A Sudden Shift in Mood
Was it because of the suddenly changed atmosphere? The girl sitting on the bed looked flustered, glancing back and forth between me and Ludovico.
"Uh... Grandpa? Business? With him... and the mafia?"
She wore an expression like she couldn't follow the conversation at all. Ludovico placed a hand on her shoulder in response.
"Could you step out for a bit, dear? I need to discuss something important."
But she shook her head firmly.
"No! I don't want to! If it's about Grandpa's business, I want to hear it too!"
Gripping her hands tightly, she stood up and positioned herself beside Ludovico like she was his bodyguard. He pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
"Really, you're impossible to dissuade. Alright then... Calione, is it? Or Han?"
"Eugene is fine. Maestro."
"Very well, I'll call you Eugene then. This girl's stubbornness even gets the best of me. Is it alright if she stays?"
I was just here to fulfill a request. If the client trusted her, who was I to object?
"Do as you please."
"Much obliged. You must have a general idea of the situation since you came here."
"The Maestro was in trouble, so I was told to come help. That's all I heard."
[Maestro's Return]
Ludovico, hailed as the world's greatest master craftsman in shoemaking. Due to a certain past incident, he's fallen into dire straits.
Help him resolve his various troubles and become his benefactor.
📍 Goal: Complete the Maestro's request
🎁 Rewards: Increased favorability with the Maestro, Influence over Sicily Island
The quest window that popped up then was exactly this. I vaguely remembered seeing it in the game, but unfortunately, the details escaped me. Well, I'd skipped most sub-stories for quick progression anyway.
"In that case, I should at least give you a simple rundown of my situation."
"Grandpa..."
Elena placed a gentle hand on Ludovico's shoulder, her face full of pity.
"In the past, I borrowed a large sum from the Medici family mafia on Sicily, using my workshop as collateral. Back then, I thought I could pay it back."
Borrowed money?
"May I ask how much it was?"
Hey, if it was something money could solve, it might be easy enough to handle. With that light thought, I asked—but his response caught me off guard.
"Impossible to count."
"...Pardon?"
"With compound interest over 15 years. Can you imagine? It's an astronomical figure by now."
Ah, that cliché plot.
This request wasn't something money alone could fix from the start.
"Then how on earth did you end up borrowing such an amount?"
Elena answered this one.
"...Because of me. I was really sick when I was little. Grandpa put up the workshop as collateral to get me treated."
"I heard she's not your biological granddaughter, but what exactly is your relationship...?"
"Her father died because of me. More precisely, he died protecting me. Do you know what Italy was like back then?"
"Yes. That's why my father left for another country."
The worldwide dungeon surge. Italy, in particular, botched the initial response and spent years in anarchy, terrorized by monsters and dungeon outbreaks. I knew Sicily had fared better because the local mafia, long acting as vigilantes, fought to protect their properties and farms, creating somewhat livable conditions... but they were still just ordinary humans in the end.
"Even in that environment, we fought to survive. Ah, of course, I'm not blaming your father, Calione. Italy back then was no longer a nation—just the landmass called the Italian Peninsula. Everyone fended for themselves; it was only natural."
They were the ones who couldn't—or wouldn't—leave their homeland. Ludovico had clung to his property and workshop. And helping him defend the village had been Elena's father back then.
"He was one of the first Awakeners and incredibly strong. No one on Sicily at the time could deny his prowess."
But he died anyway. Lost to a dungeon break and the mutant monsters that poured out.
"And that's when God began to watch over us."
Just when everything seemed lost, reinforcements arrived from mainland Italy—not from the fallen government, but a newly reorganized military force led by the Pope: the Crusaders. They swept through, purging dungeons and monsters across Italy.
"But thinking everyone was saved then was arrogance."
Most survivors had lost far more than they'd gained.
"I thought I had to help them too."
So he'd poured his savings into rebuilding the village over the years. And that's when he met Elena—a girl afflicted with some mysterious illness.
