Love Is Blind (Continued)

Clearly, when allocating time, they completely disregarded Rin Tohsaka, treating her solely as a mecha.

Poor Rin Tohsaka...

Hearing their arrangements, even Rovey couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy.

"Alright, we've almost finished eating. Now let's get down to business."

Ishtar suddenly changed the subject and looked back at Rovey in front of her.

"Is this serious business?"

Hearing her say that, Rovey was a little confused. "What important matter?"

"Do I need to remind you? Of course, it's the wealth you owe me that you promised before. Gilgamesh is bankrupt and is now working for Ereshkigal. It's impossible to collect the debt from him, so naturally, it's your turn to pay it back."

Ishtar said with utmost seriousness, then extended her hand, "You must have quite a bit of wealth in this world, right? Now give it all to me."

Rovey: "..."

So that's what this debt is.

Sure enough, Ishtar was still Ishtar. Although she was usually careless, she became exceptionally shrewd when it came to money. Even after all this time, she would never forget who owed her money.

Now, it's not just Rin Tohsaka who's in trouble; it seems like I'm in trouble too.

"Ah, so that's what it is... No problem, no problem, it's nothing."

Rovey did not deny it outright, but instead thought it over and agreed, temporarily calming Ishtar down.

But...

"Ishtar, you should have learned the common sense of this era from the Holy Grail, shouldn't you?"

"Common sense? All that nonsense? Hmm, I know it all, so what?"

Ishtar nodded; she did indeed possess almost all the basic common sense about humanity in this era.

"Well, that makes things simpler. In that case, you probably don't mind hearing me talk about paying off the debt, right?"

Upon hearing Rovey it was related to paying off debts, Ishtar, who had been somewhat impatient, immediately became serious.

"Tell me, let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

After saying that, Ishtar suddenly moved closer, looking at Rovey with her serious eyes. "However, I also want to remind you that I have all the common sense of this world. This time, I won't be fooled by you and Gilgamesh like before, and don't even think about using illusions to deceive me. I want wealth now!"

"Okay, okay, I'll settle the payment right here."

Rovey nodded and said with a smile.

Although Ishtar seems to have become much more difficult to deal with after gaining knowledge of this world's common sense, in reality, as long as she remains the same confused goddess at heart, she still has a lot of room to maneuver.

At this point, a normal person or Magus would certainly have chosen to give Ishtar a huge fortune to satisfy and stabilize her.

But actually, that would be a huge mistake.

Although Rovey could amass a great deal of gold and gems in a short time if he wanted them, he knew that this wouldn't solve any problems.

Human desires are like a boulder rolling down a mountain; they are never content with the status quo and only crave more and more.

This is especially true of the gods.

If Ishtar were given a large sum of gold, she would soon want more.

This will not only fail to stabilize her, but will also make her even more greedy.

Therefore, a more unusual method is needed to stop her.

With that in mind, Rovey began to seriously question Ishtar.

Do you understand money?

"Money? I've seen it before, it's human currency, the currency of this era, so what?"

"Oh, good that you know."

Upon seeing that she knew what money was, Rovey immediately took out a bundle of banknotes from his vault and handed them to her.

Upon seeing money from this era for the first time, Ishtar wore a puzzled expression.

"What is this? Isn't it just paper?"

Indeed, they only knew what money was, but had never truly seen or understood it.

Seeing this, Rovey roughly understood everything.

"This isn't paper, this is money."

"This thing is money?"

Ishtar examined the banknotes, a suspicious look on her face.

The money in front of her was so different from the jewels and gold she had imagined, which exuded an aura of wealth. She felt like she had been fooled again.

However, because he was telling the truth this time, Rovey didn't lie to her.

"Yes, that's money. You just said you wanted wealth, and nowadays this is how wealth is measured. In this era, gold and jewels are no longer the standard for measuring wealth; the standard for measuring wealth is money. That's why the world often has terms like 'millionaire' and 'multi-millionaire,' but not 'rich people with lots of gold and jewels.'"

"Because... that is value itself."

Rovey said seriously, "You should have understood this when you were learning common sense, right?"

Have you ever understood...?

Upon hearing this, Ishtar frowned.

When she was learning common sense, she only knew that money was the currency of humankind in this era.

She had assumed that money would be made of gemstones or gold, but she never expected it to be such strange paper.

She initially wanted to argue, but when she heard Rovey say that this was the value itself...

Ishtar was momentarily stunned.

Value itself...

Doesn't that mean this thing is even better than gold and jewels?!

Gold and gemstones also need to be carved and displayed to inspire envy and demonstrate their value, and these things themselves are valuable.

Doesn't that mean that as long as she has these papers, she can freely display her wealth?

So...

"I see."

