Chapter 125: Damned, Ugly, Gluttonous Bastard

"A deal?" Arnold looked confused by my words.

"Yes, a deal." I nodded and took another bite of my cake.

"You’re both saying that I have no right to be here because I’m weak, but your words aren’t enough to convince me to back down. So I’m offering you a deal that I think will be interesting."

A skeptical look appeared on Ana’s face. She glanced at her twin before turning back to me.

"What is it?"

"You’ll let me participate in the Rite of Passage, and if I lose, I will banish myself from the family."

The people in the crowd gasped at my words and immediately started murmuring among themselves.

"Is this guy insane?" someone said in disbelief.

Even the twins were caught off guard by my suggestion.

It didn’t matter if I didn’t win and they managed to outlast me. If I lost later, they would still get exactly what they wanted.

I knew they would take the bait. What other opportunity would they have to completely get rid of me if I was willingly putting myself on the chopping block?

Ana crossed her arms and smiled sharply.

"You’ve really lost your mind, haven’t you, little brother? You know that you’re digging your own grave, right?"

"I’m pretty sane, actually, but life really isn’t that fun if there are no risks. Am I not right?" I shrugged.

Arnold chuckled and covered his face with his hand like a father who had just heard his child say something absurd.

"You... are you in a rush to die?"

I simply shrugged.

"Fine. This works out really well for us. We don’t want to see you in our family anymore, after all." He paused before adding, "So what’s the condition if you win? It’s never going to happen anyway, but since I’m considerate, tell us anyway. That way, you won’t be able to say later that the deal was unfair."

"Well, my request is really simple."

I put down my fork.

"First, if I win, you both must give up your rights to attend the number one academy in the kingdom."

The crowd grew even louder.

"What—"

"Wait, I’m not done yet."

I interrupted Ana by raising a finger.

"Second, I want both of you to transfer ownership of your mansions to me, along with all the money you currently possess. Every single penny."

That’s all I wanted.

I was already running low on money because Yves’ funds weren’t exactly plentiful. The family barely gave him an allowance.

But it wasn’t just that.

I needed money for some things I planned to buy in the future, and if I had to, I’d simply sell the mansions.

"Huh? Isn’t he too greedy?" someone in the crowd said.

"He wants them to give up their chance to attend the prestigious academy and take away all their money. Isn’t that too much?" another person added.

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

"Please, guys."

I raised both hands.

"Let’s be civilized and let my dear siblings think about my wonderful deal."

I looked at the twins, both of whom now had frowns on their faces.

The expressions were almost identical.

There was no doubt about it. They really were twins, even when it came to their facial expressions.

"Don’t you think you’re asking for too much?" Ana asked.

"Too much?"

I scoffed.

"As if being banished from the family isn’t worth much more than that."

Being banished from the family meant losing the Laurent surname and having nothing to do with them anymore.

It also meant losing the financial support I currently received, along with some of the properties and other benefits that came with being a member of the family.

I would probably survive even if I somehow lost and was banished.

I had considered leaving the family when I first arrived in this world, but doing so would have set my plans back.

This was simply the easier way.

So I would use this family for as much as I could before leaving.

The twins still looked somewhat uncertain, so I decided to push them a little more.

"What happened? Wait... don’t tell me you’re actually scared and think I might win?"

I covered my mouth in mock surprise.

"Weren’t you the ones saying I have no chance? So why the hesitation?"

Arnold took a step forward and pressed a finger against my chest.

I was itching to cut his hand off.

Who the fuck told this guy he could touch me?

"Why would we be scared of you?" Arnold said. "We’re just a little reluctant because you might go back on your word after you lose."

"Oh, you’re worried about that?"

I smiled.

"I’ve got everything prepared."

I opened my spatial ring and took out a mana contract along with a pen. I placed my plate on the table and began writing down the details of our deal.

After a few minutes, I finally finished.

"Perfect."

I walked back toward the twins and handed them the contract.

"Here it is. Sign it."

"A mana contract?" Arnold asked.

"Yes. What better way is there to make sure both parties follow their end of the deal?"

I shrugged.

With this, they wouldn’t have any way to back out if they lost.

And I knew them very well.

I created them, after all.

You couldn’t trust snakes.

"Come on. Sign it."

Arnold read through the contract first, carefully checking every condition before handing it to Ana.

She read it as well.

"Everything seems... fine."

Ana murmured before looking up at me.

"But why are you doing all this? What makes you so confident that you even have the slightest chance of winning?"

I really wanted to laugh.

But I held it back.

I still had to maintain Yves’ nonchalant behavior.

"You’ll find out when you fight me."

"You’ll regret this."

Arnold smiled as he signed the contract and poured a drop of his blood onto the paper.

"Hopefully not."

Ana looked at me suspiciously before signing her name.

"What are you looking at? Just sign."

She sneered before signing the contract and pouring her blood onto it as well.

Then she handed it to me.

I signed my name, pricked my finger, and pressed the bloodied fingertip against the paper.

The mana contract immediately glowed blue.

A strange sensation passed through my body as I felt invisible magical chains wrap around my soul.

The contract was complete.

"Great."

I picked up my plate again.

"Now you guys can go away and wait patiently for the Rite of Passage. I want to eat my cake in peace."

I shooed them away with my hand.

A vein popped on the side of Arnold’s head as he stepped forward and looked down at me.

"You must have lost your manners. I think I could fix that for you."

He sounded genuinely angry now.

"Calm down, big guy. If you want to fight, let’s do it in the Rite of Passage, not here."

I took another bite of my cake.

"But if you really want to fight now, I don’t mind wiping the floor with you."

The tension between us escalated heavily.

For a moment, I thought Arnold was actually going to swing at me.

Surprisingly, he didn’t.

He simply gave me one last glare before turning around and leaving with Ana, who also shot me a hateful look.

Ah.

Finally, I could eat in peace.

I turned around and immediately stopped when I saw the expressions on the faces of the three siblings.

They looked like they had just seen a ghost.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I raised an eyebrow.

I walked past them and served myself some pudding instead of cake this time.

It looked ridiculously good.

"What do you mean, ’why are we looking at you like that’?" Alexander asked as he massaged his temple. "You literally just made a deal where you risk getting yourself banished from the family!"

"A losing deal?"

I picked up my spoon.

"I’d rather say the odds are in my favor."

"No, they’re not."

Asencio came closer to me.

"You know how strong Arnold is. He has a Legendary-grade Main Story, which not everyone gets, and he’s one of the strongest people in our generation."

Well, I had a Mythic-grade Story.

So I wasn’t worried about that at all.

"Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing."

I took a bite of the pudding.

God.

It was fucking delicious.

"Nah, I don’t think you know what you’re doing."

Asencio pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yves... you know that if you lose, you’re going to be banished from the family, right?"

Londrina spoke with a worried voice.

"I mean, I was the one who suggested the condition, so I pretty much know that."

I paused for a moment before adding,

"Why are you guys so worried about me now anyway? You never acted this way in the past."

From Yves’ memories, he had never really interacted with his cousins that much. So their sudden concern made me question their intentions.

I quietly activated [Emotion Manipulator] and examined their emotions.

And would you look at that.

They actually didn’t have any bad intentions toward me.

The three siblings went quiet.

They opened their mouths several times as if they wanted to say something, but none of them actually spoke.

I shrugged.

"It doesn’t really matter anyway. I don’t really care."

I continued eating.

I was supposed to leave early to see where I would be sleeping, but I had to stay a little longer because Ezio kept asking me to give him food through my shadow.

Damned, ugly, gluttonous bastard.