When Karon entered the study, his eyes first swept over the painting of Earl Rekar, who held a queen of Veyn in his arms. He deliberately ignored the painting of black cat and settled into the chair behind the desk that stood beneath the painting of the founder of the Allen family.

One by one, Bede spread the documents out in front of Karon, and then stood to the side like a secretary.

Master Anderson sat down across from Karon, both hands resting on his cane, his expression humble and gentle.

Mike remained in his wheelchair. Karon found it a bit uncomfortable to look at the man, due to the fact that the red cane marks on his face were uneven.

“Breakfast will be sent up shortly, Young Master Karon,” Bede informed him.

Karon nodded, and then turned to the pile of documents spread out before him. Rather helplessly, he asked, “Is there some kind of summarized overview?”

With everything before him, who knew how long it might take for him to read it all.

“There is. I have already prepared it for you,” Bede said as he opened the blue folder he had placed at the very center and moved it closer to Karon.

“Good. Then, Mr. Bede, you should sit as well.”

“No, I prefer standing.”

Karon glanced at Bede. The seat Karon was occupying should have belonged to the other man, and yet there was no jealousy or anger to be seen in Bede’s eyes. Instead, there was something that looked similar to relief.

It was only due to the incidents involving both of the man’s elder brothers that had clearly forced the man into the position of patriarch. For someone who considered himself an artist to his core, it must have been genuine torment.

Karon lowered his head and began reviewing the documents.

The summary was a statement of the Allen family’s assets. Bede had clearly taken into account that Karon was not a professional in the field and had written the summary in a way that was easy for him to read.

In just York City, the Allen family outright owned twelve apartment buildings.

Karon went back to look again, and confirmed that, yes, it was twelve buildings, not twelve units.

Listed in parentheses afterward were the names of the twelve buildings, as well as the number of units and the total area. Even the smallest building consisted of more than a hundred individual apartments.

Before leaving home, Karon’s uncle and aunts had prepared enough for him to buy a single apartment, yet even that required them to take out a mortgage.

Yet these twelve buildings were only the very top of the Allen family’s fixed assets. By normal accounting logic, the smallest assets should be listed first.

Continuing downward, the Allen family also owned a hotel chain. Just in York City, they had four hotels, with more in Veyn’s other major cities, and even some in Swillen.

Aside from the Allen Manor itself, the family also owned three large estates within Veyn, as well as multiple plantations and mines throughout Veyn’s colonies.

It was wealth in the most literal way possible, the kind of rich where “they’ve got mines at home” was no longer a joke.

The family’s list of investments was not long, but it was placed at the very bottom of the summary because the returns and shares from those investments were enormous.

The first was their shares in the National Bank of Veyn.

The second was their shares in the Veyn Foreign Assistance and Construction Company, a colonial company with over two hundred years of history that was led by the Veyn royal family.

The third could not compare to the first two in terms of profit and, in fact, brought the Allen family no income at all. That was because it was a percentage of ownership of the Veyn royal palace itself, detailed down to which specific jewels on the queen’s crown had belonged to the Allen family for generations.

This was why Ms. Jenny and Mike’s wife, Ms. Lisa, took the family’s younger women to the palace for afternoon tea with the queen. They were not simply paying a visit; Strictly speaking, the palace was also their home. This was an inherited honor.

Karon’s gaze shifted to the portrait of Earl Rekar that hung on a wall of the study. It was likely during his era that the relationship between the Allen family and the Veyn royal family had been established.

It was also clear that the Allen family’s industries and investments were quite conservative.

How should he express it? If one had such impressive investment channels and revenue streams, they would likely not want to take risks, as there was simply no need. The Allen family held original shares in those companies.

Karon did not foolishly ask how such a wealthy family could ever appear to have fallen. After all, he had personally witnessed Mr. Morf kill himself with cigars and cigarettes.

The Morf Consortium was influential in Roja City and even across Swillen, yet their patriarch had been absolutely nothing in front of Tiz.

Secular wealth was important, but in certain circles, secular wealth was considered thin and fragile.

More importantly, the reason the Allen family had been able to acquire such secular wealth was because their ancestors had not belonged purely to the secular world. They had been privateers who had ruled the seas, their flagship a colossal sea monster.

That was why, when strength declined, even if the secular wealth remained, it no longer held much meaning. The enemies targeting such families were not interested in their money, but in their bloodline.

