Chapter 71: Adding Fuel To The Fire
The bedroom door slowly opened.
Victor stepped inside first, his expression far more relaxed than before.
It seemed like, after not finding anything on the first floor, he was confident Judas was innocent.
Roderic stepped in after him, not saying a word.
’It’ll all be fine,’ he thought, holding back his smile.
Judas followed them inside, leaning against the wall near the door.
’’See?’’ he said, smirking. ’’I told you there was nothing.’’
Victor glanced back and gave him a small, apologetic smile.
’’I know. Just let us finish checking.’’
As Victor began searching, so did Roderic.
He activated his appraisal eye and swept through the room.
Streams of information rushed in from dozens of objects. Though he could feel the sting in his brain, he kept on going.
[Wooden Bed]
[Common Pants]
[Window]
[Wooden Desk]
Suddenly, Roderic’s head froze in place.
[Storage Chest]
[Rank: Mortal]
[Durability: 30/100]
[The floor beneath this object has been disturbed recently.]
Roderic’s eyes narrowed slightly.
’Oh?’ he thought. ’Now what do we have here?’
His gaze slowly moved towards the bottom of the chest and the floor around it.
Only now did he notice very faint marks, indicating it’d been moved around.
’Damn,’ he thought. ’It was difficult to see even with my Eagle Eyes...’
’But this appraisal eye just casually exposes it?’
Roderic was just about to head towards it when a voice rang out behind him.
’’Young master.’’
He stopped in his tracks.
One of his knights stood in front of the wardrobe, still holding several pieces of clothing he’d just pulled out.
And sitting beneath them was a familiar leather sack.
’Oho?’
A small grin flashed across his face.
’There we go.’
His gaze moved over to Victor immediately.
The young man stood frozen in place, his eyes wide in disbelief.
For several seconds, he just stared at the sack without saying anything.
Then he slowly walked towards it.
’’Please,’’ he said. ’’Open it.’’
The knight grabbed the sack and loosened the rope around its opening.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
Several silver and gold coins rolled out onto the floor.
Victor’s expression slowly went dark, his eyes in particular turning ice-cold.
’’No...’’
Behind him, Judas pushed himself away from the wall.
His expression rapidly shifted between disbelief, shock and terror.
’’What the fuck is that?’’ he asked immediately.
Judas hurriedly took a step forward, rapidly waving his hands in front of him.
’’I swear I’ve never seen that there in my life!’’ he said. ’’Victor, you have to believe me.’’
Victor’s head snapped towards him.
’’Then why is it in your wardrobe?’’
’’I don’t know!’’ Judas shouted. ’’Someone must’ve put it there.’’
Pure and utter disbelief flickered through Victor’s expression.
He truly didn’t want to believe it, but there was no excuse.
’’Let me get this straight,’’ he said slowly. ’’Someone snuck into your room last night and placed the money there?’’
Judas nodded desperately.
But Victor wasn’t done speaking yet.
’’Without you noticing? And with no signs of a break-in here or at the guild building?’’
Judas opened his mouth, but no words came out.
That made Victor’s expression only darken further.
’’You were the only one who knew where the money was,’’ he continued. ’’And you knew there’d be an important deal this morning...’’
’’Victor, I didn’t take it!’’ Judas interrupted. ’’I swear to the god of light!’’
Silence fell between them for a moment.
’’Then explain it,’’ Victor said coldly. ’’Explain why our money was here.’’
Judas’s face fell.
’’I... can’t,’’ he said. ’’But I really didn’t take it!’’
Their voices quickly grew louder as Judas desperately kept repeating himself.
Roderic watched the argument for a few seconds longer before losing interest.
’I’d expected something better,’ he thought, shaking his head lightly. ’But it’s actually kind of getting boring.’
His gaze wandered over to the storage chest.
’Maybe it’s time to add some fuel to the fire then.’
He casually walked over and lightly kicked the chest aside.
Thud!
Several rough-looking, crumpled letters and documents appeared underneath.
A wide grin immediately spread across Roderic’s face.
’’Now what do we have here?’’ he asked loudly.
The argument behind him instantly fell silent.
Victor looked over with mixed emotions, still deeply hurt but confused by the sudden interjection.
Judas’s reaction was completely different though.
His face turned deathly pale in an instant.
’’Wait!’’
He hurriedly rushed towards Roderic.
Alas, he completely forgot about the way the world worked in his desperation.
Roderic’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The moment Judas got close, his hand shot out and wrapped around his throat.
’’Urgh!’’
Roderic effortlessly lifted him off the floor.
Judas immediately grabbed his wrist, his feet kicking uselessly beneath him.
’’Careful,’’ Roderic said coldly. ’’You don’t get to rush at a noble whenever you please.’’
Cold sweat broke out across Judas’s brow as he stopped struggling.
Roderic held him there for another second before casually tossing him towards one of his knights.
’’Keep him there.’’
’’Yes, young master.’’
The knight immediately grabbed Judas by the arms, holding him tightly.
Roderic crouched down and picked up the documents.
’’Let’s see...’’
Upon reading just a few sentences, a faint smile broke out on his face.
Without another thought, he flicked the letters towards Victor.
The young man caught them with a confused expression.
’’What is this?’’ he asked slowly.
Victor glanced down and began reading.
It had barely been a few seconds when his hands began trembling.
’This... can’t be,’ he thought, eyes widening.
He found payments from their number one competitor, the Blue Moon Merchant Guild.
Not to mention letters of gratitude for things only Victor and Judas were supposed to know about.
Suddenly, everything started making sense to him.
Whenever Victor had planned to purchase certain items after predicting an upcoming shortage, their competitors had always managed to get ahead of them.
Even potential partnerships and connections he wished to create had been overshadowed by higher bids.
Victor slowly raised his head.
All doubt had vanished from his eyes, leaving only anger, frustration and disappointment.
’’All this time?’’ he asked. ’’Are you serious?’’
Judas couldn’t even meet his gaze anymore.
’’Victor, I...’’
’’How much?’’ Victor interrupted, disgust in his eyes.
Judas froze for a moment.
’’What?’’
’’How much money did it take to roll over?’’ Victor said through gritted teeth.
Judas flinched.
But he didn’t say a word.
Before anyone could react, Victor took a step forward and swung out.
BAM!
His fist crashed into Judas’s face.
The knight holding him barely moved as Judas’s head snapped sideways.
’’How fucking dare you!’’ Victor shouted furiously. ’’Every time they got ahead of us, you stood there pretending you didn’t understand it either!’’
Judas spat out blood.
’’I-I didn’t kno—’’ he tried desperately.
Victor immediately shook his head.
’’No, don’t even bother,’’ he said, letting out several strained breaths. ’’This is it. I’m done with you.’’
Meanwhile, Roderic stood back with a satisfied smile.
’Well, seems like that worked,’ he thought, rubbing his hands together. ’Now he has no more attachments that prevent him from working for me.’
He fell silent for a moment.
’Though... I really have to make some popcorn for next time. It would’ve been way better with that.’