Chapter 188: Really Struck It Rich This Time

“Alright, you two pack your things. I’ll go downstairs and wait for you.”

“No need to rush, there’s plenty of time. You can do other things if you want.”

“Just keep it down.”

Dome Pillar, second floor of the general store.

After asking his questions, Lu Wei stood up and headed downstairs ahead of them.

In the past half hour, he had come to fully “understand” Freya’s personality and weaknesses.

Her personality was pretty much what he had guessed.

Arrogant, conceited, vicious, and self-centered.

Unlike a typical “Evil Daughter,” however, every one of Freya’s “evil deeds” was done for a reason.

Take the servant who got a rat smashed in his face, for example.

He was actually the one in charge of pest control.

But he’d been slacking off for a few days, which was how a rat managed to get into Freya’s room.

After that, she personally smashed the rat to death.

As for the servant, he not only lost his job but also had his salary from the past six months “reclaimed.”

Other examples followed a similar pattern.

‘Hmm…’

‘Actually, at first glance, Freya seemed like a fairly reasonable person.’

‘At least she wouldn’t give you a hard time for no reason.’

‘That alone made her far better than those asshole bosses from his past life.’

But in reality, her so-called “reason” was nothing more than *her own* brand of logic.

If something didn’t meet her expectations, it was wrong.

And it would be met with extremely severe punishment.

‘How should I put it…’

‘It was basically on the level of ‘one minute late for work, and you lose your entire month’s salary’.

‘Even the most draconian legal scholar in the whole Kingdom would likely feel ashamed of their own inadequacy in her presence.’

‘Now *that’s* a true Capitalist.’

‘Compared to her, I’m just a raw recruit.’

Muttering to himself, Lu Wei descended the stairs to the first floor of the general store.

Anna and Zovir were already asleep in their sleeping bags.

It was quiet outside as well, which meant Theodore and the others were likely asleep too.

Lu Wei picked a few items from the shelves, then stepped out of the general store and sat down in the “gourmet area” outside to wait for Furen and Clara to finish up.

Meanwhile, he mentally continued to catalog Freya’s “weaknesses.”

‘This part was rather simple.’

‘Because she had no weaknesses at all!!’

‘Forget rats and cockroaches; she wasn’t even afraid of her own dad!’

‘According to Furen, Viscount Delaroca himself was even a little scared of his daughter!’

‘In a patriarchal society where a father held nearly absolute power over his children, the significance of this was plain to see.’

‘Especially when that father was the ‘Skeleton Viscount,’ a man famous for his greed and deceit.’

‘After all, the one thing a Crafty Merchant doesn’t fear is law and justice.’

‘The only thing that could scare them is an even more ruthless, more unscrupulous, and more inhuman Great Crafty Merchant!’

‘Sigh, she’s going to be tough to handle.’

‘I feel like my only advantage is my shamelessness.’

‘Then again, her skin can’t possibly be thicker than mine, right?’

‘She’s a noble, and a woman at that. She must care about her reputation.’

Sighing, a troubled look on his face, Lu Wei glanced up at the canopy of the Dome Tree. Suddenly, another piece of information from Furen came to mind.

It was Freya’s one and only “hobby.”

‘To think she’s a literary type who enjoys writing.’

‘I really don’t get it.’

‘Who in their right mind writes novels, anyway…’

…

…

About ten minutes later, Furen and Clara also tiptoed downstairs.

Judging by their furtive expressions, they had just been up to some unspeakable business.

‘And considering the timing… it seemed plausible enough.’

‘If you skip all the useless foreplay, ten minutes is plenty of time.’

“You don’t have to be so careful.” Lu Wei glanced at the two of them and muttered, “No one cares what you were doing.”

“I think it’s better to be careful.” Furen hunched over, his voice low as he glanced around. “If anyone finds out where I’m hiding, there’s a risk the secret will be exposed.”

Lu Wei gave him a sidelong glance. “So, where do you plan on hiding?”

“Huh? I don’t know. Didn’t we say we were going to look for a place later?”

“Then what’s the point of being so secretive right now?”

“Er, I guess you have a point…”

Furen froze for a second, then, realizing his mistake, awkwardly straightened his posture. It was true. If he didn’t even know where he was going to hide, how could anyone else?

“Maybe I should go to that Goblin Nest where we sheltered from the rain.”

“No, wait, that’s a bit too far.”

“Besides, Adventurers go there all the time. I’d be easily discovered.”

“I should probably hide somewhere more remote…”

Muttering his thoughts aloud, Furen soon followed Lu Wei into the dense forest, each of them holding a torch.

Clara, also holding a torch, followed silently behind.

‘Lu Wei had originally planned to use the excuse that it was ‘unsafe’ to stop her from coming.’

‘But Furen insisted that Clara was completely trustworthy, so he couldn’t press the issue.’

‘In any case, he’d done what he could.’

‘If Furen had the misfortune of being betrayed again, he would have no one to blame but himself.’

In any case, the three of them followed a nearby creek, embarking on their journey to find a hiding place for Furen.

The forest at night was a place of coexisting tranquility and danger, a stark contrast to its vibrant, daytime energy.

The creek, their source of water, gurgled in the darkness, its sound sometimes clear, sometimes muffled, like the very pulse of the earth.

Massive, gnarled roots snaked across the ground. Occasionally, the rustle of some unseen creature—a snake or an insect—would sound from the undergrowth, only to vanish as the trio drew near.

‘Come to think of it, this was the second time he’d traveled through the woods at night.’

‘The last time had been with Mirana, to clear out that Goblin Nest.’

‘He’d even saved her life back then.’

