Chapter 366 - 366 - Carved Into the Blood, Rooted in the Soul

Just as Leon and his two companions were talking quietly with Alise, a clerk brought over the map. Royman cross-referenced Leon's group's contribution points against the value of the plot and made his assessment. After careful deliberation and weighing, he set down his quill with a grave expression and looked toward Leon:

"We've verified this plot, and it is indeed ownerless. According to the records, its ownership has been managed on the Guild's behalf for the past eight years."

"So, in principle, there's no problem with allocating it to your Demeter Familia."

"But..."

A vein twitched faintly at Leon's temple, and his face darkened in an instant.

Is this ever going to end!?

Noticing that Leon's expression had soured, Royman hurried on with his explanation:

"But... your current contribution points still aren't enough to exchange for this land."

"Going by the contribution from your last Expedition settlement, you'd need to complete two more pioneering Expeditions into unexplored territory, plus take on a full year's grain supply quota, before you'd have enough to exchange for it."

Two Expeditions, a year of grain supply...

Leon's breath caught. He looked at the earnest Guild Master before him, then sank into thought.

Is it worth it?

For anyone else, perhaps it wouldn't be.

With this many contribution points, what couldn't you trade for? Rare materials the Guild kept in reserve, precious Drop Items, high-grade magic items, even... a Grimoire.

But what kind of person was Leon?

A true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool son of the soil!

In his eyes, of everything those contribution points could buy, nothing made his heart race like land.

It was practically an instinct carved into his bones.

Jeanne and Rose saw Leon's hesitation and were about to tell him there was no need to rush, that the matter of exchanging for land could be discussed at leisure. Just then Riveria cut in softly, her tone gentle but carrying a crucial reminder:

"Leon, Jeanne, Rose."

"This plot is about the same size as our Loki Familia's base, the Twilight Manor. I can tell you that when we first acquired that land, it cost us roughly five billion Valis."

"And that was the price decades ago."

"Even though Orario's order has been thrown into turmoil by various factors and its internal situation is unstable, driving land prices down, if this plot were put up for public auction, given the habits of the royals, nobles, and great merchants of other nations, its price would likely still be bid up to somewhere around four to four and a half billion Valis."

She paused briefly, then added:

"There's one more thing worth pointing out to you."

"Contribution points enjoy the highest exchange priority at the Guild. In other words... as long as you're willing to spend contribution points to make the exchange, even if you temporarily overdraw your points into 'debt,' no one else can possibly snatch this land out of your hands."

Five billion?

Leon's heart lurched. Then his head snapped up, his eyes blazing with light as he fixed Royman with a piercing stare.

"I'll take it!"

"You're certain?"

"I'm certain!"

At those words, Royman's old face broke into a wide grin...

In his eyes, this plot sitting there was nothing but an idle asset. Not only did it generate no value, but the Guild had to eat a management fee on it every year, a losing deal through and through, bleeding money.

Now, with this single piece of "useless land," he'd not only drained in one stroke every contribution point the Demeter Familia had accumulated over the years and pre-claimed the next year's contributions on top, but he'd even... gotten the promise of two 『Dungeon Expeditions』 out of them for free. However you tallied it, this deal was a guaranteed win for the Guild.

And Leon cared even less about all that.

So it was two Expeditions, no big deal, just call it grinding for experience. So what if it was a little tiring, a little rough, a little dangerous? In the face of land that was about to truly be his own, none of that was worth mentioning.

Land was an obsession carved into the blood and rooted in the soul; and on top of that, if a few contribution points could save him five billion Valis in cold, hard cash, why wouldn't he? Besides... if he had to earn it through his own struggle, how long would he have to grind before he could save up an astronomical sum like five billion Valis?

As far as he knew, the debt the Loki Familia took on back then to buy that land and build the Twilight Manor... they still hadn't finished paying it off to this day, had they?

And that didn't even count the expense of constructing the castle itself.

Beyond all that, he also knew a secret no one else did:

Once the various upheavals of these two years passed, Orario was about to return to being that prosperous, thriving, bustling city of heroes, city of adventure, center of the world... and by then, trying to get land of the same scale, three billion? It probably wouldn't even get him in the door.

As for draining the Demeter Familia's contribution points dry...

In Leon's view, there was nothing that leveling up couldn't solve. And if there was, then level up twice. And if even that left Demeter unsatisfied, well, then Leon would just have to resort to some "special measures."

Demeter, you wouldn't want your legs to go so weak in front of your fellow gods that you can't even walk, now would you?

...

...

Scratch, scratch, scratch...

The steel nib of the quill glided smoothly across the parchment, giving off a fine, pleasant scratching sound.

Royman turned a deaf ear to the rising murmur of discussion in the council hall. Fully absorbed, his pen flying across the page, he quickly drafted the contract document. Then he first stamped his own Guild Master's seal, followed by the divine seal of Ouranos, which represented the city's governing body, the Guild's highest authority. After that, he circled around the enormous round table, walked up to Leon, and solemnly handed over this parchment contract worth five billion Valis with both hands.

"Mr. Hart, please review it."

"If the contents of the contract are correct, then sign here and affix the seals of each individual as well as of the Demeter Familia."

Leon wasn't entirely ignorant of contract terms. As an Adventurer, he'd handled all sorts of commission contracts and had built up some experience. But to be safe and avoid repeating past losses, he still called Jeanne and Rose over to go through it carefully together.

Even so, he didn't feel reassured. So he also invited Riveria, a seasoned senior, to give it a final check.

As the Loki Familia's head steward, a mere transaction contract was hardly a trivial matter for Riveria, but it was well within her grasp. She took the parchment and, in under ten minutes, picked out several minor loopholes and ambiguities.

Then Leon started haggling with Royman.

It wasn't until the contract version had been updated all the way to "3.5.17" that the two sides finally reached agreement.

"No problems."

When Riveria nodded in approval after who knew how many reviews, Leon, Jeanne, and Rose could finally breathe a real sigh of relief.

"Lady Riveria, we've truly put you through a lot of trouble this time."

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