The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

I wonder if after a month of endless wandering, I'll be able to fully understand my cheat ability, or even make it undergo a qualitative change so that it doesn't require as much financial investment.

"But how do I earn this money?"

Ishihara Sho scratched his head again.

……

Friend A rolled over, sat up in bed, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom.

A short while later, friend A returned to bed.

"By the way, how many years have you been doing this?" Ishihara Akira turned around to face his friend A, grabbing a steamed bun she had made while asking.

"It's been almost three years, hasn't it?" Friend A opened his eyes, glanced at him, and said, "Why are you asking this?"

"Do you have any plans to go ashore?" Ishihara Akira asked with a smile.

"You'll support me then." Friend A's smile carried a hint of sarcasm.

"If, and I mean if, I were willing to support you, how much would you be willing to ask for?" Ishihara Akira pressed.

"It can't be less than 50, right? Otherwise, I won't do it!"

"50 million?"

In Japan, the average monthly income of a typical salaried worker is only around 200,000 yen. This includes things like social security and housing fund contributions, so if you actually get 200,000 yen after taxes, that's considered pretty good. Then, add in loan payments, rent, utilities, TV fees, and so on, and you're lucky if you can save 80,000 yen a month for living expenses.

Five hundred thousand is almost equivalent to two months' salary for an average worker.

This is 40 yuan more than a civil servant or a senior junior leader who can receive 10 yuan a month in various benefits.

But it's not cheap.

Chapter 9 Friend A

However, from another perspective, what Friend A said is not a problem.

If you invite friend A to participate in the hotel accommodation comfort experience activity according to the established process, the daily cost will start at least at 20,000 yen, and could easily exceed 30,000 yen. Over a month of 30 days, this would amount to 600,000 to 900,000 yen, which is almost half more than 500,000 yen. It really saves a lot of money.

"Can't it be any less?" Ishihara Akira said helplessly, not wanting to agree with whatever his friend said.

"You don't actually want to support me, do you?" Upon hearing this, Friend A's face showed a look of surprise.

It's worth noting that the two only met for the first time that evening. Although they participated in a hotel experience activity together shortly afterward due to the nature of their professions, they were still strangers to each other, only knowing each other's names.

It might not even be their real name.

This leads to the idea of ​​taking care of her, either because Ishihara Akira is lacking love, sick, or mentally unstable, or because she did something wrong at work today and encountered an unusual situation.

"I do have that plan," Ishihara Akira nodded in acknowledgment.

"Why? Just because of us?" Friend A asked in astonishment.

"Also because you don't snore, grind your teeth, fart, or smack your lips when you sleep," said Ishihara Akira.

"You're the one grinding your teeth and making a lot of noise. Can't you speak properly?" Friend A shoved Ishihara Akira upon hearing this, complaining with a displeased expression.

With a sly grin, Ishihara Sho leaned in again.

"Do you really want to support me?" After a moment of silence, friend A asked again.

"If the living expenses could be reduced a bit..." Ishihara Akira nodded affirmatively.

"40, that's the lowest I can go. Otherwise, I might as well continue living my current life," Friend A thought to himself.

"Your monthly turnover can reach 40?" Ishihara Akira asked in surprise.

"What, you don't believe me?" Friend A asked back.

“A little.” Ishihara Akira nodded.

"That's because you don't understand how we make money. We don't just make money the way you know. For example, at that store you went to before, if you hadn't brought me out, I would have gotten a commission on every single purchase you made there. If I had tricked you into buying a nice bottle of expensive wine, I would have basically made 100,000 yuan in revenue, not to mention the even more expensive items."

"Isn't this the same way male escorts make money?"

"What else did you think?" Friend A rolled his eyes at him, as if to say, "You're the one who just realized that."

“Okay, 40 a month. I’ll take it for one month first, and then we can discuss it further depending on the situation.” Ishihara Akira didn’t hesitate at this point and announced it very decisively.

"If it's only for a month, I won't quit my current job," Friend A said with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

Just like most girls are materialistic, women who have been to the sea and swam generally yearn to come ashore and rest. So if she really meets a crazy guy like Ishihara Akira who is willing to lend her a hand, even if it's just a fake material transaction, she doesn't mind taking a break.

However, to everyone's surprise, Ishihara Akira was so cunning that he only planned to support her for a month, which greatly disappointed his friend A, who had made some calculations.

“You can take leave,” Ishihara Akira said.

"Alright then. For the sake of the 40, I'll ask the madam at the shop for leave and stay with you for a month," Friend A sighed.

"Then remember to take me to your place later."

"What?"

“I can’t accommodate you properly on my side, so I’ll be staying with you for the next month,” Ishihara Akira said.

"You still want to stay at my place? That 400,000 isn't enough, add another 50,000! Add another 50,000 and I'll agree," Friend A retorted loudly.

"Row."

Anyway, the average rent for a house in Japan is between 30,000 and 50,000 yen per month, so spending 50,000 yen to rent a house is not an unacceptable thing.

“Alright, now that we’ve finished talking about business, let’s do some things that couples do.” Ishihara Akira rolled over and pinned his friend A down.

……

The next morning, Ishihara Akira bid farewell to his friend A, returned to the temple, changed into his monk's robes, and once again transformed into a dignified and proper monk to begin his day's work...

"Is it just my imagination...? I feel quite energetic, unlike in my past life when I couldn't get up or didn't get enough sleep after a hard night's work. Is it because of the power of the seven emotions and six desires I absorbed...?" Ishihara Akira wondered to himself as he realized he wasn't as exhausted and listless as he had expected while working in the morning.

