058: 200 Gold, All Collected!

Old Shock found him early in the morning, wearing an innocent expression as he claimed that was simply how things stood. He had already figured out a solution, and as for what to do next, it was entirely up to Richard himself.

However, he said: "Richard, we will both be making a living under Freya from now on. Do you know what the best way to close the distance between two people is?

"That's right, it's asking for help.

"Only by owing a favor to your superior can your superior feel truly secure in employing you.

"Our boss loves nurturing promising newcomers, and I've got high hopes for you."

Before leaving, the fifty-something old dwarf added: "Remember to keep the matter of me lending you money a secret."

"That is my entire life savings, so you must remember to pay it back."

"How about this? If you can repay me within a week, I won't charge you interest... Well, never mind, a month will do.

"No interest within a month, but if it exceeds a month, you'll have to pay me an interest of 50 silver coins per month.

"Rest assured, I'm not cheating you out of your money. In the future, I'll treat you to a drink using this very interest."

Richard: "......"

Old Shock left, moving like a miniature tank.

Richard increasingly felt that this little old dwarf wasn't quite as cute anymore.

The goblin race on the Loren Continent were synonymous with crafty merchants.

Passing off inferior goods as superior ones, buying low and selling high—they would engage in any business as long as it turned a profit.

Given that dwarves and goblins were of comparable height, Richard had good reason to suspect that the ancestors of dwarves and goblins were related.

He had borrowed over twenty gold coins. The first month was interest-free, but starting from the second month, the interest was half a gold coin per month, totaling 6 gold coins a year.

Usury! Even ordinary usurers were more conscientious than Old Shock.

"Should I simply not pay the money back?"

Richard's conscience was entirely clear.

......

After washing up and eating breakfast, Nurse Susan came to work.

He had to admit, this young noble lady possessed good comprehension. Clearly she had never done housework a day in her life, but after a few days of practice, she was already doing a quite respectable job.

Especially when Richard walked by, or when she passed by Richard, Susan was very adept at utilizing her own advantages.

A slight sway of her hips,

An even more accentuated arch of her waist,

Though Susan's body was still in its developmental stage, that youthful charm would inadvertently draw people close to her.

Sitting on the small sofa and reading the newspaper, Richard smiled and said: "Didn't sleep well last night, did you?"

Because she was wearing a mask, Susan's pair of eyes appeared even larger and brighter.

For that very reason, the faint dark circles beneath them were completely visible to Richard.

Susan walked over, squatted down, and rested her head on his lap.

This was a manifestation of dependence, or at least the young girl was showing her reliance on Richard.

Then,

the girl pulled a handful of paper currency and gold coins from her pocket and said: "I told my mother about the possibility of me attending the magic academy. This is all the money I could manage to scrape together recently. I know it's still not enough, but please rest assured, I will definitely gather the 200 gold coins."

*Ding-dong*!

Prompt: Assets +168 gold coins!

......

Richard: "!!"

Is this the power of nobility?

Or rather, did Susan leverage the power of maternal love to forcibly extract more than a hundred gold coins?

Good grief.

And more importantly, Richard's total assets had broken through the two-hundred-gold mark—enough to buy the authority of a god!

He took a deep breath and first glanced at the golden paper currency.

This was the universal currency of the Redwood Empire: 1 sovereign.

If Richard remembered correctly, 1 sovereign = 10 gold coins.

And there were 15 bills on the coffee table, along with 18 gold coins, making a total of 168 gold!

Richard accepted the money and slowly said: "Have you ever considered another possibility: what if you gave me the money, but I failed to bring you the admission notice?"

Hearing this, the girl's expression turned bitter.

She seemed to realize that she couldn't fool the man before her with her own tricks, so she simply spoke the truth: "I have considered it. In that case, it would mean I cheated my family out of the money, and there would never be any possibility of a free life for me again. No matter how my family arranges my future, I would have to accept it."

Richard: "Mmm, that sounds very pitiful."

His fingers slid from the girl's forehead down to the bridge of her nose, made a half-circle, and landed on her soft... back.

To be honest, Richard truly hadn't expected Susan to work this hard.

The magic academy was her own proposal, and Richard had said he needed money—200 gold coins.

As a result, only a day had passed, and she had already brought over the greater part of it.

He could blindly guess that Susan must have exerted a tremendous amount of effort both in front of and behind her mother's back.

This really made one... genuinely want to run away with the money.

Richard said: "Set your mind at ease. I've already thought of a way. The admission notice worth 200 gold coins will not disappoint you."

Susan: "Mm-mm-mm!"

......

After Susan left, it was already afternoon.

Today was Monday, and the business at Charlie Clinic was mediocre. There was only one talk therapy session, bringing in a revenue of 2 silver coins.

At the same time, Richard had a brand-new agreement in his hands. The clauses on it were extremely harsh, meaning whoever signed this thing would belong to Richard from top to bottom, down to their very soul.

This was prepared for Susan.

When the time came, an admission notice or recommendation letter would be handed to her along with it.

The fact that the young girl was getting better and better at waiting on him was not what Richard valued most.

The [Wind Breath] was.

Currently, Richard had not yet encountered any true powerhouses.

However, the fact that a single rune knight order could conquer a barony indicated that this was still an era where individual might dominated the world.

Richard was an outsider; it was impossible for him to follow the lord-vassal path.

Therefore, he could only continuously make himself stronger and find a few promising followers.

As for Susan, he would treat it as an experiment.

If the experiment succeeded, all would be well.

If it failed, Richard would sell her to the system in exchange for money, and the loss wouldn't be very significant.

At this thought,

Richard went upstairs to change into a formal suit and a gentleman's hat, picked up his walking stick, and headed straight for the inner district.

"Freya..."

This woman definitely had something wrong with her brain.

......

The inner district,

Maple Detective Agency,

The boss's office on the third floor.

Richard stood outside and knocked on the wooden door.

The door wasn't locked.

As the rapping sound rang out, the wooden door swung open automatically.

Looking inside,

the familiar room, the familiar furnishings, even the note on the desk was still in its original position.

[Come find me downstairs.]

Richard: "???"

His recruit training was already over!

Thinking of Old Shock's frantic appearance this morning,

and then looking at this note that seemed to know he would come,

Richard understood.

"It must be Freya who said she could write a recommendation letter, and then made me come beg her!"

This woman truly had something wrong with her.

And there was Shock; that little old dwarf was prime material for a spy!

Recalling his few encounters with Freya,

if it weren't strictly necessary, Richard genuinely wished to just be an ordinary, unremarkable subordinate.

That way, the next time his direct superior got in a bad mood and hauled him in for interrogation, Richard wouldn't feel any emotion like anger.

Or perhaps one day, when his divine arts reached mastery, he would summon Freya before him—and that would be the moment Richard exacted his revenge on her in all sorts of colorful ways.

Richard walked into the hidden door.

The sensation of teleportation washed over him.

For someone who had experienced hell-grade recruit training, this was nothing.

A short while later,

Richard's vision returned to normal, and Freya, clad in a military uniform and tall boots, was right before his eyes.

Without a shred of unnecessary chatter, Freya tossed him a sword while speaking: "Come, let me see whether your strength has regressed after not training these past few days."

Richard: "......"

A sword thrust came straight at his head!