Chapter 104

Chapter 104. Pride Can Be Bought with Money (2)

“I want to choose the middle path.”

Keter applauded her immediate response.

You pass, Catherine.

You didn’t choose from the options I gave you, but instead found your own path. And without hesitation.

A person without conviction is easily swayed by others. But you’ve proven that you have your own convictions.

You’ve earned my trust.

And you’re qualified. Qualified to receive my investment.

“The middle path, you say? What exactly do you mean?”

“I’m willing to risk my life, but I don’t want to die. If there’s no other way, then so be it. But if there’s a way to get closer to my dream without dying, please tell me.”

“A slave sure has a lot of demands for her master.”

“I’ll make sure to credit everything to you, Young Master Keter. I have no intention of hiding our relationship.”

“You’re quite the smooth talker. Anyway, to shoot a transparent arrow, you need mana. As you know, once Aura has settled in your body, you can’t absorb mana. You’ll have to discard all the Aura in your body.”

“I’ll discard it. But how do I do that? You know, don’t you? That’s why you’re offering to teach me.”

She’s willing to discard it without hesitation. Doesn’t she feel any regret for the decades of Aura she’s accumulated?

Actually, she’s right. There’s no regret.

If the Aura she’s built up disappears, the sense of loss will be no joke. Her physical abilities will drop too. But it’s not all downsides.

Once you discard Aura and start absorbing mana, you gain advantages that can surpass those who started the conventional way. Total mana, regeneration, density, and so on.

Another option is to have both Aura and mana simultaneously.

However, I plan to let Catherine have only mana. Having both Aura and mana in one body is quite tricky.

Up to a certain level, Aura and mana can harmonize, but beyond that, the harmony becomes excessive, requiring stabilization. This stabilization process is very tricky. If you don’t know how to do it, you’ll just die.

Stabilization isn’t something you can solve by just following instructions. It’s a strange structure where someone like me, who understands the fusion of Aura and mana, has to personally stabilize it for the next generation to be possible.

Moreover, it doesn’t end in a day. You have to keep an eye on it constantly. In short, it’s a huge hassle.

“That’s right. There’s always a way. But it’ll cost me time and money.”

“I’ll pay back every penny.”

“Of course you’ll pay back what you owe. You’re my slave after all. All the money you earn is mine.”

“Do slaves have no rights?”

“Ah, of course they do. To live a motivated slave life, there must be hope of escaping slavery. If you score 100 points from me, you’ll be free from then on.”

“How do I earn points? By earning money for you?”

“That’s up to me. Right now, you have 2 points. A reward for staying silent for a month. Enough chit-chat, turn around and kneel, then take off your top.”

As soon as I told her to strip, she peeled off her top like a molting insect and showed me her back. Tch, no fun. She’s not worth teasing.

I placed my palm on her back.

The firm yet smooth texture of her back muscles wasn’t bad at all.

I took a deep breath. I need to focus here too.

“From now on, I’ll absorb all the Aura in your body. It’s going to hurt a lot. If you open your mouth or move, you’ll die.”

At my warning of pain, she tore her clothes into strips, rolled them up, and bit down on them.

“Ready.”

As soon as she said she was ready, I began the procedure. It’s not a difficult procedure. I inject my mana into her entire body and forcibly extract the Aura.

And I know from experience, it’s excruciatingly painful. Because the Aura accumulated in the body is deeply embedded in the bones, like marrow. To put it simply, it’s like cutting through flesh and scraping bones with a knife.

“Ughhhhh……!”

Catherine clenched her entire body and gritted her teeth.

What do I do? This has to go on for 30 minutes. I can’t talk in this state.

Though it seems simple, this procedure is highly advanced medical treatment. Originally, it was devised by my mentor, Franken, to detoxify poison that had seeped into the marrow… But as soon as I learned it, I thought of a different use. Like now, using it to remove Aura.

If you remove Aura the conventional way, the person becomes crippled. Of course. If you remove Aura deeply embedded in the bones, the bones holding it are destroyed too.

But my procedure is different. It’s not destruction, but extraction. It’s excruciatingly painful, but it doesn’t damage the bones or organs.

Anyway, the Aura pulled out by mana is transferred to my body and then destroyed. Aura is like a fingerprint, so others can’t use it.

Wait. Now that I think about it, Franken said something about being able to absorb it if you do it right. The technique was called the Absorption Great Method, I think.

As I got lost in my thoughts, time flew by. I removed all the Aura from Catherine’s body.

The floor was soaked with sweat and blood. The blood came from Catherine’s mouth and palms, and the sweat was from both of us.

“The Aura removal procedure is complete.”

*Slap!* I smacked her sweaty back. It was to snap her out of it.

“Ughhh.”

Catherine, unable to spit out the cloth soaked with saliva and blood, fainted on the spot.

Can’t blame her. The carpet is soaked. She must’ve sweated at least a liter.

“Old man! Come in.”

