บท 363: Outside interference

"Will that be of any help?" Carol asked with a small smile as she presented a sizeable bag to Mathew.

"Any help?" Mathew muttered, hesitating for but a second before reaching for the loot and raising his eyes to the girl's face.

For a single moment, he managed to see past Carol's history which made him somewhat disregard her. In Mathew's eyes, she wasn't as important as the main trio of his wives. But in this one instant, she appeared to be a hero he needed but didn't deserve.

"I was half a thousand short to go through with the settlement," Mathew muttered as he weighed the bag in his hand. "With those two thousand, we have enough."

For a short moment prior to Carol's return, Mathew went into a state of borderline panic, as gaining more cores was easily possible… only in theory.

In practice, though, he was out of options.