"I'm sorry, what?" Ning asked with a confused look on his face. "What violation?"
"These items on the shelf, on the walls. They are new items, and they haven't been added to the cost of the change," the man said.
"What?" Ning looked around. "No, these cost nothing. I'm partnering with the previous owner to sell most of what is here, and the remaining ones are sothing I had."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" the man shook his head, swiping his oily hair with his hand before speaking again. "Those sorts of lies won't work on . I can accept that you acquired so of it from the previous owner if you hand the contract where it says so. But, if you are telling that you made the remaining with your little Essence rank, then you must take for a fool."
The man humphed at the end to add extra effect.
"I am not lying," Ning said, bringing out the contract. "Here, you can see that the owner of this building, Mrs Laila had allowed to sell her husband's works. As for the remaining, I am their maker. If you require to prove it, I will."
The man took the paper and looked at it before throwing it back at Ning. "I will have to tally up the weapons that you didn't get from the previous owner of the shop," he said. "If the total exceeds 1000 Fire Coins, I will have to give you punishnt."
Ning felt his anger building but managed to calm himself down in the end. He looked around at the shop and looked at his own weapons and armor. There were too many. He would easily lose a lot of money to this punishnt based on what the man was saying.
"If these are mine, then I don't have to pay a fine, correct?" Ning asked.
"That would be correct," the man said.
"Then I would like to make it officially known that I made the ones that I didn't inherit from the previous owner," Ning said. "I will give any sort of proof that the city will require to."
"That won't do," the man said. "Lying will only get you further in trouble. Just pay a fee. It will co down to around… 12 thousand Fire coins. You will have to pay that within the week."
"What?" Ning's eyes went wide in shock. "12 thousand Fire Coins? For making a change that didn't cross 1000 Fire coins? What sort of bullshit is this?"
"Bullshit? Don't curse at boy," the man shouted back. "I am being lenient."
"Fuck you leniency," Ning cursed him back. "You won't look for proof and you think that's being lenient? How about being fair? You haven't bothered testing if my words hold truth or not, and you're already punishing based on your belief. Don't you think that's stupid?"
Instead of seeing reason, the man seed to get angrier. "What did you say to ?" the man shouted, a finger pointing at Ning. "You… you said 'fuck you' to a governnt officer. Now you're done."
The man quickly scribbled over the punishnt he had written and added sothing. "This shop had violated the district code of appropriate custor interaction, therefore it will now be shut down."
"Like hell, it will, you bastard," Ning said. "You will instead lose your job once I complain to the Departnt of Comrce. I can't believe they let biased pigs like you deal with evaluation."
"P-p-pig? Did you just call a pig?" the man shouted in fury. He put the pen and paper down before trying to stand tall. "I will have you—"
"What's going on?" old lady Laila walked to the shop. "What's with all the commotion? What is up with the noise?" Hadden walked behind her, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his left hand.
"Lady Laila, this is an officer who is threatening to shut down the shop," Ning told her.
"What?" Laila looked at the fat man with worry. "Why is the shop being—" she paused. "It's you! You bastard! You dare co back?"
It was Ning's ti to get surprised. "You know him?" he asked.
"Shit!" the man said, looking away from the old woman. He hadn't realized it was the sa shop he had visited so many years ago. 'Dammit, they really changed it a lot.'
"Why is this bastard here?" the woman asked Ning.
"He is the officer sent by the governnt," Ning said. "To evaluate my recent expenditure on the shop."
"This bastard?" she asked. "He works for the Four Beasts of Ulharis. His oily head ca here a long ti ago, trying to threaten to shut us down. He had no cause to do so last ti so he left alone. Now he's back again?"
Ning turned around. "You work for the Four Beasts?" he asked. "That's nonsense," the man said. "I don't work for them."
"Oh but you do," Ning said. His eyes unfocused a little as he got an assortnt of information. "Wow! No wonder the Four Beasts has no competition. They got the governnt in their pockets and squash down any competition by sending these goddamn pigs to them."
"M-m-my work is legitimate. I don't—"
"You won't work for them again, you understand?" Ning asked him.
"What?" the man looked at Ning.
"If you work for them again, I will co for you," Ning said.
"Y-you! Are you threatening ?" the man found a bit of courage. "You dare threaten a governnt officer!"
"Threat?" Ning chuckled. "Let show you what a real threat looks like."
"23rd street, 8th avenue, inner city, house number 331," Ning said, smiling as the man's face blanked with fear. "Yes, I know where you live, Fran Tallin, husband of Greya Yulog, father of 2 daughters and 1 son."
"How do you—"
"Your vacation ho in Graham city is at 2nd street, 18th avenue, house number 458; so you can't get away from there either." "Your first daughter, Hela, is married and expecting, isn't she? Would be a sha if the young boy never got to see his maternal grandfather."
"You..."
Ning smiled and handed him the pen and paper. "You know what to write here."
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