In such a situation, even if you wanted to buy peace with money, you would not have the opportunity.

Still, seeing such a massive family foundation was quite comforting to Karon. He had only just moved into the Allen Manor and enjoyed half a day of top-tier aristocratic living. He really did not want to face a steady decline in his material life followed by eventually pawning off family furniture.

If nothing unexpected happened, then even just one day before the Allen family truly collapsed, they would probably still be drinking fine red wine while ordering their maids to throw an expensive new carpet they disliked the color of into the boiler room to burn it clean. Even if they were headed for the pigpen tomorrow, today they would still live as the elite. That was acceptable, and very elegant.

Karon even felt that the image was rather beautiful.

Fortunately, Pu’er was still sleeping in his bedroom. If she had seen Karon’s subtle expression just now, she would probably have erupted with fury on the spot.

“This is the second file,” Bede said as he opened another. Karon took it, and as he lowered his head to read, his brow unconsciously furrowed, because he did not quite understand what was written on it.

First, there were three workshops: a fish-scale accessory workshop, a turtle-shell pendant workshop, and a black coral powder workshop.

Yiwu trinkets?[1]

Obviously, that was impossible.

On the first asset statement, everything had been so impressive. It was impossible for there to be such a sudden and total drop in quality and value.

Moreover, what corresponded to secular wealth should be another circle’s form of wealth.

Karon asked, “These are church materials?”

“Yes, Young Master Karon,” Bede replied.

Karon looked at the income listed after each workshop. The units were neither rels nor rupi, but “credits.”

The fish-scale accessory workshop earned eight thousand Abyss credits per quarter.

The turtle-shell pendant workshop earned five thousand Principle credits per quarter.

The black coral powder workshop earned ten thousand Order credits per quarter.

Karon really wanted to ask a question that might make the three men of the Allen family present think he was an idiot. After hesitating for a moment, he asked anyway, “These credits are currencies issued by the churches?”

Anderson immediately stood up and answered proactively, “Yes, Young Master. Essentially, every orthodox major church issues its own credits, which function as internal currency. As long as someone possesses enough credits, regardless of whether they are church insiders or outsiders, they can purchase goods and services within that church. Between different churches’ credits, there are specialized church black markets for exchange, much like currency exchange between nations.

“A long time ago, when the Church of Light still existed, it issued its own ‘Absolution credits’ and even forcefully required a fixed exchange rate with other churches’ credits, which led to a period of credit inflation.

“However, with the collapse of the Church of Light, those vouchers disappeared as well. The credits issued by today’s orthodox churches are more complicated, but they are all kept within reasonable limits.”

Karon noticed that not Master Anderson, Bede, nor Mike looked at him with a you-don’t-even-know-this expression. Instead, their attitudes seemed to become even more respectful.

That was understandable. It was like two people chatting face to face in his previous life. If one told the other that he did not have a credit card, the one who relied on credit cards to live would probably not mock the other for being old-fashioned, but would instead envy him, because it meant there was no lack of money in his life.

Karon’s ignorance of church credits only showed how well protected he had been by Tiz. It was also absolutely certain that Tiz did not lack church credits. He probably did not even need something like credits at all.

If the Allen family’s secular wealth was so vast as to be nothing more than just a number, then under Tiz’s leadership, the Immers family’s credit-based wealth was also just a number. How many Order credits might a divine fragment be worth? Tiz had possessed three of them.

“So Kerona Island is the smuggling hub for the raw materials?” Karon asked this because Kerona Island had not been listed on the first report of secular assets, nor was it included on the second list.

“Yes. The raw materials these three workshops require all need to be smuggled through Kerona Island,” Bede replied.

This indicated that the first list of secular wealth existed to serve the second. Money, connections, and family foundations were converted into workshops that produced church-required materials, which then earned church credits that could be spent.

They could be used to purchase training supplies for family members, and of course, they could also be used to buy protection services from the churches.

Moreover, the larger the workshop business became, the deeper the relationship became with those churches. No church wanted its raw material suppliers to run into trouble, as that would cause shortages on their end. When hostile forces wanted to target you, they needed to weigh those connections as well.

“At our peak,” Bede explained. “The Allen family had twelve workshops supplying basic materials to eight major orthodox churches. Now, only these three remain. Six of the others were gradually taken over by the Raphael family during the last sixty years.”

