Chapter 7: A Father's Legacy and a Dragon's Resolve
The journey home was a blur for Kaelen, his mind reeling with the day's events. Five clients secured, one mandate complete, and a massive, thirty-gold-coin hurdle now standing between him and his first physical bank. The sum was daunting, yet the image of the sturdy stone building on Eldrin Way, the promise of a tangible presence for his burgeoning empire, filled him with a fierce resolve.
He pushed open the familiar wooden door of their small house, the scent of woodsmoke and a faint herbal aroma greeting him. Elara was sitting by the hearth, meticulously cleaning a well-worn leather satchel, a focused expression on her face. Her fiery hair, catching the low light, seemed to crackle with an energy that belied her illness.
"Mother, I'm back," Kaelen announced, stepping inside. He pulled off his cloak, the weight of the day settling on his shoulders.
Elara looked up, her keen eyes assessing him. "You look tired, boy.
But there's a different spark in your eyes tonight. What troubles or triumphs did you find in the city?"
Kaelen settled onto the stool opposite her, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Both, I suppose. I secured five clients for my… financial services today. Adventurers, craftsmen, and a merchant, even.
They seemed quite impressed with the speed and security of my method." He omitted the details of the 'System' itself, keeping it to the vague concept of 'innovation."
"And I completed my first set of mandates, earning a little bonus coin for my efforts." He deliberately understated his success, knowing his mother's pragmatic nature.
Elara's eyebrows shot up. "Five clients? And coins? Hmph. Never thought I'd see the day Kaelen became a man of business. What exactly is this 'method' of yours? Sounds like one of those half-baked schemes your father used to cook up."
"It's not a scheme, Mother," Kaelen chuckled. "It's a way to keep coins safe and to ensure fair trades. No more arguments over miscounts, no more worrying about bandits on the road. Total security."
He watched her face, seeing her slowly process the implications. "And speaking of business, I also found a building in the city. A perfect location for… for my central operations."
Elara stopped cleaning her satchel, her hands still. "A building? What in the blazes are you talking about, boy? We barely have coin for food, and you're talking about buying buildings?" A hint of alarm entered her voice, but also a deeper curiosity. "How much is this 'perfect location' going to cost us, pray tell?"
Kaelen braced himself. "The city registrar quoted twenty-five large gold coins for the building itself. Plus another five for fees and permits. Thirty large gold coins total for the initial outlay."
Elara froze, her jaw dropping. The silence in the small room stretched, broken only by the crackle of the fire. Then, she threw her head back and let out a peal of laughter that quickly devolved into a fit of hacking coughs. "Thirty large gold coins! Kaelen, are you daft? That's more coin than I've seen in my entire adventuring career, even in the good old days! You think those city fat cats would sell a building for that to a… a boy with a few coppers in his pocket?" She shook her head, still wheezing slightly. "That's a fortune, son. A king's ransom."
"I know it's a fortune, Mother," Kaelen said, his voice serious, meeting her gaze. "But it's crucial. This building… It's the foundation for something truly grand. Something that will secure our future, and yours, more than any adventuring can. It's an investment."
Elara looked at him, her eyes softening. She saw not the brash, overly ambitious boy she'd joked about, but a determined young man, burdened by a vision that was, to her, incomprehensible, yet deeply felt. The way he spoke, the conviction in his voice, it wasn't the Kaelen she knew. It was something… older.
She pushed herself up from the stool, moving with a surprising agility for her condition. "Wait here, boy," she said, her voice softer, a strange mix of resignation and hope. "There's something your father left behind. Something I saved for a day I hoped would never come, or for a day of dire need."
Kaelen watched, bewildered, as she shuffled towards a worn, wooden chest tucked away in a dusty corner of the room, hidden beneath a pile of old furs. She knelt with a grunt, fumbling with a small, intricate lock, her fingers stiff. With a soft click, the lid creaked open.
She rummaged inside, moving aside old maps, dried herbs, and a tarnished, engraved dagger. Finally, she pulled out a heavy, unassuming wooden box, bound with iron strips. It looked plain, almost crude. She carried it back to the table, her movements slow and deliberate, and set it down with a thud.
