Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1571 Business
"You want to discuss business with Mr. Fox? Okay, have you made an appointment?"

Shangluo, Faetong, and Karin stood frozen at the entrance of the Sacred Forest.

Somehow, a reception desk-like structure had sprung up here, with a fox sitting behind a table and a telephone on it.

The table is made of solid wood, and the telephone also has wood grain on it; it doesn't look like there's a telephone line yet.

The fox just sat there, speaking in human language, occasionally pushing up non-existent glasses on its nose, looking every bit like a seasoned salesman.

"What's going on?" Shangluo asked Karin. "Do we need to make reservations here now?"

"That shouldn't be the case. There are always people coming and going here, almost every week. How come there's suddenly a service center here, and it looks like it's been open for many years?"

"Excuse me," the fox said again, "Do you have an appointment? If not, please step aside."

“We didn’t make an appointment, but here’s my business card.” Shang Luo pulled out his business card—he did have business cards, from the Lei Department. He had printed some, intending to distribute them when dealing with people. However, he didn’t end up distributing any, because his personal style was too strong; many people considered him a king, but not many people from the Lei Department cared.

It is being used now.

The business card was handed to the fox.

The fox glanced at the business card with suspicion, then picked up the wooden telephone—Yang Lin could see clearly that the wooden telephone was solid, no different from a wooden children's toy. But the fox picked up the phone and mumbled a few words into the solid receiver:
"Please come in!" The fox immediately stood up. "I meant please wait a moment, he'll be here soon! Very soon! Distinguished guest, the boss will come out to see you shortly!"

"Okay, I'll wait a bit. But how long? If it takes too long, I'll just go in myself."

Before the fox could answer her, it dashed into the woods—then circled behind a tree and came back, running all the way to Shangluo:

"King of the Forest! It's a pleasure to see you again! I still remember your heroic figure as you slaughtered that mad king. I never expected you to return."

"Wait a minute. Who are you?"

“I am the ‘Mr. Fox’ you are looking for—oh! You can just call me Fox.”

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo glanced at the spot behind the tree stump by the door. "If you're a fox, then who's that by the door?"

"You're looking for her? Please wait a moment!"

The fox turned around and ran back, circling the tree several times in the same direction, before finally running back to Shangluo.
"Honorable guest! The boss said you were looking for me? What can I do for you?"

Shangluo covered his forehead with his hand: "What are you doing? Are you acting in a play? Why is it just you the whole time?"

This fox has run around twice, without even changing its makeup, yet it claims to have changed its identity.

"Oh, well, if you need it, I can explain it to you."

"Then explain it to me."

"But I'm sorry, I... I don't have the authority. I need to get my boss to explain this to you. Could you please ask him to come over?"

"Alright, alright." Shang Luo nodded. Then he saw the fox circle back again.

"Your Majesty, you seem somewhat perplexed about our current situation?"

"How can this not be confusing? What exactly are you?"

“I am the spirit of this forest.”

"Oh," Shangluo thought for a moment, "So you're a collective consciousness?"

"No, no, no, we are not a collective consciousness. We are just numerous but have few bodies. So sometimes we can only borrow a body."

[Oh! I understand. I understand. She is a nymph! She is a nymph, a broken nymph!]

"You are... Nymph?"

The fox nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, you know who I am? It's just a pity that my body is long gone. The Roman king enfeoffed me here to serve the priests under the golden branches. I am who I am, and everything you see is me."

Nymphs are lesser gods. Although they are lesser gods, seemingly only slightly lower in status than demon gods, their numbers are actually quite vast. Nymphs are everywhere—mountains, rivers, springs, and vegetation; they may even reside in a well.

The reason she is called a god, and not something else, is because although the nymph's power is weak, she possesses her own unique power, just like a true god, and is the master of her own power.

Although these powers are very limited, and far from those of a demigod like Phaethon, they are indeed gods without a doubt.

Therefore, to distinguish nymphs from true gods, the term "lesser gods" came into being. Just like stars and dwarf planets—dwarf planets do not meet the characteristics of planets, but they revolve directly around the sun and can form a sphere, so they can be considered dwarf planets.

In comparison, although the Moon is larger than Pluto, it can only be classified as a satellite because it orbits the Earth.

Many nymphs possess wondrous abilities—though limited in scope, they have the power to grant wishes within a small area. This is because while their divine power has its limitations, its purity is genuine.

This is perfect for making wishes. Making a wish requires pure divine power to be granted; the intensity is not important. As long as one possesses such divine power, one can partially fulfill a wish, or even a curse, to a certain extent.

Legend has it that many people fall in love with nymphs because of this, but none of these relationships end well. Either the human or the nymph will always be hurt. Ancient Greek mythology abounds with similar stories—mountain nymphs, tree nymphs, water nymphs, sea nymphs—all kinds of nymphs have similar tales. For example, King Peleus of Thessaly married a sea nymph, and their offspring was Achilles. The nymph's identity doesn't stop there. In fact, nymphs can go even further: when these nymphs are worshipped because of their manifestations, their divine power gradually increases. Because their divine power is already quite pure, simply increasing their numbers is enough to gradually elevate their power to the level of true gods.

This is the origin of Irodiasa—of course, the name Nymph is too beautiful.