Ishtar wholeheartedly agreed, and she extended her palm towards Rovey, saying quite naturally, "Then give me the money!"

"..."

Upon hearing these familiar words, Rovey couldn't help but frown slightly, as Ishtar's tone was far too similar to Rin Tohsaka's tone before.

So much so that if it weren't for the fact that her eyes were still golden, Rovey would have thought he had mistaken her for someone else.

However, seeing that she had finally fallen for the trap, Rovey relaxed a little.

"As agreed, I can indeed give you the money, but I have one more question."

"What?"

Ishtar tilted her head.

Rovey then asked, "I imagine you'll go out and demand tribute from the people of this era, just like you did in Mesopotamia?"

"Isn't that obvious? After all, I am a god."

Upon hearing this, Ishtar tossed her hair and said matter-of-factly, "So-called gods are meant to protect the weak humans and help them survive in difficult circumstances. I offer help, and they repay me with faith and offerings. Isn't that fair?"

"But you're talking about the Age of Gods. In this era, even without the protection of the gods, humanity has been resurrected for thousands of years."

"Ah..."

Upon hearing what Rovey said, Ishtar was slightly taken aback.

Upon careful consideration, it seems that humanity in this era did not receive any help from her, so she had no reason to accept tribute.

However, since they didn't receive my help, why not just let them receive it?

All they need to do is create a little disturbance first, and then step in to smooth things over, and they can rightfully accept the tribute.

Just like she used to do.

Forced buying and selling is sufficient.

Ishtar, you are a genius.

As Ishtar was pondering this, Rovey noticed her thoughtful gaze and knew she was up to something again. However, he didn't have any good ideas for Ishtar's bold thoughts at the moment.

So, Rovey decided to give this girl something to do first, just to distract her for now.

However, he couldn't leave at the moment, so he needed a little help with this matter, and thus he dialed Kirei Kotomine's number.

"Kirei Kotomine, order a large quantity of ghost money and deliver it to the Tohsaka Family soon as possible."

"...??"

On the other side, Kirei Kotomine was taken aback when he received the call.

He asked in confusion, "Did Rin Tohsaka die? Or did someone else pass away?"

"No, but if you don't want Fuyuki City to repeat last night's situation, you'd better send it over quickly. Remember, the larger the denomination, the better."

After saying that, Rovey hung up the phone.

Fortunately, the Far East also has the custom of burning paper money for the deceased, so purchasing it is not very difficult.

However, Ishtar, standing to the side, couldn't help but look puzzled when she heard the word "ghost money".

What is ghost money?

Although she understood what money was, there were so many kinds of money in the world that even she, as a deity, couldn't quite grasp the differences between them.

In response, Rovey explained.

"It's currency used for the deceased. Since different countries have different currencies, different people naturally use the same ones. Just as there's currency used by the living, there's also currency used by the dead. Since Heroic Spirit belong to the deceased, they must use ghost money, right?"

"Oh, what is it? I get it now. Isn't this just something similar to what the guides in the Underworld use?"

Ishtar suddenly realized what had happened, completely unaware that she had been thoroughly fooled.

In her mind, items used for the dead were equivalent to burial goods.

Most of the burial items were extremely valuable.

Therefore, even rounded up, ghost money is extremely precious and valuable, and it is the wealth she desires!

All her attention was now focused on the currency she was about to acquire, and her eyes sparkled with excitement.

Seeing her like this, Rovey knew that things had probably stabilized.

All we need to do is wait until evening when Ereshkigal switches out and explains things to the other party; that should be enough to calm things down.

And seemingly because she was too excited, Ishtar even forgot about finding the guy who attacked her last night when she woke up today.

--

"Indeed, no matter how many times I watch it, I can't help but marvel at its magic."

"But you really are a top-notch liar, managing to fool the goddess like this. Even I wouldn't dare to do something that would anger the gods."

After settling Ishtar into a room filled with ghost money, Rovey, having dealt with the trouble, sat down with the just-awakened Merry.

Compared to the somewhat weary Rovey, Merry was beaming with joy. Especially when she saw the goddess laughing heartily while holding a pile of ghost money, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"There's no other way; this is the best solution besides sealing her away."

Rovey shook his head helplessly.

"Aren't you afraid she'll find out? If it's just ghost money, she'll easily see through it once she goes out to spend it, won't she?"

"Merry asked curiously."

"No, because she won't spend it."

Rovey was absolutely certain of this.

"Ishtar doesn't pursue wealth itself, but rather the satisfaction that wealth brings and that vanity. She's like a greedy dragon, only ever accumulating wealth to make herself more satisfied, rather than spending it and diminishing it. Although her current behavior won't appease her for long given her personality, she will never go out and spend the ghost money; she will only demand tribute from humans."

"You really know your goddess well!"