novelraw Chapter 63: Debt of The Marlowes
Chapter 63: Debt of The Marlowes
"Alright," He put down his pen and papers, "Let’s talk about the cost."
Raven tensed up a bit.
Even though he was rich, he was still getting pocket money, which he had been splurging.
So, if it was over his budget, he would be fucked.
Of course, he would borrow or take a loan or whatever he could, since it was for his survival, of course.
But it would still put him under a burden.
A financial burden.
"How much would everything cost?" He asked, his heart pounding.
"Including my service charges, the importing taxes I would need to get the material here, the other taxes, and the overall material cost, it would land you around..."
Mr. Ola paused, taking a moment to make sure his calculations were correct, "8,200 Sols."
Gulp!
That’s like a countryside, low-tier baron’s yearly income.
Mr. Ola looked at him, analyzing how he would react.
But Raven made sure to hide his nervousness.
He sat down to make himself more comfortable.
Clink!
He took out his money pouch and poured it upon his thighs.
Mr. Ola’s eyebrows raised when he noticed a few certain rose white coins over him.
It had a circle in the middle with rays coming out of it, and just a single letter etched in the middle of it.
’I’.
He expected a client asking for Crysalon to be rich, but he more or less expected him to fetch out a ton of Aristocrat Sol coins.
This one with an ’I’ was the Imperial coin.
The only people having access to it were Marquis, Dukes, and above.
His background truly wasn’t simple, huh?
Meanwhile, Raven had getting nervous.
’I don’t have enough.’ He slowly looked up, looking into the dwarf’s eyes. ’I just have 6,800 Sols.’
"Mr. Ola," He stood up, a bit ashamed, "I don’t have enough to pay for it in full."
"And I don’t need it all right now," Mr. Ola’s words surprised Raven, "Just pay the half now, and pay the rest when the product is complete."
’Oh, yeah!’ Raven suddenly remembered, ’Custom works often required one to pay the full amount after the work is done. And only a security lump sum when you place the order.’
He remembered seeing these in movies, when... they hired hitmen to kill somebody.
"Ah, yes, yes." His face immediately bloomed into a smile. "Give me a minute."
He can always raise the remaining 1,400 Sols from somewhere.
Namely, Eve’s bishop.
How ironic. The son of a vicious loan shark, borrowing money.
He immediately fetched 4 Imperial coins and a single merchant coin and handed them to Mr. Ola.
He checked it for authenticity and nodded.
"That would be all in the monetary department." Turning around, Mr. Ola started to move towards the stairs.
"Let’s quickly form a contract."
Since the scale of this deal was rather big, they needed some sort of security, after all.
Raven was compliant, too.
After all, the more straightforward you make your money, the less scary it gets.
Raven followed the dwarf above the surface to finally take a breather.
"Do you have some Identification?" Mr. Ola asked.
Raven nodded.
Of course, he always carried money and identification.
He liked his life hassle-free.
"Would this work?" He said, taking out a crumbled piece of paper from the same pouch.
"Err..." Mr. Ola was second-guessing his identity now.
What kind of person carried their identification like this?
"Hand it over to me," He asked, and Raven obeyed.
Crumple!
Straightening the piece of paper, he laid it out flat on the table and tried straightening it up with his hand.
Truly an experience indeed.
"Let’s see..." He started reading it, "Ivory Kingdom, huh? Been there a few times, quite shitty if you ask me."
"Just do your work, Mr. Ola," Raven barked back.
"Hmm...!" He read further, making sure to check the authenticity of the stamps on the paper.
"Hmm?"
This reaction alone told Raven that he had reached the best part of the Identification process.
"Raven Marlowe?" Mr. Ola’s voice was curious, "Are you somehow related to the Marlowe family and Cardinal Eve Marlowe, by any chance?"
"Mhmm!" He nodded, "I am her youngest brother."
"You know," His voice was calm, and his eyes glared at him.
Eh!?
This reaction wasn’t quite what he expected.
"If Cardinal Eve Marlowe wasn’t a part of your family," His voice got louder with each word, "I would have kicked any dirty Marlowe member out already."
"Ehhh!?" Raven was taken aback.
Did something happen with his family and this dwarf?
Why was he so angry with his family?
"Why? Did something happen between you and my family?" He asked, taking a step back, seeing the dwarf’s angry face.
"Something?" He yelled, "Let me tell you something."
’Why is this old geezer shouting while making himself comfortable on the ground?’
He noticed the dwarf waving him to sit down as well.
’Oh, ok!’
He sat down.
"It was 20 years ago," He started.
’No way he is going to narrate his life story to me right now, is he?’
But his fears came true.
"I landed on the shores of the Ivory Kingdom after setting out from my homeland."
"I had a petty fight with my family, as they kicked me out for just rotting at my home all day."
’This is somehow getting personal now.’ Raven thought, comparing his own situation with this.
Mr. Ola continued, "Being the fool I was, I landed on this foreign land with no money at all, and that’s when I met your father."
’Oh, fuck!’ Raven cried internally.
He knew what kind of person his father was.
And considering that, this story was bound to go downhill.
"To start my business, I borrowed a couple of Marks from that man, who very happily gave them to me."
The dwarf’s tone changed, his face changing colors, "At first, that man was like a saint to me. An angel, sent by the Solis, to help me."
"I opened my business in the Ivory Kingdom, and at first, everything was going fine."
His face changed colors again, his eyes burning with a flame of rage, "But then, it was time for me to pay."