Upon hearing Gawain's reflexive reply, the mysterious woman who wore a veil was stunned for a moment as she batted her eyes in confusion. "My name is Melita Ponia. This pronunciation may indeed be a little different from the names commonly used in northern regions…"
Gawain quickly recovered from his distracted line of thought. "Oh, sorry. Don't mind me. I'm the one who didn't pronounce it correctly."
He coughed in an effort to regain his seriousness (and to keep the atmosphere from becoming too awkward). "So what brings an agent from the Mithril Vault here so late at night and that you even had to come through the window for?"
The woman jumped down from the window sill and came up to Gawain. "I have no choice but to come in through the window. After all, I don't know how many eyes are watching this place. And since the thing you left in the Mithril Vault is 'top secret', according to the agreement, this process, regardless of whether you are depositing or withdrawing, must be kept confidential."
She stared at Gawain with eyes that gave off a mild purple gleam under the night sky. Although her face covered by the veil hid her expression, her eyes were obviously watching intently.
Gawain's mind flew into cerebration.
He knew about the Mithril Vault. Or more accurately, the inherited memory contained records related to the Mithril Vault.
The Mithril Vault was not some mysterious organization. In fact, the vast majority of intelligent creatures in this world knew of its existence, but at the same time, no one would dare to say that they knew what this 'Vault' truly looked like.
On the surface, it was a treasury with comprehensive services. It could help you store money and keep your treasures. As long as you paid the fees, you could safely leave anything to them for safekeeping. At least, that was what the Mithril Vault was made known to be. In fact, up till today, there had been no news of things being lost from the Mithril Vault. At the same time, the Mithril Vault also provided lending services. They had countless branches and agents in this world. As long as people met a certain level of creditworthiness, anyone could find them easily and borrow money or other things from them. There were only two things to be taken note of. Firstly, how much you could borrow depended entirely on how the Mithril Vault 'rated' you, and this rating criteria had never been made public. Secondly, you must pay it back.
Mithril Vault would ensure that every single coin it lent out would be recovered with interest.
Just as no one had ever heard of items being lost from the Mithril Vault, no one had ever heard of cases where a debt to Mithril Vault was not paid. There was a rumor of a cunning fire elemental lord who tried to challenge this rule. Even though elemental creatures did not need money, this unconventional elemental lord still borrowed a huge sum from the Mithril Vault. Then it returned to the elemental world, intending to laugh at the mortal world. But in the end, it still had to pay its debt.
On the third day after his debt was due, the elemental lord's core and its elemental fragments of elementals appeared at an auction in the north. The money obtained from the auction turned out to be equal to the sum of his debts and late payment fees.
It was evident that the Mithril Vault not only dealt with humans but also with all intelligent races of this world. Anyone who needed financial help was a potential client of the Mithril Vault. Even the strange elves in the south and the dwarves in the east, who were as tough as rock, were no exception (it was said that the Mithril Vault even had branches in the kobold caves). No one knew which race founded this organization—human, elves, or what have you. It just existed. Even the Dark Wave seven hundred years ago had failed to impact its operation. In fact, a loan was taken for the establishment of Anzu Kingdom, but at least Charlie I paid the money back in the end.
The vault's agent was still watching Gawain curiously, who remained poised as he quickly sorted out the messy thoughts in his mind. He realized that this unexpected visitor tonight probably came because of a deal made seven hundred years ago. Gawain Cecil, had evidently been a client of the Mithril Vault, but unfortunately…
There was no memory of this!
Gawain had no idea what the ancestor of Cecil Clan had kept in the Mithril Vault seven hundred years ago!
An idea quickly came to him. He was going to come up with an excuse to hide his coming up empty on searching the memory, but as the words were about to leave his mouth, he noticed My Little Pony's scrutinizing gaze, and it stopped him as he held back the urge to say it.
This woman was very mysterious. Before he understood more about her, he had to reduce the number of variables. Lying might be inconvenient as there were some special races that had the special talents of detecting lies.
He calmed down and looked into Melita's eyes. "What did I keep back then?"
"You don't remember?" Melita's eyes curved slightly, as though she was smiling. "Is it because you've slept too long?"
"I slept for seven hundred years. I probably did forget some things." Gawain knocked on his head. "Speaking of which, even if the person dies, do you still hold the items for safekeeping?"
