“Two copper coins each, they are fresh apples picked just this morning.”
Kadmon held up two fingers and said to Theresia.
“Mister, are the skins of these apples made of gold, or is the flesh made of gold?”
Theresia narrowed her clear blue eyes, held up the apple to examine it up and down, and revealed a mischievous smile.
Hearing this, Kadmon looked stunned for a moment and scratched his head:
“Miss, this apple is just made of apple… the skin is apple skin, the flesh is apple flesh, where would gold come from… besides, two copper coins is very cheap.”
“Then pick one for me.” Theresia nodded and said.
“Alright!” Although Kadmon didn’t understand at all what this beautiful young girl was talking about, he still picked up an apple and tapped it twice, producing a crisp sound,
“How about this one? It’s big, the color is right, and it’s guaranteed to be sweet.”
Theresia gently crossed her arms over her chest, twisted her slender waist slightly, and tilted her head adorably.
Her deep blue eyes were filled with the mischievous glint of a prank, and she deliberately imitated a classic internet meme from her past life, asking earnestly:
“Mister, are these apples guaranteed to be ripe?”
“Guaranteed ripe, absolutely guaranteed ripe!” Kadmon finally caught the rhythm, patted his chest, and said sternly,
“If they aren’t ripe, you don’t have to pay!”
“I’m asking you, are these apples guaranteed to be ripe?”
Theresia leaned forward slightly, narrowed her eyes, and deliberately added a hint of pressure to her tone.
Kadmon was forced to take half a step back by her aura.
Clearly, the person in front of him was a delicate and weak-looking beautiful girl, so why was her presence so strong?
“M-Miss, what do you mean by this?”
Kadmon’s voice wavered, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.
He had been doing business for so many years, and this was the first time he had encountered a customer like this.
She was excessively beautiful, her words were baffling, and yet her aura was so oppressive it made him struggle to breathe.
Theresia couldn’t keep a straight face anymore and laughed out loud:
“Hahahaha, just kidding, just kidding, don’t be so nervous, Mister.”
“Miss, you scared me to death…” Kadmon wiped the sweat from his forehead, “I thought you were sent by some noble to wreck my stall.”
“With your build, who would dare to wreck your stall?” Theresia teased as she looked at Kadmon,
“You look like you could kill an earth dragon with one punch.”
“Miss, you’re joking. I just look fierce and intimidating, but in reality, I have a very honest personality. I haven’t even dared to kill a live chicken in my entire life.”
Kadmon scratched his bright green head and smiled honestly.
“No way, you’ve never even killed a chicken? Mister, the contrast is just too big.” Theresia blinked her beautiful eyes, looking at Kadmon, and couldn’t help but retort,
“You look like a bandit leader, but you turn out to be a pacifist fruit farmer who doesn’t even dare to kill a chicken?”
“My wife says that the most important thing in life is to be amiable to generate wealth. If you can live a peaceful life, you should never be fierce or aggressive, never draw a blade easily, and never see bloodshed.”
Kadmon said with a simple and earnest expression.
“You’re a good man, Mister.” Theresia held up her slender, fair thumb, then put away her joking tone,
“Alright, then give me two apples.”
She casually took a gold coin from her system inventory and handed it over.
“Miss, this… this gold coin, are you sure you want to use it to buy apples?”
Kadmon took the gold coin, looked down, and froze.
The gold coin shimmered with a dazzling light in the sun; it was of pure quality and had substantial weight.
But he had never seen the patterns and characters on it.
It wasn’t the dragon-crested gold coin of the Kingdom of Lugnica, nor was it the commercial currency of Kararagi; it was a script and pattern he didn’t recognize at all.
But regardless of the pattern, it was definitely gold, and of excellent quality—purer than any gold coin he had ever seen.
“What’s wrong?” Theresia tilted her head and asked.
“Um… Miss, you’ve given me way too much money, I can’t provide change.” Kadmon spread his large hand, revealing the lonely gold coin in his palm, and said with some helplessness,
“These apples are very cheap, two only cost two copper coins. If you give me one gold coin, even if I gave you the entire stall, cart and fruit included, it would still be far from enough.”
You have to know, the currency used for transactions in this other world is gold, silver, and copper coins, with a ratio of about 100 to 1.
One gold coin equals one hundred silver coins, and one silver coin equals one hundred copper coins.
Two apples only cost two copper coins; converted, one gold coin is enough to buy ten thousand apples.
If Theresia just gave Kadmon a gold coin, he wouldn’t be able to provide change even if he set up his stall for ten days.
“…” Theresia blinked her eyes and thought to herself:
It’s just one gold coin, is it really that big of a deal?
She still had 99 trillion gold coins in her system inventory.
