Hearing Lanya's request, Lin Ge couldn't help but hesitate.
Prince Lieyang was still in his room watching BabyBus, and his tiny room simply couldn't fit three people, let alone that Lanya was a girl. The living room couch wouldn't accommodate both him and Prince Lieyang, two grown men.
Seeing Lin Ge's hesitation, Lanya spoke softly, "It's okay if it's not possible, I can go to the Sanctuary of Healing Goddess. That's a common place for the homeless, and the environment is quite nice..."
Her voice was filled with disappointment.
Lin Ge knew she had misunderstood, so he explained about Prince Lieyang hiding at his place and said, "How about you stay over at the shop tonight? The couch in the rest area is quite suitable for sleeping."
Lin Ge suddenly remembered the sight of Nilu sleeping on the couch.
"Is that okay? Wouldn't your manager mind?" Lanya asked, somewhat worried.
"I'll call him when we get to the shop and ask, it should be fine."
"Thank you very much."
Lanya bowed deeply to Lin Ge, showing her sincerity. If possible, she did not want to spend the night at the Sanctuary of Healing Goddess, as the beggars and homeless there were too noisy.
On their way back to the shop, during their casual conversation, Lin Ge brought up the Mage's Guild and praised, "It's really a nice guild. Not only is the apprentice registration free, but they also provide introductory magic for free to apprentices, much better than the Adventurers' Guild."
However, Lanya pouted and asked, "Do you know how much it costs to take the exam to upgrade from a magic apprentice to an official Mage?"
"How much?"
"Ten thousand Gold Coins."
"That much!" Lin Ge exclaimed.
"Otherwise, where would they get the money to build such luxurious buildings?"
Lin Ge couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "How much do the Magician and Grand Magician exams cost in Gold Coins?"
Lanya shook her head gently, "I don't know, but it must be an outrageous number."
Lin Ge sighed inwardly. No wonder the apprentice registration was free, and they offered introductory magic at no cost—it was all to expand the number of apprentices and attract more people to the exams.
The two quickly returned to the shop, turned on the lights; the empty bar was quiet, and the air was filled with a faint scent of alcohol.
"Wait for me here for a bit. I'll go home and check things, then bring you something to eat."
On the road, Lin Ge had already heard the growling sounds coming from under Lanya's mage robe, but since neither of them had any Gold Coins on them, Lin Ge could only go back to Earth's side to buy her something to eat from a convenience store.
"I'll go with you."
As Lin Ge opened the door to leave, Lanya clutched the corner of his clothes.
"Are you scared?"
Lanya whispered, "I just feel like the shop is kind of creepy at this time."
Seeing her slightly scared look, Lin Ge couldn't help but laugh and said, "Then let's go together."
As for the creepy feeling Lanya mentioned, he hadn't noticed it; hence, he simply assumed she was faint-hearted.
The two left the bar again and returned to the street where the portal to Earth was located.
While passing the convenience store at the crossroads, Lin Ge went in to buy three bottles of sweet milk and three microwavable meals, then headed back to his place.
As he pushed open the door, Prince Lieyang was poking around on the keyboard with a two-fingered technique. Lin Ge walked closer to look at the screen and saw it was a page from a popular forum; Prince Lieyang was attempting to reply to a hot thread.
"You even know how to use forums now?" Lin Ge said, surprised.
Prince Lieyang smiled confidently and said, "What kind of character do you think I am? With my learning ability, just give me three days, and I will understand your popular culture here. By the way, I'm a bit hungry. Is the food in your hand for me?"
Lin Ge placed the sweet milk and the warm meals on the table and spoke to the Lizardman prince, "Since you have such a strong ability to learn, if you plan on staying here for a while, it would be best to find a simple job, like a waiter, for instance. With your physique, maybe working at a construction site wouldn't be bad either."
After opening a bottle of milk and taking a sip, Prince Lieyang said, "What are you talking about? You want a noble prince to serve people? Impossible."
"Do you intend to freeload in my house forever? A noble prince couldn't possibly do such a thing."
Prince Lieyang gave it some thought, walked to a corner of the room, and dug out two gems, also petrified, from the pile of his stonified armor.
"What does this mean?"
Lin Ge looked puzzled at the two stones he handed over.
"Of course, this prince won't eat and stay for free. Take these to Castalon, and they will turn into gems of extraordinary value, enough for you to buy a decent house in the city.
And aren't you and that rookie mage about to register at the Adventurers' Guild? Without suitable equipment, it would be difficult for you to complete the registration quest, right? With this money, you can buy some magic artifacts and equipment to easily complete the registration quest.
So for this period, you provide me with a place to stay and food here, and I provide you with funds for activities in Castalon. How about this deal?"
Lin Ge thought it over, indeed, if he could buy a nice house in Castalon, what's there to miss about this shared apartment? Besides, he could always come back. Thus, he accepted Prince Lieyang's proposal.
"Alright, deal!"
He took the two petrified gems, reminded his roommate of a few things to pay attention to in the apartment, and left a thousand yuan in cash before going back downstairs.
Lanya had already finished her portion of milk and bento while waiting for him downstairs, and seemed to still be hungry, so Lin Ge stopped by the convenience store at the corner and bought another one for her on the way back to the bar.
Back at the bar, Lin Ge took out the two gems. The petrification was wearing off, and they gradually reverted to their original form. A few minutes later, they began to shine with a dazzling brilliance, appearing to be of even higher quality than the one Prince Lieyang had used to bribe him before.
"Lanya, take me to exchange these gems for Gold Coins tomorrow, and then let's go shopping."
Lanya, holding her chicken rice, her cheeks stuffed full of food, nodded vigorously.
Then Lin Ge took out his phone and made a call to the bar manager.
"Hello, manager."
"It's Lin Ge, what's up?" came the manager's unique androgynous voice through the phone.
"Do you have a magical artifact that can help me quickly grasp the language of this world?"
"That's easy, just have Menling cast a magic on you. You've met Menling already, haven't you?"
"Uh, yes."
"That settles it then, goodbye, good night."
The manager hung up quickly, and Lin Ge put down the phone, his gaze turning to the bar door.
Lanya asked, "Who is Menling?"
Lin Ge pointed at the door, and Lanya's face showed confusion; wasn't that just a regular wooden door?
Lin Ge approached the door and asked softly, "Mr. Menling, are you asleep?"
Suddenly, a mouth appeared on the door, with plump lips and teeth white and neatly aligned, looking more like a woman's mouth than a man's.
"I've told you before, don't call me 'Mr.', and I don't need to sleep. I already know what you want; stretch out your hand."
"Stretch it where?"
Lin Ge eyed the mouth warily, surely it didn't expect him to stick his hand in there?
Lanya also stopped eating her rice, staring blankly at the mouth that had appeared on the door.
A door with a mouth!
"What are you thinking? Just place your hand where my tongue can reach," the mouth on the door said before sticking out a pink tongue, stretching forward as if testing its reach.
Noticing that Lin Ge wasn't extending his hand, Menling said impatiently, "What are you waiting for? Stretch out your hand! Otherwise, how can I enchant it?"
Lin Ge clenched his hands and swallowed hard.
Does he really have to let it lick him? It feels so disgusting...