A Real Fortune

Volcano Manor was not only rich, but generous.

Those 230,000 runes were not a deposit. They were payment in full.

What Tarnished had failed to accomplish despite trading verbal blows with Bernahl and racking his brains, Lady Tanith, the mistress of Volcano Manor, had done simply because she was pleased. All he could say was that women's money really was easy to earn. They were genuinely willing to pay for emotional satisfaction. As for men... folks, you might as well try the stray dogs by the roadside.

To thank Tanith for her generous purchase, Tarnished promised to deliver on time and threw in a portrait of Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, as a gift, asking Henricus to take it back with him.

The painting had always hung on the wall of Stormveil's council chamber and was supposedly the work of a renowned artist. In it, King Godfrey stood in imposing armor, a greataxe in hand and one foot planted on a boulder as he gazed into the distance. It certainly captured his spirit. But being a pragmatist, Tarnished planned to hang a map of the Lands Between in the chamber instead. Something this flashy and useless was awkward to store, so he might as well give it to Volcano Manor as an easy favor. It was a way to make use of junk, too.

Henricus clearly disliked the idea as well. The painting was bloody enormous, taller than a person even when rolled up.

In the end, Tarnished had to slip him two bottles of fine fruit wine before Henricus reluctantly agreed and promised to deliver this "gift" to Tanith.

Before Henricus left, Kenneth Haight also made sure to hand him a personal letter about Stormveil's new lord marrying a descendant of the First Lord. He was taking their publicity campaign to its absolute limit.

After seeing Henricus off, Tarnished and the others began discussing how to use the 230,000 runes. But before they could reach any conclusions, Henricus visited Stormveil again the following evening.

I know you people at Volcano Manor have a secret teleportation mechanism, but isn't this a little too fast?

Has Tanith changed her mind and decided not to do business with Stormveil?

Tarnished's heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked Henricus why he had come.

This time, Henricus was positively warm and enthusiastic, a world apart from his previous icy demeanor. Once he explained his purpose, Tarnished finally understood why his attitude had changed so much.

In short, Tanith absolutely adored the stylish little piece of jun... gift Tarnished had sent her. She loved it to bits, loved it beyond measure. Even Henricus had received praise for bringing the painting back, which explained the man's complete change in attitude.

And this time, he had come on the orders of Lady Tanith, the mistress of Volcano Manor, to purchase more jun... works of art from Stormveil.

"I see."

Enlightenment dawned on Tarnished. He and Kenneth Haight leaned back in perfect tactical unison, exchanged a glance, and immediately understood each other.

"To think Lady Tanith has such refined tastes." Kenneth Haight coughed. "Indeed, that painting is of exceptional artistic merit. Her ability to recognize its value is truly worthy of the mistress of Volcano Manor. Stormveil does possess many other treasures, but they are irreplaceable masterpieces, precious legacies left to us by our predecessors. They must never be sold lightly. To be honest, we should never have given away First Lord Gazing into the Distance so readily. But Lord Tarnished insisted on expressing his gratitude to Lady Tanith for spending such a considerable sum at Stormveil. He overruled every objection and made that decision himself. Doing it again... absolutely out of the question!"

Henricus immediately put on an ingratiating smile. "Don't refuse so quickly, Lord Haight. My mistress is truly sincere. Volcano Manor is willing to pay a high price. After all, they're only things you can't eat or drink..."

"Outrageous!" Kenneth Haight bristled and glared. "Those are works of art! Art of the highest order! Do not sully them with your filthy talk of money!"

Henricus took a faceful of spit. Normally, he would already have pulled out his great hammer, but with his superior's tastes at stake, he could only swallow his anger.

The Recusant turned a pleading look toward Tarnished. "My lord, surely you..."

"Lord Haight is right! Art is the legacy of culture, the treasure of a people! We absolutely cannot..."

Tarnished wore a righteous expression, but before he could finish, Henricus slipped something to him under the table.

The righteous Tarnished looked down. It was a talisman.

[Hammer Talisman]: A talisman depicting a hammer and a knight. Attacks greatly increase an enemy's stamina consumption when they guard. Highly effective against shield-bearing enemies, it is a renowned weapon of the Knight Hunters.

Well, damn. A weapon specifically designed to kill me, huh? Volcano Manor really does specialize in PvP. They've got no shortage of these little gadgets.

Still, a visitor was a guest, no one objected to extra gifts, and the customer was king. The righteous Tarnished quietly accepted the talisman and coughed. "That said, considering Lady Tanith is a loyal customer of Stormveil, making an exception for her isn't entirely out of the question."

