CHAPTER 28: CH-28 I INVEST IN THE DUNGEON BOSS

The tension in the restaurant was thick enough to choke on. Baelgor’s aura still simmered in the air like smoke from a dying fire, and the shop owner was red in the face, his finger still jabbing at the towering giant. Patrons held their breath, waiting for the situation to explode again.

Then, from the back of the crowd, a calm voice drifted forward.

"Now, now what’s all this noise about? Quarreling in a fine establishment like this... how uncivilized."

The words slid into the silence like oil on water, smooth and deliberate. Heads turned. From between the tables, a man stepped into view. He wasn’t tall, nor broad, nor imposing. His figure was slender, his clothes neat, his hair immaculately combed. A disarming smile rested on his lips, the kind that made strangers lower their guard without knowing why.

Cisco.

Baelgor didn’t even notice him. His fiery gaze swept past the newcomer without pause. An ordinary human, he thought, dismissing him instantly. The man had no aura, no pressure, no threat. To Baelgor, he was less than air.

But the shop owner’s eyes widened. For the first time that night, his fury wavered. This man this gentleman radiated something different. Not power. Not menace. But refinement. A subtle grace, a confidence that belonged to those who moved among the city’s higher circles.

Cisco strolled forward, ignoring Baelgor entirely, and addressed the owner as though speaking to an old friend. "You seem upset, sir. Perhaps you can tell me what happened?"

The owner exhaled sharply, his shoulders dropping. He gestured wildly at Baelgor, his voice tumbling over itself.

"This lunatic stormed into my restaurant, broke my chopsticks, ate forty bowls with his bare hands like some starving wolf, and now refuses to pay! Says his blessing is payment enough. Hah! Blessing, my foot! The man’s sick in the head, I tell you. Sick!"

Gasps and chuckles rippled through the audience. Baelgor scowled, but Cisco merely nodded, his expression patient, sympathetic, almost fatherly.

"I see," Cisco said softly, as if the matter were already halfway solved. His smile never wavered, though his eyes glinted with something unreadable.

And just like that, the crowd’s attention shifted away from Baelgor’s wrath, away from the trembling owner, and onto the smiling gentleman who seemed to command the room without ever raising his voice.

Baelgor’s lip curled into a sneer, his violet eyes glimmering with contempt. He loomed over the room, chest swelling as his voice thundered like rolling stone.

"Puny human! You ungrateful worm. You should rejoice that you even share the same breath as I do. No one, I say no one can bask in my glory and live to tell the tale. Yet here you stand, demanding coin, as though I owe you anything!"

The pressure of his words rattled bowls and shook the lanterns. A few patrons ducked under their tables.

The shop owner’s face turned purple. He jabbed his finger again, shouting hoarsely, "See?! See what I mean?! He’s crazy! Completely insane! Talking about glory, about blessings, when all he’s done is eat me into bankruptcy! This man belongs in a padded room, not my restaurant!"

Some patrons chuckled nervously. Others muttered agreement. To them, Baelgor was no longer a majestic hunter just a raving lunatic who thought noodles were holy offerings.

Cisco, however, did not laugh.

His smile stayed fixed, polite, unshaken. But his eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, swept over Baelgor’s massive form, tracing every detail with the precision of a jeweler. His gaze lingered on the ring glinting faintly on Baelgor’s thick finger.

At first glance, it was just a plain band, dull and unremarkable. But to Cisco’s trained eye, the subtle shimmer, the way the light bent across its surface, spoke volumes.

That’s no trinket.

The corners of Cisco’s lips twitched upward, just slightly. Inside, his mind whirred.

Cisco tilted his head ever so slightly, studying Baelgor not only with his eyes but with his ears. The way the man spoke grandiose, dripping with arrogance, proclaiming himself above mortals wasn’t just madness. It was the voice of someone who had grown used to authority, someone who had never once worried about coin or consequence.

Rich, Cisco thought, his smile widening by a fraction. Or at the very least, carrying riches he doesn’t understand.

Almost A-grade spatial ring ... high-quality dungeon craftsmanship. Not something a mindless brute could just stumble across. If it’s genuine and I know it is then this ’lunatic’ has been somewhere deep. Somewhere profitable.

Cisco leaned lightly on the counter, his voice warm, easy. To everyone else, he looked like a gentleman mediating a quarrel. But beneath that facade, gears turned, schemes clicked into place.

Because that was Cisco. The city knew him as a charming drifter, a refined talker who always smiled. But behind that smile was the truth: he was an appraiser with an eye for treasure and a con man who knew how to pry those treasures away from fools.

And right now, staring at Baelgor’s ring, he thought,

Yes... I’ve found my mark.

He clasped his hands behind his back and stepped between Baelgor and the fuming shop owner, his tone smooth and effortless. "Now, now, let’s not get heated over something as simple as dinner. How much is the bill?"

The shop owner, still red-faced, spat out the number with venom.

Cisco’s smile twitched. He glanced at the towering stack of bowls forty porcelain monuments to gluttony and for the briefest moment, his polished composure cracked. His mind reeled.

That much? For noodles?! He ate like a demon let loose from a famine pit! How does that mountain of food fit into that... He squinted at Baelgor’s muscular but compact frame, his disbelief mounting. ...that body? Did he hollow out his insides first?

He rubbed his temple discreetly, suppressing the urge to sigh. A lesser man would have walked away. But Cisco was not a lesser man. He was a con man, an investor in human folly and what he saw before him was not a loss, but an opportunity.

"Very well," he said at last, producing his coin pouch with a theatrical flick. The clink of gold rang through the silent restaurant. "I will cover his debt."

Gasps echoed around the room. The owner’s jaw dropped. Even Baelgor blinked, momentarily distracted from his towering pride.

But Cisco’s eyes gleamed, his smile sly and unshaken.

This isn’t charity. This is investment. That ring on his finger... it’s worth a hundred times this bill, maybe more. And if he truly is the mad lord he claims, then sticking to him will pay back a hundredfold.

He pressed the coins into the owner’s palm, ignoring the man’s suspicious glare. In Cisco’s heart, the decision was already made.

Yes... this is the kind of man I’ll stake my future on. Others invest in gold, in land, in trade routes. Me? I’ll invest in a lunatic who eats forty bowls and wears a fortune on his finger.

And as he turned, smiling warmly at Baelgor as though they were old companions, Cisco thought,

This time, my investment will return a hundred times over.