"... I figured something like this would happen," Censer said.
"... D*mn, we should have thought of that. At the end of the day, we did spend some of her money, too. Well, it should be simple to pay it off by next week," Dolphin Killer said.
The group leisurely discussed this problem among themselves, but Jisha wasn't done quite yet!
"And when I said 'this value', I mean the value of the money I loaned today accounting for inflation. And don't forget interest! Are you all a bit more aware of what you owe me now?"
When the organization members heard this, they were confused for a bit.
"Inflation? You mean the value of money dropping?" Aphro Expo asked.
"Yes, you seem to understand exactly what I mean. After all, the 46 Copper you owe won't be worth the same amount in one week! To equal the value I was so generous to bestow upon you gentlemen today, the number of coins you need by next week will be quite a bit higher, don't you think?"
"Oh, sh*t..." Censer mumbled under his breath. He had a faint idea of what was going on here, and when he thought about it, he was extremely glad to not have spent any money at all.
"What? So how much do we owe you?" Hutian Crest asked.
"Hmm... Let's see. If what I remember is correct..." Jisha murmured as she tried to estimate a value. "Ah, I got it," she said as she clapped her hands. "How about one hundred times?"
"... What?"
Once again, the group was confused. At first, they didn't even understand what these words meant. But Censer immediately did, and if VR facial expressions were realistic, his eyes would be bulging from their sockets.
Slowly, the rest of the group began to comprehend what was just said. But...
"Hahaha... Fae Sol, that is a very funny joke! How much do we actually owe you?" Hutian Crest jovially asked. One hundred times? It was clearly nonsense!
However, Jisha didn't respond but instead gave a bright smile.
When the group realized that she was most likely being serious, their first reaction was dumbfoundedness followed by rage.
"Do you seriously mean we owe you 97 Silverium?" asked Simulator Child.
"Precisely! One week from now, you, Simulator Child, will owe me 97 Silverium. You're a bit slow to catch on, but if you weren't, then you wouldn't have fallen for this anyway!" Jisha said.
"100 times today's coins??? That's a total ripoff!" Hutian Crest fumed.
When she heard this, Jisha wanted to laugh.
"A ripoff? Yes! It's a ripoff. You've been scammed and there isn't anything you can do about it! After all, you were the fools who gave up all of your money in the first place. Did you think there was going to be a happy ending for you once you did that?"
"100 times. I assume you understand what you're saying and being serious... But that would be literally impossible to pay back," argued Aphro Expo.
"Actually, it's not," said someone unexpected.
The group turned around to look at Censer. Being one of the two people in the black, he was a little more confident to speak up about this.
"A week from now, at least in the beta, inflation reduced the value of currency by approximately 50 times," he stated. "This was because earning Silverium wasn't very difficult... comparatively. Once we got to Aurite, players started having a bit more trouble. But... 50 times was simply in the beta. If many more players join the game in the coming week, the economy will be flooded with new cash since every player starts with 10 Copper.
"On top of that, some of those new players will be earning a bit of Silverium in the coming week. Since we were at the forefront of the game's progression, it was natural for us to have more money than the average player. So... as ridiculous as it sounds, especially if you were to account for interest... 100 times is quite a reasonable estimate... even if it'll completely bankrupt you."
After he said this, they turned to look back at Jisha who was still smiling sweetly.
Someone audibly gulped.
But some still weren't convinced.
"Ok, well... First of all, I don't believe that. Second of all, you're gonna make us pay you how, exactly?" asked Hutian Crest.
"That's right! You can't force us to pay you!"
"And why can't I do that?" Jisha asked.
"Ha, easy. We'll just group up and kill you," Hutian Crest said.
"Yeah? Do you want to try that?" Jisha said as she continued to smile.
"..."
Her confidence baffled the organization leaders. Though her level was obviously hidden, there's no way it was that high, right? And even if it was, stat gains per level were pretty small, so even a player that was multiple levels higher could easily die to a lower-leveled one.
"I don't know why you're so confident. You're clearly bluffing. Aren't you just one *girl*?" asked Aphro Expo, putting the emphasis on *girl*.
Jisha's eyebrows would have twitched in real life when she heard this, but she maintained her current expression.
"And... on the off chance that you *can* kill us... We'll just split up and run away," Dolphin Killer said. "You're clearly a beta player. You know how big Synergy is."
"Oh, you're right... I should have thought about that!" Jisha said as she feigned helplessness. "Synergy is really really big!"
By now, those who had been a bit scared had calmed down. Due to the outlandishness of her claims and her unthreatening stature, the organization leaders weren't able to take her seriously anymore. They shook their heads and split up going their own separate ways.
Only Censer and Jiel caught the obvious sarcasm in her voice... But they didn't have to worry. They were in the black.
"Don't forget! You all owe me 100 times! Have that money ready next week! Or else!" Jisha yelled after them.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hutian Crest said, obviously not caring.
Even some of the random audience members who were witnessing the shenanigans laughed at the little girl yelling after a group of guys who were clearly ignoring her.
But little did they know, when Jisha had given them a hug or a pat on the back...
*>-1 Small Lightweight Tracker*
*>-1 Small Lightweight Tracker*
*>-1 Small Lightweight Tracker*
...
*>Name: Shahar's Nightwalker*
...
*>Abilities:*
...
*>Shahar's Blessing (Rank 0) - Item Cloak: Mask the Presence of up to 10 Rank 0 Consumable-type items by 99% per week. Items cloaked: 7/10. Cooldown: 1 week. Upgrade this ability using Shards of Darkness. Shards: 0/1.*
At the end of the day, there was only one true winner in this auction.
She would definitely find them!