Moros shook his head, women were complicated creatures, but he would have to blind, deaf and dumb to not see the difference here.
The Mallisa he knew, would have just clocked him with a punch right after coming close to him─that is how mad she was.
Instead, she just yelled at him with some conspiracy theories, sounding way too stupid to those that did not expect foul play in the first place. Malissa had a thing for disappointing her parents with her dress choices, not with playing detective.
Also, it was weird for her to obscure her face. She never was the type to do such a thing nor was she the type to care about being seen.
Either she was crying bitter tears not wanting him to see her caring so much for him or, the far more likely scenario, it was hidden from his eyes for different reasons.
And this went over way too easily, normally she would have grilled him, till he was begging on the floor and his nuts had been turned into her new earrings. So, while he was thankful for the intervention from whoever or whatever was before Moros, he was also rather confused as to what people wanted from him.
Well, she was the type to make him pay for food, when she was mad at him. She was also someone that would hum a melody while leading the way towards the nearest portal.
It was indeed the most normal thing from this whole occasion. Outside, of the fact that he felt observed, like there was a creepy eye hoving atop his shoulders, trying to read his thoughts.
The 2 weirdos that followed him the wolf and the flying dollar bill did not give him any of these feelings, They were just there, not doing any harm aside from stupid opinions.
But whatever was watching him made him feel like he was a milk-shake in a fat camp.
"Oh yeah, dear host, while we march towards satisfying the demands of a she-devil, may I inform you about your powers and their price?"
The flying dollar bill hovered before Moros, giving him a slick smile as it spoke it a sombre, helpful tone.
Moros simply nodded. Understanding the partnership with the system was a wise choice. Especially, since he had no bloody idea how he had survived in the first place.
"Dear Host, right now you are kept alive by my powers. Each beat of your art is subtracted from your balance. Each breath costs you, everything your body needs is paid for…"
"Huh?" Moros could not quite follow the logic of the weird winged entity that talked to him about costs and whatnot. Last time Moros checked nobody could put a price tag on air or things like a heartbeat.
"What I mean to say is, your fate is tied to your funds and to your earnings. If you do not make any money or if your money runs out, such services will stop. I reckon, I do not have to tell you what that means?"
The face on the dollar sign suddenly turned into 2 X as it displayed what would happen if Moros could not afford to pay the price.
"How do I earn this money? I quite like the idea of staying alive?"
Moros pondered on what he needed to do to get the money. Though he was not too concerned about that aspect. If there was one thing he was good at in this whole world, it was about all things money.
It did strike him as the ultimate irony that he had to spend money to actually live, but he needed to be alive to make more cash. So, he simply considered this a necessary investment into the future.
"Well, all your earnings and potential sources for money…be they monster cores, rare herbs or treasures get transformed into a magical currency called "dollar""
"Dollar?," Moros thought for a bit and could confirm that he had never heard of such a thing in the first place. It did seem like something that did not come from the world of Elysium or a world of magic.
However, dollar sounded powerful, a dollar sounded like it was something that could move mountains and accomplish great things.
"Yes, a dollar can buy you all sort of services. You can buy strength, weapons, illegal substances. Anything that your heart can think off can be bought. Of course, taxes and other subsidiaries are not included in the price."
The dollar bill looked at him and scoffed.
"We are running a business, after all. We are not a charity. If you are poor than goodbye, better luck in your next life…speaking of poor!"
Moros gulped, he had a really bad feeling about this.
"The act of saving you did was only possible by allowing you take up a credit…you heard it right, dear Host you are in debt, again."
"Now, now that is not a reason to cry. Let me quickly calculate your medical bill: Your heart is billed at 1.664.800 million dollars, healing the injuries adds an additional fee of 2.143. 200 million dollars. Now, add taxes, personal costs, and some other minor costs…your total debt is 5 million dollars."
Moros nearly had a heart attack, rendering his new organ almost useless.
"Would you like to pay in full or prefer credit?"
"I…I…I do not have that much money!" Moros stammered.
Why was it that wherever he went and whatever he did, he got a new bill and a new debt? Was he cursed by a higher power to just suffer for the rest of his life?
"Oh, I see then do suggest taking up a small loan over 5 million dollars and an annual interest rate of 10%. You will have paid the sum in next to no time.
Moros felt creeped out, this felt worse than the eyes that watched over him. He felt like he sold his soul to something far more dangerous and sinister than the invisible stalker could ever be.
Sadly, he had no choice…otherwise his heart would stop and his heart should definitely never do that, if he wanted to keep on living.
A contract appeared before Moros' eyes, filled with so many words, complicated words that he simply wrote his name onto the field that said "write your name here" and called it a day.
These were the only words he understood on the contract anyhow. Regardless of what the contract said, what tricks were played on him…he never had any other choice to begin with.
If Malissa had him by the balls, the flying dollar bill had him by the heart and all the other organs that he needed to live.
"My dear host, you made the best decision of your life. Now, you better get to making that money or else…" the dollar bill had the man on it replaced by a skull…" You will soon learn the consequences"
Yeah, Moros did not think the bill was playing here. He had learned from staying together with Malissa all the time. It was dead serious and if he was not serious, he soon would be dead.
It was now that Moros saw the meaning of the entity…
In the far corner of his eyes, there was a notification.
[-1$]
Was this for just breathing once?
Did he really have to pay a dollar for breathing? This was hell, this was extortion…Moros felt really inspired all of a sudden. He felt like he had found a new master, from whom he could learn a lot from.
Every few seconds another notification popped up, this time Moros deduced that it was his heartbeat that was billed from him.
[-10$]
Yeah, Moros did not like this development. Any - sign was not good for his life, his balance or all the money that he had left. By the second, living robbed him more and more.
Time was passing by quickly and the numbers quickly reduced the balance.
"What is my balance, dear system?"
"Would you like to spend 10000$ to see your balance?"
Moros thought for a second and declined the offer as fast as he could. He could not afford the risk without knowing just how much was left.
Imagine he only had like 6000 dollars left paid for it and then his heart would stop because he could not afford to pay for his heartbeat.
Although he hated these feelings, he quickly needed to get his date with Malissa over and return to the Terra family dungeon in order to generate a decent cash flow.
Without Moros noticing it, they had arrived at a big ice-cream parlour, standing 10 stories tall, with lights flickering and all sort of expensive gimmicks that caused Moros heart to stop just thinking about the expenses that awaited him.
"We are here!" exclaimed a way too happy Malissa, not noticing the look of horror spread atop Moros.
Seeing the price tags and all the expensive items on the outside made him come to terms with his fate.
Moros had lived a long and prosperous life.
As such he would die here as a happy man, with ice cream being the cause of death!
There was no way he could ever come out of this whole ordeal alive…