After a morning of awkwardness, Richard and Cindy ended up traveling together, it was still a weekday and the young witch still had to go to college.

"You had enough money to buy and maintain this bike in secret? Are you really broke?"

The young witch asked while clinging tightly onto Richard’s back.

"What? Can’t someone with a few million have a secret stash?"

"I don’t think you need magic or to enter this world, couldn’t you just silently disappear to the Bahamas or something?"

Cindy’s thoughts were normal, after all, unlike witches who had only a few places to stay, moreover, her own financial situation being barely in the middle class. Seeing Richard think that he has nothing despite having... probably a few million dollars stashed away was the classic "separated from reality" thinking that rich people had.

"The world runs on money! More money means more influence! More influence means more eyes on you! Nobody would care if a broke man disappeared out of nowhere, if he had debts, depending on how much, he would just be written off as a loss!"

Answering the young witch, Richard explained his own situation, rich men have rich problems much like how poor men have their own.

True, without money, you struggle to even live, you have to think about how to pay the next bill while trying to make up the difference with the loans and maxed out credit cards that still need to be paid.

While such problems are easier to grasp for the majority, the problems of those with money were not all too different.

Richard had lived the life of being broke, he built his own wealth with his own hands and lost it overnight.

While his situation is abnormal, the fact still remains that those with wealth suffer from problems that are equally as bad as those that people without wealth do.

They only take different forms-

The poor suffer from their own lack of money, they starve, are unable to enjoy luxuries others do and could only salivate at the life others live.

But the rich- especially those like Richard who built their own empire rather than inheriting it, the life he has was balanced on profits.

While he did have a million in store, his face and identity were known to all.

Most of the millions he stashed away for a rainy day were secretly kept under a different name. One that was managed by his "trusted people".

But with how the current situation around "Damien Dixon" was proceeding, the likelihood of him getting away scott free while accessing those funds was low.

The only things he had left was the money and items he stored anonymously throughout various storage lockers.

Moreover, only half of those lockers were bought by Damien Dixon under a pseudonym. The rest were done by associates and those were likely compromised.

If that weren’t enough, some of the people who made deals with Damien personally were likely aware of who was making the purchase despite Damien hiding his identity.

The bike he was driving was from a storage locker whose owner had died and the deal was made with the man’s drug addict son. The transfer was done quietly and the druggy was already dead- he overdosed months ago.

"How much do you have then?"

Cindy did not bother to try and find any lies in Richard’s words, instead, she immediately asked him how much money he still had on him.

"A couple hundred"

Richard answered with an indifferent voice but Cindy pushed on-

"Dollars?"

She was really trying to find out his current net worth. But Richard was already used to such questions, most of the college girls he dealt with when he was still studying were the same.

Not that it’s a bad thing, after all, it’s normal to try and see if a relationship is going to drag you into debt. In this economy? Taking in a deadweight with tons of debt was nothing less than a death sentence!

Of course, Richard was not going to give her the truth, so he answered with words that she was not going to understand-

"Straps"

But the moment his words reached Cindy’s ears, the young witch’s mood shifted. The hands that were simply hanging on for dear life had shifted.

"You-"

Unfortunately, Richard could only take the young witches actions without being able to do anything. After all, driving safely was of UTMOST IMPORTANCE.

Even though he was being assaulted, it’s not like Cindy would be mad enough to-

*touch*

Her hands did not hesitate, the aversion she showed vanished as her hands that maintained a sense of "distance" had completely wrapped around him in a VERY sensual way. Then, as if unsatisfied with her own actions, she moved closer, her breasts were purposely pressed onto his back.

It was not the type of contact that was "unavoidable" it was the the purposeful contact that showed a certain level of intent behind it.

Then, she leaned her face as close as the helmet allows and whispered-

"... marry me"

*gulp*

[Brilliant use of magic]

The goddess commended Cindy but Richard really wanted to ask why people would use such grand abilities for something so...

[You used your excess money for trivial things as well, the little wench is simply doing the same thing. You bought a practically useless bike while she uses her magic to seduce you.]

’I worked hard for my money! Also! The Yamaha Vmax is not a useless bike! It’s a state of the art masterpiece of a muscle cruiser that is both fast and strong and-’

[And it was used by your favorite blondie in one of your favorite anime, I see this as the bigger reason why you have it. After all, why would you get it in silver if your favorite color is black?]

’...’

While Richard was left speechless by the mindreading deity, Cindy had not stopped with her advances.

"Let’s get married and fly off to some south east asian country"

"Why south east asia?"

"Your money would have more worth there, moreover, we could easily use the many connections I have to set up shop both in the magical and normal worlds"

The young witches explanation was sound but-

"Why don’t you do it yourself"

Richard asked, after all, if she had the connections, why not just do it herself?

"Money is king"

Was Cindy’s answer but that was not really a problem is it? Money is important but even an infinite amount of wealth would be nothing more than a beacon for crime if you don’t have the connections to back it up.

