Thief Mage

13

Ah! I instantly burst into joy. Haha. Thankfully, they didn't pull this thing out before the torture. This is the nightmare of countless secret locks used by thieves—a lock pick made of diamond magic stone.

"I'm rich!" I suddenly shouted excitedly.

A sudden shout jolted them out of their stunned state. Before they could react, I excitedly grabbed Kate, who was still dazed, and ran out.

Led by Kate, I followed her toward the pawnshop. Last night, the dim streetlights made it hard to see anything. The early morning sun shone across the green grass. Now I had a clear view of the school. The buildings here were all one-story, because with today's technology, most buildings are only one story high. It immediately seemed like a quite nice campus. The classrooms were neatly arranged, surrounded by lush green trees. Occasionally, I could see a few students sitting on stone benches under the trees, reading. There were many students walking around, many holding books and wearing glasses. The air was thick with the school atmosphere.

Kate's dormitory was not far from the school gate. Soon we were out of the school's east gate. From a distance, among the crowd of billboards on the street, we could see a white sign with the word "pawn" written in bright red. I followed Kate and walked quickly towards it. When we got to the front of the shop and looked inside, we found that it was indeed a large pawnshop. The pawnshop owner was clacking away at his abacus at the counter. Kate shouted, and as if he had heard Kate's shout, the owner stopped what he was doing, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and looked up. The owner was a fat old man with the appearance of a typical businessman. The chubby-looking man looked quite amiable, likely a legitimate businessman. Seeing Kate, a smile lit up his face, and he stood up to greet her, saying, "Ah! Kate! What are you planning to pawn this time, or are you redeeming those pants you pawned last time?"

It seemed Kate wasn't from a poor family. I think he just enjoys gambling and often comes here to pawn things after losing all his food money. Perhaps when money is really tight, the urge strikes, and he pawns all sorts of things. Anyway, his father sends a generous amount of food money at the beginning of the month.

The boss certainly wouldn't accept such random items. He probably gave Kate some money to satisfy his craving for pawning because he's a regular customer. But since it's the end of the month, he probably thought Kate was strapped for cash again and was looking to pawn something ridiculous!

A hint of embarrassment crossed Kate's face. Sheerly, he scratched his head and fumbled in his pocket to pull out the wallet I asked him to pawn.

The owner took the clip with a smile and said, "We're regular customers. If it were someone else, I wouldn't accept these things. But since you're doing me a small favor, it's no problem. We've been together for so long, how can I not trust you? Anyway, you redeem your items at the beginning of every month as scheduled. It won't hurt me. But... Kate, don't gamble so aggressively. This month, in addition to some valuable watches and rings... you've also pawned four pieces of clothing, three pairs of pants, and a pair of underwear!" The owner chuckled.

Kate blushed instantly. He scratched the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly. I couldn't help but laugh, but I held back at Kate's awkward expression.

The owner began to examine the clip. Suddenly, his expression seemed to register something. He examined it more closely, and suddenly his expression became horrified, his glasses nearly falling off. The pawnshop owner's hands trembled with excitement as he stammered, "Gold~Vajra~Devil~Devil's Essence Stone." It seemed this owner was quite knowledgeable.

Kate seemed to discern the value of the folder from the expert's expression. With a sophisticated expression, he addressed the owner, "Old Hu, just name your price. It's worth at least a thousand and eight hundred spi. My classmate is about to enroll and is pawning this folder for tuition."

Old Hu's lips trembled with excitement as he said, "What? Pawning for tuition? This folder could fetch a million spi anywhere. Which school has such high tuition?"

Kate's eyes instantly widened. "One hundred, one ... Old Hu still looked very excited. I was...

This chapter is unfinished. Please turn to the next page to continue reading... The Thief's Mage, latest chapter, Chapter 13, website: [Unrelated text fragment:] I discussed with him, "I think this folder is beyond the capacity of this small pawnshop. My suggestion is to use this folder as collateral. You can lend me 10,000 spi first, and leave this folder here. Then you can find a buyer for me. After the sale is completed, you will receive 100,000 spi. You can deposit the remaining 890,000 in the bank and bring the account number and password to me at school. I don't think you'll ask me about the origins of this magic stone for 100,000 spi!" Of course, banks now have an account system. As long as you know the account number and password, you can withdraw the money from the bank.

100,000 spi? You can earn that much in 20 years of running a pawnshop. Businessmen are like that. With a 50% profit, they'll obey the law. With a 100% profit, they'll start to break the law. And with a 150% profit, they won't mind committing crimes. He naturally agreed to my request, but I had one small request. After Kate woke up, I wanted him to tell her it was one thousand, not one million, and to strongly prove his mishearing. Old Hu readily accepted this small request. He then handed me ten thousand spikers from the cashier's office. I only accepted nine thousand. He looked a little puzzled, and I smiled at him.

Old Hu's work was done. It was time to wake this pig. I knelt down and patted Kate's head. Kate suddenly sat up, opened her eyes, and her eyes were filled with money. She kept muttering, "One million, one million...!"

I increased my strength and slapped her awake from her money-making world. Kate turned around, her expression seemingly sober. She kept saying, "One million, one million!" It seemed she was so excited she didn't know what to say.

At this moment, Lao Hu, standing nearby, stepped forward as agreed. "Kate, are you crazy about the money? I just said a thousand—a thousand spis for this little spi is already quite impressive, how could it be a million? Do you think this is from a fantasy novel?"

"What? What?" Kate suddenly stood up and asked.

Lao Hu repeated, his accent lengthening and emphasizing, "A thousand spis!"

Kate tilted her head in confusion, thinking about it. Indeed, a thousand spis was far more believable than a million, a ridiculous figure. Embarrassed by his earlier embarrassment, he scratched his head and chuckled.

I, on the side, tried to smooth things over, saying, "Okay, okay, boss, you can give me a thousand spis now, right?" Lao Hu suddenly realized and said, "Of course! Of course!" He then immediately counted out the remaining thousand spis and gave it to me!

After finishing the job and saying goodbye to Lao Hu, I dragged Kate, who was obsessed with the million, out. Of course, I didn't forget to lend her three hundred spires. Kate was so moved by me lending her three hundred of the thousand spires that she burst into tears. I just smiled. Remember, I still had nine thousand spires in my pocket!

We rushed straight to the Royal Restaurant and spent a hundred spires on twenty roast chickens and a bunch of high-end liquor. The two of us hurried back to the dormitory, carrying all this miscellaneous stuff.