"I am not sure if you know this, but the temple of the Holy is in a tenuous position," said Sana. "the local government and nobility mistrust us despite being popular with the general populous."

"We cannot afford to associate with suspicious people that claim to have advanced medical knowledge and carry enormous amounts of money on hand without using the bank," said the older man.

"I hope you will cooperate," said the knight.

Should I resist or comply? On one note, those people have no right to my privacy. However, having them as allies is appealing.

"Fine, you can ask me anything," I said. I, however, didn't promise to answer.

"Justicar Gray would you mind activating the detect lie aura, please," said Sana.

"Show me the truth!" said the Justicar in an ominous voice.

Suddenly, the room became more radiant without an apparent light source, and all shadows dissipated.

"Wow, that's neat!" I said, surprised.

The room glow turned green.

"What's happening?" I gasped.

"I want you to say two facts about yourself; one is true, while the other is a lie".

Is he calibrating his spell? I like those kinds of things! I want to ask him how it works!

"Eeeh… my name is Alice."

The room turns a deeper shade of Green before turning back to normal.

"I am a lizard."

The room colour turns red, then back to normal.

"Wow, that's neat!" I said again. This time no green glow. I knew it! He was calibrating his spell, so it only activates on factual statements.

"First question, did you steal the gold?" asked the Justicar.

"No, I did not." green glow, I smirk at them.

"How sure are you about your medical knowledge?" asked Sana.

"I am not an expert, but I know a lot of general knowledge that could be helpful." Green glow.

"How well do you consider yourself in a fight?" asked the knight.

"I Learned hand-to-hand combat for three years in high...in school, but I am not a warrior." a dimmer green glow.

Shit, did it detect my hesitation? I need to be more careful.

"Did you come here via a teleportation Accident?" asked Justicar.

"Yes." green glow.

"Were you in a small village before the accident?" he asked again.

"Yes." green glow.

"Do you know what realm you come from?"

"I don't." green glow.

"Do you have a guess?" asked Sana.

"I refuse to answer this question." no glow.

"Do you intend any harm to the temple of the holy or the orphanage?" asked Marca.

"Of Course not," I frowned, green glow.

"I think I have answered enough," I said.

"It's not up to you to decide, young lady," said the knight.

You know what? You leave me no choice. I think I am going to try something stupid.

"THIS STATEMENT IS FALSE!" I shouted.

The room's glow started flickering green, red, and green again. The switch in colour started to speed up faster and faster until the spell fizzled out.

"Well, that's worked better than expected," I said smug-faced.

"What did she do?" asked the knight while putting her hand on the grip of her sword.

"I don't know," said Sana dumbfounded.

"She broke the truth spell using... only words..." whispered the Justicar. "I never heard of the possibility."

"It's called a paradox," I grinned.

"I need to write a letter to the head inquisitor and experiment more on this!" shouted the Justicar as he started to head towards the door.

"Not so fast, Gray," said Sana holding him from the back collar of his robe just before he reached the door handle. "I promised we would help the girl as a payback for asking her so many questions."

"Did you? I don't remember that," I frowned.

"I didn't promise you, silly," smiled Sana. "I promised the Lady in a prayer."

"Of Course you did," I sighed.

"Gray, go with Alice to the merchant guild and the bank. Don't let anyone short-change her," said Sana. "Ami, Escort them both."

"Can I take Vena and Louis with me? And can we stop to grab a meal? I will pay you back once I get my money." I replied, fired up by the idea of a new kind of food.

"Sure, why not," said Sana.

________

It only took a short conversation for Justicar Gray to completely shatter his image of a mysterious judge and become more of an enthusiastic scholar.

Gray, Louis, Vena, and I were sitting in a food chart that served as one of the open-air restaurants I had seen in the market street earlier. We were eating some kind of fried cactus that was surprisingly delicious. I also downed a cup of tea since coffee is only sold in fancy shops. Ami was taking her guard duties seriously and refused to eat.

"So that's what you mean by paradox. Can you give me another example?" asked Sir Gray.

"Let's see… how about the unstoppable force meets an immovable object paradox. A man was trying to sell an enchanted spear and shield. He claimed that his spear could pierce any shield and that his shield could take any hit and would never break. One day, someone asked him what would happen if he were to strike his almighty spear on his unbreakable shield. The seller couldn't answer."

"That one is easy! Defensive spells are always stronger than offensive spells when both spells are on the same level, so the shield wins," said Ami, who was surprisingly following our conversation.

"No, that's not it. Those spells aren't real," said Gray. "There is no unbreakable shield. Everything breaks at some point."

"They don't need to be real. Let's imagine that there is an unbreakable shield and an all-piercing spear."

