Chapter 100 - When the snow melts (2)

Before.

Not long ago, Vlad had a conversation like this with members of Jorge's organization.

"Ah. I just wish I had 100 gold coins."

Common conversations that men usually have when they get together.

A story about alcohol, women, and anything special.

And as these conversations unfold, there is a story that naturally emerges.

"What should I do if I have 100 gold coins?"

"If you have it, instead of doing this, buy some land somewhere and settle down right away."

"I've lived here all my life and I guess I'll make a living by farming."

A story about money.

They are stories that can only be imagined because they cannot happen exactly.

"Look boss. After all, it's about business more than agriculture. Let's look for a nice building..."

"And then it collapses completely. I think doing business is easy."

Life is sad when you can clearly see the future.

That's why sometimes trivial stories like this were necessary.

Because you don't need any qualification to imagine and talk.

"..."

You have to buy land, you have to buy a building, no, you have to start a business.

In a conversation that made no sense but was still passionate, Burleigh looked at the boy who was alone in the distance.

"Hey junior. What would you do if you had 100 gold coins?"

The youngest member of the organization, silently watching as he listened to the useless stories of his elders.

"Who gave it to me?"

"You can talk about that, right?"

The blond boy stopped pushing for a moment and silently pondered Burleigh's question.

What would you do first if you suddenly had money?

"...If I have 100 gold coins, I must pay off the debt first."

"What? Do you owe me 100 gold coins?"

"That's strange. Have you been gambling or something?"

It was unlikely to happen, but he could imagine it, and even in that imagination, Vlad thought he had to pay off his debt first.

"It's not a gambling debt, but I still have some things to pay."

There was always a list of people he had to pay in the back of Vlad's mind.

Most of the list was about people who held grudges, but there were also people who actually owed money and had to be paid, and the same person's name was always written at the top of the list.

"...328 gold coins."

And now Vlad, who had to leave Soara, had over 100 gold coins in his hands.

What would you do if you had money?

Although Burleigh was no longer there to hear his answers, Vlad decided to do what he had always thought of doing.

There is not much time left to leave.

So now is the time to repay the money.

***

"I guess something isn't right with us."

"Yeah, I know."

Two people pouring themselves beer amid the noisy crowd of customers.

Gregory, who had been released on probation again, and Vlad, who had been punished with expulsion, looked at each other helplessly, excluded from their duties.

"When are you leaving?"

"About five days?I'll leave as soon as I'm ready."

Joseph gave Vlad a week.

Although it might seem like a long time, it was also a subtly difficult moment from Vlad's perspective since he had to leave the city where he had lived his entire life.

"…But everything we planned is over."

The intentions were good, but the results were not.

Somehow, Gregory, who was the cause of this incident, wanted to be considered in his own way with Vlad, who had to leave the city because of the job he had proposed.

"Soon, the people from the Kannor family will come to Soara."

In any case, Black Bear and his organization disappeared from the alleys, and an area in Soara was created where the Kannor family could occupy.

"This is a business that cannot fail. It has already been coordinated to some extent with Mr. Joseph."

"…"

As Bordan said, knights are not people who save money through salaries.

The advantage of having a close relationship with powerful people was enough to attract knights to the shining gold coins.

"Invest at least a nominal amount. Then I'll take care of it so you don't have to worry."

The Kannor family advances toward Soara.

Other merchants would do their utmost to participate in this business, but Gregory was saying he would open a corner of the door just for Vlad.

Because the knight in front of him was someone who fully deserved it.

"How much does it cost?"

"I don't know how much I received as a special allowance, but I only contributed what I can afford."

Gregory's eyes looked beyond the beer glass at Vlad.

Originally, the plan was to slowly take root in the alleys with Vlad, who knew the situation well.

"Mmm."

At first glance, it sounded like the typical trick of a scammer, but the person sitting across from Vlad was a Bayezid knight whose name alone could prove his reliability.

"Are 50 gold coins enough?"

"That's enough."

It was a ridiculous amount, but it would be enough to make a name for oneself.

And since the Kannor family was already one of the families supporting Vlad, they would definitely take care of it without any regrets.

"Please take care."

"Please take good care of this while I'm away."

"Understood."

Gregory said he was sorry, and Vlad replied that he should take care of it later, please.

Now that we've said everything we had to say to each other, all that's left is to drink.

"..."

As Gregory raised his beer glass, Vlad looked indifferently at the snacks in front of him.

Mature red sausage.

"It wasn't tasty."

Before seeing the world, nothing seemed as delicious to Vlad as this sausage.

But Vlad decided he would no longer be satisfied with the poor sausages produced by the black bear.

***

"What's this? I don't need inn fees."

"I can't stay here anymore. There's also a part the old Ramund didn't pay for."

Vlad jokingly handed Marcella 50 gold coins.

I don't think she'll accept me if I don't do this.

"…Our inn doesn't charge that much, does it?"

"This is an investment. I'll return the profits later."

Vlad tried to convey to Marcella exactly what Gregory had said.

"I think Rose's Smile Inn will do well once it overcomes this crisis."

"Is that so?"

Marcella was investing her money to turn Rose's Smile into an elegant inn.

However, no matter how much money she had saved, most of it was lost due to One-Armed Jack's interference, and although she didn't show it, Marcella was currently struggling with financial difficulties.

"…Thank you. You won't regret this investment."

"In return, from now on, the sausages must always be from the Kannor family. If possible, we should promote that too."

"Hehe. If you're asking for those terms, I'll accept."

