6 First Step

Next three chapters. If I'm not too busy, I'll post three more tomorrow...

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"Adora, do you have the money or not?" The leader of the three men looked at the older sister with a sneering look. "You already owe us one week. We can't wait anymore."

The elder sister bit her lips and nodded. She then took several coins from a pocket and gave them to the man.

But when the man saw the coins, his expression was ugly.

"This is not enough."

"That is everything I have," Adora said. "I will pay the rest later."

"It looks like you don't understand, girl. We need the money now."

Adora's gaze became cold. "I told you, I will pay the rest later. Now, leave before I throw you out myself."

The man narrowed his eyes, then, his lips curved up in a teasing look.

"What a feisty girl."

"Leader, just give the order. There are other ways to pay if she has no money. These two sisters look pretty nice."

"Hehe, we should enjoy them in exchange for the money they owe."

Hearing the words of the two henchmen, Adora's eyes became cold.

Immediately, a surge of mana was released from her body.

"You can try."

The two men froze.

The leader's expression became tense, but he soon grunted and calmed down.

"Very well, we won't bother you anymore today. However, you should know that the boss doesn't like people who don't pay their debts."

He then turned around and left followed by the two henchmen.

When they were gone, the younger sister, Laura, looked at Adora with a worried expression.

"Sister, the money."

"You don't need to worry about it. I will think of something."

Laura nodded with a complicated expression.

At that moment, Adora noticed that Vlad was in the room.

"… You are here. Very good, my sister and I did not need more problems. If you don't need anything else, leave."

Vlad stared at Adora deeply before nodding.

"Thank you for saving me. Don't worry, I'm someone who remembers his debts. I will repay you for your kindness."

"You don't need to."

"But I want to. Right, can you tell me if we are in the capital?"

Adora put on a strange expression before nodding.

"Yeah. This is the capital of the empire. Where else could it be?"

Vlad nodded. He then looked at Laura and smiled. "Again, thank you for saving me. See you later."

"W-Wait, you s-should be hungry, right? I-if you want…"

"Don't worry, I'm not that hungry." He smiled again, making the petite girl blush, before walking off.

When he left the two sisters' house, Vlad found himself in a slum.

Dilapidated houses, malnourished people, and suspicious people could be seen all around him.

With just a glance, it was clear that this was not a good place.

Looking up to the sky, Vlad saw that the time was close to sunset. The night was going to arrive soon.

According to the sisters, they found him in the river yesterday, and the massacre of his family happened at night.

In other words, he was unconscious for close to two days at the very least, perhaps more.

'I need to know what happened while I was unconscious.' Vlad thought to himself.

Currently, he only knew that his family had been exterminated and that he was killed.

He did not know if there was any survivor or what happened after that. He needed information.

But he should be careful to not attract attention.

Also, he needed money and better clothes. After that, he could start planning his next step.

'I know of a few places where I can get enough money, but they are near the noble district. I can't go there looking like this.'

The sisters that rescued him were very poor, and the clothes they gave him made Vlad look like a beggar.

If he went to the center of the city looking like this, he would be chased away by the guards.

'In other words, clothes are my first priority, huh.' Vlad concluded. 'Also, I refused when the little girl offered me food, but I'm feeling hungry. I should find something to eat too.'

With that, a rough plan appeared in Vlad's mind.

First, he asked for directions to a malnourished child nearby. After determining the direction of the center of the city, Vlad walked off.

On the way, he looked through the houses until he found a place where nobody was home. Making sure that he was not seen, he went inside and looked around for clothes that fit him.

Soon, he found something better than the rags he was using. The family living in this house seemed like normal commoners, so the clothes were not that great, but at the very least, nobody would think of him as a beggar.

"So now I'm a thief, huh? To think that a few days ago I was a noble young master. Nobody would have believed me if I said I would end up stealing from some poor commoners." He said self-deprecatingly.

Actually, Vlad found himself surprised that he was not against stealing like a thief. That was something that his pride as a noble would have not allowed.

Most likely, it was due to the influence of his previous life's memories.

Even if he still thought of himself as Vlad Radetic, some of his values seemed to have been subtly influenced by his previous life.

"… Well, that is not bad at all."

The previous him would have been engulfed by his hatred and desire for vengeance after waking up, and it was very likely that he would have done something reckless.

But the current him was eerily calm and rational. Even the hatred inside him felt ice cold, like a sharp weapon being sharpened patiently.

That, as well, was due to the influence of his previous life's memories.

If the Vlad of a couple of days ago was a hot-blooded and enthusiastic young man, the current Vlad was a cold-blooded and patient hunter, waiting for the prey to fall into his hands.

After changing his clothes, Vlad left the house and headed to the noble district. There were some places nearby where his family had hidden treasuries in case of emergency.

He did not know if his family's enemies knew about them, so he needed to hurry up and find them first.

But after five minutes, his senses caught the sound of three people tailing him.

'Robbers?' Vlad frowned.

His first thought was to shake them off, but quickly, he thought otherwise.

"This is a good opportunity."

A gleam of light appeared in Vlad's eyes as his gaze became cold. He then extended his senses until he found a desolate street.

Next, he subtly altered his direction while using his senses to keep an eye on the people following him.