Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 122 - 43: Catherine’s Debt_1

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The City of Knowledge always has endless news. Anyone who has lived there for a while will think this way. Each season, each month, each week, even each day, new topics emerge in multitude, bombarding one with fresh news. Which new ruins were discovered? Which adventure team got wiped out? Which mage destroyed his own lab while researching a new Magic Array? Which Alchemist created a new potion? Which commodity price fluctuated? Which merchant went bankrupt? Which poet wrote new poems? Which musician’s concert had an accident? Which school expanded its admission? Which children quarrelled again? Every stratum, every profession, all have countless talking points to while away the time.

However, in the recent days, in the City of Knowledge, regardless of class or profession, almost everyone is discussing the same issue. All newspapers, all magazines, the headlines and covers are all occupied by a single piece of news, and it has occupied for three consecutive days.

Marquis Snape of the Carleon Territory in the Neville Federation will revisit the City of Knowledge and plans to hold a large-scale ball. This news was spread to every nook and cranny of the streets, quickly drowning out all other topics and pervading every household and tavern.

No one doesn’t know Marquis Snape, at least in the City of Knowledge. Perhaps some don’t know the Lord Odin, perhaps some don’t know Master Antuin from the Mage Guild, but no one doesn’t know Marquis Snape.

People know him, not because of his lordship, after all, the Carleon Territory is just a small part of the Neville Federation, quite inconspicuous.

People know him, not because of his marquis title, after all, there is no distinction between nobility and civilians in the City of Knowledge, all have the same status and need to obey the same laws. Nobles from other countries who enter the City of Knowledge, apart from possibly receiving a few economic privileges or reception scales, have no special rights, even if the Emperor of Falar himself would come here. So a marquis title isn’t enough for everyone to know him.

The real reason his name spread all over the world is because he is rich, one of the wealthiest in the Yarran World. His total wealth is over a billion gold coins, and if you add real estate from various places, this number will further rise by thirty percent. The first time most people hear about his total assets, they are often very astonished. As ordinary people, it’s hard for them to comprehend what exactly a billion gold coins mean. In fact, the total annual income of the three major human nations on the Yarran Continent, plus the Neutral Land, is about fifty million gold coins. That is to say, Marquis Snape’s wealth is equivalent to twenty times the total annual income of all human nations, and this number is still increasing.

His business spreads all over Yarra, his command in the commercial field is almost equivalent to an oracle, but he has always kept a low profile, living year-round in his Carleon Territory, leading a leisurely life as a small lord.

When wealth becomes too great, it often attracts many malicious individuals, and troubles such as assassinations, kidnappings, threats, robberies often occur. However, Marquis Snape has almost never encountered these issues. On one hand, because he himself is a lord, and too wealthy, he can set up a very tight defense, hire a large number of bodyguards and guards, so common robbers and thieves simply cannot trouble him. On the other hand, because he is too wealthy and generous, he has a certain degree of relationship with several human Demigods and even Demigods of other races, some even have a good private relationship. Those higher-ranking professionals who are not ordinary thieves and robbers, due to the deterrent power of his Demigod friends, do not wish to provoke such trouble. So, this richest man in Yarra, surprisingly, does not have to worry about safety for many years, living a comfortable life.

Such a legendary figure, now well into his eighties, rarely leaves his territory in recent years. But in the City of Knowledge, when a newspaper suddenly leaked news that Marquis Snape was visiting, it immediately stirred up a storm. Soon, another news broke out: not only is the Marquis visiting the City of Knowledge, but he is also hosting a large-scale ball, inviting guests. This news pushed the storm to another climax. Meanwhile, the price of the ball invitation also rose dramatically, on the day of the ball, it was speculated to be as high as eighty thousand gold coins.

Now, one of these invitation cards with a high black-market price is placed on the coffee table in front of Catherine and Pannis. Facing such an expensive invitation, Catherine frowned in confusion, staring down at the invitation without saying a word.

"Strange." Pannis suddenly said.

"What’s strange?" Catherine looked up and asked puzzledly, "What’s strange?"

"You didn’t sell it." Pannis tapped the invitation on the coffee table, "It’s illogical."

Catherine glared at Pannis irritably, but then sighed distressingly "You think I don’t want to? Unfortunately, this is the only one I really can’t sell."

"Ha, no wonder you look so troubled." Pannis teased Catherine before asking, "Why can’t you sell it?"

Catherine hesitated for a moment, then sighed, "Because ... he’s my creditor."

"Ha? That Snape is your creditor?" Pannis asked in surprise.

"Yes, it’s him." Catherine nodded, tugging at the mail skirt on her armor in annoying, "I owe him a lot of money. I’ve been trying to save up to repay the debt, so I don’t miss every copper penny."

