Chapter 74 A rich little woman
As the wheezing calmed down and her breath normalized, she wondered just what the old deity had put in that hug to make her so breathless. She had felt like a bug being stepped on by an extra large boot.
He had to have done this deliberately, they were not close enough to go around hugging. The price she was about to ask for was going to be doubled.
"I can hear your thoughts you know."? the old deity told her. "Don't you dare think about scamming me or I will embrace you all day." he threatened.
Scarlet hissed and jumped away from him as if he was a devil. ๐ป๐ณ๐ฎโฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ท๐ท๐๐ท๐๐ญ.๐๐๐
"You nasty old man," she mumbled.
"One hug for the insult." the old deity warned.
Scarlet squealed in horror and turned around to escape but her feet were stuck suddenly, as if they had been glued to the ground and she was forcefully hugged again.
"Aren't my hugs the best?" the old deity asked her. "Not everyone has had the privilege of being hugged me, just ask them all."
The onlookers looked away and others hurried away to mind their own business. Who in the underworld did not know that this guy deliberately injected power into his hugs when he was holding a petty grudge against you. Many of them felt sorry for her, wondering what she had done to this deity. That hug was known as the 'sweet pain of an embrace' in the underworld.
Alas! once again she had to cough, wheeze and endure pain in her body.
"On to serious business now." the old deity changed his tone, it was no longer playful. "Release the soul, there are many worlds out there that are suffering, there is no time to waste."
Scarlet was wise this time round to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts clean. She decided to think about money and soul crystals.
"I want double the normal price, this one is better than most strong souls. He is a top tier soul, he even emits white smoke, I read on the forum that this means his purity is high."
The old deity's eyes lit up.
"Scarlet my dear, I should have hugged you more." he said.
She was completely befuddled, his hugs had terrorized her officially and if he mentioned hugging her again she would go crazy. But she did not want to give up on getting more benefits out of him.
"Old deity, you should pity me, do you know how much I have to suffer living on that empty land where you dropped me, fearful for my life while hunting for souls and then cultivating with meager resources. If you won't increase the price at least top up the soul crystals with some purifying water, nourishing grass and.....uhm...." she suddenly realized that she could not speak anymore, her tongue was heavy and numb.
"Of course dear, one million soul crystals, of which ten thousand are high level. Twenty liters of purifying water and one batch of nourishing grass." the deity said.
Those items appeared out of thin air and landed at her feet.? The small glistening mountain of soul crystals made others gasp, the tantalizing smell of purifying water made them envious and the nourishing grass topped off all that envy.
"Now it's your turn." the old deity told Scarlet.
Scarlet wanted to hiss at him for curbing her tongue before she could demand more but she held back. She had been planning to ask for two million soul crystals but sensation had just returned to her tongue and she wanted to keep it that way. The old deity normally acted so normal with her that she had forgotten his real identity. She decided not to antagonize him, for her this was a lost battle. Hopefully Maddox would squeeze some things out of him.
At the end of the day, with everything at her feet she was officially a rich little woman in the underworld.
"Of course, she said with a smile." and she released Maddox's soul while sending her newly acquired wealth into the soul gourd at the same time.
Maddox's soul caused gasps and commotion,
"A strong soul."
"It's a strong soul."
"It's a pure soul, not just a strong soul."
"No wonder he showed up in person."
The news immediately started hitting the forum, "The newbie hit the jackpot, a strong pure soul."
The soul registrars hurried to come forward and receive Maddox as if he was VIP in a night club.
"We can work on him my lord." they all clamored.
Maddox was confused at all that was going on and so was Scarlet. She was a strong soul when she came to the underworld and she did not remember being given any VIP treatment.? Nobody had clamored over her eagerly like this.
In fact, she did not remember how she got to the underworld realm or which reaper delivered her soul. It had not even crossed her mind before but now she had all these questions.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked at it and then she looked at the old deity who was touching her shoulder. There was no pain this time in his touch.
"Thank you Scarlet." the old deity said genuinely.
She nodded stiffly, "You are welcome, I already talked to him about becoming a grim reaper and he accepted."
The old deity raised one eyebrow. "Really." he said.
"Yes, but he has some things he wants, anyway I have done my part." she retrieved her rope which was still binding Maddox. Then she looked at Maddox and said, "The old," she stopped because he was not using an old mans face and she did not want to confuse Maddox. "this deity will take care of you. Good luck."
Maddox nodded and he waved. "Thank you." he said.
The old deity disappeared into the whirlpool which brought him with Maddox's soul.
She watched until it faded away and all was just as it had been. For some reason her heart suddenly felt slightly heavy, as if she had sent off her own child, a beloved family member or a close friend. Her hand moved to her chest, and she beat it two times, wondering why she felt like crying. The urge to cry was getting stronger with each passing second.
"Why am I feeling this way?" she asked herself.
"It's the pure soul, it has that effect on those who stay around it for so long. Don't fight the feeling, you are going to cry your heart out anyway." A soul registrar that was standing close to Scarlet explained to her.
The sleeping pill wore off and she woke up and just started bawling like a child.