Chapter 50 – Zombies on Defeat 3
They say that when the money’s gone, so is the friendship, and that was exactly the case for Batts and the Zombies.
“Dammit, I’m broke.”
Despite all that he had spent, no one was willing to lend him even a small amount of money. He was in a situation where he couldn’t even afford food until he paid off last month’s debts.
“Next month’s bonus won’t be enough to treat those guys anymore.”
Batts walked with a determined look in his eyes and entered an old, shabby store. There were rows of discounted items, but only one person was there–a short young man.
“What’s up? Rare to see you here, Batts. Do you want to buy something? Oh, wait! I just got something great in stock. A customer who kept hassling me finally gave up!”
“That’s nonsense. I’m here to pawn this.” Battz took out a magic sword, Ignition, that Aix had made into a cold, metallic rod.
The pawnshop owner’s face turned into a look of astonishment. The great zombie hero wanted to pawn something?
“Here it is. Please appraise it for me.”
The shopkeeper immediately took out his round glasses and started appraising the item, not caring if it was fit for immediate use or not. All that mattered was getting a proper payment for it.
It seemed that the appraisal was done, and the shopkeeper proposed an offer.
“How about one gold coin?”
“Hmph. It’s cheap, but I have no other option.” Batts reluctantly accepted the offer. He knew that it would be difficult to buy back the item for a higher price, and the shopkeeper was a friendly man who would not overcharge him.
The shopkeeper then went to the back room and rattled some coins while preparing the payment. Batts received nine large, silver coins.
Wait a minute. What? He counted the coins again in disbelief. One, two, three…nine. There was one coin missing!
He struck the table in anger.
“What the hell? Are you trying to cheat me? This isn’t even the right amount!”
“Listen, Batts. This magic sword is worth a gold coin. Our relationship is good, and when you come back to buy it back, it’ll still be worth one gold coin. I won’t raise the price, but there will still be transaction fees.” The shopkeeper explained patiently.
Batts finally understood. He wasn’t happy, but he had no other options.
“Ugh.”
“Come on, take it. You need the money, right?”
Batts was reluctant, but he had no other choice–he needed that money.
There’s no choice but to tightly grip the silver coin that’s one short.
“Damn it.”
“Listen, me and Batts are tight. We won’t sell this extremely important magic sword to anyone for a month. I promise. But you know what happens once that month is up, right?”
Gazing at his beloved magic sword with regret, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get it back.”
“Got it. I won’t let anyone touch it until you come back next month, Batts.”
Even if the price he bought it for ends up doubled or more, even if the interest for this month ends up being a rip-off 10%, he needs money to survive this month.
“Why…why did I choose to be in debt back then?!” Batts regrets his decision, but switches his thoughts.
His mind is consumed with thoughts of the nonexistent bonus time coming next month.
“Oh…poor Batts. I hope we can have a long partnership.”
The pawn shop owner eagerly displayed Batts’ Ignition sword in the most prominent showcase in the pawn shop.
“Umm, did I do a bad thing by freezing it?”
Aix Appeared.
“No no, you did nothing wrong. It’s all good between you and me. There’s no problem at all.”
“This is our first meeting, right?”
He looked at the cheerful uncle with cold eyes.
“As expected of an ice user. You’re quite chilly. I’m just a humble pawn shop owner. Anyway, we got some great magical swords in stock, set to be released next month, so be sure to check them out.”
“I’m a sorcerer though?”
I looked at him with a freezing gaze.
“Phew, you’re really cool.”
(TLN: I didn’t quite understand their conversation, so I improvised a little. It seems that the rumour of Aix freezing Batts’ sword had spread throughout the town, this is shown by calling Aix an ice user. So the pawn shop owner became respect to him, and did not want to be his enemy.)
