I felt a bit uncomfortable, but it was impossible for Pret to notice what I had just thought. It was something related to the original work that he could never possibly know.
‘He’ll just keep barking up the wrong tree, just like he did a moment ago.’
So, I lightly brushed off Pret’s words and looked down to finish reading the information on Svein. No other peculiarities were found in the remaining content.
It seemed the reason for betrayal set by the author, Senna, was simply ‘an incurably ill younger sister and the resulting debt.’ For reference, when Svein first awakened, he heard there was a skilled healer in a neighboring village. He went to find that person but ended up getting caught in a Demonic Realm.
At the time the Demonic Realm was created, he didn’t realize the plants growing there were high-value items, so he hadn’t thought to harvest them for his Inventory. He reportedly regretted it deeply later after learning the truth.
‘The fact that pulling and selling plants from a Demonic Realm makes money is information not yet well-known to commoners. It’s because the powerful control the information to maximize their own profits.’
After a Demonic Realm is cleared, the lord is supposed to take all the medicinal herbs grown on that land. If commoners harvest them first, the profit the lord can gain decreases.
They know the secret will eventually come out, but they are trying to delay that time as much as possible.
‘I suppose the only silver lining is that since his sister only recently fell ill, the debt isn’t that large yet…?’
According to the data, the accumulated debt so far was 53 gold coins. To put that in perspective, 1 copper coin is worth 100 won, 1 silver coin is 10,000 won, 1 gold coin is 1,000,000 won, and 1 platinum coin is worth 100,000,000 won.
At this level, even considering the interest, it wasn’t an amount a family couldn’t pay off in a lifetime if they all tightened their belts. Especially since Svein could collect plenty of expensive herbs once he grew strong enough to enter a Demonic Realm later on.
However, the root of the problem was that the cost of treating an incurable disease wasn’t a one-time expense. While Svein’s family earned a monthly income of about 2.8 million won, 2 million went to living expenses, and the cost of palliative care and life-prolonging treatment for his sister was around 3 million won.
At this rate, they couldn’t even pay the interest, let alone the principal, and the debt would only grow.
‘Even worse, the price of the herbs will gradually drop as their rarity disappears over time…! Right now, moneylenders are willing to lend money because there’s an expected value that Svein can earn a fortune once he’s skilled enough to enter a Demonic Realm. But the moment the money he can earn can no longer cover the increased interest, no one will be willing to lend his family a single coin. And that will be the exact timing when Svein sells our lives.’
It was an incredibly tragic situation. Not just for Svein and his family, but for us, who were destined to be betrayed by him.
While I was relieved that the amount needed to prevent such a tragedy was currently in my hands, it also brought up complex feelings.
‘This possession body’s monthly allowance is 10 gold coins. Combining the money the original Karbaldr left behind with what I’ve saved since possessing him, it’s slightly less than 1 platinum coin. Even if I pay off the entire debt and support the monthly treatment costs, I won’t run out of money.’
Thinking that I was receiving an allowance in an amount others couldn’t earn even through backbreaking labor made my conscience prickle.
‘Still, this money came from Hard’s pocket.’
Realizing this made me feel a bit more at ease.
‘Now the remaining problem is how to get the money to Svein…’
I had a method in mind, but I felt I should postpone describing it for a moment. There were a few issues to address before that.
I asked Pret a question, pretending to mutter to myself. “Svein is in such a dire financial situation. Why didn’t he take the Imperial Princess’s arrows like someone else did…?”
“That’s probably because of his pride. After the Wednesday morning lecture, he slunk over to me and asked if it wasn’t a bit shameful to take things someone else threw away in front of others.”
It seemed Svein desperately wanted to do so, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it for fear that we would look down on him.
“You seem quite concerned about Svein’s family circumstances, don’t you?”
“More importantly, why is there no data on you? Aren’t you a commoner too?”
“Aha! Are you taking an interest in me as well? I’m truly honored, but unfortunately, my personal information is an item our guild doesn’t sell!”
“Then you should have said so beforehand. This is a clear act of fraud.”
“Oh, come on. What information guild would sell info on the successor to its leader? Why is a man of your stature acting like this?”
As Pret said, this was perfectly natural. Therefore, I hadn’t expected to receive his information at all. However, if I showed myself backing down easily and accepting his words now, similar situations might repeat themselves.
“Did you agree to the deal assuming I would accept information excluding you?”
“Asking a question like that… surely…”
“I didn’t expect it at all.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“What’s your evidence that I’m lying?”
“There’s no way someone as smart as you, Senior, wouldn’t have known.”
“Maybe I’m not as smart as you think. Or maybe I just overlooked it.”
I decided to be stubborn. I felt slightly embarrassed by his bewildered expression, but backing down now would only make me look more ridiculous.
“…I can give you information on ‘Pret Hullid’ from his days in the circus troupe. Would you like to take that instead?”
“Are you trying to hand me manipulated information now? That statement makes me doubt the credibility of the information I just received.”