If someone reached the level of Irodias, she would be called a "fairy" in Rome. In the Ming Dynasty, she would be called a "mountain spirit."

They are similar in nature, differing only in intensity. In essence, they are both "spirits" of all things, the basic building blocks of the spirit world.

"But your situation seems a bit different?" Shangluo asked. "You seem to be shattered? This seems unusual. How did you become like this?"

"It was Irodiasa! She staged a coup! She seized the royal court, banished all the fairies of the Spring Royal Court to foreign lands, and turned it into her own kingdom. I, the poor Spring Fairy, was punished with the punishment of being split apart because I was located in a crucial area of ​​Lake Nemi—to prevent me from interfering with the Forest King's ritual, she disguised herself as an old woman and asked me for a lucky coin, then threw the coin into a mirror, splitting me into countless copies. Only by finding all the coins can I return to my original form."

"Wait a minute. So you're collecting coins to..."

“Look, I’ve now found 481 of myself. I’m trying to figure out exactly how many coins in the market are still part of me, and I’ve made a fortune! I invested in the Cybernia stock market and made a killing. I need to collect even more money to piece myself back together.”

"So... you're not deliberately trying to disrupt the financial order?"

"Why did I do this? Everything I did was to restore myself. I didn't know which coins I was scattered among, so I just wanted as many drachmas as possible to flow through me so I could check them one by one—if you're wondering who you first met: yes, it was me. I was their boss because I invested the first money. Your understanding friend gave me his drachmas, and that was my first pot of gold! I thank you all, I'm incredibly grateful. If I ever meet him again, I'll give him the warmest welcome!"

"Ah!" Shangluo covered his forehead. "Then can you explain how Alexander got so many extra silver coins? Did you manufacture them?"

"No, no, no, I didn't make any of them. Splitting myself is painful enough, why would I exacerbate my suffering? Those were the empty shells left after I drained them one by one. That was all money earned legally, you can check if you don't believe me."

Yes, she wasn't lying; the money was all legal. That's why Victoria was so confused—every single one of those unusual drachmas was earned legitimately. They had been wondering if it was some kind of clever scam. Now it seems that's not the case; it appears this Miss Nymph in front of us is simply a shrewd stock trader.

“Alright.” Shangluo shook his head. “Listen, Miss, we need to stop this. You’ve disrupted the economic system of Cybernia, causing prices to rise 50 times. Now I have to pay 50 drachmas for a scoop of ice cream.”

"Huh? But...but I didn't do anything wrong. I was just collecting drachmas, licking each one, and then throwing them back. I didn't do anything illegal. I just wanted to get back to normal."

"So, how long until you return to normal?"

It was previously said to be 481, but it seems there are still quite a few.

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “I thought it would be soon, maybe only a few thousand—but now that I’ve collected 481, I still don’t have any hope of returning to normal from the broken souls. I can’t even gather myself into an individual, and I don’t even know what my name is.”

"Then, could you give an estimate? I mean, a rough estimate."

"Well, if I had to give a number, I'd probably know the approximate progress after you reply to me 10 times."

[One hundred thousand?! Don't even mention one hundred thousand. Even if she created 1000 of herself, Cybertron's economy would explode! This won't work, absolutely won't work. What kind of spring spirit is she?! A fountain of wealth?! Why is she so good at stocks? Is she surfing?!]

"Ah!" Shangluo covered his forehead.

This makes things difficult. What the other party did was entirely within Rome's current rules and regulations, and was perfectly reasonable and legal. She also didn't seem to have any malicious intent, nor did she seem to have any intention of destroying Rome's economy.

In fact, she didn't even notice that the economy of Cybernia had been devastated by the tsunami she had created.

This is probably one aspect of the spirit world's beings—whether you call her a fairy, an elf king, or a mountain spirit, she is ultimately not human. She doesn't care about human kingdoms.

"Okay. First, let me ask you a question: how should I address you?"

“I don’t know what to call me either. I was going to ask you to call me Nemi, but I’ve realized that I might not even be a fairy from Lake Nemi. Because in the fragments I know, I don’t seem to have found any connection to this land. Maybe I’m just imprisoned here. In that case, you can just call me Fox.”

"Alright, Miss Fox. I actually have this plan, I wonder what you think: Let me ask you first, if I had a way to make your money flow continuously, would that fulfill your wish?"

"Ah, yes. I can do without stocks. As long as I can check the coins one by one, that's fine. But besides checking the coins, when I get my own drachma, I also want to take it back, and that number could be quite large. So, if you want me to be a bank teller or an ATM, that won't work."

"How about coming to the Pantheon? We happen to have a project here that allows you to consume an endless supply of drachmas. You can make a considerable profit from it and then take the portion you need."

"Such a thing can't be true?! Are you going to save me again?!"

"Yes. All you need to do is get to Alexandria. We'll reserve a place for you in our Pantheon."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I can't go there!"

"what happened?"

“I am now bound to this land. When I was trading stocks before, I always operated remotely. I cannot leave Lake Nemi, just like the Forest King—unless you move the entire Lake Nemi.”

"If we're moving the whole thing, then we'll move the whole thing—I'll discuss it with Victoria, and we'll move the whole place here."

This was decided beforehand, so I'm just doing a favor here.

“We have a big business deal to make! You probably handle millions of drachmas every day, you might not be able to keep up with them all.”

(End of this chapter)