Mike added, “The Raphael family used to be the managers of two of our Allen family’s workshops.”

“I see,” Karon said, nodding.

That made it much less of a surprise that the Raphael family had managed to force the Allen family into such a state. They had not acquired the family’s hotels or suppressed the value of their stock shares. The Raphael family did not care about secular wealth at all, and had simply launched their attack at the very foundation of the Allen family’s existence.

In the eyes of the Veyn administrative branches of the major churches, this was probably nothing more than infighting between suppliers. Of course they would not care much about such things, as no matter who controlled those supply channels, they would still ultimately be supplying the churches.

“How is the Raphael family doing now?” Karon asked.

“They are engaged in an internal conflict,” Master Anderson replied with a smile. “Their family’s foundation is shallow, unlike our Allen family. Losing a single patriarch would not actually affect us all that much.”

After all, fools replacing fools made little difference, or as Pu’er would put it, there was no room left for the family to fall, but plenty of room for them to rise back up.

Master Anderson was mocking himself.

“Can we take this opportunity to reclaim this business?” Karon asked. He had already started to see this conflict as gangsters fighting over docks. The opposing gang’s boss had just died and their numbers were caught up in an internal conflict, so why not strike now and take back the territory that had been lost?

Bede looked troubled. “We cannot, because the Allen family currently lacks the ability to take the initiative.”

“Lacks the ability to take the initiative?”

“Yes. This is the third list, which is the current list of the Allen family’s faith system members,” Bede said as he handed a third folder to Karon.

Karon took it, silently thinking to himself that this was the list of the Allen family’s elite enforcers.

Tier-1 of the family faith system had eighteen people, their names listed.

Tier-2 had eight people, whose names were also listed.

Tier-3 had just three names: Rudd, Mike, and Anderson.

Karon raised his head and looked at Master Anderson. This old man who fell out of his chair earlier is actually one of the Allen family’s top experts?

For a moment, Karon did not know whether to feel amazement or sorrow.

“I made a fool of myself in front of you, Young Master Karon,” Master Anderson said.

“But I do not see Mr. Bede’s name on this list,” Karon said.

Bede smiled awkwardly. “I cannot sense our ancestor.”

The current patriarch of the Allen family had failed to reach even Tier-1 of the family’s faith system.

Well, with this, Karon came to truly believe that Bede, Eunice’s father, was a pure artist. After all, upon discovering at a young age that he could not sense the family ancestor, Bede had probably let go of all psychological burden and had decisively focused his skills elsewhere.

Karon then looked at Mike and asked, “Mr. Mike, you...”

Master Anderson sighed and said, “Mike originally had hope of advancing to the Tier-4. In fact, he was very close to succeeding, but in his impatience for quick success, he chose to attempt a new path, which led to him becoming like this.”

Mike showed a bitter smile. “I am still Tier-3, but am basically a cripple. It is not because I lost my legs, but because my body is filled with a chaotic power that I can no longer use.”

Karon nodded. In other words, the Allen family’s two strongest individuals were Rudd, who guarded the workshop supply lines on Kerona Island, and Master Anderson, who protected the family home.

“And the Raphael family...” Karon began, then lightly tapped his forehead. “Sorry, that was not an appropriate question.”

“This may be related to family fortune,” Master Anderson said. “That rebellious family began borrowing wombs many years ago, formed connections with some minor churches, and gradually managed to rise up. Then, thirty years ago, they had an entire batch of highly talented members born into their family, ushering in a golden age.

“As for our Allen family, well...

“Additionally, although the Raphael family has fallen into division and internal strife, a rash attack from us might push them to reunite. The current situation is that the Raphael family has voluntarily yielded many things to placate us and other families, in hopes that we will restrain ourselves regarding their current chaos.

“Before that, faced with the Raphael family’s aggressive pressure, we could only choose passive defense, relying on our family’s relationships from the past to constantly maneuver, preventing them from being too excessive in their methods.”

As he spoke, tears flowed from Master Anderson’s eyes. “I have disgraced our ancestors.”

Karon cut off Master Anderson’s emotional outpouring. “There is something I would like to ask.”

“Please ask, Young Master Karon,” Master Anderson said as he immediately wiped his tears away and returned to normal.

“Blessed water, is it hard to obtain?”

