Chapter 11: All Transactions Are Prepaid (1)

As Taragon appeared out of nowhere, Volkanus shouted harshly, “Taragon! I told you not to barge into the storage room without permission!”

Taragon was already in Volkanus’ bad books as he had already done this before.

“Hm? Wait a minute, something’s off. Have you been drinking or something? It’s only the afternoon.” Volkanus said, frowning.

He couldn’t see Taragon’s face clearly because of the shadows cast by the lantern. Just as he took a step closer to get a better look, Keter stepped forward.

“Grandpa Midget, he’s already lost it.”

“Lost it? What do you... Huh?”

Volkanus was shocked. Taragon’s face became visible as he approached them. The whites of his eyes had vanished, leaving his eyes entirely black. The twitching at the corners of his mouth made it obvious that something was seriously wrong. Volkanus sighed.

“Amaranth! Amaranth called Taragon here!”

“How could you be so shameless? Cheating on me right in my face?” said Keter.

Slap! Slap!

Keter hit his right hand as if he was slapping himself. Amaranth convulsed violently as if in agony. Volkanus had no strength left to be surprised by Keter’s antics anymore.

“Are you Keter? Give me Amaranth,” Taragon said with a deranged expression.

Keter just calmly observed Taragon. He concluded that Taragon was an ordinary guy—nothing more, nothing less. If they had met in Liqueur, Keter wouldn’t have taken an interest in him. However, being the fourth son of a prestigious family and seeming easy to manipulate piqued his interest. He envisioned a plan to use Taragon as justification that he was the legitimate owner of Amaranth.

After paying the price of baring your claws at me.

Keter extended his right hand, which held Amaranth, towards Taragon. Unaware of Keter’s true intentions, Taragon interpreted this gesture as consent and smiled.

“Good, you understand. If you give me Amaranth, I’ll speak well of you to my father and brothers.”

Volkanus glared at Keter, but he silently pushed Volkanus back with his left hand.

“Amaranth. With this...!”

As Taragon reached out for Keter’s right hand and Amaranth wriggled around, trying to break free of Keter’s hand... Keter put up his middle finger.

“...?!”

Thump!

He then flicked Taragon on the forehead.

“Agh!!”

Taragon fell to the ground, clutching his forehead as if he’d been struck by a hammer. Blowing on his middle finger, Keter looked down at him and said, “You have three seconds to get up.”

“

Groan

... Keter, don’t do something you’ll regret...!”

Taragon used three seconds to say something instead of getting up.

Whack!

Keter kicked Taragon’s abdomen, but Taragon blocked the kick with his hand. After all, Taragon was still a knight, and while he might be vulnerable to a surprise attack, he wasn’t foolish enough to be struck by an overt one. However, Keter was no fool either.

“Ugh?!”

“No way!”

Both Taragon and Volkanus were shocked, as Keter had lifted Taragon off the ground just using the strength of his leg. How could he lift a full-grown man with just one leg?

Raising his leg to his waist, Keter then slammed Taragon down to the ground. Although Taragon quickly let go, he couldn’t avoid the fall.

Thud!

“Three more if you block this.”

Whack, whack, whack, whack, whack!

Keter continued to pummel Taragon’s entire body with kicks. This time, Taragon couldn’t keep up with the speed.

“Keter, it seems like you hit him five times,” Volkanus remarked, watching quietly from the side.

“My mistake. Let me hit him again,” Keter replied.

Whack, whack, whack!

Keter struck Taragon exactly three more times before speaking again.

“You have two seconds to get up.”

Taragon jumped to his feet immediately this time and swung his fist at Keter.

Thud!

Taragon’s punch landed on Keter’s forehead.

“Agh!”

But it was Taragon who groaned in pain. He couldn’t believe it.

How can someone’s forehead be this hard?

It felt like he had punched steel.

Keter, smiling, said, “When I get hit once, I return it with ten.”

Taragon raised his guard to prepare for the next attack.

Keter clenched his fist tightly and whispered, “If you dodge, it will be twenty hits.”

Whoosh! Boom!

How could a human punch make sounds like this?

Keter’s punch was so powerful that Taragon’s sleeve tore when Keter’s fist hit it. A single blow drew all the strength out of Taragon, causing his guard to drop.

What followed was Keter’s relentless beating. With his right hand gripping Taragon’s collar, he pummeled Taragon’s entire body with his left hand.

“Stop hitting him, Keter. You’ve already hit him more than ten times.”

