Convincing Ningguang

Chapter 14: Convincing Ningguang

[Transferring the individual <Ningguang> to Earth.]

"Wait, where the hell will you transfer her? I'm still driving!"

His short protest didn't stop the system from doing its job. Light particles appeared in the surroundings and then condensed in the front seat. These light particles then resemble a person, before a blinding flash that forced him to close his eyes and hit the car brake to deaccelerate in the middle of the bustling road.

Satria opened his eyes after the flashbang-like light effect subsided, and he took a glance at her. There's a 12-year-old girl was sitting there, she is the younger version of the game character that he knows. Her hair was greyish instead of a pristine white color. Wearing a coarse hempen tunic instead of a luxurious silk gown. Although he knows that she is the future Tianquan, he couldn't see it in her current appearance. Her face is covered with dust and grime, barefooted with her foot and ankle were bleeding.

The little Ningguang had a short breath and looked around restlessly. Her eyes jolted around, it was like she was just chased by something and escaped from great danger. She then noticed the unusual environment in her surrounding.

She was looking around as she tried to observe and make sense of what just happened after she agreed to that mysterious magical invitation. Her curious eyes landed on the street view of Surabaya city, sometimes letting out a slow gasp of 'woah' and 'ohh'. She then turned on the interior of the car and then observe and appreciate it for a while. Completely ignoring the injured leg and her current situation.

"That ..." Satria pointed at her bleeding leg, "you're injured."

"Ah, seems I got this injury when I tripped."

Satria took a bottle of Potion of Healing and ion water from his inventory. He then said, "drink this potion to help you with the wound, after that drink this to get rid of the aftertaste."

He chugged almost a dozen of Potion of Healing after consuming the Abundant Pill. Although it is effective in restoring his health point, the taste was not something he'd appreciate. It tasted like fish oil with a bitter herbs concoction.

With a hint of suspicion, she accepted the two bottles. She observed the glass bottle filled with a reddish liquid. Satria knew that she had a suspicion about him just keep silent and focused on driving, he didn't see the need to explain anything more to her.

Not everyone could craft a potion, only an alchemist was capable of crafting it, and it is rare to see them in Liyue. With a shortage of alchemists, hence the production of potion, the price tag for a bottle of potion is quite high. But this young man who invited her to work just casually gave her a bottle. He must be incredibly rich to not care about that.

Yes, while she indeed has a fleeting thought that maybe this is a bottle of poison. But after pondering, it is ridiculous to even think about that. He used an incredible means just to get her from Liyue to come here to whatever this place is. She believed that mode of instant transportation is priceless. After all the trouble he went through to get her here and he wants to poison her to death. Ningguang couldn't find that deduction reasonable.

She drank the potion and closed her eyes to endure the bitter taste. Then, she hastily took the other lighter bottle she tried to open the cap but found that she couldn't open it.

After a short laughter, he couldn't stay still anymore and offered help, "give me that, and I'll help you open the bottle."

The little Ningguang watched him and see the mechanism hidden in this bottle cap. She drank a mouthful of this murky white water and after that, she observed the bottle tip and the cap curiously. She never saw such a thing back in her world. Well, if there's something like this it would definitely not be used in a bottle of water. She also realized that the itching wound on her leg has completely closed and her other bruises has healed.

She then turned to Satria and said.

"Uhum ... I am thankful for your help and that medication. I'm Ningguang, are you Mr. Purnama, the one who wants to purchase my wares?"

Despite her current shabby appearance, the pair of ruby eyes shone with tenacity and determined expression steeled on her round face. She has read his letter, despite her limited knowledge of linguistics and the uncanny situation she was in at the time when receiving it, for somehow she could understand all of the characters that were written in it.

"I assume you already read my letter?"

"Yes, I have read it Mr. Purnama. Are you interested in buying some Jueyun Chili? I also picked up some Bamboo Shoots along the way, if you wanted. Though, I got struck with misfortune and lost some of them on the way." she took out the chili and bamboo shoots from her makeshift rucksack in her back and show it to him.

"Why ..., of course, how much you have left?"

"Well, you can have it for 1.000 Mora for each fruit of Jueyun Chili, the Bamboo Shoot will only cost you 200 Mora each. I still have 10 Jueyun Chilis and a dozen of Bamboo Shoots."

"Hmm ..." Satria hummed trying to ponder how much Mora is in the term of System Gold.

[Mora is the natural currency of the Teyvat World, it was created from pure gold. However, due to the nature of that world, the value of Mora is very far below that of System Gold. 1 System Gold is equivalent to 1.000.000 Mora]

'Okay, so a Mora somewhat has the same value as Rupiah. By the way, I don't know if you can read my intention. Wait, does that mean there's a system assistant or something?' he tried to communicate with the System UI, but unfortunately there was no answer. 'I guess, there's no A.I. assistant then. Well, that's fine ... anyway.'

Satria took a mental note of that. He recalled that 1 System Gold is equivalent to 1 gram of pure gold, and he know the price of 1 gram of gold to be 1 million rupiahs.

"I'll take them all ..." he operated the system and withdraw 15.000 Mora with a coin bag, "here's your payment little miss."

"My pleasure mister ..." Ningguang received the coin bag, she moved the rucksack to the back seat, and then counted the Mora in that bag.

Two minutes later, she took a portion of the Mora in the bag and place it on her hempen tunic. She then handed over the coin bag with Mora in it.

"Ummm ..., here are the changes, Mr. Purnama."

"Oh, how much is my change money?"

"The total is 12.400 Mora, and you gave me 15.000 Mora. So 150 minus 124 it would be 26 or 2.600 Mora mister."

"That is correct, however, you can just keep the change."

