Chapter Thirty-Eight: Four Hundred Thousand Ginks

Back at the residence, Viraq did not dare to idle. He utilized every spare moment to intensify his study of the six surviving organization cadres, while also reviewing the minutes of previous meetings and Chris’s personal style in the planning handbook.

The next day, Saturday, July 29th.

This weekend was destined to be busy. Saturday would be spent meeting with Colin to negotiate business, followed by a meeting with the rebel organization in the evening. Sunday would continue with further business discussions with Colin, and the charity gala would likely take place that evening as well.

Early in the morning, after breakfast and once the Carmine family had gone about their respective business, Viraq sought out Daniel.

"How did things go?" Viraq asked as soon as he got into the car.

"I notified Comrade Chloe last night, and he has already begun investigating the people you asked about," Daniel replied.

"And what about the charity gala?"

"I found a few; there are events on both this evening and tomorrow evening."

"Select the largest one on Sunday and make the arrangements for me."

"Understood. And Mr. Chris, where are we heading now?"

"To the Green Leaf Casino," Viraq said.

The Green Leaf Casino was one of the properties owned by the Colin family. Viraq had arranged with Colin two days ago to meet there on Saturday. With its motley crowd, it was convenient for Diaz to slip in and out, and being on Colin's turf made it the perfect meeting place.

"Very well, sir." Daniel drove Viraq to the Green Leaf Casino.

"Wait here. I need to go inside and handle some business with Colin," Viraq said, leaving Daniel outside. As soon as he entered, a waiter recognized him and led him to a private room.

The waiter pushed the door open, and Viraq happened to catch Colin inside, letting out a massive yawn.

"You're finally here. You really had to pick such an early time? It’s not like you don’t know I play until dawn every night and don’t wake up until noon," Colin complained listlessly.

The waiter left and closed the door. Viraq sat down next to Colin and Diaz. "Isn't this a matter of great importance? I figured we’d be talking for a long time, so coming early was for the best."

"Doing business is really going to be the death of me..." Colin sighed. "Do you want to eat something?"

"I've already eaten. Let's get straight to the point," Viraq said, not wanting to waste time on trivialities.

"Fine, fine." Colin sat up straight, a proud look surfacing on his face. "Guess how much money I managed to scrounge up?"

Seeing Colin’s smug demeanor, Viraq knew he must have borrowed far more than the requested amount. Still, he patiently ventured a guess: "Two hundred thousand?"

"Two hundred thousand? You really underestimate me." Colin was dissatisfied with the low estimate and relished the prospect of shocking Viraq. "I got four hundred thousand gold marks."

"Four hundred?!" Viraq’s jaw dropped.

"Haha, I knew you'd look like that." Colin pointed at Viraq, who was too stunned to speak, and burst into laughter.

Adding this to the one hundred and fifty thousand he already had, that made a total of five hundred and fifty thousand gold marks. This sum was, without question, a massive fortune anywhere.

If he could also sell off the bills and secure another sum, reaching a net worth of one or two million gold marks, Viraq would be at the top of the wealth rankings in Zword City.

"Then we have a starting capital of over five hundred and fifty thousand gold marks." Viraq took a deep breath, masking his intention to swindle Colin, and fought to remain calm. "We must plan the use of this money very carefully."

Colin didn't care how Viraq spent it; he only cared that Viraq would double it for him later. "How you spend or arrange it is up to you. Just make sure you double it when you pay me back."

"Understood," Viraq promised.

"Four hundred thousand gold marks is really no small amount. You absolutely cannot afford any slip-ups. If we lose it, I probably won't be able to pay it back for a year or more. And if my father finds out, he might just break my legs..." The money Colin had staked was not the few thousand gold marks he usually treated as pocket change; four hundred thousand exceeded a year's allowance. While he wouldn't be finished if it were lost, he would certainly suffer for it.

"Rest assured, even if we can't achieve a tenfold profit like at the fighting ring the other day, I will ensure you get a double return of eight hundred thousand gold marks," Viraq reassured him.

Colin trusted Chris implicitly, a sentiment reinforced by Chris’s competence, as proven by the large profit he had made two days prior. "Good, then I'll wait for your good news. By the way, when can we expect a profit?"

"Two months at the earliest." Viraq pushed the timeline back by two months; regardless of whether the business was running smoothly or profitable by then, he would have already absconded with the money and left Lezein.

"Two months..." Colin seemed to think that was a long time.

"Two months is already quite fast. When doing business, one must be prepared for long periods of loss; turning a profit in two months is already a miracle," Viraq said, placating Colin, who, despite being from a wealthy conglomerate family, knew nothing about commerce.

Diaz sat to the side, listening in astonishment, curious as to how Viraq intended to double the money in two months.

"Fine, whatever, I'm leaving it in your hands." As Colin spoke, he pulled a suitcase from the side, placed it on the card table, and opened it.

Inside the case were neatly stacked bundles of one-hundred-gold-mark notes.

"Cash?" Viraq was stunned. One hundred gold marks was the largest denomination, typically used only for massive capital transactions and quite inconvenient for daily spending.

"What? Is it inconvenient? I thought it would look more impressive this way, so I went straight to the bank and withdrew the cash," Colin said.

"It's fine." Viraq waved a hand.

Once he fled Lezein, his bank accounts would certainly be frozen, so cash was actually more convenient. In a way, Colin had done him a favor.

"Do you have any ideas yet?" Colin asked casually.

Viraq could tell Colin was just making small talk, so he brushed it off: "I have some leads. I'll be able to focus on the arrangements in a while."

"So... is there anything else we need to talk about?"

"Um..." Viraq hadn't expected Colin to be this carefree. He probably wouldn't even need to go through the motions of setting up a fake company.

"To think you insisted on meeting this early just for a few words like that. Why couldn't we have talked whenever? Honestly..." Colin shook his head and stood up to leave. "I'm going to the restroom. Let's play a few rounds of blackjack later; otherwise, it was a waste of time waking up this early."

Once Colin had left the room, Viraq looked at Diaz, his heart tightening. "Do you have any results?"

He was asking about the search for Nord he had tasked Diaz with two days prior.

"...Yes." Diaz was slightly unable to keep up with Viraq’s rapid change of topic. "I checked every hotel in the North District, and there's no one by the name of Nord. However, there are twenty-four other people who fit the requirements you described."

"That many?" Viraq thought it over and quickly understood. After all, this was Lezein; there was no telling how many hotels were there, and his description had been somewhat vague. It was normal for twenty-four potential matches to turn up. "We must find a way to verify them further."