"Absolutely not!"

Kenneth Haight looked horrified, while Henricus was delighted. He hurriedly said, "Exactly! Lady Tanith asked me to tell you that whatever price you name, she will not haggle."

But Tarnished shook his head. "Kenneth is right. Stormveil will never sell those works of art for profit."

Henricus froze. "Then what do you mean?"

"We'll give them away, just like before."

Henricus was dumbfounded. "Give them away? For free?"

"Of course for free. If it isn't free, how is it a gift?" Then Tarnished changed tack. "But we won't give them away just to anyone. Since Lady Tanith says she loves art, let me see her sincerity."

"Her sincerity?"

"Exactly." Tarnished finally revealed his hand. "Any customer who orders more than 300,000 runes' worth of goods from Stormveil will receive a complimentary work of art as a token of our gratitude. The more you order, the more gifts you receive. Once your total reaches one million, there's an extra surprise gift."

Y-you can do that?

Henricus had descended into complete bewilderment. "What... is the surprise gift?"

"That's a secret," Tarnished said with a smile. "If you knew beforehand, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it? In any case, it will be something beyond monetary value, absolutely steeped in artistic merit."

Henricus left in a daze. He had to return to Volcano Manor and relay this news to Tanith.

Once he was gone, Tarnished and Kenneth Haight clapped their hands together in celebration and showered each other with praise.

Tarnished gave Kenneth Haight a thumbs-up. "You portrayed that devotion to art so convincingly! A veteran actor. An absolute veteran!"

Kenneth Haight patted Tarnished's shoulder in return. "Giving them away instead of selling them was a stroke of genius. I truly cannot match that head for business."

"Haha, you're still the better one."

"No, no, you're far more impressive."

"Shall we open a bottle to celebrate?"

"Of course! Let's drink with our arms linked!"

The old man and the young man happily drained a cup together, their faces filled with joy and satisfaction.

Why? Because they had found themselves a sucker, of course.

"Tanith will agree, right?" Tarnished was a little uneasy.

"Relax. She'll definitely take the bait." Kenneth Haight poured himself another cup and spoke unhurriedly between sips. "I've seen far too many people like her, people who leap up from the bottom and suddenly possess unimaginable wealth and power. They are ashamed of their origins and will stop at nothing to enter high society. So they cater almost obsessively to the tastes of the upper classes, adorning themselves with art and refinement. Tanith was originally Lord Rykard the Inquisitor's concubine, not even entitled to bear his children, yet the Shattering suddenly elevated her position. What the hell does a dancing girl know about art? She's merely using money to buy status and acceptance."

Tarnished asked in puzzlement, "But the Lands Between are in chaos now. That so-called high society has long ceased to exist in anything but name. Who is she doing all this for?"

"Herself." Kenneth Haight shrugged. "High society never cared about her background. No one cares how many works of art she owns, whether she comes from the bottom, or whether she is vulgar or elegant. That circle cares only about interests. If Tanith demonstrated sufficient ability, people would naturally deign to associate with her. Unfortunately, she has never understood that. She is the one who believes art and refinement will earn her respect."

Now Tarnished understood. He sighed. "Living in her own imagination, huh? That's human nature, too."

Sure enough, Henricus soon returned and placed an order for a full million on Tanith's behalf. Paid in full, no less!

When the chest filled with Hero's Runes was opened, its dazzling light nearly blinded everyone present.

Henricus said in a dry voice, "My mistress said there is no hurry for the goods on the order, but she hopes to receive the complimentary items and gift immediately."

"No problem. We'll go get them."

Tarnished gave Kenneth Haight a look. The latter whispered awkwardly, "The paintings are easy enough. We can just take them off the walls. But where am I supposed to find that little surprise gift you mentioned? Take down another painting?"

"It can't be another painting," Tarnished whispered back. "Have the servants look around for a nice-looking bowl, basin, candlestick, or something, and bring it over."

Kenneth Haight: "..."

In the end, Henricus left with three paintings and a bowl, looking as though he could barely keep a straight face.

But Tarnished secretly slipped him two packets of the highest-grade Golden Sunflower tea, asking him to put in a few good words for Stormveil with Lady Tanith. The man instantly brightened and thumped his chest in assurance.

Watching him leave, Tarnished let out a relieved breath. Excellent. Now there was one more person helping fool that silly woman Tanith.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Haight examined the Hero's Runes in the chest and exclaimed in astonishment, "Is Volcano Manor really this rich?"

