I Died and Became a Noble's Heir-Chapter 416: Golden Goose [Golden Ticket Bonus - ]

Jack stepped through the portal, red lightning crackling around the edges as reality bent to his will. Loryn followed close behind, materializing on Floor Twenty-Five beside him.

"We’re going to Twenty-Four," Jack declared. "Through the cave system."

Loryn nodded, falling into step beside Jack as they moved toward the cave entrance that connected the two floors. The tunnel was dark and rough-hewn, but it served its purpose.

Twenty minutes of walking through stone corridors brought them to the upper exit.

They emerged onto Floor Twenty-Four, the old fortress visible in the distance.

Jack raised one hand, and Corvin appeared in a flash of dark feathers.

The raven materialized on his shoulder first, its small form barely larger than a normal bird. Black feathers gleamed with purple tips that caught the dim light, and intelligent eyes studied the landscape.

Then it launched into the air, its body expanding mid-flight. Wings spread wider and wider until they reached their full ten-foot wingspan, the purple-tipped feathers creating an almost ethereal effect as Corvin circled overhead.

The raven descended, landing on the ground before them and lowering one wing in clear invitation.

Jack and Loryn climbed onto Corvin’s back, settling between the sleek feathers. The raven’s body was warm beneath them, surprisingly comfortable despite the hard muscle underneath.

Corvin took flight without a word, his mighty wings carrying them across the wasteland toward the old fortress.

The flight took only minutes, and Jack could see how empty the structure had become. Where thousands of demons once occupied the building, now only a handful remained.

The raven landed in the central courtyard with barely a sound, its claws touching stone with precision.

Jack and Loryn dismounted, and Corvin immediately shrank back down to its smaller form, hopping onto Jack’s shoulder where it settled with evident satisfaction.

Jack moved through the fortress, heading towards the vault. The few demons who remained bowed as he passed, their fear evident. He ignored them, his focus already on his destination.

It stood in the western section of the fortress, its massive doors reinforced with black ice and steel. Runes glowed along every surface.

Protective enchantments that Kaedor had insisted on after Kragoth’s death.

Jack stopped before the doors and knocked.

The sound echoed through the courtyard like thunder, three deliberate strikes that announced his presence with authority.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then, the mechanisms began grinding behind the doors. Locks disengaged one by one, each click precisely into place.

The runes flared brighter, scanning for threats, verifying identities, checking dozens of security protocols that Kaedor had built into the system.

Finally, with a grinding sound that spoke of massive weight, the vault doors swung inward.

Kaedor stood just inside, his dark robes immaculate despite being trapped in a vault for years.

Rings adorned every finger, catching the magical light as his hands moved in unconscious gesture. His expression showed relief mixed with wariness. Happy to see Jack, but uncertain what the visit meant.

"Master," Kaedor said, bowing low. The word came out smoothly despite the nervousness underneath. "I didn’t expect you so soon."

"How much have you produced?" Jack’s voice was flat, emotionless, cutting straight to business.

Kaedor’s expression showed pride despite his circumstances. He gestured deeper into the vault, his rings clicking together.

"More than I anticipated, honestly. The raw materials you provided were... adequate. Not ideal, but workable." He started walking, leading Jack through the entrance hall into the vault’s depths.

"I’ve been experimenting with different conversion ratios, trying to maximize efficiency."

They descended stairs into the lower levels, past empty display cases that had once held Kaedor’s collection. Most of the weapons and artifacts had been distributed to Jack’s army, leaving the vault feeling hollow compared to its former glory.

Loryn followed silently, his purple eyes taking in every detail with the precision of someone who understood value.

The demon had accompanied Jack on enough ventures to know when his master was planning something significant.

The stairwell spiraled downward through multiple levels. The first level, where weapons had once been displayed, was nearly bare now. Swords, spears, axes.

All redistributed to Jack’s growing army. Only a few pieces remained, items too specialized or too cursed to be useful for ordinary soldiers.

The second level, armor storage, was similarly depleted. Racks that had once held hundreds of pieces now stood empty, the equipment absorbed into Jack’s forces to replace damaged gear or upgrade weaker demons.

The third level still held some artifacts and magical items, though Kaedor had clearly been selective about what he kept versus what he’d surrendered to Jack’s initial demands.

The remaining pieces glowed with enchantments, their purposes unclear but their power evident.

But it was the fourth level. The materials storage, which Kaedor led them to with evident pride.

The chamber was massive, easily a hundred feet across, with a ceiling that disappeared into shadow despite the magical lights embedded in the walls. And in the center of the room stood two containers that immediately drew Jack’s attention.

The first was filled with death tokens. Thousands upon thousands of the black coins, stacked with obsessive precision. They gleamed with that strange light, each one representing currency that worked across every floor of Tartarus Spire.

The second container held gold. Pure gold, shaped into standardized coins that represented wealth in the mortal realm.

The metal caught the magical light and threw it back in warm golden hues, creating an almost hypnotic effect.

"Five hundred and twelve thousand death tokens," Kaedor announced, his merchant’s pride completely overcoming his nervousness now. He gestured at the containers with both hands, his rings catching the light.

"And one hundred and four thousand gold pieces. All converted from the raw materials you provided, following the formulas I developed."

Jack’s enhanced perception swept across the containers, verifying the count. His system could count what was there in a second. Kaedor hadn’t lied. If anything, he’d been conservative in his estimate. The actual total was probably slightly higher.

{Holy shit,} Oscar whispered in Jack’s mind. {That’s... that’s a fortune. Multiple fortunes. This demon is literally printing money.}

’More than that,’ Jack thought back. ’He’s converting worthless raw materials into valuable currency. The profit margin on this is infinite.’

{No wonder you locked him in a vault and made him work. This is the best investment you’ve ever made.}

"You’ve done well," Jack said aloud, his flat tone somehow managing to convey approval despite the lack of emotion.

Kaedor’s entire posture relaxed, visible relief flooding through him. His shoulders dropped, his hands stopped their nervous clicking, and something approaching genuine happiness showed in his eyes.

"Thank you, Master. I’ve been working constantly, refining the process, improving efficiency."

He walked closer to the containers, gesturing at specific sections.

"The death token conversion required significant experimentation. The base formula was sound, but scaling it up to this volume introduced complications I hadn’t anticipated. Maintaining consistent purity across thousands of tokens required adjustments to the magical matrices, temperature controls, and..."

He caught himself, realizing he was slipping into technical details that probably didn’t interest Jack.

"The point is," Kaedor continued, "given more time and better quality materials, I could potentially double the output. Maybe even triple it, if I can solve the resonance issues with the larger conversion arrays."

"That won’t be necessary," Jack replied.

Kaedor’s expression faltered slightly, uncertainty creeping back in. "Master? I don’t understand. If the production isn’t satisfactory..."

"The production is more than satisfactory," Jack interrupted. "You’ve exceeded expectations. Which is why you’ve earned a vacation."

The demon blinked, confusion evident on his face. His rings clicked together once, twice, as his hands moved in unconscious patterns.

"A... vacation, Master?"

"Yes." Jack’s tone didn’t change, still flat and emotionless as always. "You’ve been productive. You’ve demonstrated value. You deserve a break from this vault."

Kaedor’s confusion shifted to cautious hope. His merchant’s mind was clearly working through the implications, trying to understand what this meant.

"That’s... very generous, Master. I appreciate the consideration. Perhaps I could return to..."

Then he saw it.

Jack’s expression shifted. Just slightly, enough to show through the visor. A smile. Not warm, not reassuring, but devilish.

The kind of smile that said the vacation wasn’t going to be anything resembling restful.

Kaedor’s hope died instantly, replaced by resigned dread. His shoulders slumped, his rings started clicking rapidly again, and his eyes took on the look of someone who’d just realized they’d walked into a trap.

"What kind of vacation, Master?" His voice came out weak, already knowing the answer wouldn’t be good.

"The productive kind," Jack replied, his smile widening just fractionally. "Come with me."