Three days had passed since Annan came to the Noah Capital.
But even so, Annan still did not scout out the situation in the capital because Noah was too big.
Even if the Paper Princess could take Annan for short-distance teleportation, three days were only enough for the two to barely finish visiting the St. Victor area where the palace was located.
Still, they had a bountiful harvest too.
After all, the capital was worthy of being labeled the capital. Under the Paper Princess’ guide, Annan found a place called the “Howl’s Antique Store,” selling curse materials at the corner of an alley.
Cheaper materials included “Pure Water” and “Ashes of Moth Darted Into Flames”. At the same time, materials slightly rarer to find could be found here: “Enslaver’s Finger”, “Antique Sword That Killed People”, and “Liar’s Facial Skin”. High-end and expensive curse materials, like “Eternally Lit Blue Spark” and “Heart Beating Drums”, were showcased too.
There were other curse vessels for sale, but Annan did not like them.
According to the Paper Princess, it was a legitimate store.
Even the official transcender and ritualist serving the kingdom bought their materials here. While ensuring quality and quantity, it could also ensure the freshness of the materials. Anything that could be crafted was available to be customized. That would guarantee the longest shelf life for the desired materials.
Since this place was legitimate, the customer could not purchase a certain level of curse materials without the corresponding identification and purchase license.
Of course, Annan had no identification proof and permission for the store.
However, that was why the Paper Princess brought him here.
The Paper Princess capitalized on Her reputation and granted permission to Annan via the shopkeeper.
Although the owner did not know Annan’s origin, he recognized the Paper Princess.
As the Elegant Elder’s subordinate deity, the Paper Princess could be said to be the second in liking travels among all the deities.
The only one who traveled more diligently than her was the “Bard Deity”, who was also the Elegant Elder’s subordinate deity. He was the intersex deity known as the Duo-Songwriter.
He had two heads, a “skinny woman” and a “fat man”, so He could voice both male and female voices. With the addition of voice changes, He could cover all types of tones, make all types of sounds, and direct all kinds of songs. He could even sing a duet that required a male and a female.
He was also a mean, eccentric, and witty deity.
The way he administered justice was peculiar and not liked.
He often liked to infiltrate into forces in the form of an ugly little lurker. For example, joining a mercenary group, participating in an evil plan, or sneaking into the home of a person in power.
When He was scoped out with His identity discovered, or the information He wanted was collected, He would reveal his monster-like true body in the fog. By then, He would improvise what He saw and heard into songs or nursery rhymes and then leave while singing it.
After being sung by Him, those hidden sins in the dark would undoubtedly be exposed. Many people at the bottom of the society who had been wronged believe in the existence of the Duo-Songwriter as a legend, hoping that He would come to them one day.
But those who knew the deities better would see that this was not all about preaching justice.
The Duo-Songwriter was a doublethink deity. He hated the evil, but He would become the evil too, so He hated Himself.
He would try to trick others into doing evil deeds, thus fishing the criminals and enforcing the law. Some people would not do evil deeds and even occasionally help others. After being tempted in front of the interests, the Duo-Songwriter would turn His deeds into catchy nursery rhymes and sing them out.
However, He was also fair because the “ugly dwarf” or the “disfigured thief” He played would also be written into His poems and songs as He reprimanded Himself at the same time.
He was a contradictory deity who was eccentric, suspicious of all good intentions and abhorred evil deeds.
His contradictory property had escalated to the point of having an extra head.
Some grand events would even be compiled into gorgeous and magnificent operas by the Duo-Songwriter.
This deity did not know Annan. Of course, He might not care either.
According to the Paper Princess, the Duo-Songwriter hid in the capital, searching for “great sin” like a hyena.
This was why the Paper Princess wanted to accompany Annan.
Even if Annan were not attacked or kidnapped, it would be a considerable loss if his reputation was damaged by being deceived by the Duo-Songwriter.
Only other deities could identify the Duo-Songwriter.
Even the Gold Rank transcender could not do that.
That was because the Duo-Songwriter was in charge of the realm of “camouflage”, “deception”, and “fabrication”.
However, the Paper Princess could not follow Annan all the time.
Although the Paper Princess liked Her “junior”, who was not blood-related, She still had a job.
The Paper Princess was the protector of all painters.
She traveled worldwide and sold paintings to earn money to support those painters who had artistic dreams and passion for painting but were impoverished due to the limitations of talents, channels, and funds.
The aid came with the mysterious ritual that almost all painters knew — “recycling” paintings that they could not sell to the Paper Princess.
The Paper Princess would provide a base price based on the effort and passion the painters spent creating this painting rather than its artistic and aesthetic value. That was enough to ensure that the painters who painted with their hearts could survive and continue their pursuit of painting.
She would not dismantle nor destroy the paintings.
She had banks and warehouses all over the world dedicated to storing the paintings she received that were even considered “failures” by their creators. If the painter became famous in the future or missed his old works and wanted to get them back, he only needed to pay the original price. In other words, they could exchange the painting with the money they earnt when they sold the paintings.
In addition, after the painters died, the Paper Princess would secretly wrap their paintings in the waterproof paper according to their wills and put them back in their graves or give them to their families lest their artworks only become famous after their death. Otherwise, the paintings would be rightfully the Paper Princess’s possession.
The Paper Princess did not care how much money they got when the paintings went up in value.
She would not even ask for the maintenance fee.
Those painters might think that the Paper Princess could directly turn these paintings into power, and they would sell them with peace of mind. However, the reality was contradictory to it. It was true that the Paper Princess could absorb the painting to strengthen herself for a sufficiently outstanding painting.
However, most of the paintings that were sacrificed to the Paper Princess were far from being qualified.
Achieving that would require a lot of money.
The Silver Sire invited her to protect Annan’s safety not because she had nothing to do but because Silver Sire gave her enough money.
After all, the Paper Princess could aid more and more young painters who devoted themselves to the painting industry during peaceful times.
The Paper Princess did not want to get money through illegal channels to avoid people venting their anger on those innocent painters.
She kept making her paintings as curse vessels and selling them to feed the painters.
Of course, the benefactors were not blind.
Society naturally respected such deities.
For example, the owner of this antique store.
Although he did not know Annan, Annan directly got the highest access here with the Paper Princess vouching for him.
Of course, this matter would also be reported to the palace and be known by the One-Eyed Crows.
Sure enough, Annan would not care about that.
