Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 231: Fall of Valtair [27]

The next day arrived with clear skies and crisp autumn air.

Alaric waited in the same merchant hall, seated at the table with relaxed posture. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, painting everything in shades of gold.

The main doors opened.

Count Valtair entered, flanked by four servants carrying heavy chests. His face was drawn, haggard, the kind of exhaustion that came from a sleepless night spent securing loans, calling in favors, liquidating assets in desperate haste.

But there was triumph in his eyes. Relief.

He’d done it. Scraped together the full amount. The mines were his.

"Lord Alaric." His voice was steadier than yesterday. "As promised. The remainder."

Alaric stood, gesturing to the table. "Please."

The servants set the chests down with heavy thunks that spoke of substantial weight. Valtair moved forward and opened each one in sequence.

Gold. Everything adding up to four hundred seven thousand five hundred-forty gold.

Alaric’s own servants moved forward and began counting.

Sorting coins into stacks.

The process took nearly an hour.

Finally, the head servant looked up and nodded once. "It’s all here, my lord. Full amount verified."

Alaric smiled, warm and genuine, the picture of satisfied business partnership.

"Excellent." He moved around the table and extended his hand toward Valtair. "Then congratulations, My lord. The mining contracts are officially yours."

Valtair’s hand clasped his, firm, desperate, the grip of a drowning man who thought he’d just found solid ground.

They shook once, then twice.

Then Valtair released him and turned toward the door, his shoulders finally relaxing slightly.

The tension bleeding away.

"Thank you, Lord Alaric. This... this changes everything."

"I’m certain it does." Alaric lips curled.

The Count departed with his servants, leaving the chests behind. The doors closed with a soft thud.

Alaric stood there for a moment, listening to the footsteps fade away.

Then his smile widened into something sharp and predatory.

He turned back to the table, where his servants had organized everything into neat, manageable stacks. He reached for one of the chests, the smallest one, and pulled it closer.

Then his eyes shifted, focusing on the cyan panel, that hung in the air before him.

[Subjugated Targets: 3/3]

Target 1: Vivienne Valtair - Countess

Target 2: Dorian Margrave - Money Lender

Target 3: Harlen Voss - Money Lender

The men who’d provided Valtair with massive loans over the past twenty-four hours.

Loans secured with collateral, personal properties, land holdings, and most importantly... the mining contracts themselves.

Which meant technically, legally, if Valtair defaulted...

Those contracts came right back into Alaric’s hands.

Beautiful.

But that wasn’t all.

He’d used his own gold, combined with the funds Vivienne had discreetly sent, to buy back many of the assets Valtair had been forced to liquidate. Minor estates. Warehouse properties. Trade goods.

All purchased through Teryn and Delphine, using false names and shell companies that couldn’t be traced back to him.

So Valtair had sold his possessions for gold.

Used that gold to buy mines.

And Alaric now owned both the possessions.

The shadows beside him rippled.

Sari materialized, her hood already pulled back, amber eyes gleaming with understanding.

"You called, my lord?"

Alaric gestured to the chests. "Count half of this."

She moved forward immediately, her fingers flying over the stacks with practiced efficiency. Coins clinked softly as she sorted, counted, verified.

When she finished, she looked up expectantly.

"Take that half," Alaric said quietly, "And pay the lenders. Settle their loans to Valtair, exactly half the amounts they’re owed."

Sari’s lips curved into a knowing smirk.

"The forged redemption clauses."

"Exactly."

He’d prepared these documents. Clauses that stated if fifty percent of the principal was repaid within a certain timeframe, the collateral would be released and the contracts would transfer to the party making the payment.

And it was Vivienne whom Alaric gave these clauses to read, not Casten. So he just signed, without himself reading.

Normally, such clauses would be negotiated, challenged, fought over in courts.

But when the lenders themselves were subjugated, when their loyalty was irrelevant but their obedience was absolute, they’d simply comply.

Sign the papers. Release the collateral. Transfer the contracts.

All perfectly legal.

And since Alaric had subjugated them, why even pay?

Well...

Their loyalty wasn’t high enough for them to do this for free.

But with half the money actually paid, the obedience chains will compel them to follow through. They’ll rationalize it as good business, getting partial payment is better than risking full default.

Sari nodded, already gathering the counted gold into travel-ready pouches.

"It’ll be done by nightfall, my lord."

"Good."

She worked in efficient silence for another few minutes, securing everything, then straightened and met his gaze.

"The mining contracts will be back under your control by tomorrow morning. All legally transferred. No way for Valtair to challenge it."

"Perfect."

The shadows folded around her, and she disappeared.

Alaric turned away from the table, moving toward the tall windows that overlooked the street.

His hands clasped behind his back, his posture relaxed.

The remaining gold sat behind him, still a substantial fortune.

He looked out at the city beyond the glass.

"Now it’s time for taking care of the debts."

His voice was quiet, almost contemplative. But something cold and absolute ran beneath it.

His crimson eyes caught the light and seemed to glow with an intensity that made the air feel heavier.

"Also to repay their threats."

He smiled, sharp as broken glass.

The vultures who’d circled their estate, who’d suggested obscenities wrapped in polite language, who’d thought desperation made them prey.

They were about to learn what happened when you threatened what belonged to him.

The remaining gold would go toward settling his family’s debts, the ones that had been crushing Selene, that had driven her to exhaustion and despair.

And once those were cleared...

Well.

Debts could be transferred. Bought. Sold.

Just like he’d done with Rothgar.

He wondered how those creditors would feel when they discovered their loans had been purchased by someone who had no interest in collecting payment.

Someone who simply wanted to watch them squirm.

His fingers drummed once against the windowsill, a single measured beat.

Outside, the world continued turning.

Inside, Alaric prepared for the final act.

The pieces were all in position.

The trap had closed.

Now came the part where he made everyone understand exactly what that meant.

His reflection stared back at him from the window glass, crimson eyes burning with quiet, terrifying satisfaction.

Let’s see them threaten what’s mine again.