"There is no answer to that!" exclaimed Gray.

"That's what a paradox means," I grinned.

"Wouldn't the spear go through the shield while the shield remains unbroken? You know, like light through glass," asked Vena.

I open my mouth and close it. Open it again.

"You know you are surprisingly smart, Vena," I looked at her with new eyes.

"Thank you for the backhanded compliment," Vena glared at me.

"So, was that it?!" asked Gray. "Was her answer the correct one?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I am not an expert on philosophy." Or physics, I silently added.

"Philosophy, what's that?" asked Louis.

"Philosophy, that's when some kind of scholar asks questions about questions", I replied.

"I never heard of that. The biggest order of scholars I know is the Soul-scribes; they are the one that makes new Soul books. And, of course, some of us Justicars like to study and record history."

"Soulbook? That's like the one I used for translation."

"The translation book is not perfect, you know?" said Gray. "It will only last a year, so you better start learning the language properly."

"Those Moneygrubbing Soulits would only sell us an inferior copy. They told us that if we wanted a better spell, we had to subscribe to them in their soul bookshop."

"This sucks! How can I learn a language that I already know?" I lamented.

"You can switch off the spell, you know." Laughed Gray, "That's how my wife and I learned the language when we arrived here. We would switch it on and off and teach each other."

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"How do I do that?"

"Just focus your mind when you are talking in the translated language. You will notice that you are thinking outside of your head, focus on that place and switch it off," replied Gray.

"That makes no sense," I muttered.

But when I tried it, it surprisingly did. It's like I had an extension of my mind that I could only feel when I spoke a foreign language. I managed to switch it off.

“Aba kia sa,” said Gray.

It worked!

Sadly it worked too well. I could no longer feel the extension on my mind since I could only locate it the first time after using the foreign language. It took me the better part of 30 minutes to be able to find it again. By the time we finished eating, we walked back to the roundabout where I first appeared and toward the official-looking district.

"Finally, I found it!" I shouted. "Why didn't you tell me how to activate it?"

"I learn the hard way, so should you! Now you will always be able to find it."

"You may be holy, but you are evil," I muttered.

"Let me tell you about the evil crusader that fought against the Lady, and you will know how evil a Justicar can truly get."

"No time for your history lesson," grumbled Ami. "We have arrived at the merchant guild."

The guild building had an enormous courtyard three times larger than the temple. Burly men and women were unloading various carriages with exotic beasts of burden. Armed guards were everywhere; some were with the caravans, while others were guarding different side doors and storage depots. A man with large brown wings wearing a toga took to the air. He was carrying a fancy decorated basket like some glorified courier.

"You are gawking," laughed Vena.

I brook from my terns and reminded myself not to attract too much attention.

We walked up to the front gate, and the guard started muttering to themselves and pointing toward us.

There goes rule 1 of being Isekai'ed again. Well, who needs that anyway?

They were mostly whispering about Gray, of all people. He is back to acting all ominous and mysterious.

The inside of the building was separated into a reception area with multiple receptionists. There were multiple tables on the sides, some with privacy curtains forming some meeting booths.

Gray skipped the busy receptionists and headed directly to what I assumed was the VIP line. The receptionist was a skinny guy with cyan hair. He scowled at the sight of Sir Gray.

"You again," muttered the man.

"I would say I am honoured to meet you again, Li'a but Justicar can't lie," shrugged my new friend.

Not popular, are we? I hope that doesn't reflect the fairness of the deals I am getting.

"What can our esteemed guild do for you, Sir," cringed the man as he seemed to remember that he is forced to respect protocol.

"A guest of the temple of the holy is trying to sell some rare jewellery. Would you mind calling in the best jeweller on hand?"

"A jeweller. Humm... I will call in Tan Ma'I," said the clerk.

"No." interrupted Gray.

"How about Tan Ki'i?" tried the clerk.

“No.”

“San Kurk...”

“No.”

"Why are you even trying?" said a female receptionist who works the neighbouring line." Just call Tan Je'e."

"Tan Je'e will do," said Gray.

Disgruntled, the clerk asked us to sit in one of the private booths. And wait for the merchant to arrive.

"What just happened?" asked Louis.

"Let me guess." I said, "The clerks get bribed by the merchants to receive priority on rare goods."

"And they can't lie to me. I am frustrating that way," said Gray.

It only took a few minutes before a woman the same age as I entered our booth. She had cyan hair, A shade darker blue than the clerk and a more cheerful demeanour.

"Lord Gray, how do you do? How is your wife?" smiled the woman.

"We are blessed. Thank you for asking," nodded Gray.

"You seem to have company. Let me introduce myself. I am Je'e of Skylift Lake"

"This is our guest, Alice," introduced Gray." She has a valuable item to sell, and Lady Sana asked me to facilitate the transaction."

