INFINITY MONEY SYSTEM: Buying My Way to the Watchers' Legion

CHAPTER 8

 

Alessandro stood in the center of the devastated alley, his tattered black robes hanging from his frame like the remnants of a broken past. Blood still trickled from the cut above his eye, but he made no move to wipe it away. His jaw was set with determination, his intelligent eyes fixed on Isabella with unwavering intensity.

"Lady Isabella," he said firmly, straightening despite his injuries. "I understand your skepticism, but I believe you're making a mistake by refusing me. I'm an Adept Rank awakener—Level 3 to be precise. I'm also a certified Tier-3 Alchemist with extensive knowledge of rare pill formulations and—"

"I don't care if you're a Tier-5 Grandmaster Alchemist who can brew immortality elixirs," Isabella interrupted, her voice cutting like ice. "The Watchers' Legion doesn't need complications. You're a disowned noble with obvious baggage, questionable loyalties, and probably a dozen enemies hunting you. Taking you in would be like adopting a diseased rat and expecting it not to infect the entire household."

Alessandro's face flushed with humiliation, but he didn't back down. "My skills could—"

"Your skills mean nothing if they come attached to problems I don't want to deal with," Isabella continued coldly. "I have goals, Alessandro Santoro. Clear, focused goals. Adding some desperate outcast who'll draw his family's ire doesn't serve those goals. It's a burden I refuse to carry."

Envoy Marcus cleared his throat awkwardly. "Lady Isabella, perhaps we should reconsider. An Adept Rank awakener and alchemist is actually quite valuable. The resources he could produce—"

"Marcus," Isabella's ice-blue eyes turned on him. "When I want your opinion on recruitment decisions, I'll ask for it. Until then, keep your mouth shut."

Marcus flinched and fell silent immediately.

Alessandro's hands clenched into fists at his sides. Inside his mind, another voice spoke—ancient, amused, emanating from the worn ring on his finger that no one else seemed to notice.

"She's testing you, boy. Probing for weakness. Show her you're desperate, and she'll crush you like the insect she believes you to be. But show persistence, calculated humility... that might intrigue her."

Alessandro took a slow breath, forcing his anger down. He bowed deeply, lower than before, holding the position long enough to demonstrate genuine respect rather than perfunctory courtesy.

"Lady Isabella," he said, his voice carefully controlled. "I understand I'm not an ideal candidate. But I'm willing to prove my worth. What would it take for you to accept me into the Watchers' Legion? Name your price, set your conditions—I'll meet them."

Isabella's eyebrow arched. For a moment, something flickered in her expression—calculation, perhaps a hint of cruel amusement. Her lips curved into a cold smile.

"You want to join that badly? Fine." She crossed her arms, her posture radiating absolute confidence. "Pay me one hundred thousand gold coins as an entrance f*e. Do that, and I'll consider your application."

The alley fell silent. Even Marco, who'd been observing quietly, looked surprised.

Alessandro's face went pale. One hundred thousand gold coins. The sum was staggering—enough to fund a small army, enough to purchase an entire estate. For someone who'd been disowned and cast out, who wore tattered robes and bleeding wounds...

"That's absurd!" Marcus protested despite Isabella's earlier warning. "Even noble houses don't charge such entrance fees! You're deliberately—"

"I'm deliberately setting a price that reflects the burden of accepting questionable recruits," Isabella finished. "If he's truly valuable, one hundred thousand gold coins is a reasonable investment. If he can't afford it..." She shrugged dismissively. "Then he's just another piece of trash pretending to be worth something."

Alessandro stood frozen, his mind racing. The voice in his ring spoke again.

"She expects you to fail. To walk away humiliated. Don't give her that satisfaction."

Alessandro lifted his head, meeting Isabella's gaze directly. "I accept."

Isabella blinked, genuine surprise breaking through her icy mask. "What?"

"I accept your condition," Alessandro repeated, his voice steady. "I don't currently have one hundred thousand gold coins. I won't insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise. But I can repay that amount over time. My alchemy skills can produce rare pills worth—"

"Paying over time?" Isabella's laugh was sharp and mocking. "You think I'm running a charity? That I'll extend credit to garbage I don't even trust? Either produce the gold now, or stop wasting my time with pathetic—"

"I'll pay it."