‘Who would have thought that less than a month later, they would have already parted ways, their ties completely severed.’

‘Hmph. And she talked about repaying him.’

‘Turns out she meant repaying his kindness with betrayal.’

“How about here?”

About half an hour later, the trio stopped in front of a modest-sized cave entrance.

Based on his adventuring Experience over the past few days, he judged it to be a Bear Cave.

But there was no bear inside at the moment.

This was perfectly normal.

It wasn’t winter, so the bear didn’t need to hibernate and was likely out and about.

‘In any case, as of now, its cave has been requisitioned by me.’

‘If it dares to come back, it’s dead.’

“I think this will work.”

After a quick look around inside the cave, Furen agreed.

“There’s water nearby, and it’s not too far from Dome Pillar.”

“I’ll just find some rocks to block the entrance, and it should be perfectly safe.”

“Alright, this is the place then.”

Lu Wei nodded, jammed the torch into the dirt, then shrugged off his backpack and began pulling things out.

“This is Smoke-removal Powder. Sprinkle some in the fire when you build one. The smoke will become very faint, which will help hide your location.”

“This is Scent-covering Powder, to mask any smells.”

“You should keep this Strong Acid Bottle, too. In case you run into an elite monster you can’t beat.”

“This Monocular Telescope never sold… ahem, what I mean is, you can use it to look at the scenery or something.”

“It’ll be too boring for you to stay here all by yourself otherwise.”

“Oh, and speaking of boredom, I even found a set of Dwarf Three-row Chess for you. You can play against yourself to pass the time…”

As he spoke, Lu Wei kept pulling out all sorts of contraptions, and soon a small pile had formed on the ground.

Seeing how thoroughly Lu Wei had prepared for him, Furen was deeply moved.

“Thank you, Lu Wei, my brother! You’ve been so thoughtful! You even thought about how I’ll pass the time!”

“Don’t mention it. After all, we’re brothers, aren’t we?”

Lu Wei beamed, then confirmed, “So, are you sure you want to keep all this stuff?”

Furen nodded emphatically. “Of course! It all seems incredibly useful!”

“Great. Let me just add up the total.”

As Furen and Clara stared in shock, Lu Wei plopped down on the ground, pulled a notebook and a pen from his bag, and began to tally up the bill right then and there.

“Smoke-removal Powder, 2 Silver Coins.”

“Scent-covering Powder, 1 Silver Coin.”

“Strong Acid Bottle, 2 Gold Coins.”

“Monocular Telescope, 2 silver and 50 copper.”

“Dwarf Three-row Chess…”

“The total comes to 13 gold, 8 silver, and 60 copper.”

A moment later, Lu Wei stopped writing and announced an unbelievable figure.

“Huh? Th-that can’t be right.” Furen’s eyes widened, his voice trembling slightly. “Even by the prices you just quoted, it should only be around 4 Gold Coins.”

“Oh, the items themselves are only 3 gold and 8 silver,” Lu Wei nodded. “The remaining 10 gold coins are my commission for working so hard to make sure you could stay.”

“…”

‘Ah! So that’s what it is!’

‘I knew Brother Lu Wei would never rip me off!’

“That’s perfectly reasonable!”

Furen nodded, a look of sudden understanding on his face. But then his expression turned troubled.

“But… I don’t have that much money on me.”

“No worries. I sold the loot from our last run yesterday. Your share was 2 gold and 2 silver, so we can just deduct that from the total.”

“Oh, right. So that leaves 11 gold and 6 silver…”

“11 gold, 6 silver, and 60 copper,” Lu Wei corrected with precision.

“Oh, right. In any case, I still don’t have enough.” Furen scratched his head. “Mirana paid me back what she owed me this morning, but even so, I only have a little over 8 gold coins on me.”

“That’s fine. Just give me what you can… actually, never mind. Just give me 1 gold coin and 6 silver for now.” Suddenly, Lu Wei’s tone shifted. “You keep the rest. After all, you’ll need to buy Equipment and supplies. You can’t be left completely broke.”

“This…”

Seeing Lu Wei suddenly act so magnanimously, Furen assumed he was genuinely looking out for him and felt another surge of gratitude.

“I couldn’t possibly…”

“What’s to be embarrassed about? It’s not like I’m saying you don’t have to pay me back at all.”

Lu Wei pursed his lips, tore a page from his notebook, and handed it to Furen along with a charcoal pencil.

“Write me an IOU.”

“…”

‘Alright, I guess I got ahead of myself.’

‘And here I thought I really wouldn’t have to pay it back…’

Furen took the piece of paper and, muttering under his breath, began to write the IOU.

“I, Furen Delaroca, on the thirteenth day of the Moon of Moradin…”

“Wait.”

Before Furen could even finish the first sentence, Lu Wei cut in. “Make the date earlier.”

“Why?” Furen paused.

“Because this IOU isn’t for *me*,” Lu Wei explained. “It’s for your sister. I need a plausible excuse for why I insisted you stay, right? And what’s more plausible than a massive IOU?”

“Ah…”

Hearing this, Furen’s jaw dropped. He finally understood Lu Wei’s “kind intentions.”

‘It was all for my own good!’

“Brother Lu Wei, I understand now!”

“If that’s the case, then I agree—10 Gold Coins is far too little.”

With that thought, Furen said no more. He immediately put pen to paper and wrote—

[I hereby swear upon my honor and the good name of the Delaroca Clan to repay the sum of 100 Gold Coins, principal and interest, within three months.]

[Should I fail to repay the debt in the allotted time, the creditor and their agents are entitled to collect what is owed through any means necessary.]

[Signed: Furen Delaroca]