Chapter 4: History

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: History

The mansion was quiet that night.

Allan sat at the long dining table, staring at the three silver coins in front of him. Three. That was what remained after buying food, repairing the worst parts of the mansion, replacing a few broken pieces of furniture, and purchasing the basic necessities he had been ignoring since arriving in Yggdrasil.

Three silver coins.

He picked one up between his fingers.

So this is what being poor feels like, he thought.

Lira put down the cup she had been holding across the table from Allan.

"You were poor before, Master."

Allan looked at her, slightly confused as to how she had read his mind.

"Excuse me, did you read my mind or something?"

"You were poor before, Master," Lira said after a moment, a faint smile playing on her lips. "You said it yourself. You had one silver coin."

Allan blinked. He hadn’t expected them to remember. It must have been then, while they were out shopping.

"And you two were listening?" he asked, not realizing how his words sounded.

"We were standing in the middle of the street," Lira said. She tilted her head. "You weren’t exactly whispering."

"Hmmm..." Allan leaned back. "Yeah, yeah. All right."

Once, he had a mountain of wealth that far exceeded that of any normal player: rare swords, divine armor, ancient relics, and even entire lands. Now, three silver coins, just like everyone else.

He almost laughed.

"What happened to the world where the protagonist wakes up as the heir of some ridiculously wealthy family and has to manage their fortune?" he spoke aloud, again.

Seris looked at him. "Huh, Master, I don’t know if you’ve gone mad or anything, but you were the heir of a wealthy family."

Allan’s smile disappeared. "I was...?"

"This huge mansion was your family’s residence, bustling with servants and money." Seris pointed toward the mansion, her expression still confused.

"What family?" Allan asked.

Lira nodded. "Your family, Master."

He wanted to say, "yes, that family," but he was a player. Transmigrated into an NPC. Of course he would know nothing about the character.

A memory surfaced. Not from Allan’s previous life, but from the one he now possessed.

A large estate with rows of warehouses. Carriages entering through large iron gates at the front of the estate. Men carrying crates of all sizes, stacks of documents, contracts, chains, etc.

His expression slowly changed.

"Wait... what did my family do?"

The two women looked at each other before returning their attention to Allan.

"Master... did you forget where we came from? Both me and Seris? Did you forget everything?" Lira asked.

Seris sighed. "Your family owned several businesses."

"That’s not what I asked. Come on, speak to me."

Silence.

Seris finally spoke. "They owned... labor houses."

Allan stared at her. "Labor houses?"

"People were bought," she said quietly. "Then sold. Like we were."

The room became completely silent.

His fingers clenched together.

Slavery. Of course his family had to be involved in that too. They were bankrupt nobles, after all.

Rubbing his face with his fingers, Allan exclaimed,

Protagonist is reincarnated into game world. He starts with the worst possible stats. Loses everything. Finds out his family’s business was slavery.

"Yggdrasil really hates me."

"You aren’t going to continue the business, though, are you, Master?" Lira asked.

Allan turned back and looked at her. Concern lay behind her quietly spoken words. Clear concern.

"You don’t want me to?" Allan asked.

"No! People shouldn’t be treated like... property," Lira replied.

Allan said nothing. Seris quietly nodded. "I agree."

All servants in the game were background characters. I didn’t have any remorse back then. They appear from time to time, but only for a short period, then disappear. They did not talk. And they certainly did not express opinions or fears.

They simply obeyed. They smiled.

But Lira and Seris seemed to be of a completely different world from the other servants in the game. Of course I wouldn’t treat them the same as in the game.

These two, they make me... less empty, I guess.

Like the doctor.

Allan sat back down after a moment’s pause and pushed the three silver coins together. "We’re not going to be doing that, so don’t worry, Lira."

Lira’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

Then Allan smiled. "However, we can use what remains for the business. We can’t just stay here like this forever."

Seris blinked. "Use what?"

"The business infrastructure," Allan said, leaning forward. "My family had warehouses, right?"

"Yes."

"Carriages?"

"Yes... some."

"Connections?"

Lira nodded. "Quite a few."

"Then the business wasn’t worthless," Allan said, tapping the table between them. "The product was. We just need to change that."

Seris frowned slightly. "And what will you sell?"

Allan smiled. "I won’t sell people, that’s for sure. Like I said, I will invest."

The problem was... how, and with whom? he thought to himself.

That was the problem. He knew the world of Yggdrasil. He knew its future. He knew about the monsters, the dungeons, the wars, the treasures.

But he didn’t know how to run a legitimate business in that world. He had never needed to, because he had always been a player. But now...