Seeing Catherine’s eyes suddenly burning with fighting spirit for some reason, Pannis quickly asked, "How much do you owe him?"

"Four thousand." Catherine said.

"Only four thousand?" Pannis jumped up when he heard it, opening his mouth to say something, only to hear Catherine softly continue: "Million."

Pannis’s voice came to a halt, with ’huh?’ emitting a few times from his open mouth. But he eventually couldn’t make a sound. After a while, he sat down dejectedly and sighed, "Alright, I get it. It’s indeed a very distressing situation. How could the debt be so large?"

"It’s what my grandfather owed," Catherine did not wish to talk about her grandfather too much and passed it briefly, "It was sixty million at that time. My parents managed to pay off twenty million before they passed away. I hope to clear the debt in my lifetime."

"So this creditor, has he come to collect the debt now?" Pannis asked tentatively.

"No, he never collects debts." Catherine hesitated again for a moment, and finally said, "Well, since Lina has told you her story, I might as well tell you my past."

"As I’ve mentioned, over a hundred years ago, my family was a great noble family of the Falar Empire who fled from Falar due to political failures. The fleeing family members were divided into two parts, one went to Neville Federation, and the other was us. Although we fled, we were still enormously wealthy and took out a large amount of property when we left, because we are the direct descendants. We lived just like that until my grandfather began to manage the family."

"My grandfather and Snape were good friends, very close ones. Grandfather was a mage, a very powerful one, and Snape was already rich back then, so he continually supported my grandfather’s research with funds." freewēbnoveℓ.com

"However, due to some unrealistic ideas of my grandfather, his experiments failed continuously, and in the span of one year, a lot of funds were consumed in the failed experiments. By the time my grandfather realized what had happened, the consumed funds had exceeded one hundred million. Snape wasn’t as rich as he is now, but he trusted my grandfather completely. He believed in what my grandfather said, thinking that the experiment had a strong chance of success, so he provided funds unconditionally. In the last half-year, he even shifted most of the funds from all his businesses to fill the financial gap."

"Ultimately, the experiment failed, and Snape was on the verge of bankruptcy."

"But even with this, Snape did not blame my grandfather. Instead, he continually comforted my grandfather, who was plunged into despair with guilt. Knowing he had let Snape down, my grandfather gave him all of the family’s wealth as compensation, except for the real estate, which is the land of this street. But even so, there were still 70 million left unpaid."

"Snape did not refuse my grandfather’s compensation, which pulled him back from the brink of bankruptcy, but his business was still severely damaged."

"Feeling shameful of not repaying all the losses, my grandfather became an adventurer again, exploring the most dangerous places. The first two times went well and repaid another 10 million gold coins, but the third time... my grandfather never came back."

"That was forty years ago. My father was a child at the time, but under my grandfather’s education, he also firmly took up the mission to continue to repay the debt."

"As for Snape, he felt guilty towards our family because of my grandfather’s death, thinking that he caused my grandfather to die. Hence, he took special care of us, even trying multiple times to bring my father home and raise him as his own, but my stubborn father always refused."

"My father was not as powerful as my grandfather, so he took a different path that was safer but had less returns. As my father planned, the debt was continuously decreasing, albeit slowly. We thought we could keep going like this, but, ten years ago, both my mother and father... never came back."

"After them, I took over the debt. Living alone in the villa, living on my own, stubbornly refusing to accept Snape’s aid. It’s not that I’m ignoring his kindness, but I know our family owes him too much. We really can’t keep incurring more debt."

"Even though I said so, he still treats me as if I were his own granddaughter. He was covertly concerned about my growth until I was fully grown. I knew about his concern, I even knew that, on the day I became a professional at thirteen, he was so happy that he got drunk, and almost never woke up."

"That’s the story of my debt." Catherine said leisurely, "As for me, I have now saved half a million gold coins and with your help, the speed will only get faster. We’re just at the beginning, the accumulation phase. Once the team is upgraded to gold, we can earn more and truly repay the debt."

Pannis was listening silently all the while and only after Catherine finished, he asked, "Alright, we can’t indeed sell this invitation, we must attend. But if your relationship with him is actually so close, why did you react like you were facing Doomsday when you saw the invitation?"

Catherine’s face changed expressions one after the other, eventually turning beet-red. She smacked the table hard and shouted, "Don’t ask. You cannot ask about this one thing. Just accompany me to attend tonight, and don’t ask anything else!" Saying that, she ran towards the backyard.

"What’s going on?" Pannis scratched his head, confused, "Why did she suddenly get angry?"