How to Dig Up an Inheritance

Benjamin soon left the confessional.

He blended into the passing crowd and slipped out of St. Peter's Cathedral without drawing any attention.

This conversation with the bishop had yielded quite a lot for him. First, he learned that he had been cursed. Though that was bad news, it was still better than finding out only after something went wrong. It barely counted as a gain. Second, he had obtained the greatest harvest of the day—information about Michelle.

After the bishop nodded, he told Benjamin some things about Michelle. Only then did Benjamin learn that Michelle had long been notorious. Starting five years ago, she had begun operating around the Royal Capital: attacking nobles, stealing treasures, spreading rumors, promoting heretical ideas... More than that, she had survived five years of The Church's frenzied pursuit without a scratch, never even going quiet for long.

It could be said that The Church had been led around by the nose by her, yet they had not even managed to touch a single hair on her head.

Even now, The Church had yet to determine just how powerful her magic truly was. The bishop believed she had reached the realm of an Archmage. Anyone below the level of a bishop or great knight simply could not contend with her. That was why The Church feared her so deeply.

Benjamin had only one thing to say about that: they were overthinking it.

Even he could not gauge Michelle's true strength, but she had been terrified of a squad of Purifiers. How could she possibly be that powerful?

She had put on a magnificent empty-fort bluff.

Of course, among the information the bishop had provided, aside from their long struggle against Michelle, what interested Benjamin most were the bases Michelle had once used.

By tracking Michelle, The Church had discovered no fewer than twenty abandoned hideouts of hers.

Benjamin had now firmly committed every one of those hideouts to memory.

At that moment, he was walking along St. Peter's Street outside the cathedral, considering his next move. He would definitely have to search all twenty-odd hideouts. But he had to be careful: he absolutely could not arouse The Church's suspicions. If The Church saw through his true objective, he would end up in the same situation as Michelle.

He did not want to be placed on The Church's purification list so soon.

Because of the curse, The Church regarded him as bait, so naturally they would keep a particularly close eye on him. Trying to dig through more than twenty hideouts right under their noses would be nothing but a daydream.

He needed to find someone to do it for him...

"Right, didn't you say I had a personal manservant called Jeremy or something? Why haven't I seen him at all?"

Thinking of this, Benjamin asked the system.

"Jeremy isn't feeling well. Didn't the butler mention it when he woke you up this morning? Do you have any memory at all?" The system seized the opportunity and immediately jumped out to mock Benjamin.

"Really? I generally can't remember what nameless background characters say." Benjamin shamelessly imitated the system without the slightest embarrassment.

The system had no reply.

But speaking of servants...

Benjamin suddenly realized that his status within the entire Riser Family was not actually as low as he had imagined.

He had all the servants he was supposed to have. Although that grandmother treated him badly, that was merely due to her own personality and had nothing to do with Benjamin. As for the servants, they did not look down on him just because he had been born useless. That nameless butler, for example, cleaned the floor and prepared his washing supplies. He served whenever service was required, and his respectful attitude was beyond criticism.

That was the professional attitude a servant ought to have!

Thinking about it, even if he was useless, he was still a noble, not someone ordinary servants could compare to. Plots where servants pointed fingers at their masters and constantly sabotaged them probably only appeared in third-rate novels.

"Though Benjamin is useless, his life actually isn't that bad." Benjamin sighed.

"The hardship of the wealthy and the hardship of ordinary people were never the same thing." The system calmly drove the knife in. "But I still want to remind you that you only have one Jeremy, while your younger brother has two male servants and one maid. Your servant earns thirty pounds a year, while each of his servants earns fifty pounds a year. Do you still want to say you're living well now?"

"..."

Benjamin felt convinced by the system.

In that instant, he suddenly felt life was unbearable. A life that did not spend one hundred and fifty pounds a year hiring servants was simply a living hell, utterly devoid of dignity.

He had fallen so quickly. The corruption of feudalism was truly hard to resist.

Comparison really was humanity's original sin.

"Why did you suddenly bring up a male servant? Are you planning to have him dig up Annie's relics for you?" the system asked, dragging the derailed topic back to the normal world.

"You guessed right." Benjamin nodded at that.

Hiring someone else would only make things more troublesome. It would be better to find someone he trusted.

Though his manservant might also attract The Church's suspicion, The Church's attention on him was protective, not suspicious. The Church would focus all their attention on him and would not care as much about the people around him.

Moreover, after leaving the cathedral, he had sharply sensed someone watching him. With a slight use of water-element perception, he discovered it was a patrolling knight and a priest dressed as a passerby.

Two people. This was what the bishop had meant by "God will always be watching you." To avoid alerting Michelle, The Church's "watching" was rather lax. Benjamin complained inwardly, but from another angle, that was quite favorable for his freedom of movement.

What could two people possibly keep an eye on? If he hid inside the Riser Family house, constrained by respect for nobility, those two probably would not even be able to find out what he was doing.

Of course, he did not intend to take too great a risk. When the time came to truly act, he would use a few little tricks to make The Church lower their guard even further.

"Based on what you said, this Jeremy should be trustworthy, right?" Benjamin asked the system.

"He is trustworthy, but I still don't think he can necessarily handle this task."

Benjamin was puzzled. "Why?"

The system hesitated for a moment before finally giving this answer: "Because... he's just far too timid."

Benjamin could not help but freeze upon hearing that.

