Chương 128: Chapter 127: Mom's Love Letter, and the Magitech Retirement Fund

The top-secret archive room behind the Floor 60 arena was bathed in soft violet light. Sylvia slotted the ancient memory crystal into the reader on the central console. WHRRM! A burst of violet light coalesced in midair into a vivid holographic image of a younger Valeria. This was Lady Valeria, back in her days as the Annihilating Knight. Long black hair down to her heels, wrapped in form-fitting shadow-knight armor, blood-red eyes sharp and cold. And yet — she wasn't holding a sword.

She wasn't casting some world-ending forbidden art. The legendary Demon Lord's Knight sat cross-legged on the stone floor, an abacus made of magical-beast bone in one hand, the other flying through stack after stack of gold coins lined up in front of her, wearing the single-mindedly greedy expression of a career merchant. Click. Valeria in the recording paused mid-count, looked straight into the camera, and gave a sweet, gentle smile. Valeria's secret ledger... for my Lucian, when he's older.

My dear Lucian, if you found your way into this room, then you've clearly already swindled the whole world, cleaned out the World Tower's treasury, and made yourself a fortune, haven't you? Mom knew her boy would never let himself get shortchanged by anyone.' Valeria pointed a finger down at a metal hatch set into the floor, engraved with a lock code. I left one hundred thousand registered S-rank industrial energy crystals under this floor—quietly stockpiled from retired mines before I hung up my sword.

Each cell is finite, numbered, and legally annoying. Do not tell your father. That old blockhead would sneak off and blow them all on rusty junk swords. She gave a playful wink.

'Vault code: answer this question — "What's the one thing you hate most about working?"' Click. The recording froze. Lucian stood in front of the holographic display, dabbing at his eyes with his sleeve in mock emotion, voice choked with feeling. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"My own mother... the only person in this entire world who truly understands her son's suffering!" He stepped up to the hatch and, without a half-second's hesitation, typed his answer straight into the magical number pad:'Because overtime is a crime against humanity.' CLACK! THOOM! Match: 100%. The titanium hatch slid open on both sides. A blinding surge of starlight erupted from below.

One hundred thousand registered S-rank industrial energy crystals—each fist-sized, finite, and stamped with an inventory number—piled up like a glittering sea of stars across the sealed vault. Ting! Ting! Ting! The Unified System V2. 0 panel appeared: [LADY VALERIA'S INHERITANCE SUCCESSFULLY CLAIMED!] Assets received: 100, 000 registered S-rank industrial energy crystals Industrial reserve value: enough to fund planned rail, relay, and workshop programs for decades—provided the cells are released gradually instead of crashing the market. [ASSET LEDGER UPDATED] Market liquidity constrained by hazardous-material law and energy-market absorption.

Eleanor stood by the console, looking at the twenty-year-old Valeria grinning ear to ear on the screen, then over at Lucian, crouched at the edge of the pit, scooping up handfuls of crystals to admire them. She wiped her forehead and shook her head, murmuring.

"So that's it. The stinginess. The obsession with money. The secret-fund-hiding-from-family thing. All of it — inherited one hundred percent from your mother." Astra stood clutching her holy sword, staring wide-eyed at the glittering sea of crystals. She turned to Eleanor, blurting out with total sincerity:"Sister Eleanor! This has to be the largest retirement fund in history—Lady Valeria really did plan ahead for Lucian!" Eleanor blinked. Then she looked at Lucian's expression and sighed.

"Knowing him, he'll reinvest it before breakfast." Lucian reached to the bottom of the iron chest in the vault and pulled out an ancient golden dragon-scale token. His Read the Fine Print skill scanned across it: Special spatial transit pass — direct route to the Sanctuary of the Ancient Dragon Empire, off the Far Eastern coast. The reserve could power Evelyn's and Vance Commerce's approved industrial projects for decades and serve as collateral for minerals they still had to buy. BOOOM... BOOOM... BOOOM!

The station relay carried the Tartarus capital's peace bells up to the Floor 60 observation deck. From the magical communication mirror mounted on the wall, an image of General Baelor and the Royal envoys appeared, announcing together:"Reporting, Young Master! Reporting, Your Highness! The Solaris delegation, the Holy See, and the Council of Twelve Demon Lords have assembled at the Hall of Unity for formal ratification of the normalization charter.

Please take your places as royal plenipotentiary and commercial mediator!" Lucian brushed a bit of crystal dust off his sleeve and stepped over to Eleanor. He smiled and held out his right arm.

"Come on, Princess. Time to finish the first ratification round—and collect our mediation commission." Eleanor looked at his smile and broke into a bright grin of her own. She slid her slender, silk-gloved hand through his arm and gave it a light squeeze.

"Let's go, President Vance."