[Vol. 8] Chapter 102: The Meaning of Wealth
After thinking as hard as he could but getting nowhere, Rudolph had no choice but to force himself to look at the girl again. He took the initiative to bow respectfully, showing the manners of a junior, and said through clenched teeth:
“Senior, I don’t know when my Lombard family offended you, but why must you strike us down at a time like this and leave no way out? As the saying goes, leave a line open so we can meet again in the future. Our family still has some wealth. If you are willing to spare us today, we’ll give you whatever you want, as long as it’s within our power. If someone hired you to go against us, then we’re willing to pay double… no, triple the price. What do you think?!”
To be honest, this was the most sincere offer Rudolph felt he could make. If the entire family wasn’t facing total destruction today, someone like him would never lower himself like this, not even in front of a powerful, hidden transcendent-level warrior.
Yes, even among transcendent-levels, there are differences in strength. With the current advancement of magitech in the Austre Empire, "transcendent" was no longer a word that meant invincible. Even the famous Sword Saint couldn’t fight a whole nation alone, let alone this girl, who clearly wasn’t as strong as him.
If things were normal, with enough time to prepare, Rudolph believed the Lombard family could find a way to fight back, or maybe even kill or capture her.
But now… the situation left him with no choice but to bow his head.
As Rudolph was secretly wondering how they’d pay if the girl made some outrageous demand, the swordwoman, who had stayed calm from the start, finally frowned slightly. For the first time, her voice carried a cold, sharp edge.
“Trying to buy me…? You—you only ever talk about money. You make up beliefs for money. You do evil for money. You betray your country and your people for money. Even now, you still won’t let go of these pointless things. Is wealth really that important to you?”
“...‘Pointless things’?”
The patriarch paused for a second. Then, like someone who had been poked in a sensitive spot, he laughed in anger.
“Ha… hahahaha… You think it’s boring when I talk about money? That’s only because you have power that lets you live above the rules. You don’t have to follow what the rest of us do. But have you ever thought about people like us, normal people who live under those rules? What are we supposed to use to change our fate, to rise up in the world, to live a better life?”
“Money! Running a family, staying alive, hiring help, making connections, everything takes money! Power, status, even love, money is the one and only currency we can use to trade for those things. It’s the only weapon we have to protect ourselves. So what should I talk about if not money? Useless beliefs? That so-called conscience that’s not even worth a copper coin?”
“Can those things help me, or help the Lombard family, climb to the top, and become what we are today? All of you love to pretend to be so noble, so righteous. Then tell me, if you were just a regular person with no strength at all, struggling to survive in this harsh world, could you still really look down on money like it meant nothing to you?!”
The girl stayed silent as Rudolph shouted like a machine gun. After a moment, she simply shook her head with a helpless expression. She didn’t argue.
In her eyes, she saw the furious, twisted face in front of her, wild with anger like a madman. Her simple, plain clothes stood in stark contrast to Rudolph’s expensive robes covered in silk, jewels, and gold.
In the end, she only let out a quiet sigh.
“You twist cause and effect, confuse right and wrong, and even make your own evil and greed sound noble and reasonable... You’re already too far gone, there’s no cure for you.”
“Ha! Fine, I get it now. So you're saying there's no room for talking, right? In that case, don’t blame us for fighting to the death!!!”
Like a wild beast driven into a corner, Rudolph, who had already been secretly preparing, suddenly raised his hand. A flash of light appeared, and a diamond-shaped crystal, hidden in his personal space item, quickly floated into his palm.
“Dinggg! Dinggg! Dinggg...!”
As soon as the crystal appeared, a strange and dangerous energy spread out from it. The horses and magic beasts in the caravan cried out in panic and started to thrash around violently, clearly trying to break free from their ropes and escape.
Fear and chaos spread quickly, like a disease, and no matter how hard the Lombard family’s drivers tried to calm the beasts, it was no use.
“What... is that?”
The girl, already at the level where her presence blended with nature, immediately sensed the danger. Her face changed slightly. Her hand, which had always rested calmly on her sword hilt, began to move.
But Rudolph was faster.
He suddenly threw the crystal down to the ground with all his strength!
“Ting!”
A cold light flashed through the air. In just an instant, the girl drew her sword, and Rudolph’s arm, still holding the crystal, was cut clean off and flew into the sky.
But it was already too late. A shattering sound followed as the crystal hit the rocks and broke apart. Rudolph, clutching his bleeding arm, staggered backward, laughing madly toward the sky.
“Didn’t you say you care so much about morals and justice? Then make sure you stop this thing properly! Compared to scum like us who only ‘eat people metaphorically,’ this one will really eat people. There are plenty of farms and villages around here, right? Let’s see how many of them survive! Hahahahaha!!!”
“Everyone listen up! Follow Plan 4, abandon the carts and go around on foot. The destination stays the same. If you don’t want to die, start running now! From now on, Harrison Lombard is in full command. Start the plan immediately!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Under Rudolph’s loud, furious orders, the Lombard family’s caravan of over a hundred people, including family members and guards, gave up their mounts, which were too scared to move normally.
They packed as much valuable cargo as they could into storage items, then left their wagons and animals behind. One by one, they disappeared into the tall rice fields on both sides, running in all directions.
The gray-haired girl saw this clearly, but she didn’t chase them. Her brows were tightly furrowed, but she didn’t move.
Because right in front of her, from the shattered crystal Rudolph had thrown down, a large amount of bluish-green poisonous gas was gathering and forming into a giant monster several meters tall. The terrifying pressure it gave off immediately told her what the real threat was.
Just like Rudolph had said, if she ignored the monster and went after the escaping Lombard family members, she could probably catch or kill most of them.
But doing that would leave the creature free to run wild and attack the nearby towns and villages, causing hundreds or even thousands of innocent people to die.
And that was not something that the Hongyan wanted to see happen.