Chapter 126: Infernal Coin

"...Nio, you should be more cautious... haaa..." Typhon sighs as she sets Nio down in a room at a small inn—a place Nio obviously had no money to pay for, but since she was too strong, the innkeeper simply accepted it in silence.

"You have the same problem as Nioh..." Typhon murmurs, seeing that Nio is sleeping like a rock. Her body simply decided to shut down regardless of what Nio wanted.

"At least you didn’t find my explanation boring..." The last conversation they had before Nio fell asleep was about hell’s currency. Obviously, money had to have some kind of value.

And unlike human money, which was heavily based on gold, money in hell is based on [Time]—the only thing of value that can become currency.

The coins of hell are completely black, and they bear a number and an image. It could be the number 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, or any other large number. What defines the coin’s value isn’t exactly the number.

It’s the image on it. In order for money to exist in hell and be respected, the [Spirits] created a unique form of currency, and that form is [Time of Servitude]. Anyone can sell pieces of their soul, which become a coin.

The "soul" is transformed into a coin. The number on the coin is how long the person must serve the coin’s bearer when commanded. Meaning, if the coin has the number 10, whoever gave pieces of their soul to the coin is forced to serve as a servant for 10 years. The being in question has no rights and is compelled to obey through the magic in the coin.

Of course, when the coin is used, it disappears, so many keep the coin to trade for things. However, a coin could hold 10,000 years of someone’s time and still be nearly worthless if the image is of a weak being.

What matters most is the strength of whoever the coin was made from. If a level 10 human sells a piece of their soul for the coin’s creation and the coin would force them to serve for 10,000 years, that coin would be far inferior to a one-year servitude coin from a strong spirit.

So the image engraved on the coin tells who the servant is that must obey for the time stipulated on the coin. That’s why Typhon made it clear to Nio: neither of them is going to create coins using their own time.

After all, the person is forced to obey, and if the coin is activated, the person whose soul fragment is in the coin is pulled and chained before the coin’s activator.

That’s why those who are strong normally refuse to create any coins of themselves. Instead, they negotiate things to obtain coins from other beings, and then use those coins to do business.

Since each coin is made using the soul of the person who turned their time into money, counterfeiting is impossible. On top of that, the spirits who oversee the creation of these coins don’t allow it to be forced, so you can’t compel someone to turn their time into money—which is what makes hell’s monetary system actually work.

Furthermore, if someone already has a coin of yours circulating, there’s no guarantee anyone will activate it. Someone could create a coin of themselves and it might only be activated far in the future, or never activated at all, because people in hell only activate a coin if they truly need a servant at that moment, since the coin’s use can’t be reversed once activated.

Naturally, there’s also a limit to how many coins can be made. After all, it’s necessary to prevent one coin from overlapping another, because you can’t activate coins from the same being repeatedly. If someone has two coins of themselves, only one can be activated, and once its time runs out, only then can the other be activated.

The number of coins someone can make depends on how much time each coin holds and how useful the person is.

"A one-year servitude coin made from me or from Nio would have immense value... but I would never accept Nio becoming someone’s slave. Besides, there’s no way to know whose hands that coin would end up in. It simply isn’t worth it..."

"I’ll probably have to find some way to get money... maybe by selling things," Typhon thinks about her magic. She can create wood, which isn’t exactly an extremely valuable resource, but it’s bought a lot if the wood is of good quality.

Typhon knows she currently doesn’t have enough power to face certain people in hell, so she prefers to have money to negotiate with those she shouldn’t fight, and to force those weaker when she wants something—like in the current situation with the inn.

"...Nioh, I know you can manifest already, and I know you’re listening. If you don’t show yourself soon, I might end up doing something you won’t like," Typhon says, feeling Nioh’s gaze on her.

"[...You’re deceiving Nio...]"

"No. Up until now, I’ve only talked with Nio. The difference is that Nio shows interest in the things I say, unlike you."

"[That... that’s not how it is]"

"If I wanted to deceive Nio, I wouldn’t even explain to her how money works in hell. I could just force Nio to make a coin of one million years or more of servitude and use it myself," Typhon says something that would be possible to do, and that she could do if she wanted to.

"[...Your kindness is fake. You... you...]"

"Don’t know what to say, Nioh? Are you that jealous?" Typhon provokes Nioh, trying to further break the relationship between the two.

"[No!! I would never be jealous. I... I hate you. I will never be jealous of you]"

"Fine. But don’t try to destroy the good life I’m trying to give Nio. Just because I treat her much better than I treated you doesn’t mean you can try to fill Nio’s head with lies and half-truths."

"[!!!]"

"[You’re the one doing that! Using half-truths so Nio believes and trusts you!! You never give Nio the full context!!]" Typhon wonders when Nioh woke up and since when she’s been watching her interactions with Nio.

"What context do I need to give beyond the fact that I’m helping her get out of hell? She has every right to form her own opinion of me. The fact that Nio sees me positively isn’t the result of lies on my part or a lack of context. It’s just Nio interpreting everything on her own."

"There’s no correlation here. Just causality."

"[...If Nio knew what you want from her, you—]" Typhon grabs at the air, interacting with the non-physical world. Her fingers grip Nioh’s throat and pull her out of the protected imaginary space she was using to hide.

"!!!" Nioh is alarmed as her body manifests in hell. Now there are two Nios in the scene.

"Y-You wretched bitch!!" Nioh glares at Typhon, who looks from one Nio to the other.

"You really are identical. That puts me more at ease about the two of you having gotten married as well," Typhon releases Nioh, who falls to the floor and crawls backward, climbing onto the bed and slightly lifting Nio, using her body as a shield.

"...Coward," Typhon murmurs as she looks out the window.

"Nio should wake up in a few hours. Since you’re here, that’s good. Look after her body while I head out. I need to check if there’s an entrance to the next level in this city," Typhon walks to the door but stops, looking at Nioh.

"If I come back here and don’t find you in this room with Nio, I’ll make you pay dearly for it. And that’s not a threat—it’s a warning. I’ve already marked Nio with my scent. She can’t run from me anymore."

"...I-I—" Typhon leaves through the door with the same expression as always, ignoring Nioh, because all of Typhon’s focus is currently on Nio. And the more Nioh seems like a resentful, jealous, hostile person, the more Nio will start to trust Typhon, who seems patient, protective, and kind.