"I will be frank with you, Sir Gray, you take all the fun away with your powers. But I guess you are not here to have fun, are you?" sighted Je'e.

"Quite," confirmed Gray.

"So show me the goods."

I extracted my Jewellery box and showed it to her.

"Isn't that my lucky day said Je'e as she extracted the belt. Where did that come from? I have never seen similar craftsmanship."

"I am sorry. I am not at liberty to answer that I would like to keep my place of origin a secret," I said.

"Those are not stolen, are they?"

"No, I can attest to her ownership of the items," responded Gray.

"Humm, not knowing the item's origin would greatly reduce the reselling value".

"Ehem Ehem..." Gray coughed.

"...would slightly reduce the reselling price," Tried Je'e again.

"Ehem Ehem..." Gray coughed again.

"Fine! So what if I can spread a web of lies and lean on the mystery factor to pump the price? That doesn't change the fact that those parameters are not ideal!" shouted Je'e exasperatedly

I turned to Gray, and he nodded. This is cheating, and I love it.

"Are those real coins?" asked Je'e as she examined the belt in more detail.

"Yes, they are 500-year-old Antique coins." I nodded.

"They are pure gold, making them more valuable than our normal minted gold coins."

She put the whole thing on the scales and started weighing it.

"At least you are not using a faulty scale like that idiot I dealt with last month," smirked Gray.

"What an amateur," laughed Je'e. "He assumed that a Justicar can only see the lies in words."

"I know my kind is rare around here, but come on, give more respect to my life dedication," grumbled Gray.

"You know he never recovered from that. The merchant guild is no place for idiots," said Je'e as she finished with the scales.

"223 grams of pure gold. I would have given you 25 gold coins just for the gold. For the Belt I can offer…," she looked at Gray and sighed. "35 gold would be fair."

We all looked at Gray. He shrugged: "She is telling the truth".

Je'e smile started showing more and more teeth

"Why do I feel like we are getting scammed?" asked Vena.

"You are not! I am an honest woman. You can ask the holy man" Je'e smile was getting smugger.

"An honest woman is stretching the truth," denied Gray.

"Are you a betting woman?" I asked, "If I told you exactly how you plan to make a profit would you bump those coins to 50."

"I am always game for some wager, but what would happen if you lose?"

"I only get 20 coins, of course," I responded.

"Since gambling is Unholy, I will not participate in this transaction and would not confirm if she is cheating you," Grey sternly said.

"Oh! I am sorry! I don't think that I will engage in a transaction that offends my new friends", I backtracked.

"We are not offended by the Unholy. We don't partake in it," said Ami, who sounded offended.

"Come on! We were having fun; I was curious about your bet. I promise I will be honest even if Sir Gray doesn't confirm it", egged Je'e.

"Fuck it!" I told myself, "They keep saying they tolerate the Unholy. Better test them now or never.

"Fine, we have a deal," I said to Je'e.

She took away the belt and put it in a small pouch. Or dare I say a Bag-of-Holding because there was no way it would have fit otherwise.

Bags of holdings are real!

I tried and failed to hide my excitement. Je'e smirked at me and extracted 50 gold coins.

She put 20 coins next to me and 30 next to her.

"Shall we start?" She asked.

"You are planning to sell this item to the most stupidly rich woman as a unique item and oversell the mystery behind the coins. This woman would wear it at a party and brag about its uniqueness. People would come to you asking for the same item so that they could also brag about the latest trend. Of course, the item is unique, so you can't do that. However, in your infinite wisdom, you would have stocked up on local antic coins and already started making new belts with different coins that resonate more with each person's disposition."

Everyone was looking at me dumbfounded! Je'e broke the daze by extracting a notebook and started writing.

"So, was I right?" I asked. She ignored me and continued writing in her notebook.

"Why would that even work? Rich women don't understand the historical value of antic coins," frowned Gray.

"Rich women understand the art of bragging. Just imagine a Holy woman saying that her belt is made of coins touched by the Lady herself," I grinned.

"I have to admit you have taken my plan a step further than I was planning," said Je'e, finally raising her head from her notebook. She pushed the 30 gold coins toward me.

A total of 50 gold coins were now in front of me. My heart was racing! I never thought I would secure this much money on the first day. Everything is easier Now!

"I was only planning to create copies to bank on the new trend," she added while extracting an extra 50 gold coins from her stash.

"You seem to have a good head for business. Why don't we have another bet?"

"By bet, do you mean writing down my ideas and not giving me anything in return?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What do you mean?" grind Je'e. "I did just give you an extra 15 gold coins."

