Chapter 104: You Can Buy Pride with Money (2)

“I don’t want to choose either; I want to compromise.”

For her immediate response, Keter clapped.

You've passed, Katherine. Instead of picking from the choices I gave you, you found your own, and without hesitation. People without conviction are always swayed by others' beliefs. But you've proven that you have your own. You've earned my trust. And you deserve my investment.

“Compromise, huh? What exactly do you mean?”

“I’m willing to risk my life, but I don’t want to die needlessly. If there’s no other way, then so be it, but if there’s a way to get closer to my dream without dying, please teach me.”

“You sure have a lot of demands for a slave.”

“I’ll be sure to credit Lord Keter for all my achievements. I have no intention of hiding our relationship.”

“You talk back well, don’t you? Anyway, to use transparent arrows, you need mana. But as you know, if aura has already settled in your body, you can’t absorb mana. You have to get rid of all the aura in your body.”

“I’ll do it. How do I get rid of it? You know, don’t you? That’s why you said you would teach me.”

Katherine didn’t hesitate even for a moment in throwing her aura away. It was decades of accumulated aura, yet she didn’t even flinch at losing it.

Well, she’s right. It’s not something to mourn over.

Losing her aura would leave her physically drained and her strength declined, but it was not without its benefits. Once she got rid of her aura and started accepting mana, she would gain advantages that could put her ahead of those who took the normal path in terms of mana reserves, regeneration, density, and more.

There was another option: she could keep both aura and mana. But Keter didn’t plan on letting Katherine have both, as maintaining both was incredibly tricky.

Aura and mana could coexist up to a certain point, but if they surpassed a threshold, they began to over-integrate and require stabilization. This process was insanely difficult. If one didn’t know how to do it, they would have no choice but to die.

Stabilization wasn’t something that could be fixed by just telling someone what to do. Someone like Keter, who understood the fusion of aura and mana, had to personally handle the stabilization for the next generation to emerge.

And it wasn’t a one-day process; it required constant supervision. In short, it was a massive hassle.

“Yeah, there’s a way. But it will cost me time and money.”

“I will pay it all back, no matter how much it is.”

“Paying back what you borrow is obvious. Besides, you’re my slave. Everything you earn belongs to me.”

“Do slaves have no human rights?”

“Oh, of course, they do. A slave needs to have the hope of escaping slavery to be a motivated one. Let’s make it simple—you earn one hundred points from me, and you’ll be free.”

“How do I earn points? By making money for you?”

“That’s up to me. Right now, you have two points for keeping your mouth shut for a month. Enough small talk. Turn around, kneel, and take off your top.”

Without hesitation, she stripped off her top, exposing her back to Keter.

Boring. No fun teasing her if she’s this obedient.

Keter placed his palm on her back. Her muscles were firm yet smooth.

Not a bad feeling.

He took a deep breath. Keter needed to concentrate now.

“I’m going to extract all the aura from your body. It’ll hurt a lot. If you make a sound or move, you die.”

Upon hearing that, she tore a strip of cloth from her discarded shirt, rolled it up, and bit down on it.

“I’m rweady.”

Since she said she was ready, Keter started immediately. It wasn’t a difficult procedure. Keter injected his mana into her body, forcibly pulling out the aura.

Keter knew from experience that it was an excruciating pain. Aura settled deep, like bone marrow. To compare, it was like slicing open flesh and scraping bone with a knife.

“

Khrrr...!

”

Katherine clenched her entire body, gritting her teeth.

What a shame. We have to do this for thirty minutes. I can’t even talk in the meantime.

It looked simple, but this was a highly advanced medical procedure. Originally, Franken, his mentor, developed this technique to detoxify deep-seated poison in the bone marrow. But when he learned it, he thought of a different application—removing aura, exactly what he was doing now.

Normally, removing aura the standard way to cripple a person. It was obvious that eliminating something embedded in the bones destroyed the bones themselves.

But Keter’s method was different—he extracted, not destroyed. It hurt like hell, but it didn’t damage bones or organs.

Once he drew Katherine's aura out with his mana, he transferred it into his own body and then destroyed it. Aura was like a fingerprint; it was impossible for someone else to use it.

Actually... Now that I think about it, Franken once mentioned a way to absorb another’s aura. Something called “Devouring Art,” I think?

Focusing on his own thoughts made time pass quickly. Keter had now extracted all the aura from Katherine’s body.

The floor was drenched in sweat and blood. The blood came from Katherine’s mouth and palms, and the sweat was from both of us.

“The aura extraction is complete.”

Smack!

He slapped her sweat-soaked back to wake her up.

“Huuhh....”

She couldn’t even spit out the blood-soaked cloth before passing out. Well, it was understandable. The carpet was damp, and it looked like she had sweated at least a liter.

“Gramps! Get in here!”

At his call, Jacques burst through the door as if he had been waiting.

“I’ve arrived...

Huh?! Ah...

Whew

.”

Seeing Katherine unconscious, drenched in sweat, and Keter in the same state, Jacques flinched before letting out a sigh of relief.