Tarnished crouched down too, plunging his hand into the chest to feel the warmth of money... runes. "They are in the capital region, after all. The two campaigns against Volcano Manor left both the Royal Capital of Leyndell and Volcano Manor badly mauled. The dead were piled into mountains, so naturally they left behind an enormous quantity of runes. It's just a shame about these Hero's Runes. Whether they served Volcano Manor or were loyal to the Royal Capital of Leyndell, they were warriors with great achievements in life. I doubt they could ever have imagined that the power they left behind would be used to satisfy someone's selfish desires."

Kenneth Haight let out a long sigh and delivered his verdict. "Volcano Manor is rotten to the core!"

The next day, Tarnished called everyone together for a meeting to discuss how to use the funds.

Nepheli entered the council chamber and saw one empty picture frame after another on the walls, their paintings nowhere to be found. She asked in surprise, "Where are the paintings that hung here?"

Tarnished answered, "Gave them away."

Nepheli was aghast. "Gave them away?! Those were art!"

Tarnished pointed at the frames on the wall. "Exactly. Isn't art all about framing people?"

Nepheli: "..."

Everyone: "..."

In the end, every complaint vanished beneath the radiance of an entire chest of Hero's Runes.

Rogier sighed in wonder. "I've never seen so many runes in my life. Volcano Manor really is rich."

Everyone else nodded.

"This money is ours now," Tarnished said with a smile. "So stop marveling and let's discuss how to spend it."

Everyone came back to their senses and began discussing.

Together with the previous payment, Tarnished now held the staggering fortune of 1.23 million runes.

Tarnished wanted to improve people's livelihoods and expand production, using money to make more money, but everyone joined together to reject the proposal.

The reason was simple. Rogier gave a bitter smile. "We're already desperately short of manpower. Even if we expanded our production lines, we wouldn't have enough workers to operate them."

At the mention of labor, all the bigwigs in the council chamber frowned and scratched their heads. It had become Stormveil's perennial headache. Neither Edgar's recruitment efforts in Liurnia nor Fia's baby-making plan could resolve the problem quickly and thoroughly. By now, population had become the primary bottleneck restricting Stormveil's development. The main contradiction they faced was between their rapidly expanding means of production and their severely lagging productive capacity.

Expanding their production lines further at this point was clearly ill-timed.

Tarnished slapped his forehead, frankly admitted his mistake, withdrew his proposal, and humbly asked everyone for suggestions.

D spoke up. "What is there to discuss? We came together because of you. When Stormveil grows stronger, so do you. But the reverse is also true: the stronger you become, the stronger Stormveil becomes. I think Tarnished is still too weak. I suggest using these runes to strengthen him. Does anyone object?"

Of course, no one objected.

Though Tarnished had considerable talent for combat, even the finest techniques needed sufficient strength to support them. He was already so reliable without that strength, so why not give him more power and make him even more dependable?

And so everyone unanimously agreed to use the 1.23 million runes to strengthen Tarnished.

Tarnished did not refuse. Strength was what made a lord, and he understood that better than anyone.

However, he did not spend all the money on leveling up. Though they did not need to expand their production lines, some work still had to be done to improve people's livelihoods.

After further discussion, they decided to use the remaining 230,000 to support public welfare and improve living standards, while the other one million runes would all be poured into Tarnished.

And so, after a long interval, Tarnished finally uttered that long-unheard line again.

"Melu, level me up."

Melina emerged from the void, and everyone greeted her.

They all knew she was Tarnished's Finger Maiden-or perhaps not a maiden, but she did possess the secret art of turning runes into strength. She was his indispensable companion.

Melina returned their greetings rather stiffly. Truthfully, she was still unused to being surrounded by onlookers. She had lived alone in a little room untouched by daylight for far too long, after all. What Tarnished needed to do was help her gradually grow accustomed to it.

"Have you gathered more runes?" Melina asked Tarnished.

"I gathered... a hundred million or so little bits." Tarnished pointed at the wooden chest beside him.

At the sight of an entire chest of Hero's Runes, Melina almost lost control of her expression. She could not help asking, "Did you kill a demigod?"

Tarnished smiled. "This isn't the power of a demigod. It's the power of the people."

The people?

Melina did not understand, but Melina was deeply shocked.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, then held out her hand. "Just for a moment. Please touch my hand."

Tarnished took it. Melina looked toward the chest, and the Hero's Runes inside instantly burst apart, transforming into pure light that surged into Tarnished's body.

"One million runes in total. That will allow you to gain forty-nine levels and reach level eighty, at a total cost of 983,217 runes. Would you like to level up?"

"Yes."

"Very well. As you wish!"