In a corner of the main street, there is a man crouched down. He is a young man in his twenties or so.
At first glance, he seemed to be ill, but upon closer inspection, he seemed to be on all fours looking for something.
"Ah... not here. Not here either..."
He sounds exhausted, and his voice is tinged with despair, as if he has been told that the world is going to end today.
People on the street look suspiciously at the obviously suspicious man, but they ignore him and walk past him, not wanting to get involved.
"Wow... He's really here"
I muttered to myself and approached the man from behind.
"Hello, are you looking for this by any chance?"
"Ahh!"
I held out the jewel that the little girl had just given me, and the man shouted in surprise.
Without looking at me, he snatched the stone from me, holding it in front of his face and staring at it.
"Yes, this is it! It's the stone for my wedding ring!"
The man exclaims with tears in his eyes, exclaiming with joy that he has found what he is looking for.
"The stone has been missing from the ring, and I've been looking for it for a long time! I'm glad, I'm so glad! If my wife finds out that I lost the stone, surely...!"
--And then the man finally looks at me.
He is probably going to thank me, but he froze in place with the stone in his hand, his face scrunched up as if he had just run into a man-eating tiger.
"Eek...! It's a debt collectorrrrrrrrrrrr!?"
* * *
"What did you think you were going to do to my face...?"
I say dismissively, sitting down on a park bench.
While on dates with Urza and Nagisa, I've been running 'Straw Millionaire' events everywhere I go.
I gave a 'red dragon flower' that I had gathered in the forest to a little girl who was looking for a birthday present for her mother, and received a 'jewel' that I found on the road.
I gave the 'jewel' from the little girl to the man who was looking for something on the road, and received a 'decorated knife' from the man who is a craftsman.
I gave the 'decorated knife' from the man looking for something to a gardener who was pruning a roadside tree, and he gave me a 'rainbow feather' that was stuck on a branch.
I gave the 'rainbow feather' from the gardener to the designer who was looking for a decoration for his hat, and got the 'enchanted dress' made by the designer.
Now there is only one place left. If I bring the 'enchanted dress' to a certain place, I can get the orb skill, which is the end goal of the 'Straw Millionaire'.
"However... it's a bit depressing. It's so much noise."
The bartering was going well, but for some reason, I was getting screams everywhere I went, and I was being slandered as a gangster, a kidnapper, a loanshark, etc.
I thought I had gotten used to my villainous face, but it took a toll on my mentality.