Just then, a panicked cry pulled him out of his conversation with the system and back into reality.

In the distance, a flustered figure was rapidly approaching. Before long, he stumbled and crawled his way to Benjamin.

"Young Master Benjamin, I finally found you."

Seeing what the man looked like, Benjamin actually wanted to laugh a little. He was short and skinny, with a pointed chin and tiny crossed eyes. He wore the usual combination of black jacket and white shirt worn by male servants, but his filthy clothes gave him away. He looked nothing like the neat, respectable servants of an ordinary noble household.

He looked like a rat, yet possessed none of a rat's cleverness. He only resembled a rat in cowardice.

But Benjamin did not laugh, nor did he reveal any unusual expression.

Because the system told him in his mind: this was his manservant—Jeremy.

"What is it, Jeremy? Did something happen?" he asked seriously.

Jeremy braced his hands on his knees and panted for a while before saying, "I'm sorry, Young Master. I ate something bad today and took leave, so I didn't wash the clothes. I embarrassed you outside, I..."

"..."

Benjamin had not actually meant to ask about that. He only wanted to know why Jeremy had come running over so urgently.

But... forget it...

"Then why did you come looking for me?" Benjamin had no choice but to ask again.

Jeremy hurriedly waved both hands. "Ah, no, it isn't that I wanted to find you. It's the master. The master, mistress, and Young Master Grant have returned from the estate. The master wants to question you right now!"

Oh?

Benjamin's heart still tightened at the news. However, he had rehearsed this scene in his mind countless times. He was not panicked. He was a little nervous, but only a little.

What was coming would always come.

Biological parents might seem closer, but perhaps no relationship carried a deeper divide than that between parents and children. Children rarely allowed their parents to know their true selves, and parents hid many sides of themselves as well.

Especially the least valued child in the family; especially one in the most rebellious years of adolescence.

From some of the past-life snippets shown by the system, he and his father had been like strangers. Every conversation between them had been awkward and stifling. The former Benjamin had been taciturn in front of his parents, so silent that he could not be forced to utter a word. Imitating that much should not be difficult even without an acting cheat, right?

In short, he was confident that he would not be exposed.

"Got it. I'll go back now."

After speaking, Benjamin glanced at the cautious Jeremy, then suddenly added, "Right. I need you to do something for me."

"Young Master, what is it?"

Benjamin thought for a moment and said, "There's a carpenter in the east, if I remember correctly. Go there and buy me a cross. Be careful. And don't take a carriage. I don't have that much pocket money to cover your fare."

Jeremy's face immediately fell. "Ah... Young Master, that's very far away. If I walk, I won't be able to buy it and return until midnight."

Benjamin gave him a warm smile. "It's fine. Walk slowly. I don't need it urgently."

Distance was exactly the point. If it were not far away, he would not be sending him.

This was Benjamin's little trick: constantly send Jeremy on errands, having him do insignificant tasks or things that demonstrated Benjamin's piety. If Jeremy ran around like that every day, ten or twenty times in a row, then if The Church was still willing to spare attention for him, Benjamin would admit they were impressive.

Once The Church's attention had been completely diverted, he could have Jeremy dig up Annie's relics.

Even the system, picky as it was, had to admit that it was a good plan.

And so, Jeremy set off on the first step of his Long March with a miserable face. Benjamin stopped overthinking and quickened his pace toward home.

His father was looking for him. He could hardly keep strolling around here.

The Riser Family house was originally in the Upper District, not far from St. Peter's Cathedral. Benjamin reached home before long. The servants at the door said nothing, merely saluted him and opened the door to let him in.

"The master and the others are all in the living room."

The servant at the entrance reminded him.

Benjamin nodded to the servant, entered the house, and made his way to the living room.

However, the instant his right foot crossed into the living room, he immediately realized something was wrong.

The atmosphere was a little frightening.

And... why... were there so many people in the living room?

That enormous long table no longer seemed long at all. A stern-looking middle-aged man sat at the head of the table with a dark expression. That was Benjamin's father. To his left sat a row of people: an elegantly dressed woman with an uneasy expression, Benjamin's mother; a blond young master of fifteen or sixteen staring blankly at the table, his younger brother; an Old Madam rolling her eyes, Benjamin's grandmother; another middle-aged man draped in gold and silver whom Benjamin did not recognize; another blond youth whom Benjamin also did not recognize...

There were more than ten people in total. Half of them were people Benjamin did not know at all, people who were not part of the Riser Family.

Every one of them sat there without saying a word, and the oppressive atmosphere was terrifying.

Especially when Benjamin appeared, a row of gazes shot toward him in unison. Each one was like a police searchlight, making him feel as though the next second would bring a warning of "Don't move!" followed by bullets.

Clearly, they had all come for him.

"What's going on?"

Benjamin was a little frightened and asked the system in his mind.

"Why panic? I've seen this kind of scene plenty of times." The system was remarkably calm. After saying that, it paused with the air of an old sage, then casually tossed out another sentence that nearly poisoned Benjamin to death.

It said, "They're all here to break off engagements."

"..."

Benjamin was deeply annoyed. Why had he hoarded so many webnovels on his computer and poisoned an artificial intelligence that should have been smart, cheerful, and striving upward, turning it into something so united, tense, serious, lively, and ridiculous?

Even so, he could not help adding in his mind after the system:

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—do not mock a poor young man?"