"Here is your tea, Asher."
Putting the tea on the table, Elda took a seat opposite me.
"Oh, Thanks."
Even though I was already awake, the drowsiness was still making my eyes feel heavy.
"When do you plan to tell us about our jobs? You have been avoiding this topic for too long now."
Albert's voice pulled my attention, as I saw him enter the dining room. His hair was messy, eyes filled with tiredness. Rubbing his hair he sat at one of the empty seats beside the table.
"That was the plan."
He stared at my face then turned to look at Elda.
"...Can I get one?" He pointed at the tea, I was currently sipping.
"Go wash your face first." She replied with a stern look, her hands crossing over her chest.
Albert huffed, but he knew better than to argue with Elda when she was in that mood. He left the room, and the sound of water running in the washbasin soon followed.
"Happy" He muttered and sat back, his brows raised in frustration.
"Yes, good work." She smiled and stood up from her seat. Walking toward the kitchen she once again brewed the tea, filling the air with a faint, comforting scent.
The water in the pot bubbled as it reached its boiling point, the steam dancing around her. She poured it into a cup and brought it to him, placing it down gently.
"Thanks~" Albert chimed in surprise at such fast-paced action but he could not complain, in a tone full of happiness he let out his gratitude while taking a refreshing sip from the cup placed in front of him.
"So easy to please..." I couldn't help but comment. Elda gave a wry smile at my words and scratched her cheeks.
"You both slept a lot though, it's been 4 hours already," Elda spoke with a teasing tone, her eyes darting between Albert's messy face and my tired face.
"In my defense, I just regret going to the Temple." I sighed as I remembered what happened there this morning.
Elda tilted her head in confusion at my words and parted her lips before speaking.
"Why? What happened there?"
Her words also seemed to have taken Albert's interest as he turned to look at me.
His gaze seems to be saying.
'Spill the beans, I am bored.'
Somehow looking at his face my hands started to get itchy. His face looks perfect for hitting someone like—
"A punching bag."
"Huh?"
Albert let out a sound of disbelief taking me by surprise.
"Did I say that out loud?"
Elda nodded while trying to control her giggle, She seemed to have guessed what I had thought just now.
"Why is she laughing?"
Albert slid his chair away from Elda and rubbed his head in frustration before putting the teacup away.
"No reason..." Shaking my head in denial, I slide my teacup away as well.
"Anyway, what happened in Temple was that for the memorial ceremony, they displayed River of Stars on a smaller scale and well... Somethings happened that gave me a headache," I mumbled and sighed putting my hand over my chest.
The mark was not painful and I couldn't even tell if it was there or not without giving it a direct look but— It felt unmistakably heavy.
Seeing Asher avoid the topic, Elda bit her lips before asking with a smile.
"So, Asher do you plan to tell our jobs tonight or still plan to stall for time."
"It's not that I don't want to, but rather I am still not sure about what to do from now on."
"Boss, you are not sure? What do you mean?"
"Well let me show you first."
Standing from my seat, I put my hand above the dining table. Elda and Albert's eyes were etched on what I was doing.
Then the top of the table glowed as slowly something materialized out of thin air.
Cash, a lot of it was pilling up slowly over the table, and then the sounds of coins falling followed as well.
Both Elda and Albert eyes widened in shock as they looked at the big pile of money scattered over the table. Their eyes were glued to it, without even blinking they stared at it blankly.
Elda licked her lips then raised her hand to pinch Albert's on his cheeks.
"Ouch! Why did you pinch me?!"
"Eh? I am not dreaming? There is really so much money at the table."
Her eyes widened as she put a hand to cover her mouth in astonishment.
"I don't understand why you will still pinch me."
Ignoring Albert's pitiful words, Elda looked me directly in the eyes and asked in a stuttered voice.
"A–Asher where did you get all this money?"
Soon realizing the mess above the table once again, Albert also looked at me.
"I may or... may not have taken money from the first night, Reaper appeared and assassinated many people."
I innocently replied, seeing their jaw open in shock my lips curled up as I leaned back on the chair.
"You stole it!"
Elda shouted as she stood up abruptly from her seat.
"Not stole but rather asked for it... politely."
I still remember how that man told me where his safe was when I asked for it. Hmm, calling it robbery is such a rude word to describe my hard work.
"Asked for it? Did you threaten him?" Albert's voice trailed off as he thought of a single person Asher could have actually looted all this money from.
It was his former boss Kaiser, the moneyshark who had destroyed countless lives under the name of debts.
"No, I would never... Like I said I just asked politely and he somehow was also dead so he has no use for it anyway."
I shrugged as I cleared their doubts.
"Haa... You have so much money that you won't even need to work for a lifetime, how much is it anyway."
"No idea I want you two to count it first... I will tell you what I plan to do after that."
My words hung in the air as Elda and Albert looked at each other, unsure of whether to laugh or be scared.
Their employer was already notorious and crazy, they both knew it—But seeing so much money casually being put on the table and calling it... No, taking it politely was another level of madness altogether.
"So are you both going to help me count this mess or not?"
Elda licked her lips as watched Asher already starting to count the money, she slowly nodded her head and sat on her seat.
Albert was already lost in thoughts but he soon joined the group as well. His hands silently grabbed a bundle of notes and started counting them.
While in the middle of counting Elda sighed and spoke softly. "I can see why you didn't tell us about this in hospital... This amount of money is unbelievable."
