"Usury?"
The wizard wearing the Fox Mask raised a finger and rapidly wagged it, denying it over and over. "No, no, no. How could you use such a discriminatory term as 'usury'? This is called financing, or, as everyone prefers to call it nowadays, venture capital... It's a completely voluntary, mutually beneficial, win-win arrangement. A win-win, for short!"
As he spoke, he raised both hands and made a pinky-swearing gesture.
The Sin Eater beside them let out a cold snicker.
Perhaps because of the Black Cat's earlier Cat Jade, however, he kept his mouth tightly shut from beginning to end, refusing to offer even the slightest hint.
The Black Cat pondered for a moment, then jumped down from the tree and slowly strolled over to Mammon.
"So how does this financing of yours work?" It sat before the fox, its tail curled around its paws. "Let's be clear in advance: I don't have any money!"
Mammon heard only the Black Cat's first sentence and paid no attention whatsoever to the emphasis that followed. With a wave of his hand, three sheets of parchment, each wreathed in different flames, appeared before the cat.
One was surrounded by silvery-white flames, one by golden flames, and the last by hazy green flames.
"There are precedents for this sort of thing!"
The Fox Mask tipped up slightly, making the smile on it seem even more radiant. "By convention, our assessment has three tiers: the Silver Horn tier, the Gold Bean tier, and the Jade Coin tier."
The Sin Eater let out a brief, piercing laugh beside him. When the Black Cat looked over suspiciously, the Duck Egg Mask had already turned away as though nothing had happened. It made the Black Cat feel that it ought to reward him with another Cat Jade—one as