"Usually, the death of the client indicates the end of the arrangement. After that, the entrusted item will be dealt with in two ways. If there is an assigned heir, we will give the entrusted item to the heir. If there is no legal heir, the entrusted item would be returned to the Mithril Vault." Merita was really smiling. She raised her hand slightly, and an exquisite little safe deposit box appeared in her hand. "But the things you kept then were very special. You bought an indefinite storage service for it. This means that as long as the Mithril Vault is still running, your item will be stored permanently, and only you can retrieve it."
She added, "You paid a lot for this service. When news of your death came, we thought this would end up as an annoying dormant bank account. But now it seems that nothing is certain."
Gawain frowned, realizing that the whole matter might be more complicated than he had initially imagined.
But this was not the time to think about these things. First, he must get that item before he could try to understand this.
"Can I have the item back?"
"You don't remember the arrangement then. This is indeed quite a pickle. But rest assured, the Mithril Vault has encountered all kinds of problems before. We have plenty of experience and are able to deal with any cases." Melita said as she held the safe deposit box in her hands. "Forgetting is only a trivial problem. Please place your hand on this rune. This ancient magic can naturally verify your identity."
Gawain pondered for about two seconds. Upon mustering the knight's skill of Danger Detection, he did not sense any danger from the safe deposit box, and there was no curse on the rune or other negative energy fluctuations. After confirming this, he placed his hand on the rune that looked like a paw print.
A faint wave of heat transmitted through his skin. The little safe deposit box clicked, and the lid opened.
"That's it?" Gawain asked, sounding surprised.
Merita smiled. "It's Mithril Vault's mission to do our best to enhance the convenience for clients. This can help clients to pay their bills quicker. Of course, your bills were already paid seven hundred years ago."
Then, she opened the box completely and brought it forward to Gawain. Gawain looked down and found that there was only one crystal inside that had lost its shine.
Wait. Why does this crystal look so familiar?
Gawain temporarily suppressed his questions and looked up at Merita. "By the way, why would you come find me now? Was this also part of the agreement?"
"No." Melita shook her head slightly. "It's just that we also needed some time to verify your resurrection. Initially, I wanted to meet you on your way to the capital, but the route that you took was really… too circuitous. I didn't know what you planned to do, so I decided to just wait for you in the capital. Anyways, I have been waiting here for a long time. The rice in the capital is very expensive and the rent isn't cheap. But seeing as you're a VIP client, we won't charge you for this."
Gawain: "…"
What was the point of bringing it up then!
Gawain tilted his head and said unhurriedly, "Rice is indeed very expensive in the capital. The bodyguard in my care eats a lot too. After you just injured her, I'm afraid the cost of healing will not be cheap. Likewise, I won't ask you to pay for this either."
Melita: "…"
My Little Pony returned a stiff smile since he would not be able to see through the veil anyways. Then she shook her head, raised her hand to pass him something. "So Mr. Gawain Cecil, this transaction is successfully completed. As a VIP client of Mithril Vault, you will receive a gift."
Gawain took it curiously and realized it was a silvery white ring. "What is this?"
"The Mithril Ring. All VIP clients will get it after completing their first transaction. With it, you can always contact your exclusive agent, the VIP executive. If you encounter any financial difficulties in the future, or if there is a treasure that you need to entrust for safekeeping, you can contact me directly. Of course, if it is for the general transaction for small sums, you can also take this ring directly to the nearest Mithril Vault branch, and you'll be able to get good deals with it."
With that said, she turned to the window where she came from.
Gawain held up the ring in his hand. "Well, I hope I'll never have to borrow from you."
Merita had stepped onto the windowsill again. Hearing that, she turned her head and smiled. "Trust me, Mr. Gawain. Everyone can face financial problems. Mithril Vault will always welcome clients in need."
Gawain waved her off upon hearing the same rhetoric that was used to promote credit cards in his life. "Okay okay okay, I got it. Miss My Little Pony. You should get back quickly. The rice in the capital is really quite expensive."
Melita's foot slipped. Perhaps it was hearing about the price of rice or 'My Little Pony', but she did not turn back this time as she simply vanished into the air.
A moment later, she appeared in a small attic on the top floor of the mansion.
This was a place where people would not normally come to. It was used to store miscellaneous things, and now there were some extra bedding, pillows, pans, bowls, ladles, and pots, and what have you.
Merita did not lie. She did wait here for a long time…
As she packed her luggage, the agent lady shook her head. "Luckily, it was your rice that I ate."