Records of the Weakest Emperor

It took Calvin quite a long time before he was able to come out of the favela-looking residential area of the Northern Borough. Afterwards, he checked his pockets and realized that he only had five Joselian pesos.

The empty cheque which was supposed to be for his own usage so he could buy a residential house in the Southern Borough was now out of his hands. But Calvin didn't feel any regret using that money to get out of that sticky situation earlier. After all, money was just a tool for him.

Compared to the hassle that he would experience if he was to be interrogated by those bastards, he considered his decision as wise and correct. The Joselian Kingdom Law states that a person could be arbitrarily incarcerated for not more than 72 hours after being arrested.

If no complaint was made in the next 72 hours, the person must be released.

72 hours wasn't that long, but for Calvin who was in the hurry to make contact with the Cavaliers.

It was an awfully long time.

He didn't have any time to deal with the guards, so he used that empty cheque as an escape from being imprisoned card. His method worked and he successfully bribed the guards to turn their eyes away from what just happened.

But Calvin was now broke. Ten Joselian pesos was about 2 weeks of salary for the poor peasants working in textile and matchstick factories but in the Southern Borough...

That amount of money was nothing.

Calvin grew to learn about this difference when he saw that the dishes served in restaurants situated in the Southern Borough was painfully expensive than those served and hawked in the Northern Borough.

After taking a carriage-taxi to reach the Southern Borough, Calvin was left with eight Joselian Pesos.

It was at this moment that he felt his stomach rumble in protest.

Calvin then walked towards a nearby sidewalk vendor, "Can I get a serving of chicken porridge, please?"

The middle-aged man vendor nodded his head and silently gave Calvin a bowl of porridge.

Calvin received the bowl and handed over three Joselian pesos, but the sidewalk vendor suddenly complained.

"It's not enough..."

"What?" Calvin doubted his ears.

The price placed on the plaque hanging beside the signage of the stall clearly said that the price of a chicken porridge was three Joselian pesos. What did he mean by not enough?

"The price has changed an hour ago. It's now four Joselian pesos."

"What?"

Calvin was even more confused.

The vendor stared at him and said, "It seems like you're a foreigner since you clearly don't know about the protests that happened in the Center Borough a few days ago. Those bastards in their comfy mansion at the Hilton Borough clearly do not understand the feelings of us, peasants..."

"They arbitrarily passed that Bountiful City Trade Act which imposes sanctions and quotas to our farmers resulting in prices suddenly going up in a blink of an eye..."

"Let me tell you how ridiculous it is... A few days ago, the price of a single pound of meat was eleven Joselian pesos. But now... Guess how much it is?" The vendor asked.

"Uh... Twelve?" Calvin replied.

"It's fifteen!"

"Fifteen Joselian pesos! And it's still increasing as we speak..."

"Now, do you understand? Those bastards only think about increasing their own wealth while we peasants — suffer under their selfish sanctions and laws..." The vendor let out a sigh.

Calvin also gave a bitter smile to express that he sympathized with what the vendor was talking about.

The vendor was obviously a verbose man, he still wanted to talk with Calvin but he found his hands full when the customers here to eat for their lunch suddenly swarmed him for a bowl of chicken porridge.

Calvin took a seat on the sidewalk and proceeded to eat his own bowl of porridge.

After paying two Joselian pesos more for a cup of juice...

Calvin lazily stretched his body before taking a look at the two Joselian pesos that he had remaining.

He noticed that the vendor was now free of customers so he approached the talkative man and asked, "Do you know a place where I can earn a lot of money as fast as possible here in Ashmelion?"

To be honest, Calvin had several candidates in his mind, but he knew that it was more effective to ask a local.

After all, on the previous timeline, Calvin was a tycoon in Ashmelion back then...

He didn't bother about trying to earn any money in Ashmelion for he already had a lot of money beforehand.

But now, since he was as broke as a beggar.

He needed to earn a living.

The vendor turned to look at Calvin and said, "I would love to recommend you the Combat Arena, but seeing that you're obviously not going to survive in a fight against even the weakest fighters in that place... Hmm... Let me think... Do you perhaps have some money to use as a capital?"

The vendor noticed Calvin's bitter smile, "Oops... It seems like I asked a stupid question."

"But if you have no capital... I have no idea where someone can earn a lot of money in a short time. Most of the ideas that I have required strength for it to work, and if not strength... It requires capital for a chance to earn a lot of money in exchange for that capital..."

"How about burying the dead in the Fallen Angels Cemetery? It's in the Southern Borough, so it's nearby."

The vendor asked.

Calvin let out a sigh.

The vendor need not ask about Calvin's answer upon seeing him sigh.

"It's such a shame that you're a man..."

"If you were a man, you could become a strumpet and earn a living through your body."

Calvin simply nodded, "All right, thank you for the time. I must go now and peruse the area for any job opportunities."

"Okay, okay... Take care now. Remember to come back here if you're hungry. I can give you a discount seeing that you're so polite."

The middle-aged man vendor waved Calvin goodbye.

Calvin walked through the street in deep contemplation.

Damn... I have a lot of plans, but I never considered the fact that I needed money to do most of them. Could it be because back then — I never lacked money? Is that the reason why I've grown complacent? Now, how am I supposed to earn money? Sigh... Earning money is unexpectedly hard...

Calvin lovingly rubbed the deflated pouch hanging on his waistband.

The pouch looked big, but it only contained two Joselian pesos.

How unfortunate and sad.

But Calvin didn't lose hope.

If worse comes to worst, he could just use Spiritualistic Magic to earn a sizeable amount of money.

After all, he still had the soul of the Butcher, the Benevolent Father, Arthur Chase, and the Mortician.

He could sacrifice their souls to the God of Infighting and War, Discord in exchange for money.

But unless Calvin was pushed into a corner, he didn't plan on wasting the souls of the three for money.

It was too wasteful and uneconomical.

Calvin thought for a moment and he eventually came across a viable idea.

But before he could formulate plans based on that idea, someone bumped into him.

"Ouch! Watch out, man!" Calvin glared at the young man who didn't even apologize.

But in the very next moment, a piercing scream of anger reverberated through the street.

"He's a snatcher!"

"Stop him!"

A commotion immediately occurred in the middle of the busy street.

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows, annoyed since the commotion had interrupted his train of thought.

But when he realized that his pouch attached to his waistband was missing.

He was immediately enraged.

"Fucking hell, you bastard?! You didn't even spare my two Joselian pesos!"

He turned around and ran after the snatcher like he had gone mad.