If Lucas didn't pay his debt on this midnight, his tranquil family would soon face extortion no one could imagine from the abusive empire. With a worn appearance and bagged eyes, he woke up from a 2-hour sleep and passed the breakfast for work. Everyone else slept unfazed, while he flooded his thoughts with saving both his family and his ancestor's land.
My ancestors trusted me with their treasure, and it would be the end of our ruling if I let it go, He thought.
He started his work, by managing the papers of the land and the farmer's pre-plotted tasks. He could still have time later to think of opportunities soon before the deadline. However, things didn't go as he expected.
The mountains of letters to sign weren't even read. The documents passed him without his comprehension. He only skimmed these important papers with his limp hands, still thinking of other ways he could do to pay his debt.
Before his seven-hour shift ended, a breathless farmer, his clammy hands trembling and his quivering body sweating, barged into his office and shouted, "Sir, we're having no profits today! Not even a single merchant came to trade! It's strange, knowing that there's no ongoing festivals today."
Usually, merchants were absent for negotiations when the empire was currently having any kind of fiesta, a parade, or an offering for the mighty knights of heroes that defended the place. It was the only time that merchants abused their profit by selling their goods within the empire walls. Though some of them still pass through Wallenstein's territory, Lucas already knew the reason why they were suffering this inadequate loss.
"I see. They already know about this. How absurd of me," Lucas said, chuckling at first, his tears crawling down his cheeks after a second.
In his past papers, a memorandum already mentioned Briston's Council Decree 17, the patrol of the empire's guards at the territory borders, limiting transactions between merchants and other countries, a martial law. When he gazed at the calendar on the nearby desk, he saw similarities with the date when the document will be applied. With this rule ongoing, it would be nearly impossible for their family to escape.
"S–Sir Lucas, you're crying!"
"Kraig… I heard you had a distant family from the Droizar palace. If you don't see me in this office tomorrow, please inform every other worker and plan your escape."
"Escape? What's going to happen?" Craig tilted his head out of confusion.
Lucas crossed his arms over his work desk and rested his head on it, his eyes full of tears buried on his sleeves. With a lifeless voice, he replied, "I would like to be alone for a minute…"
Though Kraig noticed Lucas's despair and wanted to comfort him, there was nothing he could do to make things better for him. Accepting his request, he left the room, closed the doors, and only leaned his back on the nearby wall. He heard Lucas's wailing, reverberating through the walls.
"Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? This is too much… I can't handle this anymore…"
His work started and ended early. Half an hour past one, he ventured into the empire to ask for further help. While holding a sack of coins worth ten thousand grands, the gazes of the poor beneath the dark side alleyways alerted him. For him, it's a daydreaming nightmare, reminding him what his family will go through if he doesn't settle the debt. He didn't wish for this, but it would be better than hanging their heads in the Estafa parade.
While walking towards his destination, Lucas pressed his lips and thought, I never did anything wrong. I never gained any financial or personal assets with deception; those pigs did.
He knocked on a manor's gate owned by, in his words, a pig. Though he didn't want to seek help from them, he didn't hesitate to request any assistance for his family. He couldn't ask his fellow farmers since it was impossible to help due to the current trading crisis.
"Duke Hamalace! Please grant my request! I need your urgent assistance, please! Just this once!" He shouted, but no one came out the manor's door. Shaking the gates, he continued, "Please! My family's life is in danger! You're the only one that could help us right now!"
The man he wanted to call came out of the manor in an elegant suit, his sparkling jewels wapping his rounded body. Duke Hamalace looked down with narrowed eyes at him and covered his giggling mouth.
"A noble seeking help from another noble? That's an unusual thing for nobles to do… though usually, it happens when money is involved. Perhaps you're going down at the peak bottom?"
"I need your assistance, Duke Hamalace… I need to borrow a million grand or just a part of it. I need it to save my family."
"A million grand, you say?" He laughed, treating the conversation as a mere joke. "Look at you. You're a noble, yet you slump and dress like wimps on the street. Was that how nobles looked? Pitiful. You're destroying our images."
"I don't care about my appearance. I would sell everything I possess just to save my family and my legacy."
"You're dumb, aren't you? Do you believe I would give you a million grand? You're thinking too little of money. This isn't something like a penny free to lose. It's like I'm giving you the worth of my manor."
"Please… Any amount… It will contribute too much…"
"Any amount?" He giggled and approached the gate. He handed another purse of coins worth ten thousand grands judging from its weight.
Being helped by those he called pigs was unexpected, knowing that these nobles wouldn't even hand any amount to him. After grabbing the purse, his red-appearing eyes widened. With a tearful voice, he exclaimed, "T–THANK YOU VERY MUCH! T–This already helped my family too much!"
"Don't be elated. This is just a small amount, and you'll pay this back in double. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Since you're a noble, you won't need to sign formalities. All of those who asked me to borrow cash from me, they're prime clients of a gambling den. I hope you're not the same."
Lucas shook his head in denial, knowing that he had only one goal. "I assure you, I'm not that type of man, Duke Hamalace. Even if I'm a noble, I play fair."
Though he left, wiping out his tears and sighing out of relief, the slow smile of hope downturned open when two slum-dwellers ran through him, swiping one bag of coins out of his hand. Their feet outsped Lucas, a race between kangaroos and a turtle. Lacking the energy, he couldn't shout for help. This chase turned one-sided when he slowed down every second.
It didn't take long for him to catch up his breath and hyperventilate. He didn't want to give up, yet the shortage of adrenaline in his body ignored his feelings. His hope, from a spike of relief, drastically dropped into the pitfall of desperation.
