[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 681: The Vast World (9)

Minimum income guarantee.

Upon hearing that unfamiliar combination of words, Neheren wore a blank expression for a moment.

-Just now… you looked at my supply box and called it a minimum income?

And wasn’t he referring, of all things, to the emergency supply box given to the direct line of Salzeo?

At that, Yeongwoo shook his head and corrected him.

“Not your supply box—your people’s supply boxes. Anyway, there’s nothing particularly impressive in your box, right?”

-…….

“But if we start looting the supply boxes of those ranked higher than you… well, that’s a different story. Maybe that planet even has a real vault.”

-What the hell are you talking about…….

Neheren’s face became overtaken with fear.

The great cosmic house of Salzeo.

A name so powerful that anyone would instinctively shrink before it.

And yet, this kidnapper in front of him wasn’t even thinking of avoiding Salzeo—he was actually planning to deliberately seek out planets owned by them.

-…….

As Neheren stood there awkwardly, flustered, Yeongwoo placed his hand on the supply box and asked,

“What’s inside this?”

-Th-that is.

His breathing was ragged.

Only after stammering did Neheren realize just how tense he was.

It was his first time encountering someone who wasn’t the slightest bit shaken by the name Salzeo, and his animal instincts were blaring warnings nonstop.

-It’s exactly what it sounds like—an emergency supply box. For emergency escape… so, generally, it’d mean a bad situation.

“Figures. Like right now.”

-Right… When you have to escape a planet with nothing but this supply box, it contains things that help you safely return to our family’s domain.

“What exactly?”

At that question, Neheren made an uncertain expression.

-From what I was taught, some money for negotiations…….

“Oh, money? As expected of Salzeo.”

-…And a few other items. I wasn’t taught the specifics about those.

“Then I guess the amount of travel money and the composition of items vary depending on rank.”

-That’s highly likely.

As if reluctant to admit it, Neheren slightly frowned.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo’s eyes gleamed as he stared intently at the emergency supply box.

“Then what’s in here is the minimum baseline.”

-What does that even mean?

“No matter what supply box we open from now on, it’ll have better stuff than what’s in this one, right?”

At that, Neheren snapped reflexively.

-I never said I was at the very bottom of my family.

“Then about how far from the bottom are you?”

-…That.

Neheren looked up at the ceiling.

-To be honest, I don’t know exactly. I can only estimate it by intuition.

“But it’s certain that assigning just five low-level guards to you counts as poor treatment. And no subordinates or anything like that.”

-Yeah. It’s clear I’m not a favored child.

“Then how many Salzeos like you are there?”

-Like me?

“Yeah… those who, for one reason or another, fell out of the ‘favored children’ category.”

As Yeongwoo casually pointed at Neheren’s legs while saying “for one reason or another,” Neheren let out a sigh and plopped down into a chair.

-Well. If you define it as ‘not favored,’ the number would be quite large.

“So it’s not just because of physical issues that they’re treated poorly?”

At that, Neheren let out a low chuckle.

-I told you, you don’t know our family.

Then, as if recalling the past, he shifted his gaze into the air.

-Whether you’re missing an arm or a leg, every Salzeo undergoes a test.

“A test?”

-A kind of… aptitude test. It determines whether one can function in the universe as a true Salzeo.

“Ah, I get the general idea.”

Yeongwoo nodded.

He’d met far too many scions of great cosmic families for this to be unfamiliar.

“Of course, since you’re Salzeo, the test must be much harsher than other families’.”

At that, Neheren gave a small nod.

-It wasn’t easy. But I lacked something. It’s not unprecedented for someone without both legs to pass the test, after all.

“Isn’t that just because the guy who passed is incredible? By the way, is he still alive?”

-Of course. He is Joraks the Indomitable.

“Indomitable, huh. That’s quite a fitting title.”

Joraks the Indomitable.

For some reason, Yeongwoo felt like he might meet that man someday.

At this rate, he’d keep coveting the emergency supply boxes of the Salzeo family.

And judging by how inspired Neheren seemed just saying the name Joraks, he appeared to be the guy’s role model as well.

After all, wasn’t he someone who, despite also lacking both legs, had become a fully recognized, favored Salzeo?

“So this Joraks guy is that amazing?”

At that, Neheren gazed into the air with half-lost eyes.

-I dare say, he is great.

“Great… wait, great?”

Didn’t “great beings” also refer to third-grade entities?

At that, Neheren quickly came to his senses and corrected himself.

-He’s not a third-grade entity. But he’s very close to greatness. Someday, he truly will be great.

“Really? Well, that’s a relief.”

Yeongwoo quietly exhaled in relief, then pointed at the large emergency supply box in front of him.

“Alright, time to open this. Let’s get out of here before the prisoners show up.”

As Yeongwoo glanced toward the outside of the building, Neheren, evidently not wanting to run into the prisoners of Pahaloupe either, quickly extended his hand.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

-This is a supply box for me. Only I can open it. And only while I’m alive.

“Are you telling me that so I won’t kill the other Salzeos?”

-…….

Instead of answering, Neheren pressed his palm against the surface of the supply box, drawing Yeongwoo’s attention.

Clank!

Upon making contact with its owner, the supply box immediately reacted, lifting the locks at its four corners upward, and then a silver-white pattern appeared across its exterior.

Fwaaaat!

It was none other than the emblem of the Salzeo family.

A procedure to reaffirm whose property this was.

“Oh, that’s pretty neat. Rich families really do have different vaults.”

-It’s about to open. You should step back a bit.

The moment Neheren gave that warning, the vertically standing rectangular supply box split open in four directions, lifting the items inside upward.

Rrrrkkk!

And the identity of what emerged was—

“What is this……?”

It was a kind of display stand, composed of multiple layered segments like a spine, yet flexible enough to bend.

At the very top, silver-white coins were densely packed—something Yeongwoo had never seen before.

“This… could it be Karma?”

At that, Neheren nodded and took out the coins slotted into the display.

-They’re exclusive coins of our family. Each one is worth fifty million Karma.

“Fifty million each? As expected of a great cosmic house, you’re big spenders.”

After confirming the coins were worth fifty million each, Yeongwoo immediately rolled his eyes, calculating the total cash inside the supply box.

“Exactly twenty… so that’s one billion.”

The amount the Salzeo family had allocated for Neheren’s emergency escape was one billion.

“Originally, you were supposed to use this money to buy people off and secure passage back to Salzeo territory.”

-It’s more than enough. Usually, just mentioning the family name resolves most issues.

As he said that, Neheren looked at the planetary shipmaster—a problem that was far from “usual.”

-How much would it take to buy you over?

“What?”

At that, Yeongwoo burst into the loudest laughter he’d had all day.

“For anything else maybe, but one billion isn’t even close.”

As Yeongwoo showed no signs of stopping his laughter, Neheren, slightly irritated, clenched his jaw.

-Then one hundred billion?

“You don’t even have that money.”

-But if I did… would it be possible to buy you?

“Well, maybe I’d grant a fairly big favor.”

-Even with one hundred billion, it’s difficult?

For Neheren Salzeo, one hundred billion seemed like an enormous sum.

After all, it was ten times the value his family had set on his own life.

And realistically, it was a massive amount.

“What exactly do you mean by buying me? Do you mean subjugation?”

-Yes. Like becoming my subordinate.

“You’ve got big dreams. Sorry, but that’s not happening. Though asking for protection for a certain period—that’s doable.”

With that, Yeongwoo tilted his chin toward the middle section of the display stand. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“That, no matter how I look at it, is Katangdal.”

Indeed, there were three navy-blue metal pieces inserted there in the form of flat bars.

-Ah.

Seeing that, Neheren’s expression brightened slightly.

-That’s Palsi.

“Palsi?”

-It’s Katangdal ingots that have been reprocessed into smaller units. About three hundred million each.

“Why not just put it in cash? Why include those?”

-Well… there are those in this universe who prefer Katangdal over cash. At least, that’s what I was taught.

“Feels like the Salzeo family takes pretty good care of its direct line, doesn’t it?”

After all, they had already invested 1.9 billion into Neheren, who was clearly of lower rank among the direct line.

And there was no guarantee when the money stored in this supply box would ever be used.

“Then what’s below that? I’d love it if there were another kind of currency.”

As Yeongwoo’s gaze moved below the section holding the “Palsi,” Neheren’s eyes widened once more.

-Oh, this is…….

Srrk.

What he pulled out next was a certificate hammered so thin it resembled paper, despite being made of metal.

“What’s that? Some kind of ID?”

-It’s similar. It’s a token that allows you to requisition a spaceship in our family’s name.

“Requisition a spaceship? Who do you think you are?”

-You first secure and use the ship with this token, and the payment is settled later by the family.

“Ah. So it’s basically a kind of bond.”

Having understood, Yeongwoo snatched the token from Neheren’s hand before he could even react.

Snap!

-…Ah!

“You… no, the Salzeo family, has gifted me a spaceship. I’ll make good use of it. And they even cover the cost? That means no one gets hurt, right?”

-W-what are you talking about? If you use that however you want, our family will…!

Neheren, shocked, tried to snatch the token back from Yeongwoo’s hand, but the tip of Bastard was already nearing his chin.

“Buying me a single spaceship won’t bankrupt Salzeo. So go on—unpack the rest of the gifts. Now I’m really curious what’s coming next.”

[Translator - Night]

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