“Around-the-clock singing?”

At the thug’s remark, other thugs around began to laugh.

“Your high-quality humor, sir. It’s really witty.”

“Your advanced humor, sir. It’s truly full of wit.”

It felt like I had returned to the laboratory of my past life. In other words, the already unpleasant feeling became even more unpleasant.

It seemed that I needed to eliminate the cause before my mood got worse.

“Stop right there!”

“Don’t hit our dad!”

Despite entering with a swaggering stride, the thugs’ attention was drawn to the boy who had marched ahead.

“Who are you calling a bad uncle?!”

When the thugs, irritated by the boy’s sudden outburst, tried to push him away, the boy tumbled backward as they shoved him.
“Now that I brought the money, don’t hit our dad!”

“Surely…”

However, ‘surely’ meant ‘as expected,’ and the boy immediately pointed at me with his outstretched finger.

“That lady has the money!”

“I’m not a lady!”

I eventually shouted out loudly.

But it was already too late.

At the sound of ‘money,’ the attention of the thugs turned towards me.

In an instant, they surrounded me, and their eyes were fixed on the bag I was holding.

“Hey lady. Is there money in there?”

One thug snatched away my bag.

“Hey! What is all this! Gold and silver[ – ] in a bag!”

The eyes of the thugs widened.

“Hey, Pablo! You’re lucky. Even after paying off your massive gambling debt, you’ll still have some left.”

The excited thugs emptied the contents of my bag while I stood there idly.

If it were just one small boy, it would be different, but there were several of them. Moreover, each one exuded an intimidating aura, as if ready for a fight. No matter how much magic I cast…

“No confidence.”

I muttered to myself, and the thugs who were rummaging through my bag glanced at me.

“What’s this lady saying?”

“She’s talking nonsense.”

Internally chuckling at my perfect humor, I picked up a gold ingot.

“Hey, lady! Keep your hands off the money!”

I immediately struck the thug’s head with the gold ingot. With a ‘thud,’ he fell to the side in the same stiff posture. A few seconds later, a stream of blood flowed down.

“Oops.”

Gold ingots seemed to be too dangerous.

“What, what!”

Momentarily flustered, the leader signaled with his hand.

“Get the extensions, guys! Let’s help this crazy lady come to her senses.”

I sighed and took out the last branch from my hair.

“This should be enough.”

A few seconds later, all the thugs were bowing their heads in front of me.

I sat on a worn-out sofa and rubbed my ears. Every time I shook my foot, the sofa, one leg of which was broken, creaked.

“I’m sorry! We didn’t recognize you as a noble.”

As the leader apologized, the other thugs began to follow suit.

“Sorry!”

“Cough.”

When I coughed slightly, the thugs immediately closed their mouths like clams.

“As someone who knows the value of money well, you must understand how annoying it is not to repay borrowed money.”

At my words, the thugs’ expressions turned grim. Though their faces were hidden as they bowed, their sudden convulsions seemed to strongly agree with my words.

“Indeed, wise[ – ]!”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

However, when I mentioned hanging people upside down, the intense twitching of the thugs immediately stopped. On the other hand, the freed Pablo gleefully grinned.

“Um, well, let it be. Whether or not you hang people upside down, these scoundrels are grumbling.”

It didn’t look good to see them all complaining about the topic of driving an already indebted son to commit theft.

“And, how much interest did you charge?”
When Father couldn’t answer, the boy responded in his place.

“30%!”

“Tsk.”

I struck the sofa arm with the stick. Despite the cotton scattering in the air, causing me to sneeze, I quickly regained my imposing voice.

“In this low-interest era, 30%. There’s truly no shortage of audacious thieves.”

“Sorry[ – ]!”

As the thugs began to apologize, I hastily interrupted.

“That’s enough.”

I silently stared at the backs of the thugs. It was annoying that they had rummaged through my money, but, in truth, I hadn’t planned to intervene to this extent. It would only complicate things if I got involved for no good reason.

However, even knowing that, I deliberately approached them.

“Let me make a suggestion.”

I needed people.

“Quit the thug business.”

Someone who could gather information for me and do dirty work.

“How about working under me?”

And, most importantly, someone to investigate the Marlene Viscount’s background.

For a while, silence lingered in the narrow house.

From the thugs’ perspective, it probably wouldn’t be appealing to work under a young girl like me.

“As you can see, I have a lot of money, and I will certainly show my gratitude[ – ].”

In the midst of trying to persuade them.

Thump!

The leader kneeled.

“It’s an honor to be accepted by you!”

“An honor!”

Other thugs also knelt one after another.

“We’ve never seen anyone as strong as Lady Madeline! We’ll gladly follow! Please take care of us like a dog!”

It was an unexpected result, but I nodded solemnly without showing surprise.

“Prepare yourselves. There are many who would test my strength. You too cannot avoid danger.”

At this moment, I was like a master of martial arts.

“We are prepared! Please accept us!”

I chuckled. The situation was unfolding very smoothly.

At that moment, the leader cautiously spoke up.

“Uh… how should we address you, Lady? Master? Commander? Your Excellency?”

Even though we would be working together in the future, I couldn’t just reveal my name.

After some thought, I slowly spoke.

“Aunt.”

“What?”

“You can call me Aunt since you all referred to me as a lady. Aunt is fine.”

As I shook my foot again, the sofa seemed to creak loudly in agreement with my words.

“With respect and courtesy towards those above. Raina Eastilla is dead. Now, all that remains is the nameless Aunt.”