Crazy

Jue Wuo Fortress, Dalmor River.

Originating in the Iron Thorn Mountains, it was named after passing through the Dalmor Plains and was one of the three major rivers within Noxus.

Ato stood on the southern riverbank of Jue Wuo Fortress, silently watching cart after cart of Iron Thorn Ore being loaded onto ships.

The Leather Case containing the bounty was no longer in his hands. Seeing this, Valrokan nodded slightly. This was what seemed normal to him, and he no longer had the slightest doubt about Ato's Imperial Citizen Status.

Even if he was a powerful warrior, he would not carry a large amount of cash with him. Not only would it affect combat, but it would also invite the covetous eyes of others.

As for where the bounty had gone, Valrokan naturally assumed it had been deposited in the Imperial Bank. That would have been impossible without Imperial Citizen Status.

"Mr. Harris, once the war is over, if you do not wish to remain in the military, the gates of Jue Wuo Fortress will always be open to you. We greatly welcome talented people like you."

The elderly Valrokan stepped forward to shake Ato's hand in farewell, though what he was truly thinking was:

"Those useless fools at City Hall are quite efficient. They replaced his identification documents so quickly. It must be because of Harris killing Rodrigue—I made arrangements with them in advance."

"Sigh, if the officials of Jue Wuo Fortress all worked as efficiently as I did, we would not need to serve as the Immortal Fortress's servants at all..."

Ato gave a dry laugh. Seeing that the ore was nearly loaded, he casually brushed him off. "I like traveling around. Perhaps after the war ends, I'll go to Bilgewater and hunt Pirates. That place is full of walking bounties."

He was maintaining his Bounty Hunter persona. In Noxus, talented people could obtain anything through their abilities.

The prerequisite was that such talent had to desire something. No matter what it was, as long as they were capable enough, the Empire could give it to them.

But if a talented person desired nothing, the Empire would suspect them of having other motives.

A gust of cold wind swept by, and Valrokan pulled his collar tighter. "Ahem, in that case, I will not try to keep you any longer. May you bring victory to the Empire."

"Fight for the Empire." Ato put on an act and lightly struck his chest, then leaped onto the ore ship bound for the Immortal Fortress.

Once the miners had finished taking inventory, the ore ship sounded its horn and slowly sailed southeast.

Ato entered the private room prepared for him, shut the door, and after confirming that no one was listening in, removed the sword sheath from his back.

The sword sheath floated into the air on its own. With a twist of Ato's wrist, a small opening appeared beside it, and he reached in to pull out the large Leather Case containing the bounty.

"Heh, that Old Man Valrokan had to see that I wasn't carrying the Leather Case before he could relax."

Ato set the Leather Case on the wooden table and opened the clasps. Stacks upon stacks of banknotes lay neatly inside, giving off the scent of fresh ink.

"Old Man, you've really made this sword sheath into something else."

"You should thank Ornn's miraculous power instead." Aatrox praised Ornn aloud, though he was actually rather pleased with himself.

"The inner space of the sword sheath is far larger than it appears. I merely opened an entrance in the real world."

"Now I really do look more like a novel protagonist..." Ato looked at the money. "I always felt I was missing something compared to them. Turns out it was portable storage space. Otherwise, it would be far too pathetic for a dignified protagonist to be dragged down by his luggage."

"A novel? What is that? Some kind of classical play?" Aatrox had never heard this somewhat strange word.

"Not important. Right now, I should count just how much that Rodrigue was worth..." Ato picked up a stack of bills and began counting them seriously.

He had never seen this much cash in his previous life!

After Ato checked, every banknote had a denomination of one hundred, each stack contained one hundred notes, and there were one hundred stacks in total.

One million Noxian Coins!

Ato shook his head. In his previous life, he had only paid attention to hero stories and the Worldview. Only after truly coming to this world did he deeply realize that money was unavoidable.

Though he did not know the purchasing power of one Noxian Coin, Valrokan had said it was enough to turn an ordinary person into a wealthy man. Perhaps it was worth a little more than the Little Red Fish from his previous life...

"I'll keep only a small portion on me, put the rest back in the Leather Case, and store it in the Sword Sheath Space. At least I won't have to worry about food or clothing."

But then Ato grew troubled by the limitations of currency.

There was no international trade in Runeterra. Noxian Coins could only be used within Noxus, as well as in Piltover and a few areas in northern Shurima...

If he did not take part in the war, its outcome had long since been decided.

Ionia would win a bitter victory, and the Noxian Emperor Boram Darkwill would inevitably be brought down by Jericho Swain. Would the currency change then? Would one million in cash turn directly into worthless paper...

"Old Man is right. If there's something I can't figure out, I'll think about it when the time comes. Maybe the difficulty I imagine doesn't even exist."

Half a month later.

Ato saw a magnificent city in the distance through the window.

During this period, he had kept to himself aboard the ship. He even had the Crewmate deliver food to his room.

But because Valrokan had given instructions beforehand, the others aboard did not say anything. They merely found the powerful man who had killed Rodrigue somewhat strange.

Creak!

Ato rarely opened his room door and looked out at the Imperial Capital ahead to the left from the corridor.

Noticing the looks from others, he let out a breath that was both helpless and delighted.

"I was practically suffocating." Ato stretched as he spoke mentally with Aatrox. "Do you know how I spent the last half month? Even when I took a forty-hour slow train from home to university, it wasn't this unbearable! At least I had my phone to look at the whole way!"

"Of course I know how you spent it." Aatrox activated Auto-Filter Unintelligible Words. "You spent half of every day sleeping. When awake, you stared blankly out the window. After a while, you started pulling at your hair."

"There's no entertainment here at all! I didn't talk to the Crewmates because I didn't want to expose any flaws. They would definitely ask how I killed Rodrigue! The more I talked, the more I'd expose. This is Noxus—being exposed means becoming enemies with the entire Empire!"

"Your emotions are fluctuating," Aatrox replied. "You need to calm down."

"I'd like to stay calm... Oh, right, weren't you always irritable after becoming a Darkin? How have you been so stable this whole way? Does the Sword Sheath have some kind of psychological counseling function?" Ato asked, half-joking.

"...Do you really want to know why?"

"Of course. I hardly ever ask you questions, do I?"

"Go back into the room first." Aatrox still brought up the memories he had sealed deep in his heart.

Ato shut the door again. "And then?"

A trace of long-absent madness entered Aatrox's voice. "Now imagine this room—but without doors or windows, without a source of light, without sound. You can't even kill yourself. There is only eternal loneliness. How long do you think you could endure in this room?"