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Clatter, clatter.
Davian, squinting, looked around and whispered,
"Bonita, are you asleep?"
"Would I be?"
"Where are they taking us?"
"I don't know. It feels like it's been a while."
Davian and Bonita are trapped inside a carriage with all sides blocked.
Darkness with not a single ray of light.
They could only guess that they were being dragged somewhere by the rattling sound and shaking.
Their hands and feet were tightly bound with thick ropes.
A small inn located in a secluded village.
That's where Davian and Bonita were poisoned.
No, they pretended to be poisoned.
Davian and Bonita, who had taken the rarity ★★★★ item 'Elixir of the Green Dragon' casually given by Glacier, were immune to any poison.
Bonita whispered.
"Who the hell are they? Why all of a sudden?"
"The others eating were fine. They're definitely targeting us. They probably know who we are and where we're going."
"Does that mean...?"
"It must be someone related to the loan sharks. And considering they even know when we move, they definitely have a proper backer."
"Backer?"
"A mere loan shark can't grasp the academy students' quest performance schedule in real-time. Especially since we decided and left today. Maybe..."
"Maybe?"
"They might have been watching you from the start. Through someone in the academy."
"Me? Why?"
"Why else? Because you're the one who will rebuild the Fortis family."
Silence followed for a moment.
"Someone, I don't know who... plans to eliminate our family altogether?"
"You'd have to have that much of a plan to dare to illegally occupy a Count's castle, wouldn't you?"
"What a bastard..."
"I don't know either. Think about it on the way. The person who would benefit the most from your family disappearing."
Unfortunately.
She was too young when her father died at the hands of an assassin.
And since then, she had been madly obsessed with swordsmanship.
So she had no idea who her family's enemy was.
"Damn it. I have no idea. I just thought my father had earned someone's resentment. I never thought there would be people trying to uproot a crumbling family."
It's not unreasonable.
She's only 18 years old now.
Before entering the academy, she was 16.
Just looking at Bonita's swordsmanship skills.
It's easy to see where she's poured her entire short life.
"I'll find out little by little. Maybe my mother knows something if I ask her when I get to the castle."
The outside of the quiet carriage gradually began to get noisy.
People's voices could be heard faintly.
"Looks like we're here."
"What's the plan?"
"They think we've been poisoned. We still have the initiative. Let's see what they do."
Bonita nodded and closed her eyes.
Snore, snore.
She made slow, even breaths like someone in a deep sleep.
'Her acting skills have definitely improved a lot.'
Squeak.
A man climbed onto the carriage and put his finger under Davian and Bonita's noses.
"Little kids. Sleeping soundly without even knowing where you are. Hey, guys, carry them one by one and follow me."
"Yes!"
While being carried limply on the man's shoulder.
Davian maximized his senses and observed the surroundings.
Judging by the interruption of the mana flow, they were surrounded by high walls.
Interestingly, the walls were built in a square shape, not a circular one.
Inside the large square walls, hundreds of people were moving busily.
There were about 20 buildings, large and small.
Some were stone buildings, and some were wooden.
There were also several tents set up.
'It's not a bandit or robber camp. What the hell is this place?'
Among the people busy with their work.
No one cares that two students in school uniforms are being taken away unconscious.
"Who are these guys?"
"I don't know. They said to lock them up, but have we ever worked knowing every detail? Open the door."
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of a heavy stone door opening.
"What grade are the prisoners?"
"Special."
"Special?"
"Yeah."
"These little kids?"
"They say they're amazing, but I don't know. They fell for the sleeping poison so easily. What special?"
"Still, there must be a reason. Go up."
"Take care."
"You too."
The men went up the stairs to the top 5th floor and roughly threw Davian and Bonita into a barred cell.
"It's been a while since we've had special prisoners. What, they're just kids?"
"Yeah. They say they're incredibly strong, so keep releasing the sleeping poison. You don't know what will happen if they wake up."
"They're already out of it. Alright. Go down."
"Take care."
"You too."
After the group left.
The fat man guarding the 5th-floor prison cell looked inside the cell.
"They're still downy little chicks."
He brought a long stick and pushed Bonita's body over to turn her over.
The fat man's sticky eyes scanned Bonita's whole body.
"Oh, this girl will be worth some money if I sell her? Hehe."
The fat man hummed a song and took out two glass bottles from the shelf.
Glass bottles filled halfway with purple and green liquid.
He took the glass bottle with the purple liquid and poured it into the glass bottle with the green liquid.
As the two liquids mixed, heavy smoke poured out of the glass bottle.
The fat man pushed the glass bottle with the heavy smoke pouring out into the cell.
"Sleep well, pretty. I don't know what the disposition will be, but maybe I'll take care of you."
