Roel had recently affirmed once more that he was indeed a forgiving person.

  The Sia Continent was a mysterious place filled with transcendental powers and phantasmal creatures. It was very different from the modern world in his previous life, where money made the world go round. Here the influence of money was greatly reduced.

  That being said, money was still money. It might not bring happiness, but the lack of it was almost certain to bring misery. He could say this for certain because of his experiences in his previous life.

  So, when Roel saw the beautiful golden mountains glimmering enticingly under the gentle rays of the morning sun, he suddenly felt like swooning. It was as if his unfulfilled first love had suddenly knocked on his door. Indescribable joy welled up in his heart, and it was swiftly accompanied by relief from the knowledge that he was finally able to repay his debt fully.

  Debt was a terrifying thing. It was constantly weighing down on you, encroaching on your finances with every tick of the second hand. You could turn your eyes away from it, but your mind would constantly remind you of its existence, or sometimes, growing existence even.

  The fear of having to pay 30,000 gold coins just to offset the interest on the System’s loan every month was definitely a huge terror. If he failed to repay it, it could potentially lead to the shutdown of the System. It felt like a silent hand had already wrapped itself around his neck, slowly suffocating him.

  As long as he could be rid of this trouble, he didn’t think that forgiving Charlotte was a big deal at all. In the first place, he wasn’t particularly enraged by her actions. It was just that the sheer ridiculousness of the situation and the humiliating notion of being kidnapped by his own fiancée had overwhelmed his sensibility.

  Humans had the interesting ability to reshape their memories in a way that was convenient to them, and the golden mounds before him looked convenient enough for him to do so.

  What? I’ve been kidnapped to Rosa?

  Ridiculous!

  Currently, the proxy fief lord of the Ascart Fiefdom was considering if he should reshape this matter as an emergency situation where Rosa paid him a substantial sum of money to engage his help to resolve some of their problems…… In any case, the important thing was that Roel had decided to yield to his kidnapper.

  I mean, I wanted to fight back too, but what else can I do when someone slaps a million gold coins down in front of me like that?! Reject it? Do I look like an idiot?!

  Charlotte’s compensation was more than satisfactory to Roel. Accepting the bribe, he felt obliged to drop his stiffened expression. Or to be more exact, he couldn’t even maintain a straight face anymore with his overflowing happiness tingling his facial muscles.

  “Is it really fine for me to take away all of this?”


  “There’s no problem at all. Darling, if you really like it, we can just leave them here for the time being.”


  “Ah, there’s no need for that.”


  It was definitely pleasing to wake up to golden mountains every day, but the thought that he would have to spend more than half of it to repay his debt made his heart ache. But as they say, it was better to have a swift breakup than to prolong the pain. Since he had to do it eventually, it was better to just do it right away so that he wouldn’t have to get frustrated thinking about it.

  Therefore, Roel carefully slipped off the bed and hobbled toward the crates of gold coins. Charlotte gestured for the servants who pushed the cart in to leave the room and close the door behind them before rushing forward to support Roel. With slow but steady steps, Roel finally arrived by the gold coins, and he quietly stretched his hand forth.

  I might not be able to take it away with me right away, but I can at least make it disappear into thin air.

  Roel tried to amuse himself as a distraction from the huge loss he was about to make. Following that, a shocking sight that Charlotte could have never imagined occurred. The huge mountain of gold coins was suddenly reduced to less than half of its original amount in the blink of an eye. It was almost like a magic trick!

  ???

  Flabbergasted, Charlotte stood there staring blankly at the diminished mountain of gold coins, unable to figure out what was going on. Spatial magic was known to be extremely profound and elusive, such that there were hardly any reliable records regarding it. In fact, the Diamond Rivière could be considered as the pinnacle of what mankind could do with spatial magic at the moment, and it was just building spatial links.

