Recalling his previous life as Suzuki Satoru, he had never received such thanks… No, the two girls from before also thanked him like this. It was just that he never saved anyone before, and now he felt like he did the right thing.
He didn’t dislike receiving this kind of sincere thanks even when he was still human, although he still felt embarrassed — perhaps this was a remnant of his humanity.
“Please raise your heads. Like I said before, this is nothing you should be concerned about. Because I wasn’t helping you for free.”
“We know that, but please allow us to thank you nonetheless. Because of your help many villagers were able to survive.”
“… As long as they pay more. First, let’s discuss the matter of the reward. As the Village Chief you should be rather busy.”
“Nothing is more important than spending some time with our saviour, however following my principles would be the sincerest form of respect.”
The Village Chief slowly raised his head and Ainz quickly started to use his non-existent brain.
To not rely on magic, but conversation to gain his information.
───How troublesome.
How much effect would his past experiences with sales have on the situation right now? Ainz hoped he would be able to use at least half of his old skills. Having mentally prepared himself, he spoke:
“… Then I’ll get straight to the point, how much can you pay me?”
“We cannot afford to be stingy for our savior. Regarding copper and silver coins, if we do not collect from everyone, we are unsure how much we have, but as for copper coins, we should have about 3000 now.”
Ainz still didn’t know how much that was worth, so he ridiculed himself in his heart.
Asking right now would be a fatal mistake, he should take a different approach and slowly guide the subject.
Anyways, since I was a useless salesman originally, my business skills were also very poor.
Although the number felt like a lot, but he did not know the value of the money, and thus could not determine whether this amount was appropriate. He absolutely has to avoid accepting too low a number or raise the number too high, otherwise he will expose his own ignorance.
No, the fact that they didn’t say that they would give him four large cows was enough to make him breathe a sigh of relief.
About to fall deep into depression, his mental state quickly settled down. Ainz reassured himself, he was really thankful for his undead body, at the same time he learnt something.
And that was, copper coins and silver coins was this village’s main currency. At the same time he also wanted to know how much of one currency could be traded for the other, but he had no confidence of getting this information discreetly.
First he had to learn more about the value of copper coins. Not knowing something basic could become rather troublesome. But to know nothing about the value of currency would be extremely suspicious.
Keeping a low profile took precedence over learning about this world.
So that was why he kept on thinking, trying to avoid an even greater failure.
“It would be hard to carry so many small coins, I hope can be exchanged with coins of a bigger value.”
“Forgive us, it would be great if we could use gold coins to pay you. But… our village doesn’t have any gold coins…”
Ainz suppressed the urge to heave a sigh of relief.
The village chief’s answer turned the conversation into the direction Ainz wanted. So Ainz thought harder about his next question:
“So it’s like that. In that case, I simply wish to use the money I receive to buy goods from the village, I just want you to give me enough for that purpose.”
Ainz secretly opened his Item Chest from within his robes and removed two YGGDRASIL gold coins from it. One of the coins had a woman’s profile while the other had the profile of a man. The first coin was introduced after the [Valkyrie’s Downfall] Event, it was a revision of the currency used by the players until then, while the latter coin was the old currency that was used before.
Although both coins had the same value, both of them had different meanings for Ainz.
The older coin had accompanied Ainz from the moment he first started playing YGGDRASIL until the founding of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was during the peak of his guild’s activity when the game introduced the new coins, but since they had already completed all their equipment, the new coins were simply put into their Item Chests.
Becoming a skeleton mage, using magic to defeat monsters on the map, receiving gold coins which floated in the air. Going into a labyrinth on his own and defeating ferocious monsters on his own, obtaining a mountain of gold coins through great difficulty. After his guild members went through the labyrinth, sold all of their gained data crystals, earning these gold coins symbolizing their glorious history───
But Ainz threw away those nostalgic memories.
Keeping the old coin, he took out the new coin.
Once he placed the gold coin on the table, the Village Chief and his wife both opened their eyes in surprise.
“Thi-, this is!”
“This is the currency of a far away land. Can it be used here?”
“It should be possible… Please wait a moment.”
Ainz heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that it could be used, in the meantime the Village Chief left his seat, went into another room and brought something back you would only see in a history book.
That would be an antique balancing scale.
Next was the wife’s job, she took the gold coin along with a round object, seemingly comparing their size. After she saw enough, she placed the coin on one side of the scale and placed a scale weight on the other.
This looked like a process called 'weighing currency'.
Ainz dug through his memories, thinking over the meaning of the wife’s actions. If the first step would be comparing the size of this country’s currency to the other, then the next should be confirming the gold content of the coin.
It looked like the gold coin was heavier, since the weight on the other side of the scale began to rise. The wife puts another weight on the scale in order to balance both sides.
“Looks like it’s about the weight of two gold coins…. Please, may I ask if it is possible to scratch the surface…”
“Wi-, wife, you are being too rude! Please forgive us, my wife has said some insolent words…”
She seemed to think that the coin was gold plated. However Ainz wasn’t really unhappy, or angry.
“Go ahead… but if it’s really made of pure gold, you better compensate me with its full value, okay?”
"N-, no need, I am really sorry."
The village chief’s wife apologized and returned the coin.
“Don’t mind it, I want to know something else. What are your thoughts about this coin? It looks like a carved sculpture, right?"
"Yes, it looks very nice. Which country is this currency from?"
"Now this ─── this country doesn’t exist anymore."
"Oh, really……"
"…… Although it has the same weight as two common gold coins, coupled with the artwork one should expect a rather high value, am I right? "
"That might be…… but I’m no merchant and don't know how to properly judge an artworks worth……"
"Hahaha, you are right. So if I were to go shopping, this coin would be the equivalent of two common gold coins right?"