"So, one of the effects of the seven emotions and six desires that I absorbed is to boost my spirit? Or rather, to enhance my mental strength? If that's the case, then my 45 yuan was really well spent!"

Trading 45 for a battery that lasts a month and a Spirit Stone is the best deal ever.

However, if you want to have her for the long term, it's best to find a proper girlfriend, marry her, and keep her by your side.

In this way, I will no longer have to worry about improving my mental strength.

The next day passed uneventfully. Ishihara Akira finished her duties as the temple's abbot without incident, then took out her phone, contacted her friend A, left the temple, took a taxi to the address her friend A had provided on LINE, and headed to her house.

"You live in a place like this?" Ishihara Akira said to his friend A, who had run downstairs after receiving his message.

Although the neighborhood where Friend A lives is not the most notorious poor area in Nagoya, or a place with chaotic public security, it is not a well-managed community either. Traces of Zakuya can be seen around here from time to time, and even yakuza members can be seen. Ishihara Sho has seen them before.

Not to mention that the apartment where Friend A lives is itself a rather old building.

Overall, it doesn't feel like a place a respectable girl would live in...

Oh, friend A isn't a proper girl, then it's alright.

"Or what? Stay in a luxury apartment?" Friend A rolled his eyes at him, annoyed.

"How's the security here?" Ishihara Akira asked casually as he followed his friend A upstairs.

"It's alright. Anyway, I haven't heard of any violent incidents or murders happening around here recently."

As they spoke, the two arrived at Friend A's residence—a room on the third floor. Friend A then opened the door and invited Ishihara Akira inside.

"It's alright. I thought the environment here would be terrible." Ishihara Akira chuckled as he looked around the fairly clean and tidy room.

"That's right, I came back and started cleaning right after asking the madam for leave. It took me more than three hours to get the house as you see it now. I was exhausted," Friend A said proudly.

"This is because you don't pay attention to tidying and organizing normally. Otherwise, you wouldn't need to cram at the last minute."

Chapter 10 Work

After actually settling in, Ishihara Akira discovered that the environment at Friend A's place was truly terrible!

I'm not talking about security or community sanitation, but rather the sound insulation of the walls.

I don't know if it's because it's an old building, or because the apartment building was constructed with some cheap materials, but at night, especially when the neighbors on the left, right, up, and down have something going on, the noise is so loud it's like it's coming right up to your ear. It's so clear that Ishihara Akira doesn't dare to make any big noise with his friend A.

I'm afraid that making too much noise will cause the same disturbance as the upstairs neighbors, disturbing the neighbors on both sides and preventing those single young people from getting a good night's rest...

Fortunately, Ishihara Akira's purpose in living with her friend A was not for that kind of thing, but simply to use her dreams to absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires to improve herself, so it didn't affect anything. At most, she would go to bed a little later, usually after the couple upstairs had finished their business, otherwise she would have to use something like earplugs to cope.

Three days later, Ishihara Akira received the books he had bought online on his very first day of life—a series of guides on meditation—from the deliveryman.

The speed was so slow that he almost thought the seller was a foreigner...

In any case, in his previous life, the packages that Ishihara Akane encountered that took more than three days to arrive were mostly large items or special goods, or problems caused by accidents or environmental factors. For normal same-city or same-province deliveries, it was never less than three days.

Despite his annoyance, Ishihara Akira, who was preoccupied with finding an effective way to improve his mental strength, wasn't about to give up reading. He unpacked the books, opened the covers that looked like they were filled with Western mysticism elements, and began to seriously study meditation methods...

"Hmm, so this is what meditation is like..."

……

"Is Master Xingzhi here?" On this day, just as Ishihara Sho was meditating during his routine break, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from outside the meditation room.

"Amitabha, greetings, benefactor. This humble monk is Xingzhi. May I ask what business you have with me?" Shi Yuanzhang stood up from the futon, walked to the door, looked at the middle-aged man standing in front of the meditation room, chanted a Buddhist prayer in a low voice, and asked in surprise.

"Hello, Master Xingzhi, I am a resident living nearby. My name is Sato Takano. I have come here to ask you to come to my place and help me with a ritual." Sato Takano explained to Ishihara Sho with a polite expression.

"A religious ceremony? Benefactor, let's talk inside." Upon hearing this, Ishihara Akira's expression immediately changed slightly after realizing there was money to be made. He stepped aside and gestured an invitation towards the meditation room.

"Then I'll take my leave."

The two then returned to the meditation room and sat down on their respective seats.

"I wonder what your relationship was with the deceased benefactor, how old he was, and what caused his death?"

These are all related to the practice and specific steps of the ritual, so it's essential to ask clearly.

“He was my older brother, 56 years old. It’s a little embarrassing to say, but he drank himself to death…” Sato Takano replied somewhat awkwardly.

If someone can drink themselves to death, then obviously, Mr. Sato's life is not good, or even very poor. He can only get by drinking cheap alcohol to pass the time, living a life of debauchery. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so easy for an ordinary person to drink themselves to death.

Especially in a society like Japan, where food safety testing appears to be extremely strict, but in reality, a large number of counterfeit alcohol and cigarettes exist behind the scenes that are not visible to ordinary people, it is very difficult to buy substandard alcohol in a normal store.

"So, how many days of religious rites do you plan to hold for him? Are you only responsible for the house burial, or will you also include the cremation and burial process?" Ishihara Akira asked again.