Chapter 58
Following Rudis’s lead, we soon arrived before a building located beside the Grand Vault.
From the looks of it, the structure seemed connected underground to the vault itself.
“It would be best if you refrained from using magic or aura from this point on, my lord.”
“…Ah. Of course.”
I was about to ask why but stopped myself, nodding instead. It was because of the countless layers of barriers woven around the Grand Vault.
‘If I were to recklessly draw my aura sword here, I’d probably be flattened into paste.’
Not that I came here to fight anyway.
I came here to negotiate.
At last, our group was led into a small room filled with elegant furniture.
After we sat on the plush chairs, Rudis brought out a pot of warm tea for everyone.
It wasn’t an ordinary room.
Large landscape paintings hung on all four walls, but judging from their placement, they were likely disguising magic arrays—probably soundproofing barriers.
“Then, everyone else may leave us.”
“Yes, sir.”
At Rudis’s command, the guards accompanying him left the room.
Now, only Rudis and my party remained.
Time to get to the main point.
“I have something to tell you first, my lord.”
“What is it?”
Rudis hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a serious expression.
“As you are aware, the repayment deadline for the debt owed by House Impera is only one week away. And… the Senate has decided that any further extensions will not be allowed.”
“I see.”
Just as I expected, the Golden Bank had refused any extensions.
The influence of Erengold II was already at work.
“I appreciate that you came all this way, but in our current position, there’s no convincing the Senate otherwise.”
“No way around it, huh…”
Rudis looked genuinely troubled.
I smiled lightly.
“What if I said I came because I have a way?”
“…Pardon?”
Instead of explaining, I took a small box from inside my coat—something that looked like it should hold a jewel.
But what came out was just a rough stone.
“…What is that?”
“Priana, show him.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Priana clenched her fist, concentrating her aura.
A faint blue glow bloomed over her hand—
—but at that instant, a piercing alarm blared through the room.
[Aura detected. If staff authorization is not received within 3 seconds, this will be considered an emergency.]
[3.]
[2.]
“…Rudis Igrona. No issue.”
[Authorization confirmed.]
Thanks to the barrier installed in the room, the alarm quickly died down.
“What an unusual security system.”
“Haha… nothing special. We occasionally have bodyguards who can’t control their temper.”
The Golden Bank truly was a city of barriers.
They used them for everything—from controlling monsters to securing guest rooms.
The Grand Vault alone had three or four layers of barriers at least.
There were so many that the entire bank district shimmered faintly with runic inscriptions etched along the buildings’ outer walls.
Even the ones I’d glimpsed in passing varied widely in type—some using magic requiring Rank 5 or higher just to maintain.
The Golden Bank clearly relied on barriers as their main defense against intrusion.
‘But if they rely on them too much, they’ll regret it someday.’
Not that barriers were a bad idea—far from it.
For a profit-focused institution, barriers were a perfect cost-effective defense.
No need to pay ten high-ranked mages; just install ten barriers and hire one mage to maintain them.
Unless, of course, a terrifyingly powerful individual capable of shattering every barrier at once appeared.
But if that happened, barriers or not—it would be a catastrophe anyway. And that was something for the future.
Right now, my task was to persuade the man in front of me.
“You may continue.”
Priana drew her aura blade lightly across the stone.
It left a small mark—only for the crack to heal instantly, restoring the stone to its pristine form.
A magical sight.
Rudis’s eyes widened.
“W-What is that?”
“Fascinating, isn’t it?”
The first rule of negotiation—hide your emotions.
Rudis surely knew that rule, yet even he couldn’t mask his surprise.
I lifted the stone and replied calmly.
“This is an experimental artifact left behind by Oberon. No matter what damage it takes, it restores itself to its original state.”
Calling it a “specimen” rather than a “stone” made it sound more valuable.
“O–Oberon? The Grand Mage Oberon?”
“Yes. The man who broke through the final wall no one else in the continent could. If it’s a relic from him… you can imagine its worth.”
“Oooh…”
I placed the stone back into the box and closed the lid.
Rudis smacked his lips, clearly reluctant to look away.
By now, all sense of composure was gone from his face.
“This should be sharp enough of a solution, wouldn’t you say?”
“Ahhh!”
I threw myself onto the soft bed.
This was one of the Golden Bank’s VVIP guest suites—reserved for their most elite clients.
A whole building between the bank district and the residential district was dedicated to these suites, built to house nobles from across the continent.
No wonder it felt as comfortable as any noble estate.
After hearing my proposal, Rudis had pleaded for one day to get the Senate’s approval.
Which meant a day of free rest, food, and drink at the bank’s expense.
And of course, I didn’t refuse.
“Hehe…”
Dinner had been unforgettable.