Volkanus, who had initially been anxious about Taragon, now tried to intervene. However, the beating continued. Although it seemed like Keter was randomly hitting Taragon, he followed a specific rule in his attack: he never hit the face. As a result, Taragon appeared unharmed on the surface, but he was covered in bruises and in excruciating pain.

“Ah... Argh...”

Taragon, who hadn’t made a sound during the beating, let out a strange noise and went limp.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Thud.

Taragon collapsed to the floor as soon as Keter let go of him. Beaten to a pulp, Taragon twitched as Keter spoke.

“You have one second to get up.”

Taragon just trembled, unable to stand.

Thwack!

“I didn’t hit you so hard that you can’t get up. You have one second to get up.”

“...Give him a bit more time, bumpkin. I feel bad for him.”

Thwack!

Even though Volkanus tried to stop Keter, he kicked Taragon again for failing to get up in one second.

Again, he said, “You have...”

Taragon finally stood up, his legs trembling as he managed to get up.

Squish!

Keter jabbed two fingers into Taragon’s eyes.

“Aaagh!”

Taragon collapsed again, covering his eyes.

“Who told you that you could look at me like that? You have one second to get up.”

“Poking his eyes? What if he goes blind?” Volkanus said.

“One of my specialties is controlling my strength.”

Taragon managed to get up again within two seconds, thanks to Volkanus buying some time. This time, he kept his eyes lowered, staring at the ground.

“Name,” Keter asked.

Taragon immediately replied, “Ta-Taragon.”

“Is your name Tataragon?”

“It’s... Taragon, sir.”

“Drop the ‘sir.’ We’re family, right? Let’s not be so formal.”

“...”

That was when Volkanus looked at Taragon’s face and let out a dry laugh.

“The whites of his eyes have returned. Seems like he’s shaken off Amaranth’s influence.”

“Call me the great doctor of Sefira.”

“You’re insane. What are you going to do now? Looks like Taragon overheard our entire conversation,” Volkanus said.

“I already knew that; I just let them because I was curious who it was. But it’s a problem that he’s still hung up on Amaranth.”

Taragon flinched as Keter saw right through him. Now that he was back, he realized what he had done; he became aware of his rude intrusion into the storage under Amaranth’s influence. Nevertheless, his desire for Amaranth remained strong as the desire was solely his own.

Seeing Taragon react as expected, Keter said to Volkanus, “Let’s go, Grandpa Midget.”

“Where to?”

“To your place.”

“Why my place?”

“Well, are we going to stand here and talk?”

“...Fine, let’s go.”

Realizing that talking to Keter any further would only haze him more, Volkanus led the way like he had given up.

Keter patted Taragon on the shoulder and said, “Why the long face? People might get the wrong idea.”

“...”

And so, the three of them went to Volkanus’ house together.

* * *

It was a strange sight. Two people were sitting in a simple, unadorned house, and Taragon was shivering as if he were cold.

Volkanus, who was sitting across from him, muttered with an uncaring look, “Stop whining. I saw that your bones and organs were fine. It’s a minor injury, so you’ll be fine after some rest.”

That was when Keter brought over a kettle and poured tea into their cups.

“Such shabby guests in such a distinguished place; all I have is cheap black tea, but please enjoy.”

“This is my house, you brat,” Volkanus grumbled.

Just as Taragon, who wanted to drink some warm tea, reached for his cup—

“Well, anyway. What’s the problem with our Taragon?” Keter said, grabbing Taragon’s shoulders from behind.

Taragon flinched but still spoke, “Keter, I need Amaranth because...”

“That’s enough. You probably have your reasons. Let’s not complicate things. Here’s the deal: I’m willing to sell Amaranth.”

“You’re going to sell Amaranth?”

Taragon’s face lit up. He had some money saved up since he never really had much use for it. Plus, Keter had mentioned family, which implied he would sell Amaranth at a discounted price.

“With a family discount, let’s make it a clean deal for three bills.”

Taragon blinked.

Three bills?

Taragon had never heard of “bills” as a unit of money before. Seeing his confusion, Keter pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on the table.

“You don’t know about bills? One bill is a thousand-gold.”

“A thousand gold!?” Taragon exclaimed.

Typically, a four-person commoner family’s monthly living expenses were ten gold, and a soldier’s monthly salary was fifteen gold. On the other hand, a thousand gold was enough to buy a two-story building in a small town. Three of these notes meant that he would need three thousand gold!

In hopelessness, Taragon mumbled, “I don’t even have three hundred gold, let alone three thousand.”

“Okay, you’re broke,” Keter said, putting the note back in his pocket.

Keter walked around and faced Taragon, looking him in the eye.

