"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 me nothing. I'm partnering with the previous owner to sell most of what is here, and the remaining ones are something 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 me. I can accept that you acquired some of it from the previous owner if you hand me the contract where it says so. But, if you are telling me that you made the remaining with your little Essence rank, then you must take me 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 me to sell her husband's works. As for the remaining, I am their maker. If you require me 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 punishment."
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 punishment 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 me to."
"That won't do," the man said. "Lying will only get you further in trouble. Just pay a fee. It will come 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 me 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 me based on your belief. Don't you think that's stupid?"
Instead of seeing reason, the man seemed to get angrier. "What did you say to me?" the man shouted, a finger pointing at Ning. "You… you said 'fuck you' to a government officer. Now you're done."
The man quickly scribbled over the punishment he had written and added something. "This shop had violated the district code of appropriate customer 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 Department of Commerce. I can't believe they let biased pigs like you deal with evaluation."
"P-p-pig? Did you just call me 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 come back?"
It was Ning's time 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 same 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 government," 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 came here a long time ago, trying to threaten to shut us down. He had no cause to do so last time so he left me 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 assortment of information. "Wow! No wonder the Four Beasts has no competition. They got the government 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 come for you," Ning said.
"Y-you! Are you threatening me?" the man found a bit of courage. "You dare threaten a government officer!"
"Threat?" Ning chuckled. "Let me 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 home in Graham city is at 2nd street, 18th avenue, house number 458; so you can't get away from me there either." "Your first daughter, Hela, is married and expecting, isn't she? Would be a shame 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."