Smoke filled the cell.
Bonita opened her mouth.
"I'm going to kill that bastard."
"Go ahead."
Davian slowly got up.
Douglas.
The ruler of the black money of the Alkancia Kingdom.
Born from a fallen noble family, he abandoned his title and only kept his name as he drifted into the back alleys as a child.
He would have definitely risen to a high position if his family hadn't fallen.
Selfish but cool-headed.
Bold and clear-headed.
Before he even turned 15.
He completely took control of the back alleys he had drifted into.
It wasn't that he had high mana affinity or was strong.
He just had the best brain and strongest heart among the ordinary men in the back alleys.
After choosing a life in the back alleys.
The power that caught Douglas's eye was money.
With money alone.
He was a noble and a king in this back alley.
After taking control of the back alleys, Douglas began to play with money in earnest.
His first customers were the gamblers in the back alleys.
Naturally.
Douglas's loan business thrived.
When the money accumulated in Douglas's warehouse became more than the money circulating throughout the back alleys.
Douglas escaped the narrow back alleys.
The next customers were merchants.
Before long.
Merchants in trouble with financing started coming to Douglas first.
The year Douglas turned 30.
Finally.
He met the real, true customer he had been dreaming of.
The opponent was a Marquis.
He was the noble among the high nobles guarding the western border of the continent.
Addicted to gambling, he was busy playing cards with other nobles every day instead of defending the border where no one attacked.
Eventually, he mortgaged even what should not have been mortgaged.
It was his daughter's marriage.
The Marquis, desperate, sought out Douglas.
And Douglas readily gave him the money.
But.
The Marquis did not repay Douglas's money for several years.
Eventually, Douglas began debt collection against the Marquis.
The result was.
It was so miserable that it was indescribable.
He thought he had everything in the world.
But in the face of the Marquis's absolute power.
Douglas was no different from the 15-year-old brat who used to be the boss of the back alleys.
He thought he had built up a stronger private army than anyone else.
But it could not be compared to the army of the Border Count guarding the border.
He had connections with all kinds of high-ranking people.
But no one took the side of the back alley loan shark instead of the Marquis.
He had gathered more money than anyone else.
But the Marquis tried to confiscate Douglas's property entirely by framing him with absurd charges.
It was hopeless.
He thought money was power.
But in the face of real power, money was.
Just a commodity that could be easily taken away, nothing more, nothing less.
Even if it was just money.
He could not lose everything he had built up over his entire life so far.
Douglas had no choice but to choose.
So he.
Chose to go under the Marquis instead of complete destruction.
He restarted his business.
But half of the money he earned had to be given to the Marquis's high-stakes gambling money.
He felt terrible.
But there was also an advantage.
Once he bowed his head to the Marquis.
Now, not just any nobles could treat Douglas carelessly.
The Marquis's halo was added to Douglas's debt collection.
Of course.
Because half of the money recovered through debt collection was the Marquis's gambling money.
In this way, a somewhat satisfactory life began again, and after a few years.
One day, the Marquis came to see him.
He had never cared about the dirty loan business.
Douglas's heart sank.
In fact, he had been keeping double books lately to embezzle the money he had to send to the Marquis.
……Fortunately, that was not the reason he came.
"The Fortis Count's family will need money. Before they raise money elsewhere, go visit them first."
"The Fortis Count's family... isn't that the fallen noble family?"
It is a loan business that deals with nobles.
It was natural to be aware of the current status of nobles throughout the continent.
"Yes. Douglas, go yourself. Go and raise as much money as they demand."
It was the first time the Marquis had been involved in the loan business.
To the Marquis, this work that Douglas had devoted his life to.
It was just a gratifying game to provide gambling money.
"Could I…… ask the reason?"
The Marquis's voice sank heavily.
"Douglas."
Douglas's heart sank.
It was the same voice he had heard back then when he asked, 'Will you have everything taken away and be killed, or will you come under me?'
"Yes, yes! Marquis."
"You've been doing very well so far. But now, do you want to lose everything you've achieved again because of unnecessary curiosity?"
No.
Absolutely.
Absolutely not.
"No! Marquis!"
"Yes. I'll say it one last time. Go to the Fortis Count's family and raise money."
"Yes, yes!"
What's next?
I wanted to ask, but I couldn't open my mouth.
Douglas's head spun quickly.
Seeing that he came all the way here to give instructions directly, there must be some purpose.
Should he ask what to do next and handle the work more surely?
Or should he just shut up and do what he's told without making things worse?
How much of a question is included in the 'unnecessary curiosity' that the Marquis mentioned?
Fortunately.
The Marquis relieved Douglas's worries.
"Next……."
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