"I know, right?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction, feeling a bit smug. After a moment of silence, I continued, "But that's not all."
"...I will also need to collect money from the bounty money."
Castor will probably take one more week before he can gather all the money, he must be crying with tears of happiness.
"You have more!"
"Boss, bullied the poor guy to extort this much money. " Albert's voice broke the strange silence that had fallen over us, Elda sighed and rubbed her forehead with two fingers before leaning forward.
"I give up."
"You sure understand fast."
What are they talking about? They both seemed to be in the sink as they mumbled with tired faces.
"Again I didn't bully him, are you still thinking such weird things." I retorted back, my headache was coming back.
"Alright, alright, let's just count this first."
For the next hour, silence continued, the only sound was of coins being put aside and paper fluttering as it was being counted.
Sigh...
Finally, it's over, putting the last bit of money back in my bracelet I sighed in relief.
"A total of one million... and I can expect at least 250,000 R from Castor."
The total was not exactly a million but I plan on keeping the leftover as my emergency fund, which should save me more than 64,000 R or something close to it.
"Okay, now that we've counted the loot, let's talk about the jobs," I said, getting straight to the point.
"Now you are not even trying to hide it's a loot..." Elda muttered as she slouched on the table and gave me a side glance from the corner of her eyes.
"What job do you have in mind?" Albert questioned, his curiosity piqued despite his tiredness.
"A business, kinda... I first plan to train some people in different jobs and invest in different businesses."
"Train? In what way?" Elda asked as she sat up straight, her wrinkled dress being swatted down by her palms.
"For example a a clothing manufacturer factory, we can have some people work there or anything else would also do."
I shrugged as I looked at them.
"Where will we get people? And setting up a new clothing business especially is not a good idea."
Elda spoke up, her voice filled with skepticism, as she picked up her teacup. She took a sip before placing it down and looking at me with scrutinizing eyes.
"You don't need to worry about people I know where we can get them."
I leaned back into my chair with a smirk.
Taking out another batch of papers I pressed on them.
"This is the document containing people who took loans from the Riven gang. Using this we can get a list of people in different professions and even offer them jobs."
My voice became more excited over this thought than I hoped for. But that was alright, at least I will look like a young man with lots of ambition.
Simply put money was not the issue, my true goal was different...
"I see..." Elda's voice trailed off as she looked at the new pile of paper.
Albert just gulped and leaned back in his seat.
"Um... boss so what type of business are you planning."
Albert's voice brought me back from my thoughts as he looked over the documents with a furrowed brow.
"As I said before, I am not entirely sure. Do you both have any suggestions."
I looked at Elda and Albert expectantly. They exchanged glances before Albert spoke up, his voice hesitant.
"Well, boss, how about we start with something small, like... a tavern or an inn? It's always a good place for information and people from all walks of life come and go. Plus, it's a stable business."
Hearing his words I remembered my days in the Cozy Inn along with Greth and the others. It was not a bad idea... But it was not in my line of sight.
" I will keep that in mind, any other suggestions you have?"
Elda cleared her throat before speaking, "Perhaps we could consider a bakery or a restaurant? I mean, everyone needs to eat, and food is something that brings people together."
"I do plan on investing money on already ongoing businesses rather than opening our own."
Hearing my words she nodded thoughtfully and again fell into deep thoughts her hands randomly stroking her chin while the other hand sloped over the table.
"I know, I know!" Albert suddenly shouted making both of us jump in our seats.
"What?"
We both looked at him expectantly, and his eyes sparkled with excitement.
"How about we invest in the entertainment industry? Like, a theater or a circus!"
"And who is going to bring entertainers? Are you planning to be a clown yourself?..."
Elda sighed and leaned back. Her disappointment was palpable— But it cannot be helped. We may have money but the real problem remains…
Sigh…
"Albert… No, it's nothing, forget it."
His idea was so out of view, that it was ridiculous.
Sulking he lowered his head and muttered under his breath.
"I thought it was a good idea…"
"Let's just focus on creating a list of people from these files. Look for people who might be in urgent need of jobs."
"How many do we need to look for?" Elda moved her hand and grabbed one of the papers left on the table.
"Fifty will do… We will filter them one more time based on the work we decide later on."
"Got it."
Without waiting Elda soon started to scribble down names one after another, stopping once in a while to read the files given to her…
Meanwhile, Albert looked at this scene in a stupefied manner and turned his head to look at me.
"What?..."
"Ah, Boss, well I don't know how to write?"
Elda stopped and looked at him in shock.
"You don't know?!"
"I don't." He shook his head and scratched his cheeks before looking at me once again.
Huh… that's going to be a problem.
"But you can read somehow."
"Um, yeah… but barely."
"How is that even possible?" Rubbing my hands in frustration I thought about what he could do right now…
But nothing came to mind…
"Just observe what Elda is doing, read them aloud and ask her if you can't." I said leaning back and taking one of the flies myself."Elda, I will leave his education in your hands… Just do it whenever you have time."
Sighing, Elda nodded and slid one of the papers toward Albert."Read them aloud."
He looked at them blinking like an idiot then nodded before reading the words aloud for them to hear it.
"Olover… from wa–st side dis-triet."
Wow, he is so wrong that it doesn't make sense how he can say he could even read…
Snatching the paper from his hand I read it aloud for him to hear it.
"Oliver from West District, loan for shop amount…."
Hearing my words he licked his lips, then nodded.
At least he is learning… I smiled at such thoughts and gave the paperback.