  As curious as Charlotte was, she didn’t pose her question out loud. She knew that everyone had their own secrets, and this was even more so for long-standing houses like the Ascarts. The fact that he was willing to display it in front of her was already more than enough to show his trust in her. She didn’t want to try pushing it.

  Oblivious to her, Roel’s mind was on something very different at the moment.

  【The gold coins have been received.】


  【In accordance with the debt priority, all mortgage-related loans will be repaid first.】


  【All mortgage-related loans have been repaid.】


  【Additional balance in the user’s account after the repayment of the debt has been detected. System will be proceeding to the repayment of other loans.】


  【All loans have been repaid.】


  【The user has successfully cleared his debt. Total amount expended: 650,000 gold coins】


  【The user’s credit rating has gone up.】


  【Trustworthiness is the key to easy credit. It’s better to stay for the long haul than to go for a short fling. Be assured, for the System shall accompany you on your journey.】


  “.……”


  A huge bunch of notifications popped up in the System, causing Roel’s eyebrows to shoot up. He had to take deep breaths in order to suppress all of the frustrations raging within his mind.

  What the hell? How dare you talk to me about whatever long haul after charging me the rates of a loan shark? If not for Charlotte, I would have never been able to fork out that 30,000 gold coins interest rate every month!

  Roel couldn’t retort aloud in Charlotte’s presence, so he could only continue to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He looked at the diminished gold mountain before him, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss. With a deep sigh, he decided to toss the matter to the back of his mind.

  Money was precious, but Roel’s primary purpose of earning money was to uproot his death flags and prevent the decline of his house. From such a perspective, the money he had spent here was definitely well worth it. He would probably have to spend even more money to achieve his aims in the future anyway.

  The last adventure he had been through caused his body to crumble, but he had managed to grow substantially in return. He would probably spend the next few years holed up at home reading historical records while digesting the powers he risked his life to obtain and convert it into his true strength.

  Most importantly, he should try to make a breakthrough now that his Origin Level 5 bottleneck was no longer limiting him.

  Thinking about it, Grandar’s advice insisting that he go on an adventure did make great sense. As amazing as transcendent abilities were, just like any other skill, it required practice to perfect. He wouldn’t be able to get practice by trawling through historical records in the comfort of his own home.

  “Charlotte, do you have any ideas how I can recover from my current state?”


  Roel wanted to grow stronger faster, but right now, the recovery of his injuries took precedence. It would be unwise for him to attempt a breakthrough before he recovered back to his peak state, and this made him feel a little anxious.

  Charlotte, too, understood how important this matter was.

  “I can resolve the side effect of Glacial Touch, but your loss in vitality and state of deep undead reanimation are beyond my means to resolve. We’ll have to consult Uncle Andrew about this. He might be able to help us.”


  “Andrew?”


  “Yes. He used to be a member of my father’s previous adventurer team. He’s an Origin Level 2 Archmagus. We can also consult Uncle Parker and Aunt Lorin. They’re Origin Level 3 transcendents, but they specialize in healing……”


  Charlotte swiftly listed a huge string of names which included quite a few transcendents whom Roel had heard of while he was serving as the proxy fief lord of the Ascart Fiefdom. The list of medical professionals on standby was satisfactory, and Roel expressed that with a nod of his head.

  It was no exaggeration to say that Charlotte was going all out for Roel this time around. With so many specialized transcendents working in unison, even a man who was on the verge of death could be swiftly nursed back to full health. At the very least, he would like to believe that his condition wasn’t that dire.

  Isabella was, after all, someone who lived several centuries back, and the medical industry should be constantly improving over time, right? It was the case in his previous life, so it should be the same on the Sia Continent too.

  Big sister Isabella might be formidable, but the era has changed!

  With such thoughts in mind, Roel’s heart calmed down a little. However, what he didn’t realize was that even though Isabella was indeed from several centuries ago, she was one of the most prodigious transcendents in that era. Things weren’t as simple as he thought.