Ch.6464. Underhand Clan

“…Lies. 300 gold, you say?”

Chloe laughed. Ha, haha… Her broken laughter mixed with moisture. The suppressed laughter that nearly choked her grew louder, eventually transforming into a sound that was indistinguishable between crying and laughing.

“Chloe, let me explain everything.”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

As Lucas hesitantly opened his mouth, Chloe shouted and covered her ears.

“Hearing it won’t change anything. Not the people who left, not reality… In the end, all my efforts were meaningless.”

Chloe, who had been hunching her shoulders with her head down, slowly raised her gaze. Her bloodshot eyes stared blankly into empty space.

“Please leave me alone. Just… don’t say anything…”

Her low, sunken voice contained a plea that she was barely holding onto her sanity, so please don’t disturb her.

“Today… go home. I’ll see you later.”

Rex couldn’t bring himself to stop Chloe as she roughly opened the door and staggered away.

Instead, he turned his head to stare at Lucas. He had no intention of returning to the inn without learning anything. Though the sudden situation was bewildering, seeing Chloe’s mental breakdown actually cleared his head.

Lucas exhaled with a pained expression and spoke.

“Are you Chloe’s friend?”

“Yes.”

Between their brief exchange, they observed each other carefully.

Lucas’s first impression was that of a typical ‘good person.’ Polite speech and modest attire. Above all, despite Rex being an uninvited guest, Lucas’s eyes showed no sign of reluctance.

In a world where parents who struggle to make ends meet frequently abandon their own children, Lucas was a man worthy of being called virtuous simply for running an orphanage for children in an era when taking care of oneself alone was challenging enough.

“Does the orphanage have debt?”

Of course, all those elements were outside Rex’s interests. Lucas bit his lip at the piercing question.

“I can’t tell you that. You’re an outsider.”

“No. I’m not leaving until I hear it. I may be an outsider to you, but I’m also Chloe’s friend. I can’t leave Chloe’s problem unattended like this.”

At the resolute response, Lucas frowned and asked in a curious tone.

“Could your name possibly be Rex?”

Rex nodded with a puzzled expression.

“Indeed, so you’re that boy. You’ve grown up quite handsome.”

“You… know me?”

“How could I not? How could I forget the name Chloe always spoke of so happily? It seems this will be a long conversation.”

Lucas gave a bitter smile and gestured toward the chair opposite his desk. As Rex took a seat, Lucas interlaced his fingers and continued.

“It’s a shameful situation to share with others, but you deserve to hear it. Yes. What would you like to know?”

After a brief silence, Rex answered.

“I need to know why the debt was incurred, why Chloe is paying it off, and why this person named Alisa was taken away.”

He had a general sense of the situation.

The orphanage had incurred debt for unavoidable reasons. Chloe was in the process of paying off that debt with money earned from dungeons. Chloe probably believed the debt would be repaid in the near future. However, contrary to expectations, the debt continued to grow, eventually becoming the enormous sum of 300 gold.

That was as far as Rex understood. This alone made it difficult to grasp the specific circumstances. He needed to hear what had happened from beginning to end.

Lucas looked at Rex with meaningful eyes.

“Why do you want to know? No, I phrased that poorly. Of course you’d be curious about your friend’s situation. But knowing won’t change anything.”

“That’s a funny question.”

Despite his words, Rex wasn’t smiling. Just because his head had cooled didn’t mean he wasn’t angry. Outbursts of indignation subside after fully venting emotions, but cold anger persists for a very long time. It crouches deep within, slowly building its embers while waiting for the right moment.

“Do I need some grand reason? Chloe is precious to me.”

Even now, more fuel was being added to the embers. Every time he recalled Chloe’s face, on the verge of tears, barely holding them back, irritation welled up inside him. Fragments of emotion he couldn’t hide seeped into his voice.

“Stop with the unnecessary talk and just answer my question.”

Lucas sensed that subtle anger. He slowly closed and opened his eyes before beginning his story.

