This Novel is not my Novel

I felt a little awkward, but there was no way Pret could have noticed the thought that had just crossed my mind.

It was related to the original work, something he could never know about.

He'll just keep making wild guesses, like he just did.

And so, I brushed off Pret's words and lowered my gaze to finish reading the information on Sveinn.

There were no other peculiar details in the remaining content.

It seemed the entire reason for the betrayal set up by Author Senna was 'an incurable disease afflicting his younger sister and the debt incurred because of it.'

For reference, when Sveinn had his awakening, he heard there was a skilled healer in the next town and got caught in a Demon Realm while on his way to find that person.

He didn't know that the plants that grew during the Demon Realm's generation were valuable items, so he never thought to dig them up and put them in his Inventory.

It was said that he deeply regretted it after learning this information later.

The fact that you can make money by pulling up and selling grass from a Demon Realm isn't yet well-known information among commoners.

It was because the powerful elite were controlling information to maximize their own profits.

The reason was that after a Demon Realm was cleared, the lord was supposed to take all the medicinal herbs grown on that land, and if commoners dug them up beforehand, the lord's profits would be reduced.

They knew the information would get out eventually, but they wanted to delay that time as much as possible.

Is the only fortunate thing that his sister hasn't had the incurable disease for long, so the debt isn't that large...?

According to the data, the accumulated debt was currently 53 gold coins, which, if converted to won, was about 53 million.

The setting was that 1 copper coin was worth 100 won, 1 silver coin was worth 10,000 won, 1 gold coin was worth 1 million won, and 1 platinum coin was worth 100 million won.

At this amount, even considering the accumulating interest, it wasn't a level of debt that the family couldn't pay off in their lifetime if they banded together and tightened their belts.

Even more so since Sveinn would be able to gather a ton of expensive medicinal herbs later when he entered a Demon Realm.

But the root of the problem was that the medical expenses for an incurable disease were not a one-time expense.

Sveinn's family's monthly income was around 2.8 million won, while 2 million went toward living expenses, and the cost of alleviating his sister's symptoms and providing life-sustaining treatment was around 3 million won.

At this rate, they couldn't even pay off the interest, let alone the principal, and the debt would only grow.

What's more, as time passes, their rarity will disappear, and the price of medicinal herbs is scheduled to drop...

For now, because there was an expectation that Sveinn would make a fortune if he built his skills and entered a Demon Realm, moneylenders were willing to lend him money.

But the moment the money he could earn was no longer enough to cover the increased interest, no one would be willing to lend money to Sveinn's family.

And that will be the moment Sveinn sells our lives.

It was an incredibly tragic affair.

Not just for Sveinn and his family, but for us, who were scheduled to be betrayed by him.

The fact that I had enough money in my possession to prevent this tragedy was, on the one hand, fortunate, but on the other, it stirred up complicated feelings.

This possessed body's monthly allowance is a whole 10 gold coins. And if I combine the money the original Karvaldr had left over with what I've saved since my possession, it's just shy of 100 gold coins. Even if I paid off all his debt and supported his monthly medical expenses, I wouldn't run out of money.

Thinking that I was pocketing an amount of money as an allowance that some people couldn't earn even if they worked themselves to the bone, my conscience pricked me.

Still, this money came from Hárðr's pocket.

Realizing this fact put my mind a little at ease.

The remaining problem is how to give the money to Sveinn...

A method immediately came to mind, but I felt I should put off describing it for a moment.

Because there were a few issues I needed to address first.

Pretending to mutter to myself, I threw a question at Pret.

"Sveinn's family circumstances are this bad, so why didn't he take Her Royal Highness the Princess's arrow like someone else did...?"

"That's probably because of his pride. After the Wednesday morning lecture, he came up to me and asked if it wouldn't be a bit much to pick up something someone else had thrown away in front of others."

It seemed Sveinn himself desperately wanted to, but he couldn't bring himself to do it for fear that we would look down on him.

"You seem extremely concerned about Sveinn's family situation, don't you?"

"More importantly, why is there no data on you? Aren't you a commoner too?"

"Aha! Are you showing interest in me, too? It's an honor, but regrettably, my personal information is an item our guild does not sell!"

"You should have told me that beforehand. This is clear-cut fraud."

"Come on~, what kind of Information Guild would sell information on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the successor to its head? Why are you being like this when you should know better?"

As Pret said, this was perfectly natural.

That's why I had no expectation of receiving his information.

But if I showed myself accepting his words and backing down readily now, a similar situation could repeat itself.

"Are you saying you agreed to the deal assuming you would receive all the information except for what concerns you?"

"The fact that you're asking that question now... surely not..."

"I didn't assume anything of the sort."

"Don't lie."

"What's your evidence that I'm lying?"

"There's no way someone as smart as you, senior, wouldn't have known, right?"

"Perhaps I'm not that smart. Or maybe I just overlooked it."

I decided to be stubborn.

I felt a little embarrassed by the way the other party was staring at me with a flabbergasted expression.

But if I backed down at this point, I'd look even more pathetic.

"...I can give you information about 'Pret Hulid' from the circus troupe. Would you like to take that instead?"

