Chapter 95: Estate Development (1)
In the first place, Milton was able to see Robin’s Loyalty stats. It was only 23, a number that was so low, it’d be considered fortunate if Robin didn’t stab him in the back. Even if Robin was talented, there was no way Milton could trust him so easily.
“If I give you 5,000 gold, how much more can you turn that into?”
Robin laughed on the inside when he heard Milton’s words
‘I knew it. Of course it’d be like this. An honorable n.o.bleman? What a load of bulls.h.i.+t.’
In the end, it didn’t matter whether you were a n.o.bleman or not. There was no one in this world who wasn’t greedy for money. Even if you were a n.o.ble and pretended to be dignified, in front of Money, you were nothing. Sure of his own philosophy, Robin was convinced that he had the n.o.bleman in the palm of his hands.
He put on a serious expression and pretended to think.
“If you trust me and entrusted the gold to me… I will increase it by at least ten times the amount within a year.”
“Only ten times? That’s all you’re capable of?”
As Milton flatly questioned him, Robin hurried to answer.
“Ah, no sir. When I said ten times, I was playing it safe. If I really wanted to, I could make it twenty times, no, even thirty times is possible.”
Since he was planning on running off with the money, there wasn’t any reason not to say a hundred times the amount. Robin was full of s.h.i.+t.
“Ho… thirty times?”
“Yes, Sir. And that’s not all.”
“What else could there be?”
“Sir, I can do away with all the pirates who attack us while I am navigating or partic.i.p.ating in the sea trade. If you’ll trust me with it, within a year I will settle the sea within the vicinity.”
“Oh… that’s amazing. Then, is it possible to develop a route to the Waterport Kingdom in the far South?”
Robin put on a confident expression at Milton’s question.
“Of course, sir. I originally worked in that area. If you trust me, I’ll create and show you a route from your estate to the Waterport Kingdom, Marquis.”
The thing about lying is that the more you lie, the bigger the lie gets. Since Robin planned to bail after cheating Milton, he just kept lying and lying.
In fact, most of what he had said right now was the future he had once imagined in his head. Raking in an enormous amount of money by traveling along the trade routes and seizing all trades that sailed on that route. Isn’t it great just thinking about it?
“Hm… that’s really amazing.”
Milton nodded as if he was thinking the same thing.
“Please trust me, sir.”
“Good, I’ll leave it to you.”
Finally, the words Robin wanted to hear came from Milton’s mouth. Robin looked so moved that tears could drip down from his eyes at any moment.
“Thank you, Marquis. This… I’ll never forget this…”
“But!”
Milton interrupted Robin.
“It’s a bit too much for me to just ‘trust’ you.”
“Sir? What do you…”
“It hasn’t even been a day since I met you. Even if you look competent, do you think I could trust you when you were a pirate until yesterday?”
“That… that’s true… Yes, you’re right Marquis.”
‘d.a.m.n it. So this n.o.bleman isn’t dumb. Guess I’ll be sent out with a knight or two to watch over me.’
Robin thought Milton would set a couple of knights to watch him, but that didn’t matter. Even if you’re a knight, out on the sea, you must obey the captain. It’d be easy to lure a naive rookie who didn’t know anything and push him into the water.
“So you accept?”
“Yes, sir. The Marquis’s words are correct.”
“Good, I’m glad you understand. Then, I’ll have to do something about that.”
“Do as you think is best, Marquis”
As Robin gave in to Milton, Milton had his soldiers bring someone over.
“Wha? Why’d ya call me over?”
That someone was Bianca.
“Wh— who is she?”
Robin was dazed when a s.e.xy beauty appeared instead of a stupid knight. No way, here? No, it didn’t seem like that. Milton immediately answered Robin’s curiosity.
“Let me introduce you. This is Bianca, a Magician that I’ve invited over.”
“Ah… A Magician?”
For a second, Robin had a feeling that something wasn’t right.
Milton turned so that Robin wouldn’t see him, and wink at Bianca.
“Miss Bianca. You’ve said once before that there was a curse you could cast to suppress a subordinate’s betrayal?”
“Huh? Ahhh.... That?”
Bianca was quick on her feet and immediately understood. With just a couple of words, captive pirate and curse, she could tell what Milton was trying to do.
Bianca responded with a very serious expression.
“It’s possible. But when I talked about it before, didn’t ya say ya didn’t need it? Something along the lines of how ya couldn’t suppress ya men with such a vicious and ruthless curse?”
‘A vicious and ruthless curse?’
Robin was greatly frightened by Bianca’s words.
Milton seamlessly took over from Bianca.
“That’s only for my men. I can’t have a curse so cruel and evil like that cast on my men.”
‘Cruel and evil?’
Robin wanted to immediately flee from his location.
“But that guy over there isn’t officially my subordinate yet, and it’s not like we deeply trust each other either. And he also agreed to it, so I think you can cast your curse on him.”
‘No, when did I agree to a curse?’
Robin thought this was the first time in his life that he’d be wronged to this degree.
“Hm… alright. I see. If he agreed to it then…”
‘I never agreed to it? Don’t agree with him, you crazy b.i.t.c.h!’
“But would this really be aite? He won’t have a peaceful death.”
“It should at least be like that.”
Listening to Milton and Bianca discuss this while excluding him, the person directly involved in the matter, Robin was scared s.h.i.+tless.
Bianca finally turned towards him.
“Aite, then I’m starting.”
“Um… Magician.”
“Relax. It’ll be over soon.”
Then, Bianca placed her hand on Robin’s forehead.
‘What’s up with her freezing hands?’