To put it bluntly, if this gold coin fell on the ground, she wouldn’t even bother to bend down to pick it up.
It wasn’t because of pride, but because there were simply too many gold coins in her system inventory—so many that she had lost any basic concept of numerical value regarding gold coins.
Right now, money was the thing she lacked the least.
Although saying it this way was a bit of a humblebrag, she really had more money than she could ever spend.
Before transmigrating, she had spent over a hundred thousand in cash on the game; after transmigrating, she directly inherited the account assets, totaling 99 trillion gold coins.
This kind of wealth was a dimensionality-reduction strike against the entire other world.
However, Theresia saw that Kadmon’s expression was very serious.
That fierce face was filled with the honesty of “I cannot take advantage of you,” and even his scar seemed a bit more righteous.
And besides…
Theresia couldn’t help but glance a few more times at Kadmon’s hair.
That head of bright green short hair was exceptionally dazzling in the sunlight—green with justification, green with openness, green like the most vibrant patch of grass in spring.
“Miss, what are you looking at?” Kadmon noticed her strange gaze and subconsciously touched his head.
“Nothing.” Theresia withdrew her gaze, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly, “I just think your hair is quite nice, Mister.”
“Is that so?” Kadmon smiled honestly and touched the top of his head, “My wife says that too.”
“Mhm, if you want to get by in life, you have to have a little green on your head.” Theresia said with a straight face.
“Green?” Kadmon blinked, his green eyebrows knitting together, “Miss, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing, I was just complimenting your hair color for being fashionable, don’t worry about it.” Theresia changed the subject without changing her expression and waved her hand dismissively,
“By the way, Mister, you don’t need to give me change for that money, keep the rest.”
“That won’t do!” Kadmon puffed out his chest, and a kind of almost devout seriousness appeared on his fierce face,
“Miss, when I do business, I value integrity. If I take extra money, I won’t feel at ease, and if my wife finds out when I go home tonight, she’ll scold me.”
“Eh, your wife is so strict? Are you henpecked?” Theresia couldn’t help but remark.
“It’s not that she’s strict, it’s a family motto.” Hearing this, Kadmon said earnestly,
“Our family isn’t wealthy, but we must have a clear conscience in how we conduct ourselves. Miss, if you don’t have small change, I’ll just give you these two apples, free of charge.”
“…” Theresia was genuinely surprised this time.
She looked carefully at this green-haired man with a scar; his eyes were clear and frank, without any hint of hypocrisy or pretense.
This guy is actually pretty decent.
He looks fierce, and he’s wearing the color of a vast grassland on his head, but it turns out he’s an honest, trustworthy person.
What do you call this?
This is called integrity.
You cannot judge a person by their appearance, just as you cannot measure the sea with a bucket.
That Goose Leg Auntie wouldn’t be able to learn this even if she studied for a hundred years.
Theresia thought for a moment, parted her cherry lips slightly, and said:
“Then I’ll buy a few more to round it up.”
“Miss, even if you bought all my stock today, it wouldn’t be worth one gold coin.” Kadmon shook his head with a bitter smile,
“My cart of fruit is only worth a few dozen silver coins in total.”
“In that case, I’ll just buy it all.” Theresia said with a casual tone.
“What?” Kadmon looked surprised.
“I said, I’ll take all the fruit on your stall.” Theresia tilted her head and pointed to the cart full of fruit behind him.
Her long red hair slid off her shoulder with the movement of her head, rippling with a silky luster in the sunlight,
“Red, green, yellow fruits—every single one of them, I want them all. This gold coin is yours, you don’t need to give me change.”
“B-buy it all?” Kadmon froze, his eyes widening.
“That’s right, is one gold coin enough?”
“That’s enough, sure, but miss, why are you buying so much fruit…”
“To eat. I’ll just leave it and eat it slowly; the system storage has a freshness preservation feature anyway.”
Theresia said, as if it were obvious.
“System storage?”
Kadmon scratched his greenish head.
“A magical item; you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it.” Theresia thought for a moment, then added to Kadmon, “Oh, by the way, if you have any extra fruit at home, you can bring that too.”
“This…”
Kadmon hesitated for a moment, but looking closely at Theresia’s expression, he saw that those deep blue eyes held not a hint of a joke.
“Let’s do this. It’ll save you from having to set up your stall for another day. You should go home early to be with your wife and daughter, mister.” Theresia waved her hand lightly.
“…Miss, how did you know I had a daughter?”
The expression on Kadmon’s face shifted from confusion to surprise.
“Guessed it.”
Theresia thought to herself: ‘Because I’ve watched the show, so I know you have a cute daughter.’
“But, miss…” Kadmon looked down at the fruit-laden stall, “With so much fruit, how will you carry it? Do you want me to help you deliver it? I have a handcart at home…”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”