The Spider That Collects Gold Coins
"Here, eat this."
The thug who had been harassing the girl collapsed, and the imperial soldier who came to her aid pulled out a loaf of bread he'd brought from somewhere. It wasn't caked in dust, nor spotted with mold, nor bore the marks of someone else's teeth. It was simply soft, clean bread.
The girl, who had kept her guard up against the soldier, cautiously took a bite.
"...!"
It was delicious.
There were probably better words to describe it, but that single thought was all that rose in the girl's mind. For the first time, she felt a pang of regret at her limited vocabulary. Her inability to express the flavor of this plain bread in greater detail seemed destined to haunt her for a long time.
"I've got one more, so take your time."
Watching her devour the bread, the soldier produced another loaf from his coat. He did nothing else, simply waiting in silence as she ate. The girl understood that even this patience was an act of consideration.
Beyond the alley, in the shadows, she could feel eyes on her. Greedy, envious stares. They only held back because the soldier stood at her side. The moment he left, they would swarm in and rip the bread from her hands. A loaf this large and soft was an exceedingly rare delicacy in the back alleys.
"Chomp... chomp..."
The girl consumed every last bit of the bread the soldier had given her, leaving not a single crumb or scrap behind.
"All finished, I see."
Once he confirmed she had eaten everything, the soldier rose slowly to his feet. He brushed the dust from his trousers, replaced the hat he had removed, and looked ready to depart.
"...What do you want?"
Living in the back alleys of this small city, the girl believed there was nothing worth learning here. Yet she had learned one thing: there was no such thing as pure goodwill.
The residents of these alleys, the commoners wandering the streets, even the nobles who occasionally stopped by pretending to care while handing out food—they all expected something in return. Even if the recipient had nothing to give, the giver would extract their due one way or another. That was the price of "kindness."
Therefore, this soldier had to want something too.
"If it's my body you're after, two loaves of bread isn't nearly enough to buy it. This face is worth far more than that, don't you think?"
The girl asked directly. If she was going to pay a price, she preferred to know exactly what it would be.
"What I want."
The soldier's footsteps halted. He turned to look at her. Even through his indistinct features, those clear eyes seemed to peer straight through her. The girl shivered faintly.
"Y-yes. What you want. I received two loaves, so I'll grant your desire as payment. Not right now, of course. When I've grown stronger."
Despite her unease, the girl spoke boldly. The soldier's gaze was somehow unsettling, yet it didn't feel malicious. If it had been, he would have acted already.
At her attitude, the soldier seemed to consider something for a moment. Then he tossed an object toward her.
"Th-this is...!"
She had never seen one before, but the girl immediately recognized what it was. A brilliant gleam that filled her vision. A noble light bright enough to illuminate the dark alley, if only for a moment. A gold coin engraved with the Empire's crest.
Eyes wide, the girl picked up the coin as the soldier spoke.
"Take that gold coin and achieve what you desire."
"...What do you mean...?"
"That is what I want."
His words were firm. The girl's pupils trembled violently. She had asked for the price of his goodwill, yet what she received was an even greater act of kindness. Though he called it payment, to her it seemed like nothing but a trick. No one would see this as a fair exchange. They would simply think she had received charity.
"How do you know what I want? If I waste this money on something foolish, it'll just be thrown away..."
Her doubt was met with a calm reply.
"Wasting money on useless things isn't like you."
An unseen future. The soldier's certainty about her actions only deepened her confusion.
"Haa..."
Lying in the quarters provided by the Beatrice Trading Company, I let out a heavy sigh. My head had been a mess lately. The apocalypse that was supposed to arrive never did, and I'd handled every problem I could remember. I thought things would be simple now, but instead everything felt far more complicated than before.
"At least back then I had a clear goal...!"
Prevent the world's destruction. Moving toward that single objective had been exhausting, but the purpose was unmistakable. Now that the goal had vanished, I felt utterly lost.
Even Beatrice's lessons were like that. I had taught her the techniques for utilizing manipulation spells, but that was hardly the end of it. She seemed to be slowly grasping the feel through constant practice, yet something crucial was still missing.
The spell I taught her was one she had never learned in the original timeline, so her struggles weren't surprising. The real issue was the timeframe. It was abnormal for a high-ranking transcendent to receive personal instruction from another in the first place, but even then, such tutoring usually lasted no more than a month. Once someone reached the transcendent level, they realized the rings had to be built through their own understanding.
Others' methods could only serve as reference. I had originally planned for about a month, but...
"A month clearly won't be enough."
In the game, Beatrice had stopped at 5-Ring. Though we had already passed the game's ending, making that information potentially unreliable, the fact remained that she never advanced beyond that point. She claimed she could move forward if she truly wished to, but after assessing her current state, I knew the truth.
"In her current condition, it's impossible."
Beyond mere skill or formula limitations, at the transcendent level, the rings were determined by the mindscape one carried. The rings ultimately represented the answer one had chosen for themselves—the tower they revealed to the world. The Mindscape Realization employed by those who had stacked all seven rings was born from this very concept.
Beatrice, however, possessed no such answer. She lacked the question she sought to pose to the world, the endpoint she had decided upon. How she had even reached 5-Ring in that state was a mystery, but advancing further was out of the question. This was no mere speculation; it was certainty.
And if she showed no progress after several months, there was every chance Beatrice would end our lessons.
Even that would be the best-case scenario.
The Spider that Collects Gold Coins. Everyone knew what Beatrice did when a deal resulted in loss. She would bind the other party in her web and drain them dry to compensate. That was why she earned her nickname—much like a spider dealing with prey caught in its threads.
Would someone like her simply let me go after causing her losses amounting to tens of millions of cells?
"She might even demand the interest she's waived until now."
The reason I had been able to repay such an enormous sum—equivalent to two billion cells—wasn't just the dangerous jobs I completed. It was also because she had never charged me interest on the debt. Thanks to the groundwork I laid in the past, that single gold coin had allowed her to rise as the leader of her trading company. She had declared she would take no interest because of it.
But after damage on this scale, even Beatrice wouldn't be able to overlook it. Frankly, it was more surprising that she had come this far on the strength of one gold coin I gave her years ago.
"Tsk..."
If she truly set her mind to inflating my debt, even I wouldn't be able to repay it all. Most of my repayment methods had come from request fees funneled through her trading company anyway. I needed to produce results substantial enough to cover the money she had spent, somehow...
"You look like you have a great deal on your mind."
"Well, obviously...?"
Crash!
At the sudden voice, I kicked my chair aside and sprang up, putting distance between myself and the far end of the room. I had sensed nothing, yet there stood a veiled figure.
A woman draped in pure white silk that covered her face had entered my quarters as naturally as if she belonged there. The realization that a transcendent of such high rank—high enough to evade my senses entirely—had appeared made me stare at her warily, refusing to lower my guard.
"If you were going to worry this much, was there any meaning in leaving my side?"
When the veil was removed, the face revealed was so shocking I could scarcely believe it.
"Y-Your Imperial Majesty?"
The one who stood above all others. The woman who stood alone atop the vast imperial territories. The emperor of a nation with thousands of years of history, and the commander of the special forces unit I once belonged to.
...And the very person who had placed a bounty worth billions on my head to capture me.
"Smile. Only then will fortune find you."
The emperor stood before me.