An Immortal's Retirement: To Achieve Peace [Volume One Finished]

Nai stalked the new man through the ever winding streets.

Over her various days of being alive, possibly weeks, maybe even months, she had learned one truth.

Money ruled the world. Money gets you treats. Money gets you trinkets and money even gets you even more money.

It was a strange thing and Nai wanted to learn more about it. So today, she became silent and followed this merchant person around in silent observation.

She understood the concept of money. It was a placeholder, a replacement of value. You couldn't bargain for everything. Bargaining relied on the idea that you had what someone else wanted and that they had something you wanted. But what if you wanted what they had and they didn't want what you had?

What then?

The answer was money. It was important because everybody wanted it and because everybody wanted it, you could bargain with it for everything.

Even toys and treats.

She had tried the usual process of gaining money. She had applied for a job, but Medin had laughed at her attempts. She had even gone to Chin, the man who made her father, the thirteenth rank god, farm. But even he had just patted her on the head and given her an apple.

But this man, this fellow Mackie seemed to make money out of thin air.

And she would learn his dastardly technique and understand it.

Her headband swayed in front of her, but it didn't limit her, not like it used to. Bill had lowered its effects bit by bit. The more she could control her own strength, the more of it she got to use.

Her aura flattened, and her knees gently touched upon the ground.

A few paces away were a group of dwarves, small little men pounding pavement into place.

"Come on lads! Three fourth rank spirit stones for expanding the streets! That's what Mister Chin said, and guaranteed land near the edges of cultivator town. We have to finish this by the end of the week and maybe we can get a few more jobs around the area!"

"Oi!" The other dwarves nodded.

They were all around the third rank, and were a small clan of fey who had fled the Hollow Echo's territory a few years back.

Nai didn't care to know that, but Chin had been talking about it during dinner.

"Is it really fourth rank?" One of the dwarves asked.

Stolen story; please report.

"That's what he promised us, and he is a disciple of the Immortal after all."

"Fourth rank spirit stones?" Mackie chimed in.

He had also been listening in on the conversation, along with Nai. Mackie straightened his robes and unfolded his sleeves as he stepped over to the trio.

"Well then, you fellows are about to be very well off indeed. What's the plan after that?"

"Who're you?" One of the dwarves retorted.

"Who, me? I'm just a merchant is all. I know Chin, he's my employer."

"Is he now?"

"Yes, in fact I'm the main merchant and peddler of this village."

"And why would this village need a merchant or peddler? They've got merchants coming in from all over," the more suspicious dwarf spoke.

"Well we do now, but it was mostly quiet before then. We had nothing but the Rainy Season to rely on for trade and even then, it would only be bulk sales, nothing specific."

"Well I suppose you're out of a job now?" The dwarf with the oldest face said.

He was the one leading the group. He was aged and sprayed with the occasional white hair. The wrinkles on his skin were mixed with various scars and burn marks and he wore a thick qi beast hide all over him. It bent like cloth but it was as hard as armour and it covered everything except his face, and even then you could see the excess pelt round his neck.

It could easily be pulled up to conceal everything but his eyes.

"Yes, but… ah I see. No, I still have my money, I was just curious as to what you would do with your property?"

"Nothing to concern yourself with stranger," one of the dwarves said.

Mackie gave them an empty shrug.

Nai didn't understand. He was a mortal but they were still suspicious of him? Why? It was like worrying about a mouse stealing your shoes? How could a mouse lift your shoe and what would they even do with it?

After Mackie was a good distance away, she heard some of them curse.

"Damn humans," one of the dwarves grunted. "I hate the way they look at us."

"He did say he lived here, and he was a mortal," another dwarf replied.

"And? They're all the same. Mortal, immortal, they all treat us like shit. I just want to make enough money to head back to our home."

"You'd need an immortal spirit stone to traverse that far, you know."

"I know. I can settle with this for now but I can't stand these tall bastards. Nothing more than watered down elves."

Nai listened for a few moments longer before following along with Mackie.

His aura projected disappointment. He had kind intentions for those dwarves but they had misread them. Were the lands of the Hollow Echo truly that disgusting?

Nai frowned, but set the idea aside for now.

For now, she would concern herself with her own issues.

The dwarves were wrong. It was peaceful here. They would feel it. They would see it.

And so she followed, until Mackie made a turn and started to make his way to cultivator town.

Then she had to follow from a distance. But that was fine. She could smell everything within the village and Cultivator Town and hear a pin drop from within it as well.

Something instinct took over Nai's body as she stalked the money man.

Shadow to shadow, wall to wall. She knew her weight, her balance, her abilities, and she could crawl across a hundred feet in an instant without being seen.

And she had to be careful here. Here, her chances of being sensed were much higher. She could feel the fifth ranks in the distance, and not just the ones she knew.

These were foreigners of other sects.

And the tension here was tense. The mortals that were native to this village were left alone but the people that weren't still had to worry about the consequences once they left here.

Here, face was still alive. Here, power still mattered.

Nai could almost taste the congealed mass of politics and pride growing here.

She didn't understand it, but it was still uncomfortable. All these auras, all this tension, it was something she had never experienced before.

She did not like it.