"This is the real contract," the woman said, showing Kayden a document. The contract stated that Kayden would be an investment in the organization, which would provide him with resources and help when he needed it. In return, in the future, Kayden would have to fight for his political agenda.
This seemed simple, but it was a double-edged sword. Since Kayden would only need to pay off this debt in the future, he didn’t know how much it would cost him. On the other hand, the information he could obtain would be extremely helpful.
"I can accept that, as long as the favors are only performed if they don’t harm me or go against my goals," Kayden said. The woman reflected for a few seconds and accepted. It wasn’t a very exorbitant request.
"Welcome to the organization, Marquis Kayden," the woman said, smiling amiably. Simply and quickly, Kayden made another strong ally for his journey, all simply because he decided to team up with the right people.
Over the next few minutes, Kayden began to receive information about the Ashford family, such as the number of wizards and their strength. According to the woman, they were a family of fake dukes.
"What would a fake duke be?" asked Kayden, who had never heard this statement before.
"This means that they are supported by another power and their strength in itself does not match their social class. The strongest wizard in this family is Duke Ashford, and he is a mere wizard of the third realm," said the woman, as if the third realm was nothing more than common trash.
"Just him?" asked Kayden, amazed by the new information.
"There are a few more third kingdom wizards in the family, such as Arthur, who you already know. But they are all sacrificed wizards. The rest isn’t even worth considering. They don’t even have a genius in this generation, a family doomed to failure," said the woman.
Sacrificial mages were people who sacrificed their cultivation and future in exchange for advancing a realm. Nowadays, they are not so common, as in the early years of magic people desperately sought advancement, without caring about anything other than power.
As long as they could rule over thousands, humans willingly sacrificed their future. The technique they used was called final sacrifice and was currently no longer in circulation. Only really powerful people, like high-ranking nobles, could have access to it.
"Which force supports the Ashford family?" This was Kayden’s main question throughout the conversation.
"That..." there was a hesitation in Angela’s speech. "We do not know. All our spies were killed. We estimate it to be some high-level secret organization, but why they decided to invest in a few hundred losers, we don’t know."
The whole situation was becoming more complex as time passed, but that didn’t even tickle Kayden’s resolve. The downfall of the Ashford family was already written in the lines of destiny.
"I will burn every human that carries this family’s blood," Kayden thought, almost letting his killing intent escape. Fortunately, he was no longer the same out-of-control child as before.
"Do you have any form of investment? I have some money lying around to use," Kayden asked. He knew that idle money was nothing more than a useless piece of gold.
One thing he learned from his uncle in his past life was that money didn’t take kindly to insults. He should be treated with as much respect as possible, as even the greatest fortune in the world could be turned into nothing overnight.
"I wouldn’t call a few trillion just some money," the woman commented, slightly surprising Kayden for a second. But he soon calmed down. After all, they were an information organization.
"We have several businesses and sources of income. If you want to invest with us, we will maintain a percentage of 2% per month", said the woman. That was a lot of money. In real estate, Kayden only made 0.5% profit at best. In stocks, it was just 1%. These are investments without major risks, which was something the boy was looking for. He had neither the time nor the desire to learn about economics. His focus was power. The money would come as a consequence.
Author’s note: 0.5% and 1% rental yield data on dividend stocks are relative to my parents’ values. I recognize that in some places properties are more expensive, but here we have a lot of territorial space, and it is more expensive to build a house than the land, in proportions of 5 times.
"I would like to transfer a trillion for you to handle, then. Logically, I want a contract for that amount," said Kayden. He might even be within the organization, but at that moment he didn’t trust anyone, regardless of how many kind smiles Angela showed in that interaction.
Within minutes, a negotiation took place between the two. First, Kayden could only withdraw this money one month in advance and, in exceptional cases, he could withdraw a certain percentage of the total sum within three days.
The organization would bear all the risks and send 20 billion to Kayden’s main account, in a clean and untraceable way, every month. The money would come in the name of a third-party company that would be passed into Kayden’s name anonymously.
The boy could invest all his money and just use the proceeds, but the phrase that stopped him from doing that resounded every time his mind tried to be greedy:
"Don’t put all your eggs in one basket."
"Another question, what information about me was sold and what is the price?" Kayden didn’t have much information, but he needed to be meticulous, especially in case some prankster tried something at the orphanage or anything like that.
He was prepared to abandon everyone, but that was only his last option.
"Since your introduction, we have not sold any data about you, mainly because we want to recruit you. But a few years ago, the Ashford family bought everything we owned. Currently, its information is estimated to be around a few trillion, this is to discourage curious people."
This wasn’t an organization to trifle with. Years ago, he was nothing more than an unknown, talentless commoner, yet information about him was available for purchase.
After that, they worked out small details. Kayden quickly left after that, in a real taxi this time.
"Lucas, did you see the boy’s eyes?", the woman turned to the man who brought Kayden.
"Yes, it felt like I was staring into an abyss, unshakable and endless," Lucas replied. The woman filled a glass with wine and silence prevailed until it was broken again by Lucas. "You know how big of a fight we’re getting into, right?"
"My instincts tell me it will be worth it, even Olympus could fall", replied the woman.