Marco's voice cut through Isabella's tirade like a blade. He stepped forward calmly, reaching into his storage ring. "One hundred thousand gold coins for Alessandro's entrance f*e. Consider it paid in full."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Alessandro's mouth fell open. "You... what? Why would you—"

Isabella stared at Marco, her ice-blue eyes wide with disbelief. "Are you insane? You're paying his entrance f*e? You barely know him! He could be a spy, an assassin, a—"

Marco withdrew a storage pouch and tossed it to Isabella without ceremony. She caught it reflexively, and the moment her fingers touched it, she felt the weight of the gold inside. Opening it confirmed what she already knew—exactly one hundred thousand gold coins, perfectly counted.

"Why?" Alessandro breathed, staring at Marco like he was witnessing a miracle. "I'm a stranger. A disgraced noble you just met. That amount could—"

"Could what?" Marco interrupted calmly. "Buy resources I don't need? Scrolls I already have thousands of? Gold only has value when it's used for something worthwhile." His golden eyes met Alessandro's, and something in that gaze made the alchemist shiver. "You strike me as a worthwhile investment."

[Luxury Expense Detected: 100,000 Gold Coins - Recruitment Investment]

[Reward: 10,000 Luxury Points]

[Total Luxury Points: 16,000]

[Achievement Unlocked: Talent Scout - Invest in potential allies]

Marco smiled slightly as the system confirmation appeared in his mind. Just as he'd suspected. Alessandro wasn't just some random disgraced noble—he was a variable, a piece on the game board worth cultivating. The system's reward confirmed it.

This wasn't charity. This was business.

Isabella closed the pouch slowly, her expression unreadable. When she spoke, her voice was cold and measured. "Fine. The f*e is paid. Alessandro Santoro, you are provisionally accepted into the Watchers' Legion." Her ice-blue eyes bored into him like drills. "But understand this clearly—you are on probation. One suspicious move, one hint of betrayal, one moment where you become more liability than asset, and I will personally end your life. Marco's gold buys you opportunity, not trust. That, you'll have to earn."

Alessandro dropped to one knee, his voice thick with emotion. "Thank you, Lady Isabella. I won't disappoint you."

"You already have by requiring charity," she replied flatly. She turned to Marco, her expression complex—frustration, calculation, and something that might have been grudging respect. "You're either the most generous fool I've ever met, or you see something I don't. I hope for your sake it's the latter."

Marco simply smiled. "Time will tell."

Alessandro rose to his feet, looking between Marco and Isabella with barely contained gratitude. "I don't know how to repay such generosity. One hundred thousand gold coins—I'll work for years to—"

"Don't worry about repayment," Marco interrupted. "Just make yourself useful. That will be sufficient."

"This one is dangerous," the voice in Alessandro's ring whispered. "He doesn't spend fortunes out of kindness. He invests in assets. Make sure you become an asset worth keeping, boy."

Isabella looked at the three of them—herself, Marco, and now Alessandro—and let out a long breath. "Well. I suppose this makes it official." Her voice carried cold finality. "The Watchers' Legion is hereby formed. Three members. One leader—me. One sponsor with more money than sense—Marco. And one charity case on probation—Alessandro."

She turned sharply on her heel, her white hair swirling like snow in wind. "I'm returning to my estate to focus on cultivation. The fortress construction will begin next week. Marco, use your ridiculous wealth to acquire whatever resources we need. Alessandro, prove you're worth the fortune spent on you." She paused at the alley's exit, glancing back with those cold ice-blue eyes. "And both of you remember—I lead the Watchers' Legion. Question my authority even once, and your membership will be permanently terminated. Along with your lives."

Then she was gone, vanishing in a blur of movement that left only disturbed air in her wake.

Envoy Marcus exhaled shakily. "She's going to work you both to death, you realize that? Lady Isabella doesn't accept anything less than perfection."

Marco smiled calmly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Alessandro looked at Marco with awe and confusion warring in his expression. "Why? Truly, why would you invest so much in me?"

Marco met his gaze, and for just a moment, Alessandro saw something in those golden eyes—calculation so cold and precise it could have rivaled Isabella's icy indifference.

"Because I recognize potential when I see it, Alessandro Santoro," Marco said quietly. "And I always invest in potential. Just make sure my investment pays dividends."

Alessandro shivered despite himself, suddenly understanding that Marco Deluca's generosity came with invisible strings attached—expectations that would demand repayment not in gold, but in loyalty, service, and results.