Chapter 131 – Going to the bank.

Roland in his mismatched armor stood there, before him was a smiling Lucille and a somewhat awkward-looking Robert. He was wearing a new knight half-plate armor that must have been a spare. Robert just like Roland had lost his previous armor during the dungeon expedition.

“Good day Mr. Wayland!”

“Ah, good morning…”

He was wearing a different suit of armor but the parts covering both his arms were clearly runic in nature. Through this, it was quite easy to tell him apart from regular warriors and knights that did not have enough mana to use gear like this.

“It’s surprising how fate works, I was just looking for Sir. Wayland and he is here! Don’t you think, Sir. Robert?”

“Yes, M’lady.”

Robert just nodded, Roland expected him to tip a fedora that would fit that reply. He was still acting very gentlemanly when around this young woman.

“Can I help you with something?”

Roland was still a bit apprehensive about being around his older brother. It was luck that kept his face hidden away for so long but now he was slowly running out of excuses to wear body-covering armor.

“Yes you can! You didn’t think that we would forget about what you did for us down there!”

“That’s right.”

Robert nodded while keeping his arms crossed over and against his wide chest. Today the two were in lighter clothes.

Lucille was wearing a full-blown dress that went all the way up to her ankles. She was even holding a parasol over her shoulder to keep the sun rays from hitting her pale face. Robert on the other hand had a blue tunic under that half-plate armor that made him look like some kind of beefy prince. His look was finished off with a longsword strapped to his hip.

The two actually looked good together, Robert was quite the handsome man with somewhat different facial features than Roland but some parts were quite similar. It was clear that their father’s DNA was running in their veins and if he took off the helmet it would become even more apparent.

“It’s fine, you already thanked me when we were in the dungeon…”

Roland did remember that he was promised a reward but he didn’t care about it that much anymore. The access to that treasure trove was enough for him, he didn’t want to be too greedy.

His plan was to wait a year or two before going down there to face that boss. Maybe longer depending on how much time he would need to make a golem.

That was the thing that he was missing during that fight, something or someone that could tank the hits from that monster. Even at this time, he would probably have enough firepower to pierce that monster’s skin. The only problem would be to keep it in place to deliver a critical blow. For that a tough golem made from fire-resistant metal and that could tie down a large creature like that was needed.

“I must insist, my father always told me to keep my promises! It would be shameful to the De Vere name if I didn’t!”

“The lady is right, we at the Arden Estate have the same rule!”

‘Did we have something like that?’

Roland asked himself as he didn’t really recall things like that being mentioned. This could be due to the fact that he was mostly ignored by his father and the other servants. No one really treated him like a proper noble and he himself was not interested in it.

He spent most of his days training his basic skills and planning his escape after attending the young mage academy. That of course fell through when he discovered his lack of elemental proficiencies. Even to this day, he did not even have a fraction of a percentage in any of them.

“It’s really fine, the guild gave me a nice bonus for my troubles, and didn’t Lady Lucille lose her purse while in the dungeon?”

Roland was sure that all of the girl’s belongings went missing during the dungeon run. Even if she wanted to give him the money she shouldn’t be able to. This is unless she asked for some pocket change from one of the other nobles.

“That is true, but Albrook does have a bank!”

“A bank?”

Roland thought for a second, he recalled hearing something like that being opened a month or two ago. In this kingdom, there was one main bank called the ‘National Bank of Caldris’ NBC for short.

He never really used it as the price of admission was quite steep and also because most of his gold was in circulation. Roland constantly bought new metals and resources. Everything that he earned from selling runic gear was invested into his workshop almost instantly. There was no reason for him to make a bank account.

That wasn’t the main reason why he never used one, it always came down to his true identity. These banks had costly identification devices, the item that was enough to fool the guilds lower quality analyzing item would not work in the bank.

While the adventurer’s guild didn’t care that much about the true identities and criminal history of their adventurers, the bank did. Roland would need to subject himself to their scanning devices and they would probably see his true name on it.

If this information would find its way to his enemies was up to debate. Supposedly the banks were very hush-hush. This didn’t mean that his father would not get this information. He was probably safe from the cult with that as they did not know his real name or association with the Arden estate.

“Yes, luckily I still have my bank card!”

Lucille proclaimed while holding out a dark-colored card with some strange inscriptions on it. Roland’s eyes shone for a fraction of a second as he noticed that there were many tiny runes on it but he also noticed something else that was a first.

‘It’s a runic item… but I can’t debug it?’

Lucille was presenting the card right in front of his face as she stood there proudly. This allowed him to see everything quite well. Even then, when he strained his senses his debugging skill did not show him the correct paths.

It was clear that this was a runic item but the runes were beyond small. If it wasn’t for some larger ones sticking out he would have a hard time telling that it was an actual runic item.

This could mean two things, either this was not a true runic item and thus his skill didn’t work. The other possibility that he was more inclined to believe was that this item was above his skill’s level.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“That’ card, what is it …”

“Ah, this? Did Sir. Wayland never see an obsidian bank card?”

Lucille couldn’t tell but Roland was squinting with his eyes while trying to scan this item with his debugging skill. If he focused a lot of mana into his eyes he could see a hazy image of the schematic. It was not complete and faded almost instantly even before he could make out anything insightful.

“Lady Lucile, that’s a bit…”

Robert turned to the blue-haired girl with an awkward expression.

“Huh?… oh I didn’t mean it like that Sir. Wayland!”

Roland snapped back after burning through 30% of his mana while trying to analyze this black card. From the conversation, it seemed as if Lucille implied that he was not wealthy enough to get one of these cards or even worse to visit a bank.

“I’m sure the bank would accept Sir. Wayland as a client!”

Besides the strenuous identification requirement, the bank always did a thorough background check. They sometimes even utilized magicians that could see into a person’s past to see if they weren’t someone in disguise.

This of course only left people like nobles and merchants using the banking system. There was a consensus that only after getting a proper bank card could a merchant see themselves as being wealthy.

It was far easier to get a card like that if someone was part of a noble household. The background checks were also a lot more lenient.