Chapter 58

And so, the angel girl, upon her first arrival in the human world, found herself in debt to the tune of a huge sum.

Moreover, it was foreseeable that this debt would continue to balloon like a snowball, its growth rate depending on the moral integrity of her unscrupulous host. Although the rolling gold coins in her account were to be repaid by the knowledge in Athena's mind, this naive angel had foolishly handed over the pricing power to Sigma, truly deserving to be swindled to death.

By the way, taking this opportunity, let's introduce a currency system that often collapses to the point where even one's mother wouldn't recognize it. Some might say, "Hey, I know, it must be the gold standard system of gold, silver, and copper coins, with the ratio being 1:100:10000." Do you think it's like that? Congratulations, you're right, it is indeed like that. However, whether a setting is cliché or shameless depends on the author's ability to ramble and pad. Let's take a look at how the relatively stable currency system of the Noren continent was established.

Many, many years ago, the foolish dragons roamed the mountains and forests, living by raiding and plundering. This was not an easy job, not only did it generate a lot of enmity, but a slight mistake could lead to being ganged up on and stripped of equipment. It must be said that the profession of banditry was carried out by them without any technical content and with a bleak future.

But many years later, a genius among the dragons discovered a broad and prosperous path to a sea of gold coins through the commercial activities of various races. After pondering for over a hundred years, he realized that if they followed his method, dragons wouldn't need to risk being skinned and gutted to go around robbing. They could become more refined bandits, and even while yawning and sleeping in their caves, gold coins would roll in—yes, they opened banks.

Indeed, the famous Holy Dragon United Bank of the Noren continent today is a product of Dragon Island. The dragons spent several hundred years building their credibility, making customers believe that they wouldn't be shameless enough to run off with all the gold in the bank. Instead, they provided the most confidential, meticulous, and secure banking services to all the wealthy. Of course, there might be many powerful beings who didn't buy into the dragons' reputation, but no one was foolish enough to rob the dragons' treasury. After all, the first article of the Dragon Island Charter stipulated that the wealth of dragons was sacred and inviolable, and anyone who violated it would be punished by all the dragons in the world—though the first article of every constitution is often a load of nonsense, at least this one was loud and smelly enough to be quite intimidating. To date, there has not been a single brave soul who has openly declared and successfully robbed a dragon.

Thus, the dragons diligently developed the banking and credit business for hundreds of years, and the Holy Dragon United Bank grew into a vast dragon conglomerate. They won the trust of the various races with their terrifying military power and dedicated spirit. The first president of the United Bank often used a little story to illustrate the dragons' stance: If you have a hen that lays golden eggs, would you kill it to get the non-existent golden eggs inside, or would you take good care of it to continuously harvest golden eggs? This little story was memorized by every dragon on Dragon Island, and they were convinced that robbing their own bank was a foolish act that would only yield a one-time gain, followed by a ruined reputation and endless trouble. By operating the current conglomerate, the Holy Dragon United Bank would continuously expand its influence across the continent, and the wealth created by the various races of Noren would continuously flow into the dragons' pockets, making it a very profitable venture.

Guided by this spirit, the dragons diligently contributed to the economic development of the continent. The only flaw was that their reach was too long. If not for the strong opposition from various countries, they would have even established a world trade organization. In addition, the dragons' greatest contribution to the economic development of the world was the standardization of currencies across different countries and races.

They discovered and summarized the Gresham's Law, and because they could not tolerate their wealth being secretly pocketed by a bunch of scoundrels, they discussed for a long time and decided to standardize the minting of coins. They asked the elves to design the coins, the dwarves to cast the molds, and then unconditionally handed them over to the various forces with the right to mint coins. They used the dragons' wealth and power to forcibly promote the standardized production of coins with serrated edges across the continent and locked the exchange rate at 1:100:10000. Anyone who dared to tamper with it would face economic and military sanctions from the dragons. The various races, under the pressure of the dragons, used the coins for a while and found that, surprisingly, they were quite good. The only flaw was the names of the currencies.

Since the elves designed the coins, they enjoyed the naming rights.

These pretentious pointy-eared beings allegedly flipped through many ancient and magical books, proudly naming the gold, silver, and copper coins "Jinkora," "Yintama," and "Tongjiba," which meant "the magical substance that brings abundance and wealth," "the silver soul of the warrior that never fades," and "the power of inheritance and reproduction," respectively. Humans found these names truly awful, and other races felt the same way, so they only referred to them as gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. This is the relatively stable economic situation and currency system of the Noren continent.

Under this sinful economic system, countless kind laborers were exploited by evil capitalists and feudal landlords. As a noble and a necromancer, Sigma was already nailed to the pillar of shame of the bourgeoisie. He had no sense of shame and cruelly exploited the kind angel in a shocking manner.

"Wash the vegetables, fetch water, set the table and the cutlery, and help me in the kitchen," Sigma said as he busily worked in the kitchen, addressing the bewildered angel. "Of course, you can also stand there like a lord and wait for me to finish cooking dinner, then I can personally invite you to the table and feed you—though I will charge you 3,000 gold coins for the service. No one has ever been served a meal by me, and if you want to be the first, it will cost you a lot more."

Athena gritted her teeth and clumsily walked into the kitchen, tucking her wings behind her to avoid bumping into pots and pans. Angels, of course, had the habit of eating, but they mostly did it for enjoyment, as there were more convenient and efficient ways to replenish energy. Cooking was something she, as a main battle angel, had no experience with.

Under Sigma's impatient glare, she crouched down, awkwardly picked up a cabbage, and placed it in the water basin, starting to wash it. Unfortunately, she had no experience, and water splashed everywhere. The round cabbage jumped around in her hands, almost leaping out of the basin and onto the floor.

Sigma glanced at her and shook his head.

Athena, sensing Sigma's gaze, finally couldn't hold back. She threw the cabbage into the basin with a thud, and the委屈, helplessness, and anger from her exile burst forth. She shouted, "Why do I have to do such trivial things! I am the main battle angel of Heaven, the wielder of the Azure Fury, you can't make me do these things!"

"No, you are not anymore," Sigma turned around and said calmly. "You have been stripped of your angelic rank, and the Azure Fury now listens to me. You are now a weakling living under someone else's roof. You can't even defeat me, and it would be easy for me to turn you into a slave or something else. But I still treat you with respect, willing to take you in and help you. This is a kindness, not an obligation. You need to learn to be grateful and do what you can, rather than throwing tantrums like a spoiled princess. Are all the angels of Heaven like you? Do they become so restless and reveal their true nature as soon as they lose their power? Are you a strong one?"

After Sigma finished speaking, he expected the proud and confused angel to fly into a rage and was prepared to beat her to teach her a lesson. However, unexpectedly, the angel fell silent.

Athena suddenly remembered a somewhat blurry memory from before her exile, caused by the long-distance teleportation and energy shock.

"I am disappointed in you, Athena. I thought you were ready, but you were not. Your reason for wielding weapons comes from your ridiculous pride and immature, violent beliefs. You use the power given to you by the holy sword and holy light merely as a tool to display your personal bravery. You brutally and directly use your power to vent your anger and frustration, without understanding the true nature of the power you bear! Your power came too easily, so easily that it made your heart swell, making you despise the weak and disrespect innocent lives. You don't realize how many lives are innocently affected by each of your decisions. Therefore, I will let you experience how ordinary beings struggle and fight against fate, and taste the bitterness of losing your power!"

She stared blankly at the cabbage in front of her and suddenly burst into tears.

"…Too fragile, maybe I was a bit harsh?" Sigma scratched his head.

To his surprise, Athena quickly wiped away her tears and looked up. "Teach me, what should I do."

￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

PS: Today I tried a different style, but it doesn't seem to have changed much… Well, votes please!

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends