Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 255

The Mediocre Replica (5)

Baek Seung-woo and Valkyrie.

The gap between the two names was clear.

First, reputation.

Valkyrie, who had defended her country, England, and all of Europe for decades, was a global hero.

On the other hand, my name was insignificant. It was as famous as Valkyrie, but to be exact, it was more infamous than famous. It was the inevitable consequence of what the previous owner of this body had done.

Second, title.

I am called by my real name without any special epithet, while the grandmother in front of me is called Valkyrie in any situation. Everyone except her closest family calls her Valkyrie.

It was a sign of how widespread the name Valkyrie was.

‘But our positions are not that different.’

Reputation and title.

These are ultimately evaluated by people’s perceptions. They can be easily obtained by taking advantage of public sentiment, and conversely, they cannot be obtained if they fall out of favor.

But there was something that never wavered, even with their gaze and evaluation.

That was the lineage.

I have established myself as the leader of the foxes as a descendant of the Cheonho [Thousand-Year-Old Fox] and Gumiho [Nine-Tailed Fox], and Valkyrie reigns as the Great Mother of the wolves.

That was a part that did not change even with people’s evaluations. Of course, if we talk about the power and interests within the family, I am at a disadvantage.

The Sirius family has a perfect one-person system, while the Cheonho Baekga [Thousand-Year-Old Fox Baek Family] has elders who are too powerful. No matter how much we are both heads of the family in the same position, the size of our essential support base is different.

But this place.

The rooftop of the golden palace. In the head of the family’s personal space, I have the upper hand.

“I kept the promise from long ago. Now it’s your turn.”

“…You’re suddenly coming here and demanding that? Are you out of your mind? I’m not someone with a lot of time for such sudden demands.”

“I know that well.”

Valkyrie is a very busy person.

She is one of the top 10 strongest among the current high rankers, the head of the Sirius family, the leader of Europe, and the guild master of the guild. That’s just the official title.

If she has to play the role of a mother and grandmother in a family, she won’t have any time left. In fact, visiting Valkyrie so suddenly is beyond impolite, and in normal cases, no matter how high-ranking you are, she wouldn’t meet you.

She is meeting me by squeezing out time because she owes me a debt.

And at this moment.

I made a request regarding the liquidation of that debt.

Valkyrie would have been aware of it too.

‘A former fiancé visits his former fiancée’s family home after 10 years?’

Anyone can see that there must be an ulterior motive.

However, since I came without making an appointment in advance, Valkyrie thought that she would coordinate a future meeting date at this place and discuss the debt later.

That’s how ordinary people acted.

But I was in a hurry.

I couldn’t afford to wait for anyone.

“Really. You have no manners.”

“Manners? Didn’t you throw them away too?”

“…What?”

Valkyrie asked back.

Did I say something wrong? I was confident in my English skills, but it didn’t seem to work, so I said it again.

“You have no manners either. Who in the world treats a guest like this? No tea, no cookies; you have tea for yourself, but you don’t have any refreshments to offer your guest. If the deceased heads of the Sirius family saw this, wouldn’t they be angry that you didn’t even have basic tea etiquette?”

“…This impudent fellow.”

I openly insulted her, but Valkyrie didn’t get angry.

You can’t tell from her facial expression or tone of voice. But the atmosphere changed.

Until just now, it was an atmosphere of rejecting strangers, but now it was an atmosphere of facing an unpleasant opponent. I like this atmosphere.

I was a little uncomfortable with that old woman.

“Don’t get too upset. Aren’t you at an age where your blood pressure isn’t good? If you collapse here, I’ll be the only one in trouble.”

“…Hearing that makes me feel like I’m going to collapse.”

“Haha, you’re joking.”

“Do my words sound like a joke? Well, you wouldn’t have reacted like that if it sounded like a joke.”

There were sharp knives attached to each other’s words.

They were ready to stab each other at any time.

It was Valkyrie who opened her mouth at that moment.

Despite her old age, she took the lead with a strong impression and atmosphere and said.

“Wouldn’t money work?”

“…Are you serious?”

Is this old woman senile?

Oh, I shouldn’t think like this.

I had a moment of embarrassment, but I soon fixed my facial expression.

I maintained a blunt expression.

If you reach the same level as her, there are occasionally monsters who reach the point of reading other people’s thoughts with their facial expressions. After listening to all her words with a blank expression, I replied in a speechless tone.

“Why are you doing this? You know very well that I make the most money out of the nine families.”

Money can’t do anything to me.

Well, there’s also a saying that when you can’t do something with money, you should think about whether the amount of money is insufficient.

Valkyrie’s wealth can’t do anything to me. It didn’t mean that her wealth was insufficient.

‘That person is probably one of the richest people in the world.’

