The God of Jesters
Chapter 485 - 8.00.3 The coin.

Chapter 485: 8.00.3 The coin.

"Potion’s shop?" Wondered Heroth for a bit, before shaking his head. "Then why come here? For a girly like you, you can easily find a job in any other potion shop you want.?" There were no fools among adventures, with the life they led, they have cultivated an enhanced level of insight.

This insight into the world made Heroth survive for so long. Hence, the moment he heard the girl’s words, he couldn’t help but wonder. ’What is the story?’ There ought to be something, or she could be a spy sent by them.

So what is it? Wondered Heroth for a bit longer.

Of course, this happened in a span of seconds in Heroth’s mind, while the girl started to tell her woeful tale.

She belonged to the Knight family with a strong nose, so although she could never awaken her blood and walk on the path of a Knight, her strong nose gave her an edge over others. An advantage with a broad level of uses if used appropriately, but the girl turned out to be a fool.

Instead of a lucrative job like being a detective or becoming a cook. The fool ended up in a potion shop with an eccentric old fool who still hadn’t lost his spark of potion-making.

Although her early days in the shop were normal, mostly learned about the herbs, chemicals, and poisons during her free time when there were no customers. Later on, the old potion master started to call her into his quarter for one simple purpose.

"He made you try his potion?"

"No, he mostly just poured it over my right arm." She said, holding a bandaged harm on her side, showing that what that arm went through can’t be normal.

"He started with fingers, before moving upwards to my shoulders. He wanted to see how his potions would react to a human touch." The old potion master had test subjects of his own, some rats or even monkeys. But it might be his twisted sense of humor, or he might just derive a sick level of pleasure from such torture, which made him do all these things.

"I had no other choice but to leave, run as far away as I could before I ended up in this city. I thought I would be safe here."

For a spy, this was too detailed of a story, which made it so good in Heroth eyes. So although he never took off his suspicions over her, it doesn’t mean his tone won’t change. So acting as a concerned elder, he asked. "Choosing this city is the right choice. Fools rarely act out in this place. And if they do, they are taken down easily."

Rudrain was the capital of Cynark, the absolute Monarch of the land sat here. Although his personal strength was nothing much, behind him were a total of three Legendary beings that suppressed the city under the power of their domain.

Of course, this domain became one of the reasons that among the 13 Noble families of the capital, most of them operated in the outer city instead of the inner area, fearing the eyes of the legendary beings.

And in order to not attract any unwanted attention to the happenings, these nobles kept the outer city "clean" in their own way.

This can be seen from how peaceful the Southern Civilian district appears on the surface.

"That’s what my uncle said, but..." The girl dropped her head in disappointment.

It turned out to her, that the city hadn’t been so kind as it was to Heroth, she couldn’t adapt or make sure of the tools in her area, nor understand how to open a business, and when she did try to find a job, she was kicked out due to not possessing any noble bloodline.

Which was odd to her.

Her skills were there, and she could still be considered one of the nobles with her latent bloodline, but she was still denied any job, hence making it harder to make a living in the city.

Which finally forced her to look for a job in what she was good at. But then came the trauma, she didn’t trust people in the potion industry anymore, so chose to find someplace else which could use her nose.

And that place turned out to be Heroth’s.

’Too detailed, either this opponent is a massive storyteller, or this girl is speaking the truth. Well, whatever the case.’ He looked at her hand and asked "Sometimes customers bring heavy stuff, can you move it within your current state?" He asked, and the girl nodded, before looking around and choosing the table to showcase her strength.

"It’s tilting." Heroth noticed that her right hand truly was weaker than her left hand, shivering while lifting the table. But it was enough showcase of her strength, and he made her put the table back down.

"Come here and tell me, what you can tell from these four coins." Saying such words, he took three different coins from three different boxes and put them on the table.

"Sir, I don’t have much background in archeology, but if you give me a month or two, I will... "

"No need for that, I know you are willing to learn, but I want to know if what you say about your nose is true or not."

"So tell me, what you can tell about these coins from the smell alone.’

Under Heroth’s sharp gaze, the girl bowed and came forward to the table, picking each coin and giving it a whiff. One of which almost caused her eyes to turn over due to how bad it smelled.

"The first one was under the sea floor for a long time, I was probably closer to countless crabs and seaweed, I can taste the smell." She spoke before pointing toward the second coin. "This one seemed to have changed pockets multiple times recently, but from the earthly with a hint of aged wood, it was probably kept in some display case for a long time."

Then her face winched and looked at the last coin. "This one... it was the stench of a corpse on it, a fresh rotten corpse and not an aged one."

"Ho, then that man truly was a grave robber." Heroth thought back, recalling a certain customer who seemed to be the same kind of person as him.

"Well, you pass I guess." He was aware of the background of these coins from long ago, ignoring the first coin, which he obtained during his very first adventuring exploration, the other two were ones he recently bought from customers.

However, he had some suspicions over the 3rd customer, who turned out to be a grave robber. What surprised him more was the second coin. ’So stolen directly from some home... this might be dangerous.’

That second coin was a hot potato and if not dealt with appropriately, it might attract some annoying people. So he thanked the girl. "You can work starting from tomorrow and use the old kitchen as your bedroom." Heroth didn’t care if the girl was a spy or not, in this city she and her friends wouldn’t be able to do much anyway.

Not to mention, her talent was genuine, there was no denying that her nose was as strong as she claimed it to be, making her perfect for this job.

Now all she needed was some knowledge of the artifacts and common symbols and the rest, one can learn with experience.

And it’s not like he will leave, he is just going to use the nose of this girl to make sure he doesn’t buy stolen goods again.

*****

"I never expected someone would be able to find the coronation coin. I am so thankful to you." It wasn’t hard for Heroth to find who this coin belonged to. There was already a report over the disappearance of the coin in the police station and Heroth easily found the home address of the reportee.

Of course, the moment he came here, the situation was a bit different than he had anticipated. This was a branch of the Lohree of the White Tiger. They did the same sort of business that the Ashwa family did though they also had some hands in the textile industry of the city.

And to them, the shame of the coin disappearance was too much, so when they had put down the report initially, they used a false name. ’Shit...’ Which really put Heroth in a tough position, considering he was a businessman aligned with the Vermilion family.

Though it would seem that the Jannat Har Lohree didn’t make things hard for the old Heroth. "You can’t imagine how worried I was during these days. Do you know, this is not just a simple coin? It was minted during the coronation of Emperor Samadheen, and only 23 were minted, each coin signifying a single state under our great country."

Of course, Heroth knew this, there was a reason why he was so suspicious of the coin and considered it a hot potato.

"I knew something was odd when the man entered with random trinkets, I believe he might have stolen from more houses than just Lord’s, there were some few odd things there, if you are curious you can come and check."

"There is no need for that, just help the police find the culprit that’s all I ask of you." With those words said, the man handed Heroth some extra money. "This is for you."

"This?"

"Not everyone in your position would come to hand this back to the owner. I know who backs you, and it wouldn’t have been odd for you to give this coin directly to the ladies of the Vermilion family. And I know this action of yours will probably cause some trouble to you... so this is the payment for that trouble. Don’t mind it too much."