Chapter 1405: The Power Of Money
Chapter 1405: The Power Of Money
"We swear we're not criminals, we're just debt collectors!"
"Y-Yeah! In this country those that owe debts have to pay them, you know?!"
"If they don't meet the deadline, there's a point where we're legally allowed to take them..."
"They're made into debt slaves... And have to work for the one that let them borrow money until they pay what they owe..."
I heard the explanations of these very shabby debt collectors while sitting on a slightly old wooden chair, enjoying what was left of my coffee and my cookie.
Ruby had invited us inside of her smithy after what we did, mostly to not draw more attention and end up bringing authorities to us.
Now, the people that Celeste had tied up with her black chains, her own cursed spear transformed, were answering all questions we asked them.
"S-So please let us go! We are not criminals!"
"Yeah... Please spare my life, I have a family!"
"This is just our job..."
"Hmm..." I groaned, sighing. "I guess that's fine, but why were you threatening Ruby about selling her as a "whore" or whatever? Is that legal? I am pretty sure that this debt slavery thing must be regulated by the government, right? I think that's not legal... you can't force someone to prostitution, it would lead to rape, a crime!"
"T-That's..."
"Well, uh..."
"They were indeed... ah..."
I guess I caught them red-handed. They were saying half truths and half lies. They are indeed debt collectors, but they also work a lot like criminals.
Behind the façade of "government officials" they do illegal things, taking advantage of the legal system to facilitate them.
In resume, the worst type of people.
"You know what my background is?" I asked them with a smile.
"Huh? Well, you're an elf..."
"Right?"
"What background?"
They seemed clueless, they were mostly either dwarves or humans.
Except the White Fox Swordsman, the Anima man that seemed much more experienced than them.
He immediately recognized me.
"You're all fools! How can't you recognize an Elf of the Royal Family when you see her?!" he asked. "She has a Spirit Heart and her Aura... She's Tier 7! Those green eyes, I would recognize them anywhere... A member of the Naturia Family!"
"TIER 7?!"
"NATURIA FAMILY!?"
"S-SPIRIT HEART?!"
It seemed they finally understood that despite their façade as "government officials" when they face someone that directly descends an actual ruler of their country, it becomes... quite hard to convince me to let them go.
"Hah, they started croaking like frogs now, these guys are funny," Celeste giggled. "So do we kill them and bury them in your dungeon? Maybe they can be good fertilizer..."
"What?! No!" I said with Ruby at the same time, we were suddenly synchronized.
Celeste is way too extreme sometimes!
"I-I was just joking!" she tried to calm us down. "Calm down..."
"Um, I guess we can't do much than let them go?" wondered Celica. "What else could we do... Ah right, maybe if we pay the debt...?"
"How big is your debt, Ruby?" I asked.
"T-That's... I don't know, with the interests accumulating, it's huge," said Ruby.
I looked at the white fox man.
"She owes roughly 130.000 Ores. It's the currency of this nation," said the man. "Yeah it sound dumb, but well... In gold, that would be roughly seven million... perhaps they would round it up to eight."
"S-So much?!" Celeste glared at Ruby. "How come this shabby place cost so much money you bastards?!"
"It's in the middle of the capital, so of course it costs a lot, it supposed to bring a lot of clients..." said the man. "That she can't sell anything... well, it's her fault."
"Ugh..." Ruby didn't even fight back, groaning with a sad face.
Despite her cute appearance, her golden hair with pink color, the makeup that made her eyelashes long, her pink-colored lips, and her pink colored nails, she looked like she was about to die.
"That's certainly expensive..." I nodded. "Hm, okay then. So it was eight million, right? Glutton, give me a bag of gold."
"WARF!" Gluttony was summoned by my side, opening his mouth, and then throwing a bag with gold coins.
I counted the coins and then I was done...
"This is nine million gold," I said. "Bring this to your boss and tell him the Naturia Family is now protecting her. If they ever dare come back again, I'll tell my grandfather. And you know who he is, right?"
"W-Wait! What are you doing?!" Ruby panicked. "T-That's so much money! Please don't do this! I-I wouldn't know how to ever repay you!"
"Nine million is not too much anyways," I shrugged. "I make that amount in two weeks selling my products... no wait, I make even more. I sometimes lose count of the money I make."
"E-Eh? How rich are you?" muttered Ruby.
"She's a spoiled rich young lady from a very famous family, also don't you remember? She's also a Hero and the daughter of the Hero and the Saintess..." Celeste laughed. "Come on, do
the math."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"A-Ahh..." Ruby felt completely shocked. "Wow..."
"By grandfather... you mean the King of the Elves?" the white fox man muttered. "I
understand..."
Celeste quickly let them go, the group of debt collectors grabbed the gold coins and ran away
as if their life depended on it.
"Thank you!"
"We won't come annoying you again..."
"We deeply apologize, young lady!"
They kept screaming that as they ran as far as they could, they didn't even want to look at us
anymore fearing we would kill them.
"Beelzebub, Furoh, can you chase them down?" I asked my two Familiars.
The two were summoned by my side.
"Of course, leave it to me," Beelzebub nodded. "Those guys look shady as hell!"
"That they work for the government wasn't a lie but..." Furoh muttered. "If they're truly involved on other illegal activities, it's better to find proof and then report them."
"Yep, I'll leave this up to you," I said. "Once you're done I'll summon you back to my Soul
Scape."
"Very well."
Furoh quickly transformed into some sort of spectral or shadow monster, disappearing into the darkness with Beelzebub.
"That should wrap things up!" I nodded, finishing my coffee. "Anyways, now that we're finally done. Shall we reintroduce ourselves, Ruby? I hope we can get along from now on... And I'm very sorry if the first time we made you upset. It wasn't our intention. We just wanted to know you but... Maybe it was too creepy?"
"N-No! Of course not! You don't know how many times I've regretted what I did back then..." she sighed, sitting down. "I'm so sorry... please don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong... I just... have personal problems, and they end up ruining my head, and I end up lashing it out on innocent people. I'm the worst..."
"Yeah, you sure are," Celeste nodded. "It's good you recognize your own shittiness." "Celeste! Stop it!" I said, reprimanding her. "Well, if you feel that way, then I hope we can reconcile. Let's know each other. I have no intentions of forcing you to do anything either... So please rest at ease."
"Okay... thanks for giving me another chance," sighed Ruby. "I-I'm so stupid... you're so nice,
Sylphy was your name? You're perhaps... the kindest person I've ever met in my entire life... Ugh. I feel like shit for treating you badly before... I'll try to make up for it." "Heheh, I'm not that good!" I giggled. "Anyways! Let's talk, there's a lot we have to talk, actually... Where do we even begin?"