Satria smiled after listening to her innocent reply. Long has gone the terrifying Tianquan of the Qixing in his mind. This Ningguang was not her ..., or to be precise, not yet. She is currently a small girl who struggled to eat by selling whatever she got from the street.

"But mister-" Ningguang tried to protest.

"Just keep it, in fact ..., I invited you to come here for a reason." Satria cut her from speaking more, he then explained. "Work for me!"

"Uhmm ... " she was perplexed by the sudden authoritative tone.

"The job is not that complicated. I need you to oversee my business. Just keep my company running."

Ningguang wanted to ask many things to him. How did he know about her? She was just an orphan in Liyue Harbor, basically, a nobody. Why he specifically wanted to recruit her? To the point where he had to use that invitation letter that magically teleported her. Where is this place? Although, the Teyvat she knew is limited to only the Liyue region. She believed that there was no such place like this back in Teyvat.

But ..., she didn't ask all of that, instead, she asked. "How much would Mr. Purnama pay me for doing this job?"

"Well, how about 5 million Mora a month?" Satria thought that amount would be enough ..., it's more than the highest minimum regional wages in Indonesia.

Hearing that amount of Mora getting mentioned, she instantly widened her eyes in disbelief. Ningguang hadn't seen that amount of money in her life, and she could only stare blankly hearing this man casually say those. With sparkling light reflected in her eyes, in her mind she has decided to accept this job. But before that, she had to know what trouble she has to face.

"Before that, please fill in the detail of my job. What do you want me to do?"

"The job is simple, you will help with organizing the goods, tabulate them, and sell them to the customer."

"That sounds like a job of a shopkeeper, but I have zero experience with that, Mr. Purnama."

"You'll learn the know-how eventually ..., don't worry too much about it." It sounds like a simple job, but he knows it's pretty tiring and a heavy responsibility. But he was optimistic that this much is something that she could handle.

After considering it carefully for a minute, Ningguang found that she has no reason to reject this proposal. After all, not only did he save her little life from that hilichurls. He also gave her an expensive potion. Though she still has some doubts regarding the whole invitation thing, he saved her life, and that's enough to make Satria enter her good page.

There is something that bugs her mind since she came to this place though.

"Mr. Purnama, could you tell me where is this place? I know I'm not in Liyue, but where in Teyvat is this?"

"This place, or rather this world, is called Earth. A different world from your Teyvat, as for how it differs ..., well, first of all, there are no Archons here."

That sentence bewildered her, "there are no Archons? Then what Lord do you worship?"

"Oh well, that's... I wonder why this becomes a talk about belief and religion." Satria seems hesitant, but he answered her question regardless. "I'm a Muslim and I worship Allah. There are some other religions around the world, but in this country, there are six that are recognized by the government. Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucianism."

"..." she frowned her eyes as never heard of those religions and the God that he worship.

"Unlike the Archons in your world that basically lived and ruled over the region after ascending and receiving the gnosis, the God we worship only existed in the spiritual sense. Our beliefs stem from that there has to be something that is independent, self-sufficient, and necessary being. That is the Creator, a God."

Ningguang was confused with the concept of an ethereal almighty being that is not an Archon. In her life, she only knows about the Seven. Now, hearing that explanation that there's another religion that worships a God other than Archon is just too unbelievable. But seeing this otherworldly scenery, the strange carriage, and mode of transportation, and the extraordinary means that he used to bring her here. Ultimately, she had to accept the fact that this is a completely different world.

"But ..., why me? Mr. Purnama has said that you specifically send that invitation to me. Why?"

"I wonder ... let's just say that we're fated." Satria shrugged his arm don't know how to answer it.

A female boss-like character such as Ningguang has a certain charm for him. But he knows his place and worth, it would be almost impossible for him to invite the mature version of her when he doesn't know anything about her, what is her goal, and what can he offer to make her stay with him. But what about her, the poor little girl who hadn't yet found her solace?

He feels like cheating actually, she has nothing while he can offer anything. But he comfort himself that he did this so that he could gain the upper hand in the negotiation. And also raises the chance of him signing a successful contract. But this is akin to a man who just tricked a little girl to do his bidding, and that leaves him with such a bad aftertaste.

'I don't know why that comes to my mind, but hell no. I'm not a predator who kidnaps a girl for morally questionable things. I just want to carve a path of infinite possibilities. Why do I need to explain all this shit anyway? F*ck conscience, I've invited her and I need her to work for me. That's it!'

"But no, the real reason is ... you're a smart and talented child, Ningguang. And I do appreciate talents. I will let you grow, learn, and cultivate that talent that I see in you."

"Am I? But I have nothing ..., Mr. Purnama, are you sure you don't mistake me for someone else? If the letter is actually for some other Ningguang that is not me, then I'm really sorry."

"No, there's no way that is happening. You are the Ningguang that I wanted. I'm not mistaking it. You do have some aspect that you excel in, you just have not realized it." Satria chuckled hearing her saying that in a panic tone. "A person's talent is like a gemstone, one has to unearth it, cut it, and then polish it so that people can see its value."

"..."

Ningguang turned silent but felt a bubbly sensation arise in her heart. She didn't know what Satria sees in her, but hearing that she has a knack for something that she doesn't even know makes her optimistic about the future.

"So ..., are you ready to sign the contract?" Satria asked after giving her a minute of silence.

"Mr. Purnama, I'll do my best for the future." she bowed to her new employer. Her eyes shone with respect and gratitude for him.

Satria's lips rose in a thin smile before he took a Blank Contract Paper and discussed the details with the little girl. However, the other party is a little girl who was less guarded against him due to his display of goodwill. He managed to sign a contract that heavily advantaged his side and he felt guilty about it. He decided to put some additional conditions that would help her such as she would get a bonus, a basic education, and also a holiday. It just doesn't feel right to make a child work like this.