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There is always a lot of news to be said in the City of Knowledge, and everyone who has lived in the City of Knowledge for some time will think so. Every season, every month, every week, every day, there are tons of new topics that are constantly popping up. Where have new ruins been discovered? Which adventuring group has been wiped out again? Which mage has burned down his laboratory while researching a new magic circle? Which alchemist has refined a new medicine? Which commodity has fluctuated again? Which merchant has gone bankrupt again? Which poet has written a new poem? Which musician's concert hall has an accident? Which school has expanded its enrollment? Which child has been fighting again? Every class, every profession, there will be countless topics for people to talk about and kill time.

But in recent days, the same question has been being discussed in the capital of knowledge, regardless of class or profession. All newspapers, all magazines, front pages and covers were occupied by one message, and for three days in a row.

Marquis Snape of Carrion, Commonwealth of Neville, is about to visit the City of Knowledge again with the intention of holding a big ball. This news spread all over the streets and alleys, quickly drowned out all other topics, and occupied every home and every tavern.

There is no one who does not know the Marquis of Snape, at least in the capital of knowledge. There may be people who don't know the city lord Odin, maybe there are people who don't know Master Antuin of the Mage's Guild, but no one doesn't know the Marquis of Snape.

People don't know him because of his status as a lord, after all, the Carrion Territory is just a small territory in the Neville Federation, which is very inconspicuous.

People don't know him because of his status as a marquis, after all, there are no nobles and commoners in the capital of knowledge, everyone has the same identity and needs to abide by the same laws. The nobility of other countries did not have any privileges when they entered the capital of knowledge, except that they might receive some preferential treatment in terms of economic conditions or hospitality specifications, even if His Majesty the Emperor of Falar himself came here. So the identity of a marquis is not enough for everyone to know about him.

The real reason why his name has spread all over the world is because he is a rich man, the richest man in Yara's world. His fortune totaled more than a billion gold coins, and if you count the real estate in various places, this figure will rise by another thirty percent. Most people are often very confused when they first hear about the total amount of his wealth, and as an ordinary person, it is difficult to understand what the concept of a billion gold coins is. In fact, the total annual income of the three major human countries in the Yala continent, plus the four major human forces in the neutral land, is about 50 million gold coins per year, that is to say, the property of Marquis Snape is equivalent to twenty times the annual income of all human countries combined, and this number has been increasing in value.

His business is spread all over Yara, and his directives are almost oracles in the commercial field, but he has always kept a very low profile, living in his own territory of Carrion all year round, and being a leisurely little lord.

When the fortune is too large, it often attracts many ill-intentioned people, and often encounters troubles such as assassinations, kidnappings, threats, and robberies, but the Marquis of Snape almost never encountered them. On the one hand, because he was a lord himself and too rich, he could set up quite tight defenses and hire a large number of bodyguards and guards, and ordinary robbers and thieves could not cause him any trouble at all. On the other hand, because he is too rich and very cheerful, he has a certain degree of contact with several human demigods and even demigods of other races, and some even have good personal relationships, those who are not ordinary robbers and thieves, because he is not willing to cause such trouble because of the deterrent power of his demigod friends. In this way, the richest person in Yala did not need to think about safety for many years, and lived a comfortable life very comfortably.

Such a legendary figure is now in his eighties, and in recent years he has rarely left his territory. However, the news that Marquis Snape was coming to the Knowledge Capital suddenly broke in the newspapers in the City of Knowledge immediately set off a storm. Soon came the news that the Marquis was not only going to come to the Capital of Knowledge, but also to hold a large ball to entertain the people who accepted the invitation, which pushed the storm to another high and high again, and at the same time, the price of the ball invitation also increased, and on the day of the ball, it was sold to a sky-high price of 80,000 gold coins.

Today, this kind of black-market expensive invitations have a coffee table in front of Catherine and Pannis. In the face of such an expensive invitation, Catherine frowned in distress and stared down at the invitation without saying a word.

"It's weird. Pannis said suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Catherine looked up and asked, puzzled, "What's strange?"

"You didn't sell it. Pannis tapped the invitation on the coffee table: "It's not logical." ”

Catherine glared at Pannis angrily, but sighed sadly: "You think I don't want to, but it's a pity, only this one can't be sold." ”

"Ha, no wonder you're so melancholy. Pannis teased Catherine before asking, "Why can't you sell it?"

Catherine hesitated slightly, thought for a moment, and sighed: "Because ...... He is a creditor. ”

"Huh, that Snape is your creditor?" said Pannis, surprised.