Then Lira spoke. "You could become an adventurer."

Allan looked at her. "An... adventurer?"

"Adventurers can earn money," Lira said.

Seris immediately disagreed. "Adventurers also die. Do you want Master to die, Lira?"

Lira looked at her. "Poor people die faster, you know."

"Lira... that isn’t an argument."

"It is when we’re this poor."

Allan stared at both women for a moment before bursting into laughter. The laughter was not loud, but it was authentic, and it felt so good.

"You two... argue?"

Lira looked confused. "Sometimes."

"Good," Allan said, and leaned back in his chair. In that moment, the mansion seemed much better than his old apartment.

Allan looked at the three silver coins on the table in front of him. "We do both."

"Adventure by day and business by night, and invest by whatever means. You both already know about my... skill.

And when we encounter someone worth investing in, we can invest in them as well."

Seris stared at him. "You already know where to begin, then, Master." It wasn’t a question.

Allan smiled. "Yes."

As he was speaking, something triggered in his memory, something he hadn’t thought of in years.

A place most players never bothered visiting.

A forgotten dungeon. I don’t know if anyone conquered it.

The first dungeon on Yggdrasil to hide treasures in it. This dungeon was believed to be worth nothing. A total waste of time. Players back in the day found nothing but holes in the walls and completely useless rewards.

But the second point is more important to me: this is the perfect place for a Level 1 player with almost no money to begin.

Allan stood. "We’re leaving... tomorrow."

Lira blinked. "Where?"

Allan smiled to himself. "The Hollow Root."

He sat back down, pulled a single silver coin from the pile, and studied it for a long moment.

"Adventuring and business at the same time," Seris said thoughtfully. "That will split your attention and focus. You might lose both, you know."

"But sitting around counting coins isn’t going to raise my level or stock the warehouse for you," Allan replied.

Allan laid the coin on the table. "We’ll start small. My aim is to clear the first few floors of the dungeon and bring back anything I can sell.

While I’m doing that, you two will have to start getting the basics covered: food, repairs to the warehouse, finding out if any of the old contacts are still around and willing to do business over a letter."

Lira nodded once. "I can do that."

"Note that the old contacts may not want to deal with the son of a ruined house," Seris said, her voice even.

"Then we just find new ones," Allan said. "Ones who are willing to invest in my investments."

He leaned forward, hands on the table in front of him. The table creaked under his pressure, pressure that seemed to be trying to press something out of the wood.

"Now, for the location of our first foray: the Hollow Root. I have heard it is a place most people wouldn’t even consider venturing into.

Firstly, the entrance is half buried in the ground and looks abandoned. Secondly, the creatures you would encounter first are rather weak. And lastly, the loot tables look rather bad on paper."

Lira looked at Allan in surprise. "But it’s not empty," she said, with a hint of reverence in her voice.

"Behind a false wall, behind the entrance to the side path of the Hollow Root, there is a chest containing a skill book which won’t be sold anywhere until much later, and a number of materials usually sold in the capital by alchemists, which can be sold once the correct recipes have been found."

He paused for a moment. "A handful of materials that, eventually, the alchemists in the capital will pay handsomely for, once they have discovered the corresponding recipes and the corresponding quantity of that material required for the completion of said recipes."

Seris looked at him intently. "You remember the exact order," she said.

"I do."

"But you’re Level 1. Lower than even us. Can you actually do it?"

"I can. Why do you both still suspect me?"

Everything is high risk when I only have three silver coins and a mansion that leaks. At least this risk has a clear return.

Lira started to pack for the trip. "We should prepare properly. Food for two days. Basic tools. A map, if one still exists in the study. I will bring it to you."

"Everything should be recorded and written down. That’s what the original Allan’s family did when they were recording local ruins.

However, they were only using that information for future generations to possibly work in those ruins for slavery later on."

The words hung there in the silence for a moment, and neither woman looked away.

Allan took a deep breath. "Once we have found the locations of the ruins, we will burn the records that Allan’s family kept of local ruins.

The history of those ruins is of no use to us sitting on a shelf."

Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. Seris nodded without speaking.

By the time they returned to the dining room, the three silver coins were still sitting on the table in front of them. Allan picked them up and began to roll them toward Lira.

"Keep one for emergencies. The other two can be used to buy supplies for tomorrow morning: bread, rope if possible, and oil for the lamps. I’ll take the knife and the map."

Lira didn’t argue.

"Tomorrow we leave at dawn," he said. "We clear what we can from the first floors. We bring back anything useful."

Lira smiled, small but real. "Understood, Master."

Seris simply said, "We’ll be ready, Master."