Yanxi had to, unfortunately, leave for his duties after a few days of lazing around. In his opinion, Yanxi shouldn't be leaving his station at all, but who was he to judge?
Mun was a pleasant company though. He kept on having tea parties with him and complied to his requests. He got him new bed sheets and furniture for his room, got him new clothes, got him a mirror, got him art supplies and gave him a monthly allowance – a rather generous amount of money. He used a portion of it every week on groceries because food that wasn't baked goods were non-existent.
He would wake up as early as the first rays of sunlight and cook breakfast for the both of them. Then he'd invite himself into Mun's kingly chambers and open the curtains wide open to wake him up. It usually works since the sunlight shines directly on Mun's eyes.
They'd eat breakfast together at the kitchen counter and discuss their plans for the day before doing their own things afterwards.
Mun would do some paperwork that involves the kingdom and he would either paint or wander around in the market.
It got boring after a while and he grew increasingly restless as the days passed by.
In a fit of boredom, he took his money pouch and strut off into the bustling market below. There were several vendors that he's already met from his last visits, the silk merchant who keeps trying to sell him overpriced silk, the toy maker that keeps commenting on his age and asking when he'll get married and have kids, the tomato farmer who gives away a free tomato recipe for each purchase and a perfume maker who smelled like aphrodisiac. There were a lot more but they haven't really stood out to him that much.
In conclusion, there were a lot of interesting characters in the market.
Unlike the other days, there was another vendor that caught his eye. It was a ratty looking girl with a handful of hand-picked flowers. They looked battered and shrivelled up, but the little girl was relentlessly trying to sell them.
"Flowers! Five for a copper coin!" She repeated, all over again and again and again. It was as if that was the only words she knew how to say. He thought the girl looked pitiful, with her tattered clothes, her dirty unkept hair, the absence of shoes and the dirt on her face.
Without thinking, he called out to the girl.
"Hey, girl!" That's not polite, but he didn't know how to address homeless little girls he didn't know the name of.
She turned around with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Here's a few coins, give me all the flowers you have" In hindsight, it sounded like he was robbing her. A few copper coins for a huge number of flowers?! But she was already selling flowers that anyone could pull off of the ground so who's stealing from who?
"Ah! Many Flowers!" The girl tried to refuse his money, rude.
"Hey! What're you trying to do to that poor girl?! Trying to buy her or something?!" Where did you get the idea that he was trying to buy her?! Was it the dozen gold coins he was shoving in her hands or was it something else he was trying to shove against her?!
That sounded wrong, and probably looked wrong. He was honestly just trying to buy her flowers! He overpaid because he can't do simple arithmetic and because he had no small change. Was it wrong to try to help a person?!
"I'm just paying her for the flowers…"
"What?! You can get that garbage near the river northeast. It isn't anything special!"
"Yeah! You're overpaying her as well! She can look like that and get gold coins for her services?!" What service?! The only service he's paying for was the service of her picking the damn flowers!
"Young man I didn't know—"
"Ahh! Shut up! I don't know what conclusions you're drawing up in your uneducated minds but I have no attraction to females whatsoever! I'm only paying her out of the goodness of my heart, leave me alone!" With that, he ran away, without his purchase and a pouch that was 4 gold coins lighter.
"Ah! Flowers!"
The girl tried running after him with a hand still holding onto the four gold coins, which could easily buy her family a house and food for a few months.
A/N: The wonders of economy
He ran all the way into the castle, dodging the civilians and trade carts like his life depended on it. Safe to say that he was not stepping foot into the market for a couple months after that.
He shut the front door with a bang and slid onto the floor, with a face as red as the tomatoes that tomato farmer was selling. He put his hands into his palms in a pathetic attempt to cool himself. He sat there in shame and embarrassment until Mun found him.
"Ren, are you okay? What happened in the marker?"
The mention of the market made him relive the memories all over again.
"Was it miss Bianca again?" He wished that it was that perfumer seducing him instead of getting accused of, whatever that was.
"By the looks of it, it was something much worse than a woman." He couldn't take it anymore.
"Mun! They were accusing me of trying to bed a young girl! That's low! What did I do to deserve this?!" Even Mun was speechless. He cried out in agony.
Then, Mun burst out laughing. Rude.
"Stop laughing! It's not funny! I just got accused of something disgusting and you laugh at me?!"
"Haha! It's so funny because it's so unlike you! To approach a woman is already unbelievable, to approach a woman to sleep with her is even more so extraordinarily unbelievable!"
"It was a child!"
"That's concerning, but the situation is already hilarious enough!" He got fed up by Mun's behaviour and retreated to his room.
