Chapter 85: The nine thousand gold iou

Rhea twisted Aldric’s wrist hard.

Before he could even cry out in pain, she yanked him forward and drove her knee straight into his stomach, forcing all the air from his lungs.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Immediately afterward, Rhea grabbed Aldric by the collar and threw him through the door of the room beside them.

Crash!

The wooden door exploded apart.

Aldric’s body slammed into a long table, sending documents and ink bottles crashing across the floor.

Everyone nearby immediately stepped back.

Aldric pushed himself up, his face twisted with pain.

"Rhea!"

He pulled out his wand, and scorching mana immediately gathered around its tip.

A Fireball formed.

The temperature inside the room rapidly began to rise.

Rhea did not draw her sword.

She simply picked up a piece of broken wood from the floor and threw it.

The fragment pierced through the still-forming flames and struck Aldric’s hand directly.

His wand flew from his grip, while the spell lost control and veered sideways into a glass display cabinet.

Boom!

The cabinet exploded.

The decorations inside fell to the ground and shattered into countless pieces.

Aldric stared at the destruction, his mind filled with nothing but anger.

He charged forward.

Before he could reach Rhea, however, the sheath of her greatsword swept into his ribs.

His body flew sideways across the room and crashed through two bookshelves.

A silver statue swayed several times before falling directly onto Aldric’s head.

He clutched his skull, and the curse leaving his mouth immediately turned into a groan of pain.

Mira stood outside the doorway, her pen moving so quickly that it almost left afterimages.

"Lord Aldric initiated a second attack, causing damage to one doorway, one wooden table, one glass display cabinet, two bookshelves, and..."

She looked at the statue lying beside Aldric.

"...one artwork of currently undetermined value."

"You’re still writing?!" Aldric roared.

He tried to stand, but Rhea had already appeared in front of him.

The sole of her boot pressed down on his chest and forced him back to the floor.

"Who were you trying to hit?"

Aldric tried to push her leg away, but could not make it move even slightly.

"Rhea, don’t go too far! I’m a member of House Melford. If you continue..."

"Your family cannot frighten me."

Rhea increased the pressure slightly.

Small cracks appeared in the stone floor beneath Aldric’s back.

"But you should consider yourself lucky. I promised to spare your life, so I will not kill you today."

Hearing that, Aldric felt both relieved and humiliated.

He was just about to speak when a terrifying pressure suddenly covered the entire room.

The shards of glass trembling on the floor instantly went still.

The air became heavy, as though an invisible mountain had descended upon them.

Rhea lifted her foot from Aldric’s chest and looked toward the doorway.

A tall man in silver armor stood in the corridor.

He had short gray hair, sharp features, and a scar running across his left eyebrow that made him look especially intimidating.

The sun emblem on his cloak marked him as a Holy Knight.

"I was gone for less than half an hour."

The man looked at the ruined room, his voice slow.

"Can someone explain what happened here?"

Aldric immediately saw an opportunity.

He climbed to his feet and pointed at Rhea.

"Sir Rowan, she destroyed this place! I only came here to talk, but she suddenly attacked me. You have to..."

"I saw your Fireball from outside the corridor."

Rowan’s words immediately silenced him.

The Holy Knight entered the room.

Every step he took made the pressure in the air heavier.

When he stopped in front of Aldric, that cold gaze made sweat run down his back.

"This is my private property."

Aldric blinked.

"What?"

"This building belongs to me."

Rowan looked around, then bent down and picked up a shard from the broken decorative vase.

"I loan part of it to the Academy. This vase is an antique from the Kingdom of Toran, and the display cabinet was made from laurel wood."

Aldric’s face gradually turned pale.

Rhea calmly folded her arms.

"Then you should ask the right person for compensation."

Rowan looked at her.

"You had a part in this too."

"I was defending myself and protecting my people."

Rhea pulled Lathel close beside her, showing no intention of accepting responsibility.

"He was the one who used offensive magic first. If he hadn’t fired a Fireball, I wouldn’t have needed to throw him through so many pieces of furniture."

Aldric’s eyes widened.

"You obviously did that on purpose!"

"Do you have proof?"

Aldric immediately looked toward Mira.

The secretary remained silent for a moment before opening her notebook.