“Gramps, Katherine will be staying at my living quarters from now on. Give her a room, clothes, and bathe her in elixir. When she wakes up, give her the green pill on the third shelf of the medicine cabinet. Tell her I’ll teach her mana cultivation tonight.”

“Uh... My lord, I must ask, just to be sure... you and Dame Katherine didn’t... you know...?”

“What does it matter? She’s my slave.”

“Well... Just be sure to, um, take precautions... Ah, understood. I will take her to the bath now.”

Jacques removed his coat and draped it over Katherine’s chest before lifting her up.

Hah, look at his legs wobbling. Weak old man.

“Gramps, take an elixir from the brown box on the top shelf. If someone saw you like this, they would think I don’t even feed you."

“A-Ah, no, my lord! I wouldn’t dare waste such a precious elixir!”

“Drink it. You need to stay healthy so I can keep making you work hard.”

“Ahem... If you insist... I’ll accept it gratefully.”

Jacques restrained his joy as he carried Katherine into the bathroom. Confirming that the maids followed them inside, Keter quickly turned his head away.

“Since I'm already here, I might as well take care of that too.”

He took out a translucent glass panel from the nightstand beside his bed. It was an Archacic Board that he had acquired from Liqueur.

The Archacic Board was a communication device used by wizards. By inputting a unique Archacic code into this glass panel, it enabled two-way communication with the recipient. Messages could also be left for later viewing. In short, it was an advanced form of communication.

Keter entered an Archacic code in runes onto the Archacic Board. There were probably only about ten people in the entire world who knew this specific code.

As soon as the input was complete, the board began to glow, and a trembling female voice came from within.

—The Archacic code you have entered is an unrecognized code. Who are you? Please state your name. How did you gain access to the emergency contact network of the Lillian Kingdom Mercenary Regional Headquarters?

“Keter El Sefira. I have a direct request for the Mercenary Regional Headquarters.”

The operator on the other end of the communication fell silent for a moment before responding.

—Did you say Sefira? As in Sefira, the Masters of Archery?

“You don’t seem to know who I am. Call the Director.”

—M-my apologies! I will connect you to the Director immediately!

The Archacic Board flickered twice before glowing brightly again. This time, instead of the previous female voice, a deep, gruff male voice came through.

—I was informed that I am speaking to Lord Keter.

“Yeah, that's me. I have a request to make.”

—Forgive me for asking, but how did you gain access to our emergency network?

“Why should I tell you? A mercenary's job is to take on requests, not to ask unnecessary questions.”

—My apologies, but we have no way of verifying whether you are truly Lord Keter of Sefira. We cannot simply accept a request without proper confirmation.

“Are you testing me right now? If you trace the call’s origin, you'll see it's coming right from the heart of Sefira’s territory. I didn’t even bother encrypting the transmission. Did you think I was too stupid to do it?”

—

Hmmm...

A brief silence followed.

Feeling frustrated, Keter raised his voice.

“Stop wasting my time. Are you taking the job or not? Answer me, now.”

—To be honest, we do believe that you are Lord Keter. However, accepting the request would be difficult.

“Why?”

—The Sefira family has never once hired mercenaries before. There is no prior connection between us. Furthermore, if we were to take a request from Sefira, we would risk backlash from other noble houses. As you may know, many nobles are not fond of Sefira.

“So you're afraid of upsetting other nobles and don’t want to get involved with Sefira? Since when do mercenaries care about noble politics?”

—It's not that we are afraid. We simply see no reason to invite unnecessary trouble. Moreover, we have received reports that Sefira’s financial situation is not in great shape.

“Sefira may be struggling financially. But I’m not. I'll pay half the fee upfront. Surely that’s enough to put your doubts to rest?”

—You seem to be serious about this. What exactly is the nature of the request, and how many mercenaries do you intend to hire, my lord?

“I need sword-fighting mercenaries of Platinum-class or higher. There’s no limit on the number of hires. However, they must arrive by noon tomorrow. The job is a sparring session. It’s preparation for the Sword of the South Tournament.”

—So the rumors were true— Sefira is entering the Sword of the South Tournament. A training exercise to prepare for it... That makes sense.

“Sefira will cover all lodging and medical expenses as well.”

—That’s quite generous. However, even if we put out a job notice, I doubt anyone will take it. As you must know, Lord Keter, mercenaries hate nobles.

Mercenaries despised nobles—because nobles openly treated mercenaries as disposable tools.

Of course, since noble commissions paid well, mercenaries didn’t outright refuse to take them. However, they absolutely loathed dealing with nobles face-to-face.

Everything about Keter's request was precisely what mercenaries hated most: he was a noble—not just any noble, but a high noble—and they would have to travel to his estate.

There was not a single mercenary who would willingly take this job. Naturally, Keter was already aware of this, and he also knew exactly how to solve the problem.

“I’ll bribe them. You personally convince the mercenaries to take my request.”

At Keter’s blatant mention of bribery, the director bristled with anger.

—Are you insulting me right now?! You may be able to hire mercenaries with money, but you cannot buy their pride!

“One hundred thousand gold. Additionally, I will pay each mercenary who takes my request five times their usual hiring fee.”

The sum was far too large for the director to scold him any further.