In Robin’s eyes, Bianca’s freezing hands didn’t feel like the body temperature of humans.
‘Is this what they call a witch?’
It’s true that Bianca’s body temperature ran on the colder side, but everything seemed even more scary to the terrified Robin
And then…
“King of darkness, I offer this man to you. I put the heart of the sacrifice on the table and fill your cup with his blood, and his soul…”
‘What is this? Why is the curse so brutal?’
Robin’s legs were shaking. King of darkness, sacrifice, heart… everything was so brutal. He wanted to run out of the room right now, but he knew Milton would kill him.
‘Uh… uhhh…’
Milton laughed to himself as he watched Robin break out in cold sweat.
‘Miss Bianca is playing along surprisingly well?’
Milton had rarely seen Bianca cast spells out loud when she used her magic. And even if she verbalized it, it’s not like he could understand what she was saying. But to think that she’d say such obviously understandable words, and the words themselves were so b.l.o.o.d.y…
Seeing Robin break out in cold sweat, it seemed as though this play had worked.
“Please place a curse of bondage on him!”
When Bianca’s curse(?) was finished, a bright purple light appeared in her hand.
“A— Ahhhhhhh!!”
Robin couldn’t stand the fear and screamed out loud like a child.
Bianca spoke after catching her breath.
“The curse is finished.”
“Are you alright, Miss Bianca?”
“Uh huh… I’m just a bit tired after casting a powerful spell.”
Bianca headed towards a chair on the side. She even staggered slightly, as if she really was tired. Milton supported the ‘tired’ Bianca and helped her to her seat before turning towards Robin.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Y— y— yes…”
Milton spoke to the spiritless Robin.
“I’m glad. Guess the curse settled properly?”
‘I don’t want it to settle!’
Robin screamed inside, always inwardly.
“Don’t worry about it too much. As long as you don’t betray me, there’ll be no problems.”
“I… I see. But, Marquis.”
“What is it?”
“If… What would happen if I did betray you?”
“That…”
“Ya can’t tell him.”
Before Milton could even speak, Bianca quickly interrupted him.
“What is it, Miss Bianca?”
“He’s now a sacrifice that’s been offered to Him.”
‘Me?’
“The curse could be triggered immediately if ya say anything about his fate.”
‘The curse could be triggered? Just by knowing what would happen?’
“And if that happens…”
Bianca shuddered as if she was afraid to speak anymore.
And Robin was drained of all his energy.
Milton turned to speak to him.
“That’s what she says. Hm… I’m sorry.”
“Then…”
“Don’t worry. As long as you keep all the promises you made me, I’ll release you from the curse one day.”
“……”
Robin looked stunned.
‘Wait, what did I say earlier?’
To multiply 5,000 gold thirty times.
To calm the waters around the Lester Kingdom.
To create a sea route to the Waterport Kingdom.
These were the main promises that he had basically made.
And he had lied saying he’d do all this within a year.
‘I’m …X …X’
Robin wanted to cry.
***
Originally, Robin was very smart and quick on his feet. There was no way this kind of empty threat could properly work on him. But, he didn’t know much about the rare beings that were Magicians, and Milton and Bianca had played along with each other so well, that there wasn’t a moment of doubt.
Eventually, Robin left the room looking like there was nothing more left in the world for him.
And as soon as he disappeared…
“Puhahahahaha… I’m dying. That was hilarious.”
“Your acting was perfect, Miss Bianca.”
“Hehehe… I’m a woman who lives to tease people.”
The two of them laughed for a very long time.
“But what was the real spell that you cast on him?”
“It’s just a simple tracking spell. Wherever he is, you’ll be able to find him.”
“Really?”
“Yeup. It’ll last about a year, so you can rest easy?”
“Ho… Then we’ll have to renew the curse every year.”
“Kukukuk… I like that. Let’s tell him we’ll slowly release the curse and tease him.”
“How about we tell him that it’s a necessary part of the ritual to release the curse and have him soak in the ice water for an hour in the middle of the winter?”
“That sounds like fun. Hm, is there anything else?”
“How about we starve him for a couple days saying that he needs to be completely clean to get rid of the curse?”
“Ya a genius? Where did ya get such a fun idea?”
“Just someone called Na PD.” [1]
“I don’t know who that is, but I wanna learn from that person too!”
“Puhahahahaha…”
At this point, it"s questionable whether these two weren’t more villainous than the pirates.
***
Speaking of results, there was nothing Robin could do but work for Milton. As long as he was shackled with the Magician’s curse, there was nothing else he could do. The only comfort Robin had was that Milton provided considerable support for him. Milton had a.s.signed ten large s.h.i.+ps, and not counting the crew member, had a.s.signed 500 soldiers and ten knights to Robin. This gave him some hope.
‘Alright, let’s at least give it a shot.’
In order to get rid of the curse, Robin decided to work to the best of his abilities. It wasn’t a complete lie when he had said he was confident in commerce and sailing. And since he had a n.o.ble supporting him from behind, Robin didn’t think it was impossible.
“My Lord, is it really alright to entrust that man with much authority?”
“It’ll be fine. I’ve made sure to thoroughly shackle him.”
Even if Robin found out that the curse was a fake, the tracking spell on him was real. If he did betray Milton, then, Milton could deal with him then.
“From now on, we’ll leave the sea trade to Robin, and Max, you’ll devote yourself as the Chief Administrator.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Although it seemed as though one problem had been handled, there was still a lot of work to be done.
1. Na Young-Seok is a famous Korean television producer best known for producing popular variety-reality shows like 1 Night 2 Days, New Journey to the West, Grandpas Over Flowers, Three Meals a Day and their spin-offs.