"According to the record, Lord Aldric initiated the attack against Judicator Rhea and Lord Lathel. The first damage occurred while Lord Aldric was being counterattacked, but most of the furniture was destroyed after Lord Aldric used fire-element magic."

Aldric could not believe what he was hearing.

"Whose side are you on?"

"I only record the truth."

Mira turned another page.

"Lord Aldric also attempted to attack the person assigned to observe him. Lord Lathel intervened to stop the attack, after which Lord Aldric redirected his aggression toward Lord Lathel."

Rowan held out his hand.

Mira understood and immediately handed him the notebook.

The Holy Knight read several lines before looking at Aldric.

"Nine thousand gold coins."

Aldric’s face twitched violently.

"How much did you say?"

"The repair costs and value of the destroyed property total nine thousand gold coins."

"This is robbery!"

Rowan’s gaze became dangerous.

"You are free to summon someone from House Melford to appraise the damage. However, until they arrive, I will detain you for destruction of property, using offensive magic within Academy grounds, and endangering those around you."

Aldric gritted his teeth so hard that the muscles in his face trembled.

If this reached his family, the compensation itself would not be his only problem.

The people competing with him for the position of heir would absolutely use the opportunity to push him down.

"I don’t have that much money with me."

"Write an IOU."

"I won’t."

Rowan placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

The pressure around him erupted.

A thunderous roar seemed to explode inside Aldric’s head, making his legs go weak.

For one instant, he felt that the man in front of him only needed to draw his sword to cut him in half.

Rowan took out a sheet of paper and placed it on the only intact table.

"Write."

Aldric looked at the paper.

Then at Rhea.

She was brushing dust from Lathel’s shoulder, seemingly completely unconcerned with him.

Lathel even took out his notebook to ask whether she had been injured, causing Rhea’s voice to soften as she reassured him.

The sight made Aldric so furious that his vision nearly went dark.

In the end, under Rowan’s gaze, he still had to pick up the pen and sign the IOU.

Mira stood beside him and added to her notes:

"Lord Aldric accepted compensation of nine thousand gold coins after receiving a reasonable explanation from the property owner."

"I DID NOT ACCEPT IT!" Aldric roared.

Mira’s pen stopped.

She crossed out several words, then rewrote the sentence.

"Lord Aldric signed the IOU unwillingly but while fully conscious."

Aldric nearly snapped the pen in his hand.

After Rowan collected the IOU, Aldric walked up to Mira and lowered his voice.

"Go find Kiyome. Tell her to come here immediately."

Mira closed her notebook.

"Lady Kiyome ordered me only to observe and record. I am not permitted to assist you in resolving the consequences of your actions."

Aldric looked at her as though he had just heard something impossible.

"What did you say?"

"Those were her exact words."

"So she’s just going to let me be humiliated?"

Mira did not answer.

That silence made Aldric understand that Kiyome had anticipated he might get into trouble and still had no intention of interfering.

He looked at the IOU in Rowan’s hand.

At the ruined room.

At the crushed bouquet in the corridor.

And at Rhea standing protectively in front of Lathel.

All of it together nearly drove him insane.

Aldric turned and left.

As he passed through the broken doorway, he angrily kicked a piece of wood.

But Rowan’s gaze made him bend down, pick it up, and place it back on the pile of debris.

Rhea did not watch him leave.

She checked Lathel from head to toe, confirmed that he was unharmed, then led him out of the building.

After what had just happened, she became even more convinced of one thing.

Leaving Lathel alone outside was too dangerous.

More and more people wanted to use him, while he himself was willing to step forward to protect even a girl he had only just met.

If she had not been there, Aldric’s punch could have seriously injured him.

Rhea decided to take him back to the Church district.

She would have him live within the operational area of the Judicator Legion, where no one could approach without her permission.

Once everything was over, she would take him away from the capital and find somewhere quiet enough that no one could disturb the two of them again.

Lathel only needed to stay beside her.

She would deal with every other danger herself.

However, just as the two passed through the side gate leading into the Church district, a figure was already waiting ahead.

Kiyome stood with her arms folded, her long hair moving lightly in the wind.

Her gaze swept over Lathel before settling on Rhea.

"You finally came back."

Kiyome’s voice was cold.

"Rhea, I want to speak with you alone."

Rhea did not answer immediately.

She wrapped an arm around Lathel’s arm and pulled him closer to herself.

"Say it here."