Chapter 38

“The proposed remuneration wasn’t bad, so we decided to help,”

When Rockefeller heard that, his eyes narrowed slightly.

‘They ran into the mercenaries? Well, mages from the Sinclair family probably didn’t agree because they needed money. The amount the mercenaries offered wouldn’t have been right for them in the first place.’

Unlike other mages, those from Sinclair, the family known for being masters for magic, were worth their weight in gold.

So it didn’t make sense that the Hound Mercenaries, who were just looking for someone to hold down an orc sorcerer, would be able to offer the appropriate price.

“Then you are the mages who came for our territory right? For the Orc Subjugation?”

Still standing at the threshold of the shop with one hand on the door handle, the man nodded his head.

While Rockefeller showed an appropriate response to the situation, the girl, who was watching this exchange, still wanted an answer to her question,

“So, go back to what we were talking about before – How are you going to get the money front he Lord?”

“My Lady, it’s no use paying attention to such things. One banco employee does not dare to exercise the power of a promissory note over the Lord. How could he get the mone? The one he’s up against is the owner of this land.”

The man continued,

“I think it might just be this little boy’s wish and nothing more,”

The girl had considered that at first as well, but her eyes were different from others.

Her eyes were those of pure magic.

They were eyes that could indirectly see into a person’s mind, and with those eyes, she understood that the boy had not lied to her when he said he could get the money back.

Seeing the innocent energy that swayed around him, he looked very much like those who hid their inner thoughts.

In other words, he was hiding something.

“Tell me. I want to hear it.”

The desire to reach out and grab hold of knowledge and an innate temperament of not being able to tolerate unanswered questions were defining traits of a mage.

She too, was born with such a mage-like temperament and so, she wanted to know what thoughts this boy held.

But Rockefeller wasn’t someone who would easily scratch her itchy spot for her.

When he saw the undivided attention the heroine from the original novel was showing him, Rockefeller reached up, scratching the back of his head in innocent confusion,

“Well, if you’re borrowed money, isn’t it natural to pay it back? That’s why I said that,”

His sly acting was close to perfection.

It was like he had learned to act with a theatre company.

The girl showed slight disappointment at the sight, but that was only for a moment.

‘No, I’m sure you’re up to something.’

It was clearly visible to her, and the mana she concentrated in her eyes.

He was hiding something for sure.

‘It’s something he can’t say out loud? Is it something like that? How could he get the money that he’s lent out the Lord back again?’

Unable to overcome her curiosity, Isabella took a step forwards towards Rockefeller without realising it.

The man who had been watching them, looked surprised.

To think she, who was always indifferent, was so interested in something.

‘You’re that interested? But it doesn’t make any sense,’

The power that the little girl possessed was also something that the man possessed. However, it was such a strange idea to him that he didn’t have the same doubts as her.

“My lady, like I said, it’s an absolutely impossible story,”

“Tell me. How can someone like you get the money back from the Lord? You were saying you could so confidently before, right?”

The man tried to stop the girl but she continued to question it.

“Can’t you just tell me? It shouldn’t matter if you just tell me right?”

Rockefeller was stuck in a difficult position when the girl who was about to leave, began showing renewed interest in the subject.

‘Ah, she was a Sinclair mage wasn’t she? The kind who can’t stand being curious.’

The reason why she ended up becoming one of the main heroes and entangled with the main character was because of a situation not dissimilar to this one.

She couldn’t hold back her usual curiosity, coincidentally developed an interest in the main character, which later turned into her liking him.

‘Seeing how persistent she is, she must have used the ‘Eyes of Truth’ (正眼) and saw that I lied.’

Nevertheless, from Rockefeller’s point of view, the man with the same power had responded in a way that was the complete opposite to this little girl, which meant that he wasn’t completely without options.

‘One says it’s nonsense and the other keeps asking me to tell them as if I’m hiding some great secret – but in fact, there’s nothing much.’

Whether she could see through his inner-most thoughts or not, Rockefeller decided to stick to the same attitude until the end.

“Isn’t it natural to just go and get the money back? That’s why I said that, but if you misunderstand it that much, then I have nothing to say…”

The girl looked disappointed and the man thought that it was a waste of time.

“My lady, usually those who belong to the Banco are not always honest, even when it seems like they are telling the truth, wearing a smiling mask – there is always a deeper lie made of greed behind it. Perhaps the misunderstanding My Lady had might have had some influence on the boys denial. Although we can see through another’s lies with the power of the ‘Eyes of Truth’, it is simply the essence we see, we cannot read their minds,”

The reason that man had come to a different conclusion to the girl despite having the same power, was due to this reason. The Eyes of Truth did not show them another person’s thoughts.

And besides, those from the Banco were not honest people to begin with.

They were those blinded by greed, who smiled while they lied for profit.

“I think it’s just the boy’s one-sided wish to retrieve the money – and it’s probably because he works for the Banco, that he seems shrouded in half-truths. Anyway,”

The man continued,

“They are those who dare go against the world of god and receive the god’s anger,”

“God’s anger?”

“One of the reasons people from the Banco are criticised is because they receive interest in return for lending out money,”

“Is that a problem?”

“Interest is something one receives across the time they’ve lent out money. As you know, time is God’s territory, so to use time a means for self-interest is unacceptable.”

The man expressed his own conclusion,

“Since they are like that, from the perspective of the ‘Eyes of Truth’ they might always seem to be lying on the inside and my Lady may have come to a misunderstanding because of that,”

“Really?”

“I’m saying that this is what it could be – my Lady must make the final judgement,”

When Rockefeller heard that, he almost laughed out loud without realising it.

Interfering in the realm of time and receiving gods fury…

‘There are people who mug others at sword-point, and people who use magic to trample on others – but rather than them, we’re the ones who anger god? Compared to them, I’d say we’re downright saints.’