"To save her, they said I needed the Holy Blood, an elixir called a sacred relic from the Vatican. So I bought it. With every penny I had—and didn't have. Even that wasn't enough, so I borrowed from the Medici family."
He saw it as the natural thing to do, and he still did. His life had been saved by her father; using it this way felt right. But that's what started stripping everything from him.
"...Back then, I thought I could repay it with my skills. But the timing was awful."
With Vatican-led reconstruction, he figured things would improve. But it was an illusion. The Vatican sold off all the materials gained through the Crusaders overseas, triggering rampant inflation they couldn't handle. Clients dried up too. In the half-destroyed Italy—still riddled with danger zones—most of his old contacts had collapsed.
Still, he believed in his craft. He was convinced people overcoming the chaos would seek him out. But strangely, no requests came. Meanwhile, the debt snowballed.
"I did everything to survive."
But he was the Maestro—a title bestowed on only one artisan per craft worldwide. Eventually, people did come. He worked himself to death, slaving like a dog to pay it off and break free.
But the cleverly laid trap couldn't be escaped by his efforts alone... No matter how much he paid, only the interest budged; the principal never shrank.
"That's when I heard about the Calione kid from back in the day. Who could've guessed the bravest, most righteous boy in the village had become a mafia boss terrifying the world?"
So he'd reached out to Calione. To those kids he'd buy treats for, who visited his workshop for old tales: Vito Calione and Dominic Adanbanto.
"...Before coming here, the Don asked me to relay a message to you, Maestro."
"Hm?"
"──Calione never forgets a debt."
Gripping the hand of the man who'd aged decades in an instant, I continued gravely.
"I'm here to repay it, Maestro."
Only then did a smile spread across his face.
* * *
Once the whole story was done, Elena and I stepped out to the cliffside in front of the cabin. I hoped he'd get some restful rest after that heavy talk, with a proper meal.
"...Sorry for freaking out earlier."
"Pardon?"
As I silently watched the waves crashing below, Elena's voice came.
"Like Grandpa said, he was in danger because of the mafia. I thought you were sent by the Medici to collect more money or something."
Sitting on the cliff's edge, kicking her legs into the void, she turned to me and bowed her head.
"So... really sorry. And thank you for coming to help us."
Caught off guard by her sudden apology, I waved it off.
"It's fine. Totally understandable. I'd be on guard too if some mafia family member showed up out of nowhere."
"...Thank you for understanding."
She lifted her head, brushing back her sea-tousled hair.
"If you ever need my help, just say the word."
"...Pardon?"
"I'm actually pretty strong."
She held out her palm. Wind gathered above it, forming a canary glowing with blue light.
"...A spirit?"
"Oh, you know about them? Yeah. This one's Tinkerbell. She's always by my side, protecting me."
I'd sensed something when we first met. So she was a spirit contractor.
"Spirit mages are rare, or so I've heard. Never dreamed I'd run into one like this. If it's not rude, when did you awaken?"
A canary form meant at least a mid-tier spirit contract. She'd clearly been with it for years.
"From what I heard, after drinking the Holy Blood. Tinkerbell's been with me since I was little."
...Beyond expectations. That explained how someone her age handled a mid-tier spirit.
"A mid-tier spirit mage would definitely be helpful."
"Right?!"
"But I'll pass."
"Huh?"
Her beaming face crumbled.
"W-Why? You said I'd be useful!"
"You would be. But would Ludovico be happy about it?"
He'd bankrupted himself to protect her. If she dove into danger now, he'd shut it down immediately.
"...I'll convince Grandpa."
"Still no."
"Why this time?!"
The real reason she couldn't join me.
"You're too weak."
"...Pardon?"
Way too weak to keep up with me.
"Sure, mid-tier spirit means you're strong for your age. But that doesn't make you a match for the Medici family."
"You don't know that!"
"Wanna bet?"
"...A bet?"
The simplest way to dissuade someone this determined.
"A light spar. I'll use only my left arm; you go all out against me. Succeed in taking me down, and you're in."
Crush her with overwhelming strength.
"Deal?"
Let's see just how talented she really is.