The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 19

 Chapter 19

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

Albrecht’s party followed Rutger upstairs. The noise from the first floor was now barely audible. Unlike the first floor, the second floor had several rooms and corridors. The pillars, doors, and  sculptures were all made with high-quality wood and looked very high-end.

The area became narrower the higher they went, but the third floor was spacious enough. It had a short corridor with two small rooms on either end and a main room in front.

Rutger temporarily let Elena, Martina, and Anna stay in a small room while he led Albrecht and Diego to the main room.

Fragrant trees from the Eastern Continent filled the main room with a subtle scent. On one side of the wall was a large canopy bed with curtains and sheets made of silk from the Southern Continent. In addition, the room was decorated with tiger skins from the North, gemstones from Anglia, and furniture made from the Great Jungle’s finest wood. It seemed like this room was filled with all the world’s finest specialties.

‘What the hell is this?’

Albrecht suddenly felt embarrassed when he remembered Kaltern. If this one underworld leader was already this great, then what would be the extent of the power of other big underworld leaders? It’s a mystery why they haven’t conquered the world yet.

Unexpectedly, Diego didn’t look as surprised. Though he was shocked by the depravity of the people on the first floor, in terms of luxury, the stuff in Lucrezia would have been better than the ones in here.

“You can sit over here,” Rutger said with a smile that downplayed his ferocious impression.

Albrecht and Diego sat on a wooden chair in front of a wooden table, both made from wood from the Great Jungle.

Rutger took a seat across the table.

“I was told that you asked for two gold coins as payment, and that you also received some in advance.”

Rutger laid ten gold coins on the table. Albrecht looked at the coins and suddenly wondered how much he would earn if he sold Kaltern’s timber.

“You’ve been receiving disrespect from my men, Sir Knight. Please accept this offer as my apology.”

Albrecht looked at the gold coins and picked only one.

“You can toss the rest.”

Despite the plain provocation, Rutger’s smile didn’t waver in the slightest. Instead, it deepened. He turned to look at Diego.

“You want to sell gemstones? Can I take a look?”

Diego set the chest he had brought on the table and opened it. Rutger assessed the gems with a serious expression.

“Hmm… This is more than I expected. It’s my first time seeing this many Anglia gemstones,” Rutger said. “I think it will take a week to prepare the payment. How about we attend to you for the meantime?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Diego got to his feet and closed the chest.

“Let’s go, Albrecht. There’s nothing here for us to listen to.”

Diego grabbed the chest and prepared to leave without a second thought.

“O-oh?”

Now? Albrecht thought. He followed Diego, looking very unsure.

At that moment, Rutger spoke, “You should pay your debts.”

Diego looked back and said, “I don’t owe you anything.”

Rutger shook his head, “Not me, but Sir Knight here. I heard you borrowed money from him to pay for your clothes and meals. He even lent you a sword.”

Diego did borrow(?) from Albrecht quite a bit. In particular, the sword that they got from the knight, Ernst, cost five gold coins. Moreover, their everyday expenses were also quite a sum.

Albrecht snorted, “What’s that got to do with you? You don’t have to pay me back, Diego. Let’s go.”

Diego stood there, speechless. Albrecht was confused but he also stayed in place.

Diego stepped in because he thought Rutger had no interest in the gemstones and was only after Albrecht when he said that he needed a week to prepare for the payment.

Albrecht came here because of him so it would be his fault if he got involved with this Thief Guild. No matter how strong he was, it would do him no good if he got himself caught up in this messed up guild.

They could kidnap them or the girls in the other room, or they could threaten to target the estate where Albrecht came from.

However, as Rutger said, he had to pay back his debts to Abrecht and this was his only chance now to make money. Of course, there were many other ways to make money. Yet,  the moment he entered the Wolf’s Den, those opportunities had vanished.

If he ever wanted to get a job, they would definitely block his way. He was lucky enough that he hadn’t been stabbed on the way here.

“No,” Diego said as he took a seat again.

Albrecht wondered why he was so indecisive. He awkwardly sat down again.

Rutger’s fierce gaze rested on Diego. There was a smile on his lips.

Diego spoke first, “First of all, how much can you pay us now?”

Rutger looked at Diego, annoyed.

“Why are you in such a hurry? Someone might think that I’m out here to get you. Gemstones need to be appraised, and in order to get a deal, we’ll still have to bargain, right? Anyway, you must be tired after all that travelling. Why don’t we continue this conversation tomorrow?”

He was right. No, it was common sense. Who would agree to someone who just showed up with gemstones and immediately asked for the payment? Just like Rutger said, they needed to talk about bargaining first.

Diego knew this better than anyone else. He’d seen many deals back when he was still a merchant. The larger the deal, the longer the negotiation and the process.

Albrecht tapped Diego, who became helpless and unable to answer Rutger’s words.

“He’s right. We should rest first while we consider the deal. No need to rush,” he said with a grin.

Diego almost smiled without realizing it. Albrecht was right.

His opponent right now may be superior in terms of trade, but not to him. Yet it was also unreasonable to try to make a decision now against someone like that. They needed to take a break first and think about the next action they should take.

So he told Rutger, “All right. We’ll rest for now then talk things in earnest tomorrow. Thanks for your consideration.”

The other man answered with a deep smile, “Good idea.”

Albrecht and Diego left the room. When the door closed, the smile disappeared from Rutger’s space and a creepy expression appeared instead.

A small door on one side of the room opened, and Benzel came in.

“So, what do you think? Diego may be a little smart, but what could he do?”

Rutger, who was holding his chin while thinking, moved his eyes to look at Benzel. His stare made Benzel’s knees wobble.

“No. When I told them that it would take a week, he noticed that we were after the knight. You have to keep an eye on him.”

“Got it.”

Benzel always felt creeped out every time he met Rutger.

Rutger thought for a long time, until he stood up and walked to the window. He saw the slums outside. He had come to where he was now from there. But what he needed to do was to abandon his humanity and to become crueler than anyone else. He stared out the window and thought about his past.

In a small room, his mother sold his body. Men who came over gave him pocket money when they were satisfied. His mother beat him to death when she was annoyed. Eventually, his mother was sold too and then raped everyday in a rich man’s house…

What Rutger realized was that this world was a dog-eat-dog world. People were no different from animals.

He touched the scar he had gotten from his mother’s fingernail.

***

Albrecht’s group was escorted to the second floor. Albrecht was taken into the innermost room while Diego and the rest were given two rooms.

Despite the mess on the first floor, the room given to Albrecht was quiet. The floor was covered with carpets from the Eastern Continent, and the room had a fireplace. There were various beautifully sculpted furnitures inside with artisanal touches. Albrecht walked around slowly to look at the rare items around.

Then he heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

He heard a woman’s voice from outside.

“We have your bath ready.”

“Uh, uh, right, come in.”

Beautiful maids entered the room with a bucket of water.

They skillfully opened the sliding door on one wall and filled the marble bathtub with water. With all of them working, it was filled up instantaneously.

“Let me help you take off your armor,” said one of the maids without looking at Albrecht, her eyes lowered. When Albrecht took off his coat, she undid the loops of the armor without being told how.

“We’ll leave your change of clothes here.”

The women grabbed the hem of their skirts, bowed, and then left.

‘They have a lot of money indeed. Are they all employees? Or slaves?’ Albrecht thought as he soaked in the marble bathtub.

After his bath, he put on the white innerwear that the maids had left for him. It was made of silk, and felt nice and soft against the body. Though he didn’t feel tired, he laid on the bed to try to sleep.

Then he heard another knock on the door.

“Who’s that?”

He heard a female voice again.

“I brought you some drinks and snacks.”

“No thanks. You can go.”

He was about to lie down again when the door opened.

‘Didn’t I tell her to go away?’

He turned his head towards the door, only to be surprised.

Never in his memories as Albrecht nor his memories as a person on Earth had he seen such a beautiful woman.

She had more distinctive, softer blond hair than Albrecht; soft-angled eyebrows; slightly upturned emerald eyes; a sharp nose; thick pinkish lips; small face; and skin that seemed to be made of white marble. She had a sensual yet innocent appearance.

She was wearing a white silk night dress. She had a slender body and fairly large chest. Her long legs were faintly visible.

“Oh? Oh?”

Albrecht, while not completely inexperienced with women in his memories on Earth, grew up normally in a conservative Korean society and was rather awkward in dealing with women. Even the ‘Earth’ Albrecht, who was now in his prime, couldn’t deal with this situation.

The woman closed the door and made eye contact with Albrecht. She lowered her gaze and walked over to sit next to him.

She placed the wine on a small table next to the bed and poured some into a glass. The glass was clean and clear like the ones on modern Earth. It was light green and inlaid with precious stones.

‘Sell that glass and our estate will buy it.’

The woman offered the glass of wine to Albrecht with both her hands, so how could Albrecht ignore it? He drank it all in one gulp as soon as he received it because he felt nervous. The woman used a knife to peel off the skin of a red southern apple then brought it to Albrecht’s mouth. Albrecht took a bite and ate it. Then she put a grape against his mouth, which he also ate immediately. She filled up the glass again with wine and offered it with both hands. Albrecht gulped it down again as soon as he received it.

His defenses crumbled down after a few rounds of doing this. He couldn’t take his eyes off the woman. He didn’t care whether the wine went to his mouth or to his nose.

Without realizing it, Albrecht grabbed the woman’s arm. The woman looked up at him and slid off her silk nightgown.

Albrecht embraced her.