Chapter 34: Getting Rich Easily
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There were several people Riven had met in the future he once lived. Some were amazingly kind souls who endured terrible fates simply because of their kindness. Others died miserably without ever being saved. Still others were abused and enslaved by the higher-ups, left unable to ever stand on their own again.
He was not going to change only his own fate and that of his wife. He intended to recruit all those people he had been unable to save or help in the past due to his lack of strength and money, and bring them together under the same roof.
His goal was clear. He would create the strongest guild in the world and stop the planet’s demise before it was too late. Daniela was an unexpected new member, and there would likely be many more like her in the days ahead. Already he was thinking about recruiting Her, the woman who had once helped him create the recipe for the Elixir that could finally heal his wife’s paralysis and restore her powers to full strength.
The Investment System was helping her as well, yet he wanted to combine the Investment Authority of Asmodeus with the Elixir for the greatest possible results. As someone who needed to move quickly, the Investment Authority felt too slow. He simply did not have the time to wait.
He had to keep moving constantly.
He still planned to take the rest of the day off to stay with his wife and discuss everything properly with Daniela. Tomorrow, however, he would return to the Dark Cave Gate, sweep it completely clean, and then move on to his next target: the Wild Jungle Dungeon, a C+ Rank Gate that held the next material he needed.
"Well... I mean... I wouldn’t mind joining a guild if I could," Daniela said with a quiet sigh. "It’s just that none would ever accept a Pierrot. We’re considered the weakest class in existence. Our own Authority weakens our stat growth tremendously..."
"There are a few pieces of equipment that scale off Luck," Riven explained, surprising her. "They’re known as the Jester King Set. What’s more, there’s also a Class Ascension Book that can allow a Pierrot under the Court Jester Authority to finally unravel their true potential."
"Eh?" Daniela looked completely taken aback. "W-What do you mean, mister Riven?"
"I just heard about it and investigated a little," Riven said, feeling the intense glare from Elisa, who clearly thought he was only lying to make the girl feel better. "A-Anyway, well, we need to get stronger first if we want to obtain those items..."
In one year from now, the original Jester King would obtain those very items and become the most famous Pierrot in history.
Yet that man had been a greedy bastard who never helped his own brethren and sold all his products at ridiculous prices. Because of that, Riven felt no guilt about taking the opportunity for himself and giving it instead to someone who truly deserved it, this hard-working girl sitting right here.
"If what you say is true... I’ll help...!" Daniela nodded firmly. "Um, I’ll gladly join your guild!"
"It’s a deal then," Riven nodded in return. "You’ll receive a monthly payment." He tapped the screen of his phone. "I’ve already deposited this month’s payment into your bank account."
"Huh?" Daniela glanced down at her smartphone as a bank notification appeared. "A-A hundred... thousand...?!"
She almost spit out the orange juice she had been drinking. Her entire face turned pale and her eyes widened so much they looked ready to burst from her skull.
Then she simply sat there in complete silence, paralyzed by the number.
"Um, Daniela?" Riven asked, waving his hand gently in front of her face.
"Look what you did to her," Elisa said, shaking her head. "Girl! Hey!" She snapped her fingers in front of Daniela’s eyes. "She passed out cold. Wow. Has she never seen this much money before?"
"I guess not..." Riven sighed. "I’ve already sold half of what we obtained online. Even the cheapest SS Rank equipment costs around five million. We already have roughly seventy million in our savings."
"WHAT?!" Elisa herself suddenly froze in place, just as stunned as Daniela had been.
"Ah..." Riven sighed and facepalmed. "Maybe I should have started with that instead of dropping it out of nowhere. Yeah, I’ve already sold a lot. That payment is only an advance, Daniela. As we discussed earlier, you will receive fifty percent of all earnings from items obtained through your help. So around... thirty-five million of that belongs to you. I just don’t think your bank account can handle the full amount all at once..."
"HUH?!" Daniela’s eyes finally blinked again, only to fill with even greater shock. "I-I’m rich?"
"Hah, you sure are," Riven laughed. "Obtaining SS Rank items usually takes a tremendous amount of effort by clearing SS Rank Gates. Only the strongest hunters in the world can manage that. But us? We can obtain them just by traveling into a D Rank Gate."
"T-That’s... breaking the economy!" she panicked. "We’re going to make the economy fall on its own feet! Isn’t that bad?!"
"Bad? No, that’s perfect," Riven replied. "It will lower the price of hunter gear, and everything related to it, making those items affordable for common people worldwide once more. That’s part of our first plan for taking down Claymore’s entire monopoly."
"..."
"Y-You’re really planning to do something like that? Why? The Claymores are your family, Riven..."
Elisa was shocked. Not even she ever considered taking revenge on her own sister simply because they were family. Riven, however, was different.
He did not give a single damn about their downfall. If anything, he would take them down personally if he had the chance.
"The Claymores will doom this world," he said quietly but firmly. "I cannot let them continue what they’re doing. Humanity as a whole will fall if they succeed."
"?!"
He sounded like a complete schizophrenic talking about made-up scenarios and nonsense. Yet Riven was not lying.
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