Hoping that his first chance was a success, he knocked on every noble's gates that he could encounter, begging for a short assistance. He suffered bruises, shame, and humiliation as he licked each noble's shoe. Lately, after his plan, he knew that no other nobles would volunteer to help a noble on the verge of death. Each empire's nobles aimed for independence, though cooperating with others, intending to drag them down.
The sun painted the sky red when he finished his rounds. Left empty, he started and ended with the same amount in his palm. Lost all hope, he walked towards the empire's gate, his shoulders slumping, his eyes dulled. He thought,
What should I do? I'm lost. Should I beg Your Majesty for installments? No, that wouldn't do. I'm already threatened to do this. Heh! Who's going to help an honest noble like me? I've helped those who are in need, yet this is how fate pays me. This is full of crap! Look at me, Finality! I'll crush this thing called fate!
Still clinging to saving his land, the clucking of chickens from the crowded area beside the street echoed into his ears. When he danced into the crowd to get to the point of interest, a ring with two fighting roosters welcomed him. Gambling, the enemy of odds which he promised Hamalace not to do, was his only last hope to save his family.
I'm a human of my word, but… If being honest will make me lose everything, even those who I love, I'll be glad to offer my soul to the devil. This is my only chance to save my family.
No doubt, he bet all his coins into the fight. First, the rooster he chose won. Glimmers appeared in his eyes when he saw his ten thousand grand being doubled. In the second fight with his all-in bet, his smile built genuinely and lit up his face. His money doubled again. In this game, he thought it was the outward appearance that made the rooster look powerful. He used his management experience to judge the strong and the weak.
On his third try, he chose the same rooster twice in a row, offering the remaining hope to an unintelligent creature. A book shouldn't be judged by its cover, but it's not applied in gambling. His fingers twitched with compulsive and repetitive movements. A darting gaze from his bright brown eyes was fixed on the rooster entering the ring. The fight started. Lucas shook the fence alongside the crowd's cheer.
However, unlike most humans, chickens know when to surrender. The roster he chose halted its movements in the middle of the fight, the reason… unknown. Lucas's energy was lost to emptiness, the glow in his eyes dimmed into blankness. The opponent pecked into its body, its heart in the last blow. The rooster, portraying his chance to live, fell to the ground and lost its pulse.
The host declared the victor, and the crowd wooed all around, but Lucas… fell into silence for seconds. He clenched his jaws and kneeled on the ground. Shivering, only he heard his moan internally, tears falling down his eyes. No one cared about him or how important it was for him to win. In the end, they all see themselves as each other's enemies.
I'm done. I don't want to live anymore.
As the last light left by the sun vanished below the horizon, Lucas went 'home' in his last moment, anticipating death as his last resort. Azalea, with circles under her eyes, lost her speech momentarily, staring at Lucas's tear-flooded face. She also witnessed the gruesome desperation he did through his bruises and bent neck like he was telling her 'It's over.'
"Azalea… I'm done… Please take care of the land for me… I'll offer myself to the king so that he can save you, Quimora, Zeus…"
Azalea hid her teary eyes below her bang, unseen by Lucas. With her remaining strength, she clenched her trembling fists and gritted her teeth. She was never angry with Lucas, and he knew it… not until she approached him and slapped him into reality.
"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, LUCAS!? OFFERING YOURSELF TO DIE? I NEVER WISHED FOR OUR FAMILY TO BE INCOMPLETE!" She shouted, her voice cracking from weakness.
"Azalea…"
Azalea lighty pounded her fist onto his fists, losing her strength gradually. "I don't care about your pride, your salvation, and the preservation of your family treasure. I never wanted to be the princess like you promised. But please… I don't want to lose anyone… This is my only wish…" She buried her eyes into Lucas's shoulder and wept. As they both felt their hearts rushing rapidly, Lucas rubbed her back and cried with her.
"I'm… sorry… I no longer have choices…"
"No Lucas, you're wrong. You're ignoring one important choice you can make," she said, pulling her head away and darting a gaze to his eye. "You can't be blindly eliminating choices. Either we suffer the consequences of the kingdom or leave this place. I don't care what you choose. As long as we're inseparable, I'm already content."
"No, they both have risks… The border has already been covered by the empire's guards… It will be impossible for us to leave."
"Legacies have their ends, Lucas. However, you can still start a new one afterward. You might've forgotten, but I was once a magician before we became a family. Your decision was the only thing I'm waiting for."
Once you leave your responsibility, it will hunt and haunt you until death. His belief in his family's karma was portrayed by his ancestor's past documents and real-life incidents. One of his grandfathers declared bankruptcy for his gain and was hit with thunder. His uncle also suffered unconditional accidents when he left his family without notice and became food for the forest wolves. This covered his heart in fear until Azalea said to him,
"Beliefs are beliefs. The pre-plotted future is just a possibility. The only one who could write your story was you."
Her eyes of wonder digged into his memories, erasing all hints of dangerous possibilities he was thinking. Soon, the thread that binds him to his legacy was cut by her words. The thought of saving his family cured the blindness wrapping his soul in his family's myth. Realizing this, he stuttered…
"I… will do my best… to save this family and escape…"
Azalea showed a faint smile and hugged him. However, this dramatic turn of events halted into something more tragic when Zeus breathlessly barged out of Quimora's room. Zeus's trembling lips and chin confused his parents, their eyebrows squished together until he revealed the horrid situation.
"MOTHER! FATHER! QUIMORA WAS MISSING!"
The next day…
No one came to remind them of their debt…
There was only one reason why, and Lucas already knew it…
They already paid their debt unknowingly…