Lann watched the hesitant steps of the dwarf financier, who was almost a partner, and the intelligence chief sitting across from him at the table with a smirk.

A sense of unease surged in his heart.

"You just said, my..."

Lann’s glass was still raised in mid-air, but his finely crafted face turned to look at Taler with a blank expression.

"Savings?"

Taler raised his large wooden cup filled with Redanian beer, using the drinking motion to cover his face, as if trying to hide his smile.

Yet the stifled laughing sound couldn’t be concealed, and the spilled chilled Redanian beer dampened his collar.

Even with the dwarf’s short legs and Shilton’s hesitant steps like walking to the gallows, he had finally made his way from the guest room door to the table.

The dwarf’s short and stout body was supposed to resemble an iron pile or an oak barrel filled with wine.

But now Shilton looked wilted like a frost-beaten eggplant, his chin nearly touching his chest.

From this angle, he resembled a meatball.

He walked over to Lann’s table with a sigh and a hop of his short legs, plopping his butt onto the bench.

"Laugh at me again, and I’ll hammer your front teeth down your throat!"

Shilton Giancardi, a dwarf financier who had mingled in human society for many years, first aimed an angry insult at the intelligence chief across the table.

After cursing, he turned with a face full of apology and regret to the Demon Hunter beside him.

His lips, hidden by a thick red beard, moved slightly.

"It’s just... um, how shall I put this..."

His eyes wandered under Lann’s gaze.

The more he did so, the worse Lann felt.

Beside him, Taler seemed to finally realize the etiquette expected from the first one seated at the table.

He raised his hand to call Gatis to bring some snacks, and seeing the three at the table, Gatis also provided three silver forks with the dishes.

The small tavern in this village was increasingly resembling a wealthy merchant club in a big city.

"Let me be blunt..."

Seeing Shilton’s muddled behavior, Taler interjected.

But was immediately interrupted by the red-bearded dwarf.

"Shut up, please!"

Taking a deep breath, Shilton mustered the courage to look directly at the blinking Lann, as if finally resigned to his fate.

"Lann, I... I got your personal account investment into trouble... the funds have issues."

After saying this, Shilton let out a long sigh, as if resigned, relieved from a burden, or perhaps his own spirit.

His entire demeanor slumped.

He mumbled with his head down: "Whatever you decide to do with me, I won’t say a word. But if you give me some time, I’ll patch the gap even if I have to borrow money from home."

Shilton had been mingling in human society for so long that even his dwarven speech habits had changed for socializing. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

But now, troubled and restless, he was back to his constant use of "I."

"Well, no..." Lann had a rough guess of the problem now, and he opened his mouth, "Shilton, are you talking about my personal fund? What exactly went wrong?"

"I, I ran that personal fund too aggressively."

Now deflated, Shilton simply resigned himself and continued speaking.

His hands twisted his fiery red beard into a tangled mess.

"You know how exciting it is for investors to have a fund they can maneuver freely."

"I used that fund to invest widely, acquiring assets and shares, including shares in a shipping company in Novigrad and a ferry company on the Ponta River, and..."

Shilton listed many companies and assets.

All of them seemed quite promising.

"But didn’t I tell you not to worry about returns?"

Yet Lann never cared much about money from the start, or rather, after getting out of his initial predicament, he no longer cared about it.

Taler, sitting to the side, responded to Lann while using a silver fork to eat the newly served cheese with ham slices.

"Even if a financier isn’t greedy, you can’t expect him to resist investing when he has liquid funds in hand, can you?"

"Yes, I couldn’t resist." Shilton admitted his mistake, bowing his head, "I unwittingly expanded too fast and too wide."

"That personal fund’s source is easy to trace, and he’s a manager of the Valerian Steel Merchants Association, already a notable figure."

Taler gestured with the silver fork in his hand, pointing at Shilton, while explaining the situation beyond finance to Lann.

"When everyone knew it was your personal fund, its operations flowed practically unhindered policy-wise, faster than other funds, you understand?"

Taler emphasized "your," highlighting the importance.

Lann certainly understood that his prestige and influence from the Sodden Mountain battlefield were still unforgettable to any informed person.