If it were simply to show sympathy for her young heart, she wouldn't have accepted. However, Vlad was proposing his own business venture and giving gold coins in exchange for an investment.

As they looked at each other as equals, not as adults and children, there was no reason for Marcella not to accept.

"Please take care of Zemina while I'm away."

"I can't promise that."

Seeing Marcella make a subtle expression, Vlad could only smile bitterly.

After learning that she would be expelled from Soara, Zemina stayed in a corner of her room and didn't come out. Her sense of loss was something only Vlad could fill.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm a bit busy."

Vlad, descending the stairs to do his next job, paused for a moment and turned his head.

There was Marcella holding the bag of gold coins he had given her.

"Thank you."

"Huh? What for?"

Jorge picked it up, but she wiped it.

Before Marcella washed his hair, Vlad's hair was gray and dusty. Now her inn would receive high-quality meat from the Kannor family, and she had enough money to not worry about deficits for the time being. So Vlad decided to erase Marcella's name from the list in his head.

"I'll be right back."

Now, there are only a few days left for the time Joseph gave him.

Vlad hurriedly left the inn and went to the monastery's graveyard to clean the tombstone of the old blacksmith.

He felt like his hands would freeze in the cold weather, but he decided to do it anyway.

"Thank you."

Because he wanted to bid farewell to the old blacksmith he wouldn't see again for a long time.

With his final greetings to him, Vlad crossed off the old blacksmith's name from the list in his head.

"I just paid for my life."

"But I really wanted to thank you."

Vlad went to the town hall and bowed to the knight who protected Rose's Smile on his behalf.

Although he said he had paid his debt, Knight Maxim volunteered to face the bishop's soldiers.

Vlad bowed to Maxim, who had avenged him, and when he saw the man who had accepted his greeting, he crossed another name off the list.

He brought his favorite snacks to Bordan, who had issued the order in his name.

He bought a nice axe for Otar, who believed in him and followed him.

Every time he gave something to someone and bowed in gratitude, the names in Vlad's head were erased one by one.

"…"

There were also people I didn't dare to pay, like Joseph, Jager, and Priest Andreas.

Vlad wasn't in a position to say anything to them yet, so he decided to wait until later.

And now there was only one name left, the oldest on the list.

"Why did you ask me to come here?"

"To settle a debt."

"What debt?"

Harven, who followed Vlad with a limp, soon saw a large building leaning against the icy riverbank.

"This is a shipyard."

"Yes. This is the shipyard."

The harsh northern climate caused vital rivers to freeze for about half the year, but Soara, the southernmost city in the north, managed to escape some of the effects.

This shipyard was proof of that.

"But why did you bring me here?"

"I'm paying my debt."

A shipyard wasn't just a place to build ships, but also a place to sell them.

Of course, the process would require difficult procedures, but this didn't apply to Vlad, the knight.

"Huff… Look at that. It looks like a boat's leaving. Are they stuck by the river? The captain's going to have a hard time."

"That was too expensive."

"Huh?"

Harven entered the shipyard with Vlad's guidance and started looking around happily, like a child.

"I always wanted to come here at least once."

"…"

Harven had loved ships since he was young.

They used to talk about how someday they would buy a boat and sail down the river, escaping the alleys.

As if it were a promise they would never forget.

And young Vlad learned to look at the stars by looking at Harven.

"Do you still want to travel by boat?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to leave Soara?"

"Of course… Why are you asking that?"

Harven said he would definitely go to sea before he died.

However, Harven ended up trapped in a dark alley protecting Vlad and Zemina.

"That was 200 gold coins."

There was a day when he carved a rudimentary cane for Harven, who was sitting thoughtfully by himself.

That day, while squatting somewhere in an alley, carving wood, Vlad made a decision.

He would definitely pay his debt to Harven.

So, he engraved his name deeply in his mind.

"What?"

Where Vlad pointed.

A small boat trapped in a corner of the shipyard.

Still, the boat with a horizontally stretched sail, as if to indicate it was a sailboat, was a zipper boat more commonly used by merchants sailing the river.

"It's a bit cheap. So I bought it."

"Huh?"

Harven, who didn't understand what had just happened, made strange noises and responded, but Vlad simply waved his hand and called over the shipyard worker.

"It's yours now."

"..."

Vlad said, handing a piece of paper brought by a shipyard worker.

"Sign it. With your name."

A piece of white paper in the hands of a shipyard worker.

It was a ship certificate accrediting ownership of the boat.

"No, this is, this is now…"

Harven felt embarrassed by what had suddenly happened and stammered, but soon felt something cover his head and stopped stuttering.

"From today, you're Captain Harven."

What the shipyard worker brought wasn't just a pending signature certificate.

A triangular-shaped, stiff-feeling hat.

It was a captain's hat that only boat owners could wear.

Limping refuge.

But from today, he abandoned his old alley name and received a new one.

"…Captain Harven."

As he looked at the smiling Vlad, a dark moisture spread from his trembling pupils.

What would you do if you had 100 gold coins?

There was no one left to listen to that, but Vlad was now answering the question.

"Captain Harven, Captain…"

Every time Harven's name was carved into the blank, empty space, it disappeared from Vlad's mental list.

There was a day when Vlad cried while carving a wooden stick for Harven.

But the one shedding tears now was Harven, and in his hands was a boat with wood for sails.

Although Harven limped when walking, he would be braver than anyone on the sea, where it wouldn't be land but sails that would move him. That was the world where sails moved, not feet.

Translator's notes: 

And with this, 100 chapters have been translated. Honestly, for it to be the 100th chapter, it was spectacular.

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