Considering Valkyrie’s background, she can’t have little money.

But the potential wealth that I will have is much greater than her. Again, Valkyrie is the symbol of Europe.

One of the reasons why the family she leads and the Cheonho Baekga, where I am the head, can be compared in the same position is because of their overwhelming capital.

Our family has a lot of physical objects such as gold and jewels.

But those are just a part of the wealth accumulated in the warehouse.

The real capital of the Cheonho Baekga comes from dozens of businesses.

Military supplies, player equipment, medical technology, new drug development, etc.

The Cheonho Baekga’s technology, which is proficient in the technology of killing and saving people, has reached its peak.

In addition, the direct descendants of the family are born with the ability to use divine power, and if they hone their talents to the extreme, they can manipulate the climate, although it is limited to a small area. Based on that power, our family has been safe from natural disasters such as droughts and floods for a thousand years.

People bowed their heads to the Cheonho Baekga, asking them to ward off natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and typhoons.

This soon became the basis for serving as the chief priest of a country for over 1,000 years. There are even records that in some eras, their authority was higher than the royal authority even though they did nothing.

Despite the rise and fall of many countries, the Cheonho Baekga remained in place as nobles.

The Cheonho Baekga, which has everything: power, fame, technology, and capital. Although it is now torn into several branches due to the incompetent head of the family and greedy elders, that is only temporary.

When I start to mend the family in earnest, everything they have will soon become mine. So there was no reason for me to ask Valkyrie for money, and there was no value in receiving petty cash.

No, before that.

“It’s about your granddaughter. To think that you thought you could get away with this kind of petty cash… You’re not serious, are you?”

I’d be disappointed if you were serious.

A leader of a union.

The fact that she was trying to do something about the contract related to her granddaughter with this kind of petty cash gave me a deep sense of displeasure.

“10 years ago, you said.”

Still vivid memories.

Even if I didn’t experience it, the information I learned through the diary soon became ‘my’ memory. The feeling that Baek Seung-woo felt at the time was a truly humiliating sense of betrayal that could not be forgotten even if he gave all the gold in the world, not petty cash.

“Isabel. Break off the engagement with that child. If a child who has lost her parents becomes the head of the family, she will have too many enemies, so she will inevitably suffer damage.”

But you know.

People like us know.

We, who always hide our true intentions behind fluent words and logic, know very well that what we say is not the truth. If you don’t know that, you can’t survive in this industry, let alone survive.

“You’re just saying nice things. In the end, you were trying to cut off a string that you couldn’t use, right?”

“Is that wrong?”

“No! Not at all! We don’t even look at rotten ropes and just throw them away. If you fight a few times in the political world, you’ll feel it to the bone.”

I forgot to use honorifics.

It’s something you should never do in the first place, but the person listening didn’t seem to care much.

“That’s a detached answer for a child.”

“Of course.”

“Then I understand why I want to somehow pay off the debt with petty cash.”

“I know it well. You don’t want to get involved with a string that you’ve already cut off, right?”

In the name of debt.

The cut rope begins to tie your ankles.

Who would welcome such a situation?

Even if that person is a giant like her, the impact of falling over even by mistake will be no joke. Not only will her knees be injured. There will be major and minor repercussions for ordinary people living on the ground.

But what’s trying to tie Valkyrie’s ankles is not an ordinary rope.

It was a thread that was as red as a heart.

It was now a cloudy, black thread, but it was once a red thread that connected relationships.

“But this thread is a red thread. It’s a very tough thread that can never be cut by ordinary methods.”

“I’ve heard of it. In the East, the red thread means the connection between lovers, right?”

“Maybe. I don’t know much about it either. But as long as the meaning is conveyed, that’s enough, right?”

Right then.

Thump!

A sound of someone falling outside was heard.

It was a very small sound. It was a situation that I could barely hear even with my extremely developed hearing, so Valkyrie didn’t seem to hear it. She seemed to be thinking about how to answer after hearing my words.

After finishing what I had to say and waiting for the other person’s answer, I thought about the sound I had just heard.

‘I don’t know who fell, but it seems like they fell pretty hard. They probably hit their head on the floor or wall.’

The Sirius family, like us, is a prestigious family with a history of over 1,000 years, so there was no possibility that they would have picked mediocre people as maids and servants.

In that case, it must be one of the direct or collateral relatives of the family.

Even so, how could a member of the aristocracy fall so badly? I wanted to see who fell and see their clumsy face.

At least it would be more fun than fighting a useless battle of nerves with the grandmother in front of me.

As I was lost in thought, I continued my war of nerves with Valkyrie without even guessing who the fallen person was.

Without realizing that the other person was eavesdropping on the conversation going on in this place.