“What do you have to offer besides money? I accept material goods too.”

“I... don’t have anything like that.”

“Then I guess I can’t give you Amaranth in this deal. Is there anything else you want to say?” Keter asked, giving Taragon a chance.

Taragon’s mind raced, trying to think of a solution.

Volkanus, who was sipping his tea and enjoying the situation, was surprised.

“Hm? This tea isn’t bad for being cheap. You’ve managed to get a deep flavor out of it.”

“I am the Midas of Sefira,” Keter replied.

Volkanus chuckled, “How many nicknames do you have?”

At that moment, Taragon, still in deep thought, looked uncertain but spoke, “I have... a right.”

Volkanus and Keter glanced at Taragon at the same time.

Swallowing hard, Taragon continued.

“Amaranth belongs to the Sefira family. As a legitimate member of the family, I have the right to be tested for ownership of Amaranth.”

Volkanus looked unimpressed.

“Is that the best you can come up with...”

“You have a point.”

“Huh?”

When Keter sided with him, Taragon got excited and raised his voice.

“Yeah, that’s right! Keter, I heard from my father that you’re eighteen, right? I’m twenty-one, so...”

“You’re not going to tell me to call you ‘Big Brother,’ right? Let’s keep it respectful. Don’t cross the line.”

“No, it’s not... I just wanted to tell you my age.”

“Let’s summarize: you want Amaranth but don’t have the money. Instead, you want to be tested to see if you’re qualified, right?”

“Right.”

“If you’re not qualified to handle Amaranth, you’ll give up on it. Is that correct?”

“Yes...”

As Keter and Taragon quickly started reaching a conclusion, Volkanus interrupted, “Hold on a moment, you bumpkin. Amaranth isn’t something that should be exchanged so easily like that. If Taragon loses consciousness and becomes the Marksman of the Demon Arrow, it would be a disaster.”

“I would never let myself be controlled by a mere tool!”

As Taragon, who had rested and regained some strength, stood up and insisted firmly, Volkanus also stood up.

“This is no mere tool! And at a glance, it’s clear you’re not fit to handle Amaranth,” Volkanus shouted.

The two of them glared at each other intensely.

Keter, however, pushed the table against the wall and said, “Now, now, Grandpa Midget. Even though Taragon looks clueless, we won’t know if he’s unworthy until he dies. Taragon, take this. I’ll transfer Amaranth to you.”

Keter extended his right hand that was blackened from Amaranth’s corruption, as if reaching out for a handshake. Taragon gulped. Volkanus, knowing he couldn’t stop Keter, grabbed the hammer he had leaned against the wall instead.

“Bumpkin, if Taragon becomes the Marksman of the Demon Arrow, you need to knock him out before he fully transforms.”

Before Keter could respond, Taragon touched Amaranth.

Swoosh!

Amaranth began to transfer from Keter’s right hand to Taragon’s left hand. It looked like it was being sucked into Taragon’s hand.

“Ugh...!”

Taragon endured the pain tenaciously, biting his lip until it bled. Finally, Amaranth was completely transferred to Taragon’s right hand.

Voosh!

From Taragon’s right hand emerged Amaranth, the jet-black bow. He was initially stunned, but he soon had a big smile on his face.

“I’ve been chose...”

Gulp.

It happened in an instant: black energy spread out from Amaranth and enveloped Taragon’s entire body.

“What the? Such rapid corruption!”

Volkanus tightened his grip on his hammer in shock, but Keter stepped in front of him.

“Leave this to the Solver, Grandpa Midget.”

“Now is not the time for your nicknames. We need to subdue Taragon quickly!”

Volkanus pushed Keter aside and leaped forward, but the black energy, now a storm, repelled him.

“Ack!”

Volkanus was quite heavy, but he flew like a feather and crashed into the wall. Watching that, Keter clicked his tongue.

“Good grief, I told you I’d handle it.”

A tremendous wind wreaked havoc throughout the entire house. The force was so strong that it made the pillars in the house shake. The storm also affected Keter, making his clothes and hair flap uncontrollably... but he slowly began walking towards Taragon, who was at the center of the storm.

The wind became stronger as Keter approached Taragon, but Keter continued walking at the same steady pace and eventually reached Taragon. With a swift motion, Keter pulled in Taragon, who was floating in the air, by the collar. As he did so, a demonic form emerged behind Taragon; it was the true form of Amaranth manifesting.

“Hold on tight. Your soul is going to fly away.”

As Keter slammed Taragon down onto the ground, he drove his fist into the face of the demon that was dragged down with Taragon.