All in all, from Negi's account, Jiu Ming learned why he wanted this thing. Turns out the kid had a story too... no, not a guy—a little boy.
His father had vanished, and nobody knew whether he was dead or alive... Yes, the one Evangeline was always thinking about. Jiu Ming had never met him, but supposedly, he looked a lot like Negi would when he grew up?
Fine, that wasn't important. Back to business: his father's mysterious disappearance had left him and his sister to depend on each other... ahem, living their lives properly. Then, while they were living just fine, their village was attacked by demons out of nowhere. Ninety-nine percent of its people were petrified into stone statues. If his father hadn't popped out from some godforsaken corner at the critical moment to save them, Negi probably wouldn't have had the chance to come here and become a teacher.
But after saving them, the man fucking mysteriously disappeared again!
"Fine, an equivalent exchange. Will a hundred be enough? How about two hundred?" Sealed Cards instantly piled up before Jiu Ming. "But what can you offer in return?"
"Hey! Aren't you being way too cold-blooded?" After hearing Negi's story, Asuna had been deeply moved, and even the way she looked at him had changed. Who would have thought his past was like that?
"Don't put it that way. Giving without limits destroys the rules," Jiu Ming said, his voice dropping. "Especially for me. I can't just see someone I like and start handing things out like some treasure-giving boy, can I?"
"Not just me—any normal shop works the same way. Even if the owner knows the customer well, giving away a few things privately is purely personal courtesy. Like right now: if he only needed one, I could