"Your father," she began, her voice a low murmur, filled with a distant sadness and pride. "He was a good man, Kaelen. Impatient, as I said, and always dreaming bigger than he was, but a good man. He did a… difficult job, towards the end. A secret escort for a very important noble, one who needed coins moved discreetly." She opened the box.
Kaelen peered inside. His breath caught in his throat.
Nestled on a bed of faded velvet, gleaming even in the dim light, were stacks of coins. Not the small copper and silver he'd been handling all day. These were different. They were thicker, wider, with intricate, regal crests stamped onto their surfaces. Their gold was a deeper, richer hue, shimmering with an undeniable luster.
His mind, drawing upon the scattered, half-remembered information from the original Kaelen's memories, supplied the context. Large Gold Coins. These weren't the standard gold pieces traded in the market. These were higher denomination coins, often minted by the ruling powers in the capital of Aerthos, or even sometimes rumored to be from the more powerful, distant realms. They were rare, powerful symbols of immense wealth, rarely seen outside of the highest echelons of society.
"Your father," Elara continued, her voice soft, "was paid in these. He called them 'King's Gold.' He was supposed to move them to some safe location for the noble. But… he ran into trouble. And he never made it to the drop-off. He just… never came back from that last job. Only this chest, left with a trusted contact, found its way back to me years later." She reached in, her fingers trembling slightly, and pulled out a stack of ten coins. "He never mentioned the exact number, but he said it was enough to care for us for a lifetime. I never touched them. Never dared. They always felt too… grand. Too dangerous."
She pushed the stack towards him. "Count them, Kaelen. If this 'building' of yours is truly that important, and you're truly so determined… use what your father left. He always wanted you to have a better life than he did."
Kaelen picked up a single large gold coin. It felt heavy, solid, radiating a quiet power. His red and amber eyes, usually so calculating, widened in genuine shock. His half-dragon instincts hummed, not just with the joy of acquisition, but with the profound weight of this particular gold. These weren't just coins; they were a legacy.
He quickly counted the stacks. One hundred coins. One hundred large gold coins.
His mind raced. One large gold coin was worth at least five, possibly ten, of the regular gold coins in Aerthos, given their rarity and denomination. If conservatively valued at five regular gold coins each, that was five hundred regular gold coins. If ten, it was a thousand. The building cost thirty regular gold. This wasn't just enough; it was an unimaginable fortune. It was enough to buy the building ten times over, with change to spare.
The sheer scale of the wealth staggered him. His father, a simple escort, had been entrusted with, or had come into possession of, a fortune that could change their lives overnight. And his mother had sat on it for years, never touching it, fearing its origins, or perhaps out of respect for her lost love.
A wave of emotion, raw and unfamiliar, washed over Kaelen. Gratitude, immense and humbling. Respect for his father, a man he'd never known, who had, in death, provided for him more than his entire past life ever had. And a fierce, burning determination to honor this legacy, to truly build something worthy of such a sacrifice.
"Mother," Kaelen said, his voice thick with emotion, looking up from the gleaming coins to her tired, hopeful face. "Thank you. Thank you for this. This isn't just a coin. This is… everything." He picked up the box, the weight of it suddenly feeling like a responsibility, a sacred trust.
"Just use it wisely, boy," Elara said, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Your father would have wanted that. Now, tell me more about these 'clients' of yours. Sounds like you're going to be busier than a one-legged goblin in a kicking contest."
Kaelen listened to her gentle prodding, the weight of the gold in his hands a tangible promise. He had found his capital. He had found his starting line.
"Tomorrow, Mother," Kaelen declared, his voice firm, resolute. "Tomorrow, I will buy that building."
His banking empire was no longer a distant dream. With the legacy of his unknown father, it was about to become a very real, very imposing structure in the heart of Aethelburg. The King of Banking needed his castle, and now, he had the means to acquire it.
This chapter delivers a significant turning point, providing Kaelen with the unexpected and substantial capital needed to purchase his bank, directly from his father's hidden legacy. It also strengthens his bond with his mother and reinforces his personal motivation.