At my call, Old Man Jacques opened the door and entered as if he’d been waiting.

“I’m here… Huh?! Ah… Phew.”

Old Man Jacques was startled to see Catherine, drenched in sweat and unconscious, and me, equally drenched, but then he calmed himself.

“Old man. From now on, Catherine will live in my mansion. Give her a room and clothes, and bathe her with Elixir. When she wakes up, give her the green pill from the third shelf of the medicine cabinet. Tell her I’ll teach her the mana cultivation method tonight.”

“Young Master, if I may ask, have you and Lady Catherine become… involved?”

“What does it matter? She’s a slave, and I’m her master.”

“W-well, you should definitely use contraception… Ah, understood. I’ll take her to the bath first.”

Jacques took off his coat and covered Catherine’s chest, then lifted her up.

Tsk, look at those trembling legs. How can she be so weak?

“Old man. Take one of the medicines from the brown box on the top shelf of the medicine cabinet for yourself. People might think I don’t even feed you.”

“Ah, no, Young Master. How could I use such precious medicine on myself?”

“Take it. You need to stay healthy so I can work you harder.”

“Ahem, if you insist… I’ll take it gratefully.”

Jacques, restraining his joy, took Catherine to the bathroom. After confirming that the maids followed, Keter turned his head.

“Since I’m here, I might as well take care of that too.”

He took out an opaque glass panel from the bedside table. It was the “Wizard Board” he brought from Ruquer.

The Wizard Board is a communication device for mages. By inputting a unique Akashic code into this glass panel, you can communicate bidirectionally with someone. You can also leave messages. It’s truly an advanced means of communication.

Keter input the Akashic code in runes. There are probably only about ten people in the world who know this Akashic code.

Once the input was complete, the Wizard Board glowed, and a trembling female voice came from within.

-Your Akashic code is unidentified. Who are you? Please identify yourself. How do you know the emergency contact network of the Lilian Kingdom Mercenary Regional Headquarters?

“Keter El Sephira. I contacted you because I have a request for the Mercenary Regional Headquarters.”

The communication officer who received Keter’s call was silent for a moment before responding.

-Is the Sephira you mentioned the renowned archery family, House of Sephira?

“You don’t know who I am? Get the director on the line.”

-S-sorry. I’ll connect you to the director right away.

The Wizard Board blinked a few times before lighting up again. This time, a gruff male voice came through.

-I heard it’s Prince Keter.

“Yeah, that’s right. I contacted you because I have a request.”

-If I may ask, how do you know our emergency contact network?

“Why should I tell you? Just take the request like a proper mercenary.”

-Sorry, but we have no way to confirm if you’re really Prince Keter of House Sephira. We can’t just take a request blindly.

“Are you testing me now? If you trace the call, it’ll come from the heart of Sephira’s territory, right? I didn’t even put security on my location. Did you think I didn’t because I’m stupid?”

-Ughhh.

A brief silence followed.

Keter, frustrated, shouted.

“Don’t waste my time. Will you take the request or not? Just say it.”

-To be honest, we believe you’re Prince Keter. But it’ll be difficult to take your request.

“Why?”

-House Sephira has never hired mercenaries before. There’s no connection. Moreover, if we take a request from Sephira, it’ll provoke backlash from other nobles. As you know, many nobles don’t look favorably on Sephira.

“Are you scared of nobles and don’t want to get involved with Sephira? Since when do mercenaries care about noble politics?”

-We’re not scared, but there’s no need to stir up trouble. Besides, we’ve heard that Sephira’s financial situation isn’t great.

“That’s Sephira. But not me. I’ll prepay half the fee. Is that trustworthy enough?”

-You seem serious, but what do you need mercenaries for, and how many do you plan to hire?

“I want mercenaries who use swords, Platinum class or higher. No limit on numbers. But they must arrive by tomorrow noon. The request is for a match. A match to prepare for the Southern Sword Tournament.”

-So the rumors about Sephira participating in the Southern Sword Tournament are true. This is for a mock training session. That’s a convincing reason.

“Sephira will cover all treatment and lodging expenses.”

-That’s quite generous. But even if we post the notice, no one will join. You’re from Absinthe, so you know how mercenaries feel about nobles, right?

Mercenaries hate nobles. Because nobles openly treat them as expendable.

Of course, they don’t outright refuse noble requests since they pay well, but they avoid seeing nobles face-to-face.

Keter’s request was filled with everything mercenaries hate.

A noble, and not just any noble, but a high-ranking one from a prestigious family. Plus, they’d have to go to his territory. No mercenary would like that.

Keter, of course, knew this common sense. Including the solution.

“I’ll bribe them. You go out and persuade the mercenaries yourself.”

When Keter openly mentioned bribery, the director was furious.

-Are you insulting me now? You can hire mercenaries with money, but you can’t buy their pride!

“100,000 gold. I’ll pay the mercenaries who take my request five times their usual fee.”

It was an amount too large to scold.