“Oh, my! I must have worded that confusingly. I meant that if you were curious about how I manipulated it, I could let you check!”
“I’m not interested in that.”
“If you say so…”
Pret trailed off, appearing deep in thought. He was likely searching for something appropriate to give me instead of information about himself. And since I happened to have something I wanted him to investigate, I decided to request it.
“Come to think of it, Professor Vanahilda became a bounty hunter to get revenge, but she hasn’t finished it yet, has she?”
“Ah! Now that you mention it, Senior, your brow furrowed slightly when you were reading that part too. Were you concerned about her situation as well?”
“It’s not that… but if the culprit who killed Professor Vanahilda’s family tries to kill her later to eliminate any future trouble, couldn’t they take us students hostage in the process…?”
“Senior Karbaldr, your voice went up at the end. Since you said it like a question, you know how ridiculous that excuse sounds, right?”
Of course I knew. It was truly absurd. If the culprit found Vanahilda threatening, it would be logical for them to hide away rather than reveal themselves.
However, if no action was taken, it was a destined future that we would face a crisis because of that criminal.
‘It has to be that way because the original author wouldn’t have left Vanahilda’s target for revenge alive for no reason.’
Presumably, the author, Senna, intended to unravel Vanahilda’s past narrative through such an incident. And since the scene where she reaches out to a devastated Reysir and falls into a deeper abyss through death—as in the original work before the remake—was no longer possible.
She would likely stage her death in a different way.
‘In a way that has the maximum impact on Reysir.’
As someone who was one of Senna’s readers and had read the pre-remake version of *Nas-e*, I was certain. I believed Senna had used this incident to prepare a development where not only Vanahilda but one additional student would die.
Unlike the pre-remake version where she actively tracked the culprit as a bounty hunter, the current Vanahilda was tied down at the Academy, making it impossible for her to pursue them.
‘Whether it’s just a coincidental encounter or because the culprit comes looking for her to drive her to despair once more, the author will definitely create a connection somehow.’
If one of her students died then, Vanahilda would fall into despair and blame herself. And the students would likely have grown more attached to their peer whom they trained with than to her, their professor.
‘Even if they know in their heads that it’s not Vanahilda’s fault, it’s inevitable that they would feel resentment toward her!’
Vanahilda’s mental state, noticing this, would deteriorate further. The scene would show even the original protagonist, Reysir, unable to offer her words of comfort. Then, driven by the determination not to lose any more children who were like her own, Vanahilda would either die saving the students or end up taking her own life.
“Anyway, the conclusion is that instead of information about me, you want me to investigate and tell you about the criminal who killed Professor Vanahilda’s family?”
“It’s something that happened nearly 20 years ago. Is it possible to find out?”
“It will be incredibly difficult and taxing, but what can I do? My personal information is not for sale!”
In any case, it meant it was possible. After all, the original Vanahilda had managed it, so if the world’s best information guild stepped in, they could certainly find the culprit.
“In exchange, if the information you plan to tell me later isn’t impressive, you’ll owe me one, Senior. Got it?”
“Why should I go out of my way to owe you? I can just pay the difference in cash.”
“Tsk, I guess so. You are rich, after all.”
Pret smacked his lips with a disappointed look. Then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, he spoke while carefully watching my expression.
“I felt a bit sorry about Professor Vanahilda’s situation myself. If she had placed a request with our guild earlier, we would have found the guy a long time ago…”
If I unconsciously agreed with his words, it would be like admitting that I also felt sorry for her. He was undoubtedly trying to bait me into that.
So—.
“Information on how to contact an information guild is only known to those in the loop, isn’t it? That’s probably why she couldn’t find out.”
I countered in an indifferent tone. Then, I diverted his attention with the following words.
“Ah, come to think of it, I don’t necessarily need to bear the entire investigation cost myself… actually, it’s better if I don’t.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I can’t exactly hand over information about the culprit to Professor Vanahilda directly, can I? If I did that, it would lead to a misunderstanding that I was digging into her background.”
“Isn’t that not a misunderstanding, though?”
“You did the investigation. I just received it.”
“Ooh! Senior Karbaldr, you have a surprisingly shameless side, don’t you?”
For some reason, Pret reacted with delight, his eyes even sparkling. It was a bit unsettling, but I had to finish what I was saying.
“Have your guild send an informant to Professor Vanahilda and tell her you’re selling information about the culprit. Until now, she was just an ordinary bounty hunter, so the guild didn’t pay her much attention. But information about an Awakened professor is worth knowing. If you use the excuse that you learned about her circumstances during that investigation and came to her for a deal, she won’t be suspicious.”
“Wait! If we use that excuse, we have to collect the information fee from Professor Vanahilda…”
“It wouldn’t be right to take payment from both her and me, so I suppose you’re the one who owes me now.”
“Wow…! Senior Karbaldr, are you sure you won’t join our guild?”
How many times did this guy have to be rejected before he gave up? At this point, I felt he was being more pathetic than persistent.