How could he not get it? The implication was disgusting. To accuse him of such perverse behaviour sickens him when he was honestly trying to do a good deed. The people in the lesser realms truly were uneducated and simple-minded. Fuelled by pleasure and greed.
He decided not to dwell on it and slept it off. Whatever, right? He was probably just overreacting. It wasn't as if he was trying to… just forget about it Soren, it's not like you.
The next morning came and went without issue. Breakfast, small talk, go on with their day and not see each other until it's lunch, dinner or tea time. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and Repeat. Rinse and Repeat.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Just normal.
Mundane.
Usual.
Dull.
Eventually, he got tired of this boring daily ritual again, so he went outside to spice things up for himself again. This was his doing. He could blame no one but himself. But they really needed those groceries for the week, they had been living on Mun's horrible grocery list for long enough—which was only 3 weeks, but he had enough of eating desserts for all three meals and tea time.
He walked into the market, expected accusing fingers and judging eyes. He braced himself for this moment and practised his best resting face that screamed 'don't look at me the wrong way'. But there was nothing. No back lash from whatever happened weeks prior. Instead, he was greeted with the normal indifference.
He felt so happy he almost lost his composure and cried where he stood. Instead, he grew a pair and went on his day. He didn't think he'd be meeting that ratty girl's family. It was totally unexpected, and he wanted run away again.
"I would just like to return you your coins sir." The woman in shabby clothes held out her hands with the 4 shiny gold coins. He just shrugged and added 4 more to the tiny pile.
"U-Uh, sir?!" The woman looked visibly shocked and confused.
"I gave that girl the coins for a reason. Accept the money and use it to raise her well." He stated, he had more than enough money to support a starving family, so he's going to do exactly just that.
"I-I couldn't sir! I could never repay you…" He added another 4 gold coins to the growing pile.
"Repay me by living, not surviving. Buy some food for your family and run off now." He shooed her. Hoping it would be enough to stop her pursing.
She bowed lowly and left with her family. Hopefully, to live a prosperous life. He sighed and continued shopping. A good deed is a good deed, but he has things to buy and meals to make. He wasn't an idle young master after all. He could be, but he chose not to be.
He finally purchased all his goods and went home with a lighter heart. He helped a family of 3 and associated with society again. How wonderful. He couldn't want to cook and consume proper meals again. He was half considering showing up at tea times just to escape the sickeningly sweet pastries.
When he arrived back home once again, the sight that he was greeted with astounded him to no bounds. Because instead of Mun, there were 4 people in the sitting room, lounging on the couch. Mun was nowhere to be found, the reason why, he hadn't found out just yet. For now, he had to deal with the new faces that were making themselves comfortable in Mun's sitting room.
"Uh—"
"Oh! You must be the new god Yanxi was babbling on about!" The black-haired woman exclaimed, her bony and translucent wings fluttering behind her as if she was a puppy wagging her tail. She looked half dead and half alive with bones and plants randomly sticking out of her body. She also seemed to be the most enthusiastic person in the room, him included.
"We've certainly heard enough about you." The only other woman replied. Instead of black hair like her companion, she had magnificent white hair that looks too pure to be true. Her vibe was screaming 'life' by the amount of plant accessories she's put on. He had the feeling she didn't want to be where she was at the moment.
"Let's all warmly welcome our new brother into our ever-growing family. I'm sure we'll get along quite well." The first man to speak had purple hair, and he looked exactly how he imagined the god of death to look like, just more purple. He was also much more friendlier than the white-haired woman.
"Hngh." The last guy didn't even bother to form a word in greeting. He just grunted. A for effort? He doesn't even deserve an E.
He stared at the four before waving a hand and escaping to the kitchens. Because there are groceries that needed to be unpacked before anything else gets unpacked.
He busied himself with the basket full of food and contemplated his entire life. There was absolutely no way he was going to get out of this mess called 'family' with his sanity intact.
He was sorting the eggs when the kitchen door opened with a loud bang, startling him and nearly making him drop the eggs he was holding.
"Ahh! Knock!" He snapped, holding onto the eggs tightly.
Standing in the doorway, was Mun, looking like he saw a ghost.
"Oh good, they haven't eaten you yet."
"??? Huh?! What do you mean?" Mun exhaled once, inhaled and exhaled again.
"Look, the people sitting there weren't just ordinary gods, they were the 'Cycles of Life' or 'The Four Sacred Laws' who are—"
"Let me guess… Life, Death, Rebirth and Time? I figured. They look their part." He interrupted, storing the eggs away before any more incidents occur.
"I thought that— whatever, I'll introduce you to them properly. It would be rude of me not to do so." Mun shuffled his feet, looking slightly abashed.
"Sure, introduce me to our big brothers and sisters." He was so excited.