"That's right, it's him. Catherine nodded, and tugged at the armor skirt of the chain armor on her body in annoyance: "I owe him a lot of money, and I've been saving money to pay off the debt, so I resolutely don't let go of every copper coin, and I will never let go." ”

Seeing Catherine, whose eyes suddenly and inexplicably ignited with fierce fighting intent, Pannis quickly said, "How much do you owe him?" ”

"Four thousand. Catherine said.

"Only four thousand?" Pannis jumped up when he heard it, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, he heard Catherine continue in a low voice: "Ten thousand." ”

Pannis's voice stopped abruptly, and he hiccuped a few times in his open mouth, but finally he couldn't make a sound, and after a while, he sat down and sighed, "Okay, I see, it's really a very melancholy thing, how can you owe so much?"

"My grandfather owes it. Catherine obviously didn't want to say much about her grandfather, and said very briefly: "At that time, it was 60 million, and my parents worked hard to repay 20 million during their lifetime, and I want to pay off the debt in my lifetime." ”

"And this creditor is now collecting debts?" asked Pannis, tentatively.

"No, he never collects debts. Catherine hesitated again for a moment, and finally said, "Forget it, since Lina told you about her, I'll tell you about my past." ”

"As I said, my family was a great nobleman of the Farlar Empire more than a hundred years ago, and fled from Farlar because of political defeat. The fleeing family split into two groups, one went to Neville and the other was us. Although it was an escape, the family was still very, very wealthy, and brought out a lot of property, after all, we are direct descendants. We lived like this until my grandfather started running the house. ”

"My grandfather and Snape were good friends, very, very good. My grandfather was a mage, a very powerful mage, and Snape was already very rich at that time, so he had been supporting his grandfather's research with funds behind his back. ”

However, because of some unrealistic ideas of his grandfather, his experiments failed continuously, and in a year's time, a large amount of funds were consumed in the failed experiments, and finally when my grandfather woke up, the funds consumed exceeded 100 million. At that time, Snape was not as rich as he is now, but he absolutely trusted his grandfather, believed his grandfather's statement, and thought that the experiment was very promising to succeed, so he provided funds unconditionally, and in the last six months, even took most of the funds from all his businesses to fill the gap on his grandfather's side. ”

As a result, the experiment failed and Snape was on the verge of bankruptcy. ”

But even so, Snape did not blame his grandfather, but continued to comfort him to the point of despair. Grandfather knew that he was sorry for Snape, so he converted all the family's property, except for the estate, which was the land on this street, into gold coins to compensate him, but even so, there was still a gap of 70 million. ”

Snape didn't refuse his grandfather's compensation, which brought him back from the brink of bankruptcy, but even so, his business was badly damaged. ”

"I don't think it's shameful to see Snape's grandfather become an adventurer again, to explore the most dangerous places, the first two times it was a good return, and he repaid another ten million gold coins, but the third time he ...... The grandfather never returned. ”

"That was 50 years ago, when my father was still a child, but under the education of my grandfather, he also resolutely took on the mission of continuing to pay off his debts. ”

Snape, on the other hand, felt guilty about my grandfather's death, and felt that he was responsible for my grandfather's death, so he took care of my family, and tried to bring my father home as his own son many times, but his stubborn father refused. ”

"My father's strength is much worse than my grandfather's, so I took a different path from my grandfather, although the reward is slightly less, but it is safer. It is true that as my father thought, the debt is constantly decreasing, although the rate of reduction is a little slow. I thought I could go on like this, but ten years ago, my father and mother were the same...... Never came back. ”

"Then I took over the debt, living alone in a western-style mansion, living on my own, stubbornly refusing to accept Snape's help. In fact, I am not ignoring his kindness, but I know that our family owes him too much, and I really can't continue to owe it. ”

"Even so, he treated me like his own granddaughter and secretly watched my growth until I was a complete adult. In fact, I also knew his attention, and I even knew that on the day I became a professional at the age of thirteen, he happily made an exception and got drunk, and almost never woke up. ”

"That's the story of my debt. Catherine said leisurely: "As for me, now I have saved 500,000 gold coins, and with your help, the speed is getting faster and faster." It's still just getting started, it's the accumulation stage, and when the team is promoted to gold, you can make more money and really pay off your debts. ”

Pannis listened silently until Catherine finished speaking, and then asked, "Okay, sure enough, this invitation can't be sold, you have to participate." But if you're actually so close, why do you look like you're facing the end of the world at the invitation?"

Catherine's face suddenly changed, and finally she swelled red, slapped the table fiercely, and shouted loudly: "Don't ask, only this one, anyway, you can accompany me to participate tonight, don't ask so much." With that, he strode towards the backyard.

"What's the situation?" Pannis scratched his head inexplicably: "Why are you suddenly angry?"