An extravagant feast with dishes from land, sea, and sky—so much that even when I thought I couldn’t eat another bite, there was still more.
Maybe it tasted better because it was free.
After stuffing myself, I came straight to this room.
All I had to do now was wait for the Senate’s decision.
‘They’ll take the deal.’
The Golden Bank might be under Aisother’s influence, but influence only goes so far.
These people could smell profit from a mile away—they’d understand the value of an Oberon relic.
And as long as they were tied to the royal alliance, they’d move in whichever direction brought them the most gain.
“Kehehe…”
The more I thought about it, the funnier it became.
All this fuss over a useless stone.
“My lord.”
“Hmm?”
I lifted my head from the pillow to see Priana and Islin standing by the door.
“Oh, you two done eating?”
I’d already finished earlier and told them to take their time. It seemed they’d hurried up once I left.
“Will you be using your room separately as planned?”
“Hmm. Yeah, that’s best.”
We’d been given three rooms—free to use together or separately.
Each was spacious enough for three people.
‘Still, sharing with Islin would be awkward, and sharing with another man is even worse.’
“Rest well. We’ll likely have to wait till tomorrow for news.”
“Yes, my lord.”
They bowed and entered the rooms adjacent to mine.
Alone in the wide, silent room, I closed my eyes.
The terms I’d offered Rudis were simple.
In exchange for Oberon’s experimental relic, I wanted the remaining 10,000 gold debt cleared.
It had originally been 12,000, but I’d paid part of it in coin, leaving an even 10,000.
“Ten thousand gold…”
A massive sum.
Enough for an ordinary man to live luxuriously his entire life.
But for those desperate to advance their rank, it was a price worth paying.
In the novel, Oberon’s relics appeared several times—each driving mages mad with curiosity.
By the final arc, every major tower was obsessed with analyzing them—without success.
Even after ten years, the continent’s finest minds failed to decipher them.
‘So I’m just selling it.’
If Rank 7 mages couldn’t figure it out, I certainly couldn’t either.
To me, it was just an interesting rock.
A fascinating but useless rock.
And the only person who knew that… was me.
“Hehehe.”
I just had to keep my mouth shut and close the deal.
After all, the bank itself was the one that had pushed that idiot Ian into debt.
They tried to scam a fool before—so now it was only fair I scam them back.
“Mm…”
Feeling the weight lift off my shoulders, I drifted peacefully to sleep.
“…Aaah…”
In the middle of a pleasant dream, a strange noise reached my ears.
‘A scream?’
I thought I’d imagined it—until a sharp, metallic stench filled the air.
Blood.
I instantly sat up.
“…”
Grabbing the dragon-scale sword from beside my bed, I listened.
The guest building was quiet.
Which meant the noise came from outside.
I carefully unlatched the window and looked out—
—and froze in disbelief.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The Golden Bank was on fire.
Flames raged across the opposite side of the district.
If nightmares had form, this would be it.
Fire consumed the residential quarters, and panicked civilians ran, screaming.
“Kyaaa!”
“Help us!”
And chasing them… were monsters.
KRAAA!
SHRIEEEEK!
A few hours ago, this place had been bustling with merchants and workers.
Now, it was a living hell.
‘Is this… a dream?’
“My lord! Are you safe?!”
Priana and Islin burst through the door, unharmed.
Seeing them confirmed this wasn’t a dream.
“What’s happening?”
“We don’t know for sure, my lord! But the monsters are rampaging through the city!”
Priana quickly donned her armor as she spoke.
I could see it myself—monsters everywhere.
The fires had started not in the residential zone, but in the banking district.
If monsters had invaded from outside the bank’s walls, someone should have noticed long ago.
Which meant only one explanation.
“The monsters from the arena… escaped?”
But how?
The Golden Bank wasn’t some back-alley loan shark operation.
If they ran an arena full of monsters, their control measures would’ve been ironclad.
Their entire revenue depended on it—those barriers would have been airtight.
‘…Wait.’
A terrible thought struck me.
For monsters from the arena to have escaped, the barriers must’ve been broken.
Which could only mean one thing.
“…Someone attacked the Golden Bank?”
“Attacked? My lord, who would dare assault the Golden Bank?!”
But that was the question, wasn’t it?
Why? And who?
I ran through the possibilities.
Another bank?
No—they had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
Even the Pope’s Bank or the Clan Bank wouldn’t risk the chaos that would follow.
The Royal Alliance?
No. They wouldn’t sabotage their own financial pillar.
That would be self-destruction.
Then who?
Who both hated the Royal Alliance and had the power to do something like this?
“…Ah.”
There was only one group that fit that description.
A powerful organization made up of those who despised the Royal Alliance to its core.
