Close Combat Mage

Chapter 10 – Prospering Business

After the girl in red left, the area covered by the cloth became quiet again. More than half of the day passed with nobody entering; the public will generally hold doubts about any new and upcoming trends/fads. Everyone all thought it was just another scam. To have someone perform the Moisture Technique on you for only a gold coin, such fantasies could never truly exist…right? Surely even the fee for watching someone perform the technique should be more than that.

Even though no one else came, Suo Jia was still beyond happy. Seeing the seven gold coins in his hands, he already felt very satisfied. His mother only earned this much after a grueling seven days work, but he was able to receive it so casually. After som time had passed, Suo Jia actually began to feel as if such a thing had never happened.

“Pa da pa da…” Suo Jia fondly jingled the gold coins in his hands, still in disbelief.

Suddenly, chaotic, hurried footsteps could be heard outside the cloth, the sound clearly heading towards his direction.

Right when he was doubting the gold in his hands, the cloth convulsed and….under the red-haired girl’s directions, a group of girls charged in, causing the flimsy cloth to sway back and forth. That painstakingly prepared plain white cloth had painfully fallen on to the floor, and was trampled upon by countless small feet until it was unrecognizable.

Seeing the red-haired girl’s aggressiveness, as well as the fact that she had brought her sisters, Suo Jia felt that perhaps she had realized she had given the wrong amount of money and had come to take it back. Not willing to neglect this, he hurriedly pulled out 6 gold coins and reached out to the girl: “You were too rushed earlier, I can’t accept this much money; I can only take 1 gold!”

The breathless girl in red shook her head. Just as she wanted to speak, another girl stole the opportunity, suddenly pulling the girl in red to the side, and asked impatiently: “Don’t worry about that stuff. Let me ask you, are you the guy who just used the Moisture Technique on her?”

“Eh!” Seeing the girl ask him with a fiendish expression, Suo Jia thought that she had come to him for payback. Nervously swallowing his saliva, he unconsciously looked around and realized….with this disturbance, he had already attracted the surrounding people’s attentions. 400-500 people surrounding them in an impenetrable circle with three inner layers and three outer layers. More people had also started to rush here [to see the commotion] from the outside.

With fear, Suo Jia’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke. Although he was reluctant to part with it, he still took out the 6 gold pieces. “I will only take 1 gold, here is 6 gold pieces. I was calling out to her before, but she didn’t hear me, please do not blame me.”

Impatiently furrowing her brow, the opposing girl grabbed the money in Suo Jia’s hands, handing it over to the red-haired girl, and impatiently said: “Okay, the money issue is solved. Now I ask of you, are you or are you not the person who performed the Moisture Technique on her?”

“Huh?” The girl glared at him with suspicion. Suo Jia didn’t understand what was happening, even though he already returned the money, what else did they want? Could it be that they had a question about the magic he had used? But looking at the red clothed girl, wasn’t she already satisfied with her treatment? Pondering about this situation, Suo Jia’s mind came to a conclusion as he nodded.

Seeing Suo Jia nod his head, the opposing girl happily sat down opposite of him, impatiently saying: “Okay, okay, hurry up…I can’t wait any longer!”

“Eh?” Puzzled, Suo Jia cowered and asked: “Hurry up and do what? Do you want to fight me?”

“Che…” The girl’s lips curled in disdain at the thought, “I’ve no grudge against you, why would I fight you? I just want you to use the Moisture Technique on me, aren’t you obligated to attend to the moisturizing of the women here? Hurry up, my skin is nearly about to chaff!”

Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia finally let out his breath. Her urging words that made him worry was only because she wanted him to use the Moisture Technique on her. Was her fiery temper really necessary?

Since he needed the money to buy a house, Suo Jia had to do it. Embarrassingly looking around, Suo Jia said with a forced smile, “I want to begin, but the surroundings are too noisy and you’ve even knocked down my sign. I cannot concentrate enough to cast my spell.”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, all the girls got ready. Without anyone organizing it, they all naturally started moving. The white cloth sign’s wooden support had already been broken, but that did not matter; four of the girls lifted the cloth sign’s corners and raised it up high in the air. The sign was once again up, however, now there were artistically styled soiled footprints on the snow-white cloth.

