novelraw Chapter 200: When Death Ends All Debts
Chapter 200: When Death Ends All Debts
It was Leon’s first time coming here in reality. Aside from the reception room and Gus’s bedroom he had seen in the game, this place actually had a private kitchen and even a study.
And it was into the study that Gus led Leon.
“The ledgers for the Starfruit are updated every year. I keep all the old ones so it’s easier to reconcile accounts and file taxes.”
Gus pulled a stack of thick notebooks from the bookshelf. Each one was bound in leather, five centimeters thick, and there were nine in total.
“So, the Starfruit has been open for ten years?” Leon asked casually as he looked at the notebooks.
“Mm. This year has just begun, so the current ledger isn’t stored here yet.” Gus nodded and pulled four of them out.
“What you’re looking for is in these. But don’t worry, we don’t have to flip through every page. I’ll take out the ledgers with debts—most of what you’ll find are unpaid tabs—so we can just work backward to find the credit records.”
From the four ledgers, Gus selected two and handed them to Leon before starting to flip through his own.
Leon didn’t rush to open his. Instead, he placed the Old Timer’s Hat on the table. “No hurry. First, see if this hat rings any bells.”
“Oh? Old Hans’s hat! So this is his tab? You should have said so earlier.” Gus gave Leon a helpless look, then glanced at the hat with a sigh.“Yes, it’s his hat. The timeframe matches this ledger too—no mistake. Old Hans hasn’t been to the Starfruit in over six years. I always thought he’d gone down with his ship in the Gem Sea.”
“So, Old Hans was a sailor?” Leon asked.
“To be precise, a captain. But not of a fishing boat—he was the captain of a pirate ship.” Gus’s expression turned a little odd.
“Pirate?!”
Leon wasn’t all that surprised. He already knew pirates existed in this world.
Any player who had been to Ginger Island knew that the area with the Stingray fishing cave was called Pirate Cove. On rainy days, you might see a mermaid there. On even-numbered nights without rain, after eight p.m., you could even find pirates gathering in the cave.
If the player wore a Pirate Hat, Eye Patch, or a Deluxe Pirate Hat, they could even get the bartender to hand them a bottle of Mead.
So Leon could understand the existence of pirates.
After all, even on Earth, with its advanced technology, every major nation had naval fortresses and fleets, and yet piracy still happened. In a world like this, where the tech tree had grown sideways, it was even less surprising.
“Yeah, a bunch of sea-rovers hunting treasure, sometimes raiding enemy merchant ships. Pirates have a nasty reputation, but Old Hans was different.” Gus spoke slowly.
“He was more like an adventurer. He wasn’t strong enough to join the Adventurer’s Guild, but that didn’t stop him from exploring. Back when he stayed in Stardew Valley, he told me countless times that he would find an ancient treasure, become a legendary pirate captain, then trade the treasure for a Starfruit, grow strong, join the Adventurer’s Guild, and sail the seas as a true explorer.”
“Was he from Pelican Town?” Leon pressed.
“No. He ran aground and had to stop here. After about a month in Pelican Town, he repaired his ship and left.” Gus finished, then asked, “He wore that hat all the time—treated it like a treasure. Where did you get it?”
“From a traveling hat merchant. If it ended up in his hands, Old Hans probably met a bad end,” Leon replied.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. No voyage is ever smooth sailing. After years without news, I knew he must have died at sea.” Gus sighed, his expression tinged with sadness.
“A shame. He was such an optimistic, hard-working man. Fate can be cruel.”
“You two were friends?” Leon asked.
“Yes. Friends. Even though we only spent a month together, he was a good man. We got along well. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let a pirate run up a tab here.” Gus nodded.
“My condolences.” Leon patted Gus’s shoulder.
“It’s fine. I made peace with it long ago.” Gus shook his head, then looked at the Old Timer’s Hat again.
“Leon, thank you for bringing me this news. But if you wanted to ask about his treasure, I can’t help you. He never told me where he was going or what he planned to do. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I was just curious why his tab ended up hidden in this hat. Now I know, and I’m satisfied.” Leon smiled.
“Oh? I thought you were planning to hunt down Old Hans’s treasure.” Gus teased.
“No clues. How would I search the whole ocean?” Leon shrugged.
“True enough.” Gus nodded, then pulled out one of the ledgers, flipped through it until he found Old Hans’s name, and crossed it out.
“When a man dies, his debts die with him. Consider this my last gift to Old Hans. I hope in his next life he becomes a great warrior and explorer.”
Once that was done, Gus began putting the ledgers back on the shelf.
Leon helped him. Though Gus’s face looked calm now, Leon could still see the sadness in his eyes.
Gus wasn’t a petty man. The fact that he had kept this debt on record for years showed he was waiting for Old Hans to return—waiting to hand him the bill and, in doing so, pick up their friendship where they left off. This wasn’t just a debt. It was a tether.
Now that tether was gone. There was no need to keep the account any longer. Just as Gus had said—when a man dies, his debts die too.
“Want to stay for lunch before you head out?” Gus asked once everything was tidied away.
“No thanks. Oh—do you want to keep the hat as a memento?” Leon held the Old Timer’s Hat toward him. If Gus wanted it, Leon would hand it over without hesitation, even though he’d paid 1,000G for it.
Friendship was worth more than money. An old friend’s belonging could help Gus remember him, and that wasn’t something you could put a price on. Gus was Leon’s friend, so he would respect Gus’s friends too.
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