“Chloe was a child of few words. She pretended to be cheerful in front of others, but I’ve raised her since she was little. She couldn’t fool my eyes. Chloe subtly built walls between herself and others, hiding her true feelings and not revealing her wounds… Yet strangely, she felt responsible in certain areas.”

Acting. Rex repeated that word inwardly.

“I could see her growing increasingly exhausted. It was heartbreaking, but there was nothing I could do. But then, at some point, she began to smile genuinely, not just pretending. At the end of each day, when she told me what happened, what she did with you, she would become as bright as any ordinary girl.”

Memories of time spent with Chloe flashed through Rex’s mind. The innocent, cheerful girl. The always-smiling Chloe contrasted with the Chloe that Lucas described.

“I had never seen that child so happy before. She was always sleepy, but when she started waking up early to prepare lunch boxes for her friend and practice cooking, everyone was surprised.”

Chloe, who would awkwardly trail off when her family situation was mentioned, who showed reluctance to introduce her home, who occasionally stared blankly at the sky alone. The inexplicable darkness that sometimes clouded her face. And then how she would immediately smile whenever their eyes met. These memories created ripples in Rex’s heart.

“What you’ve seen is just a small facet of Chloe. She has always been burdened by responsibility and pressure.”

“So…”

His chest ached, making it difficult to speak properly. Rex gritted his teeth and spat out the words.

“Why has Chloe been suffering from such responsibility and pressure?”

“It’s all my fault in the end.”

Lucas replied in a gloomy voice.

“You’ve heard, so you must know, but our orphanage has debt. You asked why the debt was incurred? I’d like to ask this: Is it possible to run an orphanage without debt?”

“……”

“Do you know how many children I’m responsible for? Fifty. And that’s excluding those who have grown up and left to find their own way. And everything people need—food, shelter, clothing—ultimately requires money.”

Though prices vary by region, on average, it takes about 1 gold to support a family of five or six for a month. Not just for basic necessities, but if someone gets injured or falls ill, the amount inevitably increases.

“We barely survive with support from the Mercy Order and some nobles, but that’s far from enough to raise the children. Even with the children sewing, helping with farming, and doing odd jobs, our livelihood remains precarious.”

Yet they weren’t starving to death. Though they had to make do with hard bread and vegetable porridge year-round, never dreaming of meat… for orphans without parents, there was no better life than this.

Lucas was somewhat satisfied with these conditions. Nevertheless, somewhere out there, children were still dying of hunger without protection. His help had limits.

Lucas acknowledged this reality and tried to help as many people as possible within his reach.

“…An epidemic broke out.”

Eight years ago, during an unusually hot summer, tragedy struck. A sudden epidemic—it didn’t harm people.

Instead, it rotted the grain. Food stored in warehouses turned to waste in an instant. More and more children suffered from heatstroke. People cannot survive without food. Without nutrients, they cannot regain strength.

Despite desperate efforts, the children who collapsed never got up again. They died.

“I couldn’t just stand by and watch. I needed money to buy food and treat the children… but who would willingly give me a large sum? I had no ability, and my only title was that of a mere monk of the Mercy Order, not even a formal priest.”

So he reached out to the underworld. He knew it was dangerous. Sadly, at the time, it was the only option. Lucas lamented with a voice tinged with regret.

“I borrowed 10 gold at first. I thought… I could repay it quickly. First put out the urgent fire, then gradually pay it back. Let’s ask for help from the children who have grown up and found their places. I was convinced it wasn’t an impossible amount to repay.”

He doesn’t regret that day’s choice. He would make the same decision if he could go back. He simply couldn’t ignore the dying children. Lucas slowly ran his hand over the documents on his desk.

“Is that…”

“This is the contract. I promised to pay interest at set intervals.”

Rex narrowed his eyes and examined the document. Having steadily learned to read, he could understand roughly what it contained. And so he could also see how absurd the conditions written in this contract were.