Once the cloth sign was fixed, the other girls automatically began to line up at the doorway in a disciplined manner. All of them had decent backgrounds and had at least this much self-restraint.

After a while, all of the people on the street were attracted by this scene. Four girls as delicate as flowers lifted their right hands, carrying a very “artistic” cloth. In front of the cloth, 30-40 young girls were packed in a line, waiting impatiently. How could such a scene not pique people’s curiosities?

Inside the stall’s perimeters, Suo Jia calmed himself down and once again started performing the Moisture Technique. With a speed that only took up 10 seconds, as soon his god-like skill turned the girls with withered facial features turned into vivid beauties, all the girls would excitedly squeal in delight. This made the pedestrians on the street even more curious; what exactly were these girls doing?

More and more pedestrians silently stopped walking, and surrounded that tiny cloth. Under everyone’s gaze, average-looking girls would one by one walk into the stall, and then vivid beauties would one by one gracefully walk back out. Those rosy faces that looked like fresh flowers emitting a moisturized glow was enough to move anyone.

Finally, under the careful gaze of skeptical onlookers were the footprints smeared words on the large sign identified. Everyone finally understood: what made these girls rush so hastily was the legendary Moisture Technique!

The Moisture Technique is a sacred magic that could cure illnesses and save lives. Although everyone knew this, in regards to cosmetics and beauty having such magical effects, none of them had tasted the effects of skin hydration. Even simply being able to observe this procedure is considered a luxury. Magic isn’t a side show; no one can be bored enough to just show this to you.

However, right now such a scene was displayed in front of everyone’s eyes. Seeing the ordinary faces of girls entering and coming out one by one as sparkling top-level beauties, as long as you were a female you couldn’t help but feel moved. Gradually, more and more young girls and ladies lined up in the increasingly long line.

Within his stall, Suo Jia was already starting to get dizzy. His mind and spirit had to be extremely concentrated, extremely focused. With a single moment of carelessness, a single millimeter of error while drawing, the whole spell would fail.

After casting ten Moisture Techniques in a row, Suo Jia reluctantly found out that his spiritual power could not continue at this rate. He had to cast the spell three or four times before it would work even once, and this rate of failure continued to increase.

Although he felt unwell, looking at the pile of gold that was increasing piece by piece, Suo Jia still felt extremely satisfied. However, once his energy was exhausted, even though he really wanted to continue casting Moisture Techniques, he was completely flustered. After the twentieth spell, he was unable to concentrate enough to cast even a single spell.

Glancing at the extremely long line outside his stall, Suo Jia could not help but smile bitterly. Although it wasn’t much (TL: Cough Shokugeki cough), Suo Jia was already very satisfied. You have to understand that even the most powerful female student in his class can only continuously cast this spell ten times. Being able to cast twenty times in a row is something worthy of being extremely proud of. However with these words said, looking at the long line that he had created, Suo Jia had created quite a disaster. How could he resolve this situation?

After contemplating for a long time, Suo Jia reluctantly told everyone that he needed some time to rest. Only after recovering his spirit power could he perform the Moisture Technique for them again.

Originally, Suo Jia was sure that this would cause everyone to feel discontent. Contrary to his expectations however, not only did nobody express any negative intentions, but rather all of them revealed an expression of reverence and worship. This…

The truth is, regardless of whether or not you know magic, everyone knows that a mage’s trademark skill is— the so called “meditation”: the ability to enter a heavenly state, to restore spirit power, as well as promote spirit power growth.

To outsiders, meditation is a mage’s trademark that can mysteriously connect the mind to the spirit. However, the truth is that the so-called meditation is actually only a deep level of sleep. In the highest realm of meditation, five minutes of this sleep is equivalent to five hours of ordinary sleep.