Giving a green light to his personal fund was not even a deliberate gesture of goodwill.

The fund operates between multiple Northern Countries, and documents that usually take ten days to half a month to process might, in Shilton’s hands, be completed on the same day of application.

Just as a thrilling and skillful fight could fascinate Lann, this rapid financial turnover captivated Shilton, the controller.

And amid continuous success and constant stimulus, he forgot what Lann initially said about ’not caring about the rate of return.’

If Shilton weren’t ambitious in the financial sector, he wouldn’t have left Giancardi Bank to become the manager of the Valerian Steel Merchants Association.

With a ’bang,’ Shilton placed the personal fund ledger on the table, pushing it silently towards Lann.

The Demon Hunter quickly began to flip through it.

He wasn’t trained in accounting, just a humanities student.

But with his cognitive processor now unlocked to the [Human Union-Junior High] level, analyzing this ledger wasn’t any harder than merely memorizing it.

Like casually flipping through a book, the ledger’s pages ’rustled’ by.

And moments later, from this most direct record, Lann already knew what was happening with his personal fund.

Indeed, it was exactly as Shilton had candidly stated initially—disrupted cash flow.

Handling a large sum of assets, value increase is almost inevitable... unless interrupted by someone else’s financial operations.

In Shilton’s financial operation traces, Lann could sense his increasing joy and decreasing alertness.

Starting with cautious investments, gradually lured by the thrill of successful investments and rapid asset growth.

After one investment succeeded, it rushed into the next project.

Even the equity and assets obtained from the previous project were mortgaged to lend money from the bank, then invested in the next venture.

Continuous profitability is fine, but such an ideal condition is rare.

A slight loss isn’t a problem, as long as loans aren’t too high; the fund itself will operate fine.

In fact, this kind of operation can enhance the fund’s vitality.

However... it seemed Shilton became overly aggressive later in his investment behavior.

To the extent that, at one point in the cash flow, a company invested in collapsed, causing the subsequent funds to get stuck.

Lann’s funds and assets were technically still there. But without new money entering the circulation to revitalize the cash flow, these would eventually disappear.

This is one of the reasons many companies operate well one day and declare bankruptcy the next.

"You got played."

Lann closed the ledger, spoke reluctantly with pursed lips.

"Your personality flaw was exploited; they set up a long series of traps to lead you to this point."

Those successive investment successes were like grains strewn on the road to lure a rooster into a trap.

"Huh?"

Shilton looked up from his dejected state, confusedly staring at Lann.

As someone whose flaw of being greedy was exploited, leading him into a trap, Shilton, at this moment, was the most blinded.

The Dwarf jumped off his stool, took the ledger, speaking in a low voice.

"Just short thirty-two thousand Oren Coins! Just miss that, and I can revive these assets!"

Shilton had faced investment failures before, and even larger-scale ones. But this time, he involved his friend Lann’s funds.

That was why he felt unable to speak.

In reality, managing affairs for the Valerian Steel Merchants Association was his main business.

For the rapidly expanding Valerian Steel Merchants Association, this amount of money was just a tiny fraction.

Yet he still came to Lann personally, to confess his mistake face-to-face.

"I’ll borrow from my hometown to revive it, so no need to worry, buddy."

At this point, Shilton instead comforted Lann, patting his arm.

And finally, the Red-bearded Dwarf pursed his lips.

"Once I fix this mess... you should find another fund manager."

"No, it’s unnecessary, Shilton."

Lann patted the Dwarf’s shoulder.

"You just got played; the ledger itself is flawless."

"But I’m embarrassed to manage your personal fund anymore," Shilton shook his head stubbornly.

"Besides... maybe people indeed have limits. Balancing both the association and personal fund was my overestimation. Exactly as you said, I got played by someone. That was due to insufficient energy and my bad habits, leading to the trap."

"Sorry, Lann. I guess I’m truly unfit to manage your personal fund any longer."

After speaking, the Red-bearded Dwarf sighed and headed back towards the guest room.

But halfway, he turned back, frowning anxiously.

Gritting his teeth, he pressed the silver fork, originally meant to be placed by the dish, heavily onto the table.