NoGift

CLAY was standing at the port. He just got off the small ship that brought him here to Albion from Castille where he took the ship. He looked around. There were a lot of busy people walking around. Some were obviously here for travel while the others looked like they came here for trading. 

This was his first time here in Albion. He heard that this was a country where etiquette and chivalry were very important. People often said that one couldn't find a much finer gentleman than a man from Albion. He wondered if that was truly the case? So far, he had only met one young man from Albion – Argent Blackbourne. But he wasn't sure if that guy could actually be called a 'gentleman'. 

Speaking of the duke, soon after Clay separated from Aurum and Black, Argent sent him an address, telling him to go there, saying that what he needed would be there. He asked what he meant by that, but the other didn't even bother to reply. Although he already expected it, it's still kind of irritating. Despite that, Clay still went to the address the duke sent to him.

To his surprise, the address brought him to a branch of Silver Corporation in Castille. The manager there seemed to be already expecting him. Because as soon as he arrived, he quickly took him to his office. He could still remember what happened after that.

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"Mr. Grunewald, please, do sit down," the manager said to Clay, gesturing for him to sit on the seat opposite his desk.

Clay was still not sure what was happening here right now, but he still sat down. "May I ask what exactly am I doing here?"

"The owner of our company, the esteemed Duke of Hanover, tasked me to give you these two items."

The manager then put two items on the table. One was obviously a space ring and the other was a piece of paper. His gaze directly went straight to the paper. He had good vision, so he immediately was able to read what was written on it. 

[This is proof that the mountain range bordering the countries of Castille and Gaul now belongs to Mr. Clay Grundewald. Sign on the date of…]

Clay's eyes widened just reading the first part. He reached for the paper with trembling hands and read the contents again and again. "Is this… legal?"

"Of course, Mr. Grundewald. If you would just look at the bottom of the deed, you would see the seal of both countries," the manager said. "Which means that you are now the legitimate owner of the mountain range."

"But… how?"

"The duke said that Mr. Grunewald should not worry about the specifics," the manager said, smiling. Then he pushed another piece of paper towards him. "Now, if you could please sign on this paper, the ownership of the mountain range would immediately be transferred to you."

Clay carefully put the title deed of the mountain range inside his own space ring before lifting the other paper. Once he read the contents and found that there was no problem on it, he didn't hesitate to sign. Then he returned the paper to the manager.

"That should be all," the manager said after inspecting the paper he just signed. "And oh, Mr. Grunewald, please do not forget the space ring."

Clay picked up the space ring on the desk. And until he left that establishment, he still couldn't believe what just happened.

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He had no idea how Argent did it. That mountain range was technically owned by the two countries of Castille and Gaul. He couldn't even begin to imagine how much money the duke had to spent just to buy it. He probably had to instruct one of his people – probably the manager Clay met – that they could spend as much money as they could to buy the mountain range as soon as possible. That's definitely a lot of money. Especially if it had to satisfy two countries.

Clay thought he would no longer receive any kind of surprise that day. But when he got back and checked the contents of the space ring, he totally lost his cool. Because inside the ring were ten chests filled with gold coins. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw that much money. Even his sister who was with him when he opened the space ring was frozen in surprise. Because both of them had never seen so much money in their lives.

The first thing he did after he got over his initial shock was to call Argent. Thankfully, the duke answered his call.

Their conversation went like this;

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"Argent, I couldn't possibly accept this much money. Giving me the land deed for the mountain range is more than enough," Clay said.

"I'm just doing my part of the deal. I told you, I'm going to sponsor your cause in exchange for you letting us borrow your family's heirloom," Argent answered in an indifferent tone, as if he just didn't give someone ten chests full of gold coins.

"But—"

"If you don't want it, then throw it away. I already did my end of the bargain. Whatever you do with the money, I don't care. I'm busy. Try not to contact me again if you don't have anything important to say."

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And that was the end of the conversation, if ever it could be called that one.

Of course, Clay wouldn't throw the money away. He'd be stupid to do that. Since he couldn't return it to Argent, then he would just use it accordingly. Meaning he would use it for their cause of helping and freeing orphans from the clutches of the Temple. 

He left the managing of the money to his sister. She wanted to refuse at first. But he told her that he would assist the Blackbournes in whatever they were doing. Although the twins never really told him what they were planning, but from the bits and pieces he heard from their conversation while they were in Victoria City, he could tell that it had something to do with those legendary artifacts of the mythical races. 

Just letting them borrow the pendant that was passed down to their family seemed underwhelming in comparison to everything the duke gave him. The least he could do was to freely offer his assistance to them. Flora understood that. Because she also felt that the money and the land deed were a bit too much. Not doing something to return that kindness was something that the both of them couldn't do.

It such a coincidence that the day after that, he received a message from Aurum, asking him to go to Albion and bring the pendant along with him. So, he immediately left. Letting Flora be in charged of the renovations that should be done on the mountain range.

And now, a few days later, he finally arrived here. 

He took out his sPhone and called Aurum.