“…You signed such a ridiculous contract?”

To summarize simply, it was—’compound interest.’

Even a cursory glance revealed how malicious it was. The details were even more outrageous; even Rex, who knew little about loans, was dumbfounded by the severe interest rate.

According to the contract, each year the interest accrued was nearly double the initial principal. If you borrowed 10 gold, the next year it would be 20 gold, then 40 gold… growing exponentially like that. It was naturally impossible to repay.

“The initial interest rate was lower. Later, they forced a contract modification with barely plausible excuses.”

“…That must be illegal.”

“Those bastards don’t care about the law. Anyway, when we couldn’t handle the growing interest, they said to pay with bodies instead and took away the girls. That was probably their aim from the beginning.”

“And you just watched? Even if the interest is one thing, couldn’t you report the kidnapping?”

Seeing Rex’s disbelieving expression, Lucas spoke as if addressing a naive child.

“The ways of the world don’t flow so easily. Report? Of course I did. I submitted petitions and even knelt before nobles with connections. But amusingly, those criminals were friendly with people in power. They probably paid bribes. In the end, it was a foolish act. They discovered my complaint and retaliated…”

That incident completely crushed what little defiance remained. Lucas covered his face with his hands as he recalled the faces of the children he couldn’t protect. When the girls he had raised were dragged away by their hair, he couldn’t even intervene and helplessly watched…

Chloe grew up in such a harsh environment.

“At a young age, seeing people she was close to disappear one by one, she must have thought she couldn’t stay idle. Though she had done nothing wrong and had no need to suffer so much, she started entering dungeons at the age of twelve. Because that was the fastest way to earn money.”

In just three years, Chloe became a high-rank adventurer. That’s impossible with talent alone. It was thanks to her desire for money, her determination, and the support of good companions. The money Chloe earned greatly helped the orphanage. But she neglected her own body and mind. She was solely focused on retrieving her abducted family.

Despite those efforts, she ultimately couldn’t completely clear the debt. Far from clearing it, it multiplied several times over. Chloe, who had been holding onto a thread of hope, realized this fact today.

That’s how she fell into despair and broke down.

Rex.

‘Ah…’

He was angry. Angry at Chloe for not telling her friend about such circumstances and suffering alone. Angry at the evil people who sucked the lifeblood of innocent people without feeling any guilt. Angry at the man before him who had allowed Chloe’s pain to continue.

But most of all, what made him angriest.

‘Stupid idiot.’

Was himself.

What thoughts had been going through Chloe’s mind as she handed over lunch boxes with a bright smile every morning?

A high-rank adventurer’s income is substantial. That girl never spent any of that money on herself, at most buying a single dress, and even then being too afraid of wearing it out to actually put it on… That frugal girl was Chloe. Yet despite her obsession with money, she made lunch boxes for me every day. Always changing the menu, using expensive ingredients. It must have cost quite a bit.

And I stupidly just accepted and ate them without knowing anything.

‘This isn’t right.’

Chloe is only eighteen. She was even younger when she started as an adventurer.

Chloe had been carrying a burden too heavy for a young girl to bear from early on.

Something snapped in his mind.

Why had I left the village?

What was the purpose of gritting my teeth and enduring the Trial of Prohibition for the past three months?

It was a question that didn’t need to be recalled.

‘Yes.’

After a very long time, the mark grew hot, and Rex twisted his lips.

“What are their names?”

“I understand what you’re thinking, but don’t dare try to confront them. They’re dangerous—”

“I am.”

Rex clenched his fist and said.

“Right now, very angry. I don’t even know myself how long I can hold back. I feel like I’m about to snap. While I’m still showing respect, it would be better for you to tell me willingly.”

“……”

Lucas sighed deeply and answered with a hesitant tone.

“The Underhand Clan.”

Rex rose from his seat.

The Underhand Clan. He remembered it.

Consequences?

‘I don’t care.’

I’ll kill them.