A Deal (1)
The next morning, Vlad returned to the house of the sisters in the slums.
He had two goals. The first was to repay them for saving his life, and the second was to implement the next part of his plan.
Last night, after he met the man that killed him, Vlad realized that he had been behaving impulsively, so he used the rest of the night to think about what he should do and what he needed to pay attention to.
After one night, his emotions calmed down, and his thoughts became clearer.
Now, he had a clear idea about his plans for the future.
When he arrived at the house of the sisters and knocked on the door, the little sister, Laura, opened it.
She was surprised when she saw Vlad and smiled happily.
"Vlad! You are back!"
"Good morning, Laura. Is your sister home?"
"She is. Do you need to talk to her? Right, have you eaten breakfast? I was just preparing it."
Vlad smiled wryly at Laura's enthusiasm. After hesitating briefly, he decided to accept her offer. Anyway, he was here to talk about business, and eating breakfast together could make him closer to the sisters.
Laura's expression brightened when she saw Vlad nod. She pulled him inside and guided him to a chair.
"Wait here. I will call my sister."
"It's not necessary. I'm already here." Adora came out of a door with a hostile expression. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to repay my debt."
"I told you we don't need it," Adora said hostilely.
Vlad furrowed his brows before sighing and putting on a helpless expression.
"Can we talk first?"
"Please, leave."
"Sister!" Laura interfered at that moment. "Please don't treat our guests rudely!"
"But–"
"Not buts! At the very least, you should finish listening to Vlad!"
Adora clicked her tongue, but in the end, she nodded. Seeing that, Laura sighed in relief.
"I will go to finish the breakfast. You can talk while you wait."
"Thanks." Vlad smiled, making Laura give him a brilliant smile in return.
"She is a nice girl." Vlad can't help but say after she left.
Adora's expression immediately became dark.
"Don't get any strange ideas about my sister."
Vlad was speechless. Dealing with this girl sure was troublesome.
Helpless, he just opted for taking out a pouch with gold coins from his coat and tossing it to Adora.
"… What is it?"
"Your reward for saving me."
"I told you we don't need it."
"Really? I thought you needed the money."
"Even if I need money, I don't plan to accept your pity."
Vlad frowned. This conversation was going nowhere.
He really did not understand why this girl was so hostile to him. Was she perhaps like that to everybody but her sister?
He thought for a moment and decided to use another approach.
"Miss, I don't understand why you dislike me so much, but do you think it's alright to refuse the money just because of your pride? You could use this money to buy something nice for your sister."
"What do you know about–"
"I don't know." Vlad interrupted her coldly. "I just want to reward the people that saved my life. Is that wrong?"
Adora closed her mouth. In the end, she sighed and nodded.
"Okay. I will accept it."
But in the next instant, her eyes opened wide.
"T-This is a lot of money. H-How much is here?"
"Fifty gold coins."
"F-Fifty? T-That is…"
"That is how much my life is worth. Actually, I think my life is worth more than this, but fifty gold coins is an appropriate reward."
Adora's mouth was agape. It was the first time she was so much money in her life.
This was enough money for a middle-class family to live for one year!
For an instant, she wondered if she was dreaming.
In the end, she received it with a complicated expression.
"It looks like you are a powerful noble, huh? You must be loaded."
Vlad did not deny it. He did not want to reveal much about himself to her.
Plus, it was true he was loaded. The money he found last night was enough for him to live his life leisurely if he wanted to. He probably did not need to care about money anymore.
He was about to embark on a journey of revenge. If he died on the way, his money would fall into the hands of his enemies. From that perspective, it was better to use a small part of it to help the two girls that saved his life.
"… Thank you." Adora suddenly said. Her voice was so soft that Vlad barely heard her.
"... How surprising. I did not expect to hear these words from you." Vlad said with a playful smile, making Adora's gaze turn cold.
"Even if my sister and I are poor, we know how to be grateful."
"My bad." Vlad chuckled. "Now that we smoothened off our differences, what do you think about discussing businesses with me?"
Adora was stunned and narrowed her eyes.
"What kind of business?"
Vlad did not reply immediately. Instead, he looked around the living room and at the same time observed Adora from the corner of his eyes.
One second later, information about the girl appeared in her head.
[Adora – Human – Level 28]
This time, it was Vlad's turn to be stunned.
Level 28? It was close to the fourth realm!
That meant that she was a [Core Accumulation] practitioner and was close to reaching [Core Formation].
Even he was just a Core Formation practitioner before turning into a vampire. This girl should be close to his age, but her cultivation was already this high.
Unlike him, Adora did not have a noble family backing her nor resources to support her cultivation, but despite that, she reached this level at her age.
It meant that this girl's talent was very high.
'But it will make controlling her a bit harder.' Vlad squinted with a pensive expression.
"Hey, what business are you talking about? And why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing. I'm just surprised that your strength is higher than I expected. Being close to Core Formation at your age is amazing."
"… It's nothing compared to the noble geniuses. Don't make fun of me."
"I guess it means you are a pretty good thief, huh."
Adora's expression changed.
In an instant, her eyes became cold, and her expression became hostile again.
"... How do you know?"
Vlad chuckled and looked around the living room. At a glance, he saw a couple of strange gadgets and objects, most of them of little value.
But some of these objects were the kind that people carried with them as keepsakes. Putting it together with the strange number of these objects, Vlad came to a conclusion.
These were the objects that the girl stole but was unable to sell, so she brought them home, perhaps as a gift for Laura.
"Don't worry, I don't mind if you are a thief, and I don't plan to bring you to the authorities or anything like that," Vlad explained, making Adora calm down. "However, as a thief, you should know the city very well, right?"
Adora hesitated briefly before nodding.
"A bit."
"That is perfect. You see, I'm needing a person that helps me to collect information. What do you think? Do you want to accept the job?"
Adora's eyes narrowed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone