Baisha's Scheme (1)
After leaving the dungeon and arriving in Verda, Ellen parted ways with Bamon.
Bamon said he planned to scrape together enough money to restore the Duran family's honor.
Once they had said their goodbyes, Ellen set out for Los at once. There was still time before the academy term began, but he hurried all the same, determined to spend as many of those remaining days with his parents as he could.
When he walked through the door, Maria's tears spilled over, and Sien ruffled Ellen's hair in celebration of his return. Genius or not, in their eyes he was still just a boy who didn't know a thing about the world.
"I, uh… I overheard that we have a debt," Ellen said quietly over the dinner they were sharing to mark his safe homecoming.
"W-what are you talking about?"
Maria turned a startled look on Sien.
"I heard you two talking in the bedroom that day."
"Haa."
Sien let out a small sigh. He took a breath to steady himself, then went on.
"You're right. Your father was too useless to avoid going into debt. But you don't need to worry about it. It's my debt, so I'll pay it off. You just focus on getting into the academy with a clear mind."
He thought the exact same thing last time, didn't he?
The realization sent a dull ache through Ellen's chest.
Thud.
"Here."
Ellen drew a pouch from his clothes and set it on the table.
"This is…"
Sien peered inside and found he could not finish the sentence.
"Where did you get this?"
The pouch held gold coins. Commoners rarely laid eyes on gold, but even Sien could tell these were not the ordinary currency of the continent. A dragon was engraved on the reverse, and ancient script ran across the face. They were gold coins from antiquity—worth, depending on the type, about five gold each.
"I went to Verda and happened to join a dungeon-clearing party. This is part of the reward that came out of it. Is it enough to clear the debt?"
Sien crushed his son in a fierce embrace.
"I'm sorry. Your father has no face left to show you."
This was the same boy who had hesitated over entering the magic academy for fear of burdening his family. Hearing that son offer to settle his father's debt nearly brought Sien to tears.
"Please just rest easy while I'm away at the academy."
A few days later, Ellen gathered the gold coins and went to Baisha's place of business.
"Boss Baisha, some kid's here saying he wants to pay off Sien's debt."
The so-called genius of the age, is it?
At his subordinate's report, Baisha pictured a certain boy's face.
"Send him in."
Ellen took the chair across from Baisha. The underlings scowled at him with all the menace they could muster, but to Ellen they only looked ridiculous.
"I understand my father owes you money, sir."
Even a predatory loan shark was still a man who had lent money. Quite some time had passed since the loan, and so far the family had suffered no actual harm. For that reason Ellen saw no need to swagger.
"Sien. That friend of mine came to me about a year ago, saying he needed to cure his wife's illness."
Mother's illness? So that was it.
Ellen had never known why his father had borrowed the money. Hearing the reason from this man left a sour taste in his mouth.
Magical treatment, maybe?
He didn't know how serious the disease had been, but the size of the sum suggested magical healing.
"I've come to repay that debt."
He would ask his parents himself later. For now Ellen cut the thought short and faced Baisha.
Baisha stuck a cigarette between his teeth and lit it.
"With interest, it's twenty gold."
Insane. In one year the amount due doubled. No wonder Father couldn't pay it back.
Ten gold alone was months of hard labor. Interest that outpaced even that kind of wage made the debt impossible for Sien to clear.
Ellen took four gold coins from the pouch he had brought.
"Here."
Baisha's eyes went wide as he accepted them.
Ancient gold coins?
He had never imagined something so valuable would come out of a brat's hand.
"You've got something rare there."
"I came by them by chance. Then I'll take it that my father's debt is settled."
Scraping the chair back, Ellen stood and left Baisha's establishment without another word. Even if the man had committed no crime in this life, Ellen knew what he had done in the last one, and looking at that face any longer made his skin crawl.
Watching Ellen step out the door, Baisha turned the ancient coins over in his fingers and sank into thought.
How the hell does a kid like that have these?
All at once he hurled a coin against the wall.
"Damn it! Now I can't gouge them any further!"
Baisha was a usurer who lent small sums and bled people dry with outrageous interest. His method was simple: loan money at an absurd rate, then for a full year do nothing but send polite collection notices. People scrambled desperately to pay, but Baisha already knew the sum was one they could never hope to clear. He pocketed the pitiful installments they brought in month after month—and in the second year the real collection began. Violence and threats followed. When the borrowers still could not repay the debt that had ballooned like a snowball, he sold them into the slave market. Between the money they had already paid and the commission he skimmed from the sale, it was an extremely profitable business.
Ellen's repayment had just wrecked that plan.
"That woman… she would've fetched a fortune for sure."
Baisha pictured Sien's wife. Looks like hers would have commanded a high price.
His men tensed, reading the fury on his face. Furniture would be flying any second.
"How the hell did he get them?!"
They flinched at the bellow. Then one underling raised a hand.
"Boss Baisha… I've heard a rumor."
The words seemed to cool Baisha a fraction; he sat back down.
"What rumor? If it's nothing, you're dead."
"I heard it from a merchant who came back from Verda. Do you know the dungeon there?"
"The one they call impregnable?"
Baisha gave a slight nod, then spoke as if something had clicked. Encouraged, the subordinate pressed on.
"Yes, that's the one. Word is that not long ago a mercenary and a boy cleared it. The timing lines up exactly with when that Ellen kid vanished from Los. Of course, people say it was the Sword Expert Theo who did the real work, not the brat. After that, Theo finished some other big-ticket contract too."
A thin, ugly smile slid across Baisha's face.
So the little punk got lucky and latched onto a mercenary. That means there's more dungeon loot still sitting in that house. Treasure from a dungeon no one had ever cleared… the haul must have been enormous.