CHAPTER 44: LOAN SHARK

"Rowan?" Wade blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

It was way too early to be a casual visit.

"Can I come in?" Rowan asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Of course." Wade stepped back. Rowan walked in, and he shut the door behind him.

"Err..." Rowan glanced around the room.

"Have a seat." Wade said, sitting on the couch.

"Thank you." Rowan nodded, sitting on the one seater couch. "I’m here to talk about yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Wade raised both brows, a chuckle appearing on his lips at how awkward Rowan looked. "What about yesterday?"

"I just wanted to explain myself." He said. "Me working for Viscount Fairchild, and what I had to do."

"You don’t have to explain to me though." Wade leaned back in his chair. "I understand that it was just us both doing our jobs."

"No." Rowan said. "I have to explain to you. If only for my conscience."

Wade didn’t mind, but if it would assuage Rowan’s guilt, he would listen. "Alright."

"The things I did yesterday, taking the beekeeper back to Viscount Fairchild, was a crime." Rowan said, holding Wade’s gaze.

"There’s no two ways about it. The beekeeper didn’t owe Viscount Fairchild anything, and we took him against his will. It is as simple as that. A crime."

"It’s also something Viscount Fairchild can’t just request at a guild. Guilds don’t take up quests that are crimes. It’ll be an excuse for the kingdom to crack down on them."

"Oh." Wade nodded at the realization. Just like him, Rowan had taken the quest directly from the quest giver.

But that raised another question. Why had someone like Rowan, who had a much better conscience than Wade, done this particular job?

Was it money? It had to be more complicated than that.

"If you were going to be beating yourself up over this, why take the quest?" Wade asked.

"I... didn’t have a choice," Rowan said.

"What do you mean?"

"Viscount Fairchild is a... loan shark. I took out a loan from him. To outfit myself with some skills. An expensive loan."

Wade leaned forward, his interest piqued. "Don’t the guilds give loans?"

"No." Rowan shook his head. "The guilds don’t give out loans to adventurers. They only let you take low level skills, adding it as debt."

"That means there are only two ways to grow powerful. The first is the slow and steady method." Rowan shook his head. "This method has the highest mortality rate."

"Adventurers delve into dungeons, slowly adding to their arsenal of skills and stats, growing stronger slowly."

"But because they took things slow, it also means they’re more likely to be killed by whatever they face. And so, they die fast."

"Then there is the second way. Go into debt."

"The guilds are happy to give you starter skills. After all, they don’t lose much if you die. But if you want to get stronger, you need stronger skills. Skills that would guarantee you breeze through dungeons with ease."

Wade’s eyes narrowed at that. This was exactly what he was looking for.

In order to go on his solo dungeon run, he needed high level skills. That meant he’d also have to take out a loan.

"Which is why people like Viscount Fairchild exist." Rowan continued. "They lend money to adventurers at high interest rates. And they enforce it through magical contracts."

"Magical contracts?" Wade frowned.

"Yes. Like our standard guild membership contracts." Rowan said. "If you break them, you get a huge magical backlash, and the best case scenario is a grievous injury."

"So, I took a contract with Viscount Fairchild, and got my powerful skills."

"Everything was going smoothly, until our last dungeon run. That was where our last party member died. It caused a few... problems."

"And so, I missed my loan payment. And that was all Viscount Fairchild needed. As a penalty, I needed to do some quests for him. And if I don’t, it’ll count as me breaking the contract."

"So, that’s what happened."

"Oh." Wade sat there, processing what he just heard. ’Why is every part of being an adventurer so predatory?’

However, Rowan’s visit had given him insight into what he needed to do in order to prepare for his dungeon run.

"Hey, Rowan."

"Yeah?" The man looked up at him.

"If I wanted to take a loan of my own, who would you recommend I take it from?"

"Wait, what?" Rowan blinked. "You want a loan?"

"You just said it yourself." Wade leaned back in his chair. "The slow route to becoming a powerful adventurer has a higher chance of me dying."

"Oh, yeah." Rowan nodded. Then he answered the question. "Honestly? I don’t know."

"The loan sharks don’t just reveal the details of their contracts to anyone. But I can at least introduce you to Viscount Fairchild."

"I see." Wade nodded. "So, is that all?"

"What? Oh, yes." Rowan nodded, standing. "I just wanted to explain myself."

Wade stood. "So, where are you headed? The guild building?"

"Yeah."

"Perfect. We can go together."

And so, they left the apartment, with Wade locking the door behind him.

As they walked through the streets, Wade began thinking.

He didn’t just need enough money to be strong. He needed enough money to delve a dungeon alone.

But he didn’t know how much money would be enough to outfit himself for that.

So, he decided to ask without giving away his intentions.

"Hey, Rowan."

"Yeah?"

"How much would I need to borrow to achieve the necessary strength to not die easily?"

Rowan thought about it for a few seconds. "It depends. Most adventurers just go for around 200,000 coins, give or take 50,000."

Wade almost stumbled at the figure. "What the fuck?! How long would it take to pay that back?!"

If a single dungeon run nets him around 80,000 coins, he’d have to go on three runs just to pay back the loan.

And if he was with a party like the others, with an average haul of 20,000 coins a run, it’ll take him at least ten dungeon runs to pay it off.

"A few months. Sometimes a year." Rowan chuckled. "Besides, you need more than just basic skills."

"The really strong skills cost upwards of 10,000 coins. Not to mention that you need armor. Not just any armor, but special loot armor."

"And the costs add up pretty fast. Depending on if you get a full set of armor or not, you can get yourself around 5 to 10 skills, along with the necessary mana to wield them all."

"I see." Wade nodded. "And if I did that, would I be able to clear Shattered Hall on my own?"

"No." Rowan answered immediately. "Don’t even try it. You’ll go far, maybe even conquer the second ring, but you’ll surely die nine times out of ten."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"What about Sebastian?" Wade asked. "Can he clear a single layer dungeon on his own?"

"Of course." Rowan chuckled. "Sebastian is much stronger than the average adventurer here in Hiving. I even heard he’s on track to become an executive. On his own, he’ll be able to clear a single layer dungeon easily."

"Wow." Wade said, glancing at Rowan. "And how much money would it cost to become as strong as Sebastian?