"Are you saying you'll hand me fabricated information now? That's a remark that can't help but make me doubt the credibility of the information I just received."

"Oh my! I misspoke. I meant that if you were curious about how it was fabricated, I could show you!"

"I'm not curious about that kind of thing."

"If you say so..."

Pret trailed off, a thoughtful look on his face.

He was probably searching for some suitable information to give me in place of his own.

And as it happened, there was one matter I wanted to commission him to investigate, so I decided to demand that.

"Speaking of which, Professor Banhilda became a bounty hunter to get revenge, but she still hasn't finished it, has she?"

"Ah~! Come to think of it, senior, your brow furrowed a little when you read that part, didn't it? Were you concerned about her circumstances too?"

"It's not that... The culprit who killed Professor Banhilda's family might belatedly try to kill the professor to eliminate any repercussions, and in the process, they could take us students hostage...?"

"Senior Karvaldr, your sentence ended on a high note. The fact that you said it as a question shows you're well aware of what a ridiculous excuse that is, right?"

Of course, I knew.

It was a completely ridiculous idea.

If the culprit considered Banhilda a threat, it was only natural that they would choose to hide themselves away rather than reveal themselves.

However, if we didn't take any countermeasures, it was a predetermined future that we would face a crisis because of that criminal.

It has to be. There's no way the original author would have left Banhilda's target for revenge alive for no reason, right?

I conjectured that Author Senna intended to unravel Banhilda's past narrative through such an incident.

And since the production where she reached out a hand of salvation to the despairing Reisir, as in the pre-remake original work, only to die and plunge him into a deeper quagmire, was now impossible, she would stage her death in a different way.

In a way that has the biggest possible influence on Reisir.

As someone who had read the pre-remake version of 《NaSE》, one of Senna's readers, I was certain.

Author Senna would have used this incident to prepare a development that would kill not only Banhilda, but one additional student as well.

Unlike the pre-remake version, where she hunted the culprit to the very end as a bounty hunter, the current Banhilda was tied down to the academy, making it impossible for her to pursue the culprit, but...

Whether it's just a coincidental encounter, or the culprit shows up with the intent of driving Banhilda to despair once more, it's obvious they'll create a point of contact one way or another.

If one of her students died then, Banhilda would despair and reproach herself.

And the students would naturally have grown more attached to that someone they had trained with than to her, their professor...

They might know in their heads that it's not Banhilda's fault, but it would be inevitable for a sense of resentment toward her to grow.

Noticing this, Banhilda's mental state would deteriorate further, and after showing a scene where even the original protagonist, Reisir, couldn't bring himself to offer her words of comfort, I felt it would lead to a development where Banhilda, resolved not to lose any more child-like students, threw herself into danger to save them and died.

Or she took her own life.

"Anyway, the conclusion is that instead of information about me, you want me to investigate and tell you about the culprit who killed Professor Banhilda's family, right?"

"It's a past event from nearly 20 years ago. Is it possible to find out?"

"It'll be extremely difficult and hard to find out, but what can I do? My personal information is impossible to sell!"

In any case, it meant it was possible.

Well, the Banhilda of the original work managed to do it, so if the world's best Information Guild got involved, they could surely find the culprit.

"Instead! If the information you're planning to give me later isn't that great, you'll owe me one, senior. Got it?"

"Why should I insist on being in your debt? I can just pay for the difference in money, can't I?"

"Tsk, that's true too. Since you're rich, senior."

Pret licked his lips with a disappointed expression.

Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he parted his lips and subtly studied my expression.

"I felt a little sorry about Professor Banhilda's situation, too. If she had put in a request with our guild sooner, she would have found him a long time ago..."

If I unconsciously showed a reaction of empathy to his words, it would be a tacit admission that I, too, felt sorry for her.

He was undoubtedly trying to induce that.

And so—

"The method of making contact with an Information Guild is known only to a few, is it not? That must be why she couldn't find out."

—I retorted in an indifferent tone, then diverted the other party's interest with the following words.

"Ah, come to think of it, I guess I don't need to cover the entire investigation cost... It would be better not to."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not like I can directly hand over the information about the culprit to Professor Banhilda, can I? If I did, I'd be misunderstood as having done a background check on her."

"It's not a misunderstanding, is it?"

"You did the investigation. I only received it."

"Ooh—! Senior Karvaldr, you have a surprisingly shameless side, don't you?"

For some reason, Pret's eyes even twinkled as he showed a delighted reaction.

That felt quite unsettling, but I had to finish what I was saying.

"Have your guild send an informant to Professor Banhilda and offer to sell information about the culprit. Until now, she was just a bounty hunter, so the guild didn't pay her much attention. But information on an Awakened Professor is never a bad thing to have. If you use the excuse that you came to make a deal after learning of her circumstances during that investigation process, she won't be suspicious."

"Wait a minute! If we use that excuse, we have to collect the information fee from Professor Banhilda, so..."

"It wouldn't be right to collect payment from both her and me, so it seems you're in my debt again."

"Wow...! Senior Karvaldr, can't you really just join our guild?"

Just how many words of refusal would this guy have to hear before he gave up?

At this point, it felt less persistent and more pathetic.

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