"That was part of the bet. I could have easily lost the same, too," I scoffed. "If you want to talk about business strategies, we do it in another way where I don't risk my own money anymore."

She pushed the 50 extra gold coins towards me. "You are not a pushover. I like that!" smiled Je'e. "This is payment for the business talk. Let it be known that I tip extra for good business. So come to me when a stroke of genius hits you again."

She left the booth with a two-finger salute, leaving me with 100 gold coins.

The 5 of us stared at the gold coin for a good minute before Louis broke the silence.

"I can't believe it. You are now San Alice," she whispered.

"San, what's that?" I asked.

"The bank offers a prestige title "San" to any member with more than 100 gold coins. They also provide a yearly stipend equal to 2.5% of San's funds," said Gray.

"2.5%, that means I get 2.5 gold coins a year! I am set for life," I gasped.

"If you think that's a lot, "Tan" like Je'e, who has more than 10000 gold in the bank, gets 5% as a stipend," added Louis.

"Does that mean she threw at us some pocket money while acting all magnanimous?" I laugh.

"Yeah, pocket money that can build another temple," sighed Vena.

"Right! You guys have been helping me a lot since I came here. Why don't we split the money half for me and half for the temple?"

"No, keep your money. The temple is not starving for resources," said Ami. "The Kingdom supports us in the Holy Land."

"Plus, you shouldn't pass on the "San" title. The stipend is too good to forgo either," added Gray.

"Yeah! If you still want to help, you can treat the younger kids in the orphanage to some food but don't let Lady Marca catch you," added Louis mischievously.

"Next stop, the Bank," said Gray while standing.

I hid all my gold in my Jewellery box in my backpack. I should get one of those bags of holding similar to Je'e's. I wonder if they are expensive. Gray doesn't seem to have one, but he seems stoic and wouldn't waste his money on such things as Ami led the way. I noticed that she also has two windows that show her shoulder blades despite wearing metal armour.

I never got to ask what the deal is about them. Should I ask or not? I am probably going to put my foot in my mouth again.

"Hey, Ami. What's the deal with exposing the shoulder blades? Should I start doing it too?"

"It depends," said Ami. "Would you be able to perform the sacrifice if you ascend to a cleric?"

The sacrifice? I remember Marca talking about a sacrifice… My eyes widened. That's the most tactful way to ask if I was a virgin. Wait, does that mean… I look at Louis and Vena. Those kids are proudly displaying their relationship status on their backs. Those people are crazy.

"You didn't answer her question", Teased Louis.

That little minx! Now I understand why she wasn't fit to become a Cleric. She is a pervert.

"I would be". I blushed.

Vena looked at me with prideful eyes.

There is nothing to be proud of, you idiot!

I was so focused on my research that I almost didn't have a social life. The closest thing I had to a sexual experience was when I joined a Wiccan party in my first year of college, the dance naked around a bonfire kind of party. I left before things got too heated when I noticed I was the only one there for the magic.

"I can train you! You can become a cleric, too," said Vena, getting me out of my reminiscence.

"I will pass! Thank you."

"She would probably fit more as Justicar anyways," said Gray.

I almost died of embarrassment when I remembered that I was talking about my sexual experience in front of a 40-year-old man. Damn you, Ami and Louis!

"Maybe, I am not sure..." I muttered.

Despite their incredible magic, I think it's too restrictive for my taste. The man couldn't partake in a bet. How many shackles are around his neck? At least he got to be married, unlike poor Marca.

Nope! Despite past experiences or lack thereof, I am not becoming a cleric.

"So, are those windows in your shoulder blade cultural or functional?" I deflected the topic away from me.

"When a woman performs the sacrifice, wings of lights sprout off her back so they are functional," said Ami.

"They are also cultural since the Lady started adding them to her clothing to honour the two-hundred clerics that sacrificed themselves to kill the Unholy of Unholies, ending the 2nd holy wars."

"Wait a minute! I thought you guys tolerated the unholy."

"That's after the 3rd holy war. When the Lady made peace with the Lord Unholy," said Gray.

This is confusing, especially since I haven't slept for more than 24 hours.

The sun was setting by the time we reached the bank. The bank was an ivory building with a large wooden gate. The people around here didn't seem to despise Gray like it was with the merchant guild, and the process was less eventful. I give them my gold. They gave me a silver badge linked to my soul using my blood. I was getting too exhausted from the long day to ask about the process.

"Congratulations San Alice." said the clerk. "You can use your badge for purchases of at least one bronze. But remember that your funds are at the minimum amount for your rank. If you spend more than 2.5 gold by the end of this year, you will lose your stipend".

And just like that, I solved all my money problems on the first day of my arrival. It always pays to be prepared.