...I do not know what happened, but those are familiar eyes.
They are the cold eyes most people in Orario had five years ago, before we wiped out every last Evilus bastard within our reach. Eyes of hatred and revenge.
"...I do not know what happened, but sit down for now. I cannot offer tea or coffee, but I can at least get you some water. Is there anything you want?"
"...Liquor. Give me something fucking strong."
"Wait here."
Whatever happened, it must have been bad...
First, I pull out the bottle stored deepest among the liquor I had stockpiled in the workshop.
...Heart Breaker. A notoriously vicious drink—supposedly, even lovers who had been going strong would see each other drunk on this stuff, get utterly sick of one another, and break up the next day. I heard even Loki, famous as a booze hound, had been desperate to get hold of it and failed.
"For now, down a glass and tell me what you want to say."
"Thanks."
When I fill a shot glass with the dark golden distilled liquor, he throws it back in a single gulp without hesitation, as though he wants to get drunk as quickly as possible.
"Whew... This is strong. I only had one glass, but I already feel like my eyes are about to roll back."
"So, what happened? What could have happened for you to..."
[Smell so strongly of blood?]
The rain smell had masked it earlier, so I had not noticed. But now that we are inside the smithy and the moisture on him has evaporated in the heat of the forge, I can tell.
The stench of blood is practically pouring off him. From the way he talks, it does not seem like he was the one who killed them, though...
"Ha... Hahahaha... Ahahahahaha... You see..."
"..."
"They are all dead."
"...Who is?"
"The members of our Familia. The ten collectors who worked under me, five fixers who handled jobs like I did, even the captain and vice-captain, who occasionally took requests outside Orario."
"..."
"Seventeen members in total, everyone except me. By the time my goddess and I arrived at the Familia Home, every one of them... every one of them was dead, with holes through their stomachs and chests and one leg cut off."
"...Brutal."
"Maybe they deliberately killed our members while I was away just to show me. On the floor, which had become... a sea of blood, there was one name written in huge letters with ash..."
As though his insides are burning, he keeps pouring down glass after glass of liquor that must be nearly fifty percent alcohol.
"Ashen one..."
"Ashen one..."
"Before I came here, I cleared away the bodies and wiped up all the blood. I guess the blood smell had soaked into me pretty deeply."
"So that was it."
"My goddess must have been truly angry for the first time in a while. Her face had no expression at all. And... and..."
His emotions must have finally overwhelmed him. With his head lowered, I hear him choking back sobs.
"She said she would switch me to Conversion... sob... that I should somehow join another Familia... and make sure... make absolutely sure to get revenge... That there was no way for a back-alley Familia like ours... to rise again... ngh..."
"...Is that so?"
"She said that if I sold all the interests our Familia held, our emergency funds, and even our equipment, I would get at least ten million valis... and that I should use it to buy a weapon, or even as the money needed to join a high-ranking Familia... ngh..."
...It has been a very long time. Even in the back alleys, there had not been so many people slaughtered all at once since we hunted those bastards down.
"Then, when she updated my Falna one last time, the magic slot that had only one space and always been empty, making things so inconvenient, was filled..."
"You do not need to tell m—"
"No, I will tell you. Because now, you are the only person in Orario I can think of as an ally."
"...Why me?"
"Because if someone touches one of your people, you would take revenge no matter what. I want that kind of protection too."
"..."
"The magic is Equivalent Exchange. I do not know exactly what it does yet, but she said it seems to be a spell that grants enhancement effects in exchange for Mind..."
"So what are you going to do about a Familia? Rumors will spread, and the other back-alley Familias will not take you in either."
"The only place I can go now is probably that rabbit's Familia... If I explain what happened and beg them, do you not think it might work out somehow?"
Well... their god is a sucker, and their captain is a sucker too. If he sincerely throws himself at them, it will probably work out somehow.
Still, just in case...
"When you go, give them my name. Their goddess owes me a debt of conscience, so if you mention my name, she will have a hard time refusing you."
"...Thank you, brother."
"That aside, let us move on to business."
"Yes..."
I feel bad for him, but I cannot give him time to rest in a situation like this. I need to keep driving him forward so relentlessly that he cannot even have room for other thoughts.
"A longsword... And..."
"And?"
"Something good for cutting off heads. But can you make a Noble Phantasm with ten million valis?"
A longsword... something good for beheading... and considering his Equivalent Exchange trait and this contract... There is one thing that comes to mind.
"Can you use a curved blade, like a saber?"
"Well, I am confident I can handle most weapons better than the basics. When you fight in the back alleys, there are times when you have to fight with something other than your own weapon."
Hmm... If I make it, it will be a weapon that grows stronger the stronger its owner becomes, in a different direction from Bell's Hestia Knife.
But he is going to be seriously short on money.
"Hmm. Based on my design, you will need at least twice as much money as you have."
"...Huh?"
"You will need around thirty million valis."
"...I can buy on credit, right?"
"Your Familia is not going to have any drop items lying around, and if I cover the full cost of the materials, that leaves you owing twenty million valis. When are you going to pay that back?"
"...Someday?"
Sheesh... What am I supposed to do with this idiot...
"I will knock off five million valis. But for the remaining fifteen million... Let me see, I am being very generous here."
"...Gulp."
"Quarterly installments over ten years, interest-free. That is one and a half million valis a year, or one hundred and twenty-five thousand valis a month."
"Gasp...!"
"I am cutting you an enormous break here, you know? A Noble Phantasm of mine would normally cost far more than thirty million in the first place. I am giving you a discount on top of that, and offering interest-free quarterly payments. Do you realize how generous that is?"
I need to make him enter into a contract to repay the money like this. That way, even after he gets his revenge, he will have time to find another goal.
If nothing else, this guy keeps contracts, promises, and deals no matter what. For that reason alone, he will not be left feeling empty, or live on only because he cannot die after losing every goal he had left.
"So what kind of incredible thing are you making for me that it costs so much?"
"Hmm... A weapon that contains a demon's heart—or, to put it differently here, a floor boss's magic stone—and draws out its power. That is all you need to know for now. If nothing else, its synergy with your magic will be incredible."
If I twist the original story just a little, turning a contract into a transaction and a transaction into equivalent exchange is easy as pie.