Chapter 114: Money Is Just an Obstacle to Moving Forward

"Bell-kun, have the surrounding walls been raised?"

"Yes, I raised them a little when I remodeled the walls earlier."

Hestia knew her memory hadn't failed her—the walls had indeed been raised.

"Bell-kun, did you get up early this morning just to plant those trees?"

"Of course not."

It wasn't just about planting trees; it was about preparing a suitable space for their future Familia stronghold. Bell felt the need to explain.

"Goddess-sama, this is mainly for the construction of our future Familia's base. Actually, I had previously thought of asking the Goibniu Familia to help us build it."

"Go ahead."

Hestia, of course, knew the Goibniu Familia. They were the largest production-type Familia in Orario. Unlike the Hephaestus Familia, which focused solely on crafting weapons and equipment, the Goibniu Familia also handled construction projects.

In fact, they were the most well-known builder Familia in Orario. Naturally, their skills came at a high cost. Even though their work was worth the price, not every Familia could afford such expensive services.

"But considering our recent expenses, I had to give up on that idea."

"Recently, all our money has gone toward repaying debts and purchasing land. There's really nothing left over to spend."

That was also one of the reasons Bell chose to do the work himself. If money could solve the problem, he would have gladly paid for it.

But all of their recent income had gone toward repaying debts. Although the debt of the "200 million small black knife" had been cleared, it meant that all profits from the Rune Stones had been funneled into land purchases and debt repayment.

Bell had even asked the Goibniu Familia for a quote to construct a reasonably large base. When he heard the price—300 million Valis—he immediately gave up and decided to handle it on his own.

Even if Rune Stones would eventually bring in 300 million Valis, Bell didn't want to sink too much into building the base.

After all, most of his future earnings would need to go into the Type-Moon System.

The Gacha draws in that system were outrageously expensive.

And enhancement wasn't any better—just thinking about it made Bell's scalp tingle.

Enhancing a three-star Craft Essence already cost 1 million Valis.

Using that as a baseline, enhancing a four-star Craft Essence would cost at least 10 million Valis.

Then a five-star Craft Essence... wouldn't that be 100 million Valis?

That kind of price could genuinely scare someone to death.

Even with a steady income stream, saving up that much was no easy task for Bell.

Which meant he'd need to continue squeezing profits out of Loki's Familia. Otherwise, with Rune Stones being a limited resource, it would take a long time to generate significant income.

"...Ah, a debt of 200 million really is crushing."

Only now did Hestia fully register that their Familia still owed 200 million Valis. The mere thought gave her a headache.

Bell just shook his head slightly. He didn't care much about the 200 million debt.

Though he disliked being in debt, he knew this amount was relatively small in the grand scheme of things.

That's why the first thing he did once he started making money was pay it off.

"Goddess-sama, you don't need to worry about the debt anymore."

"The profits from the Rune Stones have allowed me to pay off all of my debt to Hephaestus-sama. But because I paid off the debt, we don't have any other savings now."

"Furthermore, I have many things I'll need money for in the future, so it's difficult to set aside any for the Goibniu Familia to help us build our base. That's why I'm thinking of building it myself."

Hestia nodded slightly. She had heard Bell mention before that he wanted to build a base on his own. However, this was the first time she'd heard that the reason behind it was simply a lack of funds.

Still, she wasn't particularly opposed to Bell's idea. Given their financial situation, compromising was inevitable.

"So, you got up early this morning just to start planting trees?"

"Um, Goddess-sama, I just found a style that felt right."

Bell wasn't some tree-planting fanatic. One reason he had planted those trees around the base was to give the Familia a distinctive style.

"Also, Goddess-sama, those trees are very hard Spirit Trees. They're perfect as material for outer walls."

Hestia nodded reflexively. But a moment later, realization hit her—the name of those trees... Spirit Trees.

"Spirit Trees? Bell-kun, where did you even get them? The Elves don't sell those things to outsiders."

Bell smiled and pulled out a handful of seeds from four-dimensional space.

"Yeah, the trees themselves are incredibly valuable. But the seeds? They're not worth nearly as much."

"I can use my magic to accelerate the seeds' growth, so..."

"These seeds can quickly grow into Spirit Trees!"

Hestia's eyes lit up. Now she understood why Bell had planted so many Spirit Trees—and where they had all come from.

"In that case, why don't you just sell the Spirit Trees?"

"Those trees are valuable materials. If we sell them, we could build up a fortune pretty quickly, right?"

Bell gave a small nod, acknowledging the logic in Goddess-sama's words—but he still couldn't go through with it.

"But Goddess-sama, if we do that, the Elves might become our permanent enemies."

"Spirit Trees are products of the Elves. If we start selling them without even informing the Elves, we could get into serious trouble."

Elves were a proud race.

Who knew if their pride ran so deep that even the slightest offense would spark conflict?

So selling Spirit Trees... was out of the question.

"Besides, ever since we started selling Rune Stones, our connection to Hephaestus-sama has been clear to everyone."

"If those Spirit Trees end up on the market in Orario, I'm sure the gods here will quickly figure out where they came from."

"And that would expose everything I've been doing right to the gods' faces."

"That wouldn't be a good thing."

Hestia found it hard to disagree with that explanation.

Keeping the details of Bell's magic as secret as possible was clearly the smart move. The less the gods knew about the extent of his magic, the better.

Because if the gods ever turned their attention to Bell, someone might eventually put the pieces together.

And if that happened, the one who revealed too much might be the first to pay the price.

...

(90 Chapters Ahead)

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