Hell, Richard’s wealth was built from scratch-

[Not everyone has the talent you do, descendant of Merlin, how many times do I have to repeat to you, your success was a product of talent and ability. While you did not use any form of magic or sorcery, your own wits and ability got you to where you are]

Richard was left silent at the scolding of the goddess.

Indeed, he was not the smartest nor was he the most capable of people in the world-

[And that is where you are wrong, you view yourself as an "average person", that in itself is the reason why you ended up the way you are now.]

The Goddess’ words hit hard, but Richard still can’t come to terms with the Goddess’ view.

He was special?

He was talented?

Yes, he built a billion dollar company in less than a decade but that was not built upon his own hands. He didn’t create nor develop anything new. All he did was discover talents, got them together and led them to create the company.

He was nothing more than a middleman who saw a product others believed to be trashed, invested in it, marketed it and then he made profit out of the hard work of others.

[If you didn’t notice them, no one would have, maybe some would but not at the scale you had achieved. Merlin did not find Arthur AFTER he pulled the sword out of the stone, he PUSHED Arthur to try, throughout the ages, the tale was twisted in various ways- but the truth was that Merlin discovered Arthur’s talent and then created the Legend]

’That does not explain why I have the same ability as him. You tell me that Merlin’s talent is reflected in me, am I a descendant or a clone? I don’t believe that a descendant of Merlin would have his talents!’

[True, based on the genetics you know, things like talent are not inherited, but what made Merlin who he was is not his own genius. His genius was merely a product of his own heritage.]

When the Goddess reached that point, Richard quickly grasped what she meant-

’The incubus powers?’

[Good boy! The Incubus and Succubus need to see through their targets. Much like how humans could understand whether something is poisonous, dangerous or the like, the demons who feast on others have the capability to "see" the true "worth" of their targets. Merlin and you, both of you show great power not because you were born with talent, but because your inherent nature as Incubi seeped through the human blood. Your power was subtly influencing your thoughts and actions even before your true awakening]

Richard maintained his cool, it was fortunate that he was driving. One of the things he picked up while living as Damien was the subconscious calmness when driving.

Of course, his emotions were more volatile when outside the car but while driving? He could calm himself down no matter what.

It was a dangerous state but one that allowed him to get through tough times through a quick drive.

"Richard~ how about we take a detour? You know, I’m actually using a spell to skip classes. A college wide formation that makes people believe that I’m present when in fact, I’m just playing around somewhere~ I was actually planning to run away from the hot potato Damien Dixon but- I wouldn’t mind showing Richard Rex a good time~♥️"

The words whispered by Cindy in a sultry tone left him speechless, if the incubus revelation wasn’t enough. He was also made to realize how a girl he thought he could trust was planning on ditching him-

Not that it would be much of a problem but that made it even harder to just accept her...

[What’s stopping you? You’ve spent a decade with a toxic bitch and now, you have a woman who you could manipulate and is willing to be manipulated.]

’I think I’m done with women who are only after my money’

[So? What are you going to do now?]

The goddess did not try to control his action, she did not dictate what he had to do. All she did was present him a question and when he was given such a problem-

"..."

Richard was left speechless, usually he would be able to make a choice but somehow-

[You’ve regressed to a child, you’ve lost your edge. Even if you say that you’ve gotten over her, Damien Dixon who built an empire in less than a decade is now shutting himself out. All that’s left is an empty shell, Richard Rex who has talent but no will, no guts, no motivation]

"..."

[How about using the witch as a motivator? While revenge seems like the "expected" route. The truth is, you don’t actually want to go through with it right?]

The Goddess hit the nail in the head, as expected of a being who could read minds.

Richard really had no goal at the moment, the things that happened in his life were too sudden and too extreme.

His desires out of sync with his mind, he acted based on a "logical path" that he believed was what "Damien Dixon would do".

Yet, he hesitated, the moment he got some free time to think, his mind that was fully capable of thinking about lots of ideas and plans- the mind that built an empire was just too capable.

That very mind became the crutch that stopped him from truly acting.

The "logical path" was met with a "logical dilemma".

What if he finished his revenge? What then?

Most people would face such questions AFTER they acted but Richard was not normal. He really was "something special".

’I hate it when I have to admit things...’

[Only when you accept yourself will you be able to truly act]

’You’ve said that before right? How many times is that’

[I’m merely redirecting you to a "better path", while it’s not perfect, it is one that would surely lead to the unknown]

’You’re gonna kill me if you do that’

[Better than going around in circles, talents like you end up running into problems you create yourself. You are like an assembly of geniuses, it could change the world but only AFTER the many intellectual minds find a common ground- until then, it would be nothing more than circular debate]

’But since it’s my own mind- I’m just endlessly fooling myself? Is that what you want to say?’

[Yes]

Richard let out a sigh, Cindy did not stop her "seduction" while the young man was having a moment with the Goddess who is his patron.

"Fine, let’s get out of this city"

With those words, Cindy shut up, a wide grin appeared on her face as her arms wrapped around even more tightly around Richard’s body.

"Sure babe~♥️"

"..."