“Not at all,” Mike replied. “You can buy it with rels. Many Divine Servants make their living by selling holy water.”

“Then what about a swimming pool’s worth of blessed water?”

“Uh...” Mike froze.

Master Anderson answered, “That is also not difficult. It requires using water carts to purchase from multiple sources. Of course, Divine Servants usually have very little holy water in stock. They produce some and sell it immediately, and there may occasionally be adulteration, but if credits are used, it can be purchased directly from the major churches. They usually store such things in large reserves in pools. Do you need it?”

“Yes, I do,” Karon nodded.

“Forgive my presumption, Young Master Karon, but may I ask what you intend to use such a large quantity of holy water for?”

“I need to complete a purification ritual and become a Divine Servant,” Karon added. “My grandfather instructed me on the amount of holy water required.”

“Very well, I understand. Bede.”

“Father.”

“At the fastest possible speed, mobilize all our family’s connections and all of the church credits in our family accounts to acquire the holy water required by Young Master Karon.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Then, thank you.”

“You are far too polite, Young Master Karon. You are now the one who is truly in control of the Allen family. It is only right for you to have authority over the use of the family’s wealth.”

At this moment, the maid brought in breakfast.

“Young Master, please have your breakfast first. We will take our leave.”

“Alright, you all go back and get some rest.”

The three Allen men left the study, leaving Karon alone to eat his breakfast. At that moment, the study door was pushed open and Pu’er slipped in.

She moved to stand before her own portrait and examined it carefully.

While eating his sandwich, Karon teased, “Any regrets that you didn’t leave behind a more accurate likeness when the painter painted you?”

“I never regret what I do,” Pu’er retorted. “By the way, those three idiots just came to give you a report on the family situation, right? How did it feel?”

“The Allen family is very rich.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“In another sense, this family feels rather weak. Let me ask you something. For your family, what does Tier-3 in the faith system correspond to?” 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“That radio demon.”

“Alfred?”

“Yes.”

Karon took a sip of water and sighed. “That is the most accurate evaluation of Alfred’s power level I have ever heard.”

“Did you have them prepare the materials for purification?”

“Yes.”

“Good. They are very obedient. After all, when someone only needs a bowl and you need an entire pool, as long as their brains are not filled with swimming herrings, they won’t dare delay. Instead, they should be absolutely overjoyed.”

“That makes sense.”

After finishing his breakfast, Karon saw that Pu’er was still admiring her own portrait. He walked over to the study’s window and pushed it open, looking out at a vast stretch of green outside.

Eunice had said she liked taking her horse for walks near the house at dusk. From Karon’s current vantage point, he could see a fenced-off area between the lake and the green fields that was filled with stone monuments of very unusual shapes.

“What is that place?” Karon asked.

Pu’er finally finished admiring herself. She jumped onto Karon’s shoulder to get a look. “Those are tombstones.”

“They’re shaped quite peculiarly.”

“That’s because the Allen family’s ancestors all had rather flamboyant personalities. See that pirate ship tombstone? It marks Earl Rekar’s grave, the same one in that portrait holding the queen with his hand deliberately placed on her backside.”

Karon deliberately turned back to look and realized that Pu’er was right; Earl Rekar’s hand was indeed intentionally placed on the queen’s backside. That meant that when the painter had painted them, the earl had deliberately struck that pose.

“How should I put it? Although it feels crude and even vulgar, I can sense what this ancestor of yours wanted to express.” That was the savagery and unrestrained arrogance of a pirate.

“Alright, I am going to have breakfast now. Go order another breakfast sent to the bedroom for me. I am going to enjoy a young lady’s breakfast in bed.”

“But I just finished breakfast,” Karon reminded her.

“That’s fine. Just like how you need a large amount of holy water for your purification, the more you eat, the happier Anderson will be.”

Pu’er darted out of the study.

Karon turned his head once more to look at the distant cemetery outside the window and sighed. “If the Allen family’s ancestors knew the state their family has fallen to now, they would probably die of anger for a second time in their coffins.”

Karon turned around, moving to ring the bell on the desk to summon a maid to prepare Pu’er’s breakfast, but his hand stopped halfway.

He completely froze. “To die of anger again, they would have to... come back to life first, right?”

1. Yiwu is a city famous for mass-produced, low-end small commodities, often used as shorthand for cheap trinkets. ☜