the explanation.

"Back then it was thousand big gold coins for the small orihalcion coin like this... but if I had to put a price on it now... it would be then thousand at minimum – and I mean it bare minimum as only a relict in someone's collection. Because if we're talking magic pellets production, then we should be talking in sums around about a hundred thousand big gold coins."

The man gulped down his saliva again in an even more exaggerated motion and stared at the serious-faced black-haired client.

"All of the known ancient ruins had been thoroughly explored through the years. Young master, where in the world did you manage to find this?"

He asked, genuinely awestruck.

"We made new ones. Ancient ruins, that is."

Medea shrugged his shoulders, looking at the extremely valuable coin without even remotely close to the amount of reverence that the pawnshop owner was showing it.

"You... made ancient ruins? How?"

The violet-haired man asked, repeatedly blinking in complete disbelief.

"We blew up an ancient dam – it turns out some parts of it were hollow and even might have been used by the ancients as living quarters."

"!!!"

Medea revealed casually, causing the pawnshop owner to flinch and turn pale in realization.

"But...! That means that you must have found more! Much more than this one small coin!"

"..."

The violet-haired man gasped, but Medea's expression remained serious no matter how long he was stared at.

"Since I know it's worth it now, mister, please give me the information about the pests that didn't know their place. Oh, and add some magic pellets while we're at it."

Medea leaned in against the counter once more and asked while the pawnshop owner continued to stare at him.