Chapter 3 Claiming One’s Own Wealth

After Daniel went to do his thing. Murphy quickly finishes eating all of the grilled meat in the bag and returns to his little shack.

Behind the door of his shack, there is a person in a brown robe that was covered from head to the lower leg sitting down on the floor while caressing the cardboard box bed that Daniel was using. The hand under the leather black gloves touched and gently stroked the cardboard box bed as if it was a treasure.

Even without seeing the face of the person in the brown robe, Murphy could judge with the atmosphere that this one should feel somewhat longing while touching the bed.

"If you want that cardboard box, I could give it to you." Murphy deliberately said to the person in a brown robe to bring their attention to him.

"There's no need." The artificial voice that cannot be distinguished as whether the speaker was male or female sounded out from the person in a brown robe.

They then slowly got up and turned toward Murphy.

"Thank you for your cooperation, this is a little something for your discretion." The owner of the artificial voice said and gave a stack of 1,000 Tessia coin bank notes equal to 10,000 Tessia coins to Murphy.

"Thanks, but this is enough," Murphy said then pulled a 1,000 banknote out of the stack and then added. "Having too much wealth while not having the ability to protect it will bring troubles to my door. Besides…" Murphy smiled and kept a banknote in his pants pocket.

"It's been a long time since I did what was right. It felt good. Don't worry about it too much." Said Murphy before getting out of the door to let the person in a brown robe easily exit his shack.

The Person in a brown robe nodded without showing their face as the shadow was unnaturally hiding the face inside the hood and walked toward the door.

"Also…" Murphy's sudden voice brings the person in a brown robe to a stop and turns their head toward him.

"I don't know who you are, what you want or what's your story but…" Murphy looked into the hood where the eyes should be and continued.

"That lad was a few good ones left in this damn country, I can sense it in his eyes. I hope you're not the one who enjoys oppressing others like most of the people in power here." Said, Murphy.

"Don't worry, I don't enjoy oppressing the oppressed." Said, the person in a brown robe before they walked out of the shack and vanished into thin air.

Under the watchful eyes of Murphy, who should be an average hobo. He didn't even frown at the scene in front of him as it was what he had expected.

"What do the people from the Curtained world want with that lad?" Murphy muttered.

—

– 15 Minutes pass –

After 15 minutes from the nearest bus stop near Murphy shack. Daniel had arrived at the population management center branch of the current city he is in.

He's walking toward the 5 stories high white office building at the side of the road with anticipation.

According to the law of the Tessia Kingdom where he was living in. It's stated that if a person were to go missing and declare death without anyone to inherit their wealth, All of the wealth will be redistributed to the kingdom funds.

Then later if that person were to appear and have solid proof that they are the one who was declared dead they will regain 70% of their total wealth. The remaining 30% is to be given to the kingdom to deter anyone from trying anything funny such as faking their own death to avoid paying taxes because the dead do not need to pay taxes.

Daniel walks into the office and greets the employee inside with a smile before stating his business. Then the employee led him toward the booth nearby with some paper form for him to write down all of his info and his business.

After it was finished, Daniel gave the form to the Employee and he was told to wait at the bench for it to be processed.

Daniel then waited for an hour, he felt bored but then he brought his prototype card out of his shirt pocket and read it, then scrutinized its details as he didn't have anything better to do so he picked out a few details that he missed the first time he looked at it.

First, He believe that this prototype card was the only one he printed out in a hurry as he aimed to test it with the tester in the publisher after he had signed the contract. It should be normal paper, not high-quality paper that could return to its former state no matter if it had crumbled or folded.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ Second, It shouldn't have the pattern at the back of the card behind it, other than the absence of a card picture, this card was identical to a finished product! No! It was even better than the finished product! Because the finished product did not use the paper material that could reform itself like this.

Third, The touching feeling has a slight metallic touch and somehow it feels good when touching it. It also had an indescribable feeling like some kind of energy within him was stimulated, making him more refreshed. But this should only be just a delusion from him.

After an hour, an Employee came to him.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Daniel Blake?" That employee asked him while looking at the tablet in her hand, trying to compare his face with the digital picture in there and seeing the similarity between the two.

"Yes, I'm Daniel Blake. What can I do for you?" He responded and quickly put the prototype card into his pocket.

"Our District Chief-Officer needs to have a word with you, sir. Please follow me." The employee informs Daniel before leading him deep into the room inside the office.

Outside of the personal office room which has a metal nameplate of the District Chief-Officer on the door, Kevin Sun, seems to be the name of this District Chief-Officer.

"Hello Mr. Blake," The middle-aged man who has east Asian features with neatly combed hair said with a smile while gesturing for Daniel to sit at the chair opposite of him.

"Thank you, Mr. Sun." Daniel smiles and sits at the chair as Kevin had suggested.

Kevin then shifts his attention toward his pc and types some of the commands on the keyboard while asking.

"Ok, you are Mr. Blake. From the original Blake family who came here during the mid-1600. Am I correct?"

"Yes sir, It is as you said," Daniel confirmed.

Since Tessia Kingdom was a multicultural country that had many ethnic groups that miraculously mixed in as one. There's no surprise to see people who have features from east to west speaking and enjoying their times together. This includes the variety of names that are so diverse to the point of ridiculous and people's last name also has many duplication issues.

That's why to check about the problem with a person declared dead without anyone inheriting their wealth then sometimes later returned. The person who needs to check about this issue needs to check the original line of their family to confirm it.

Kevin continued to check until his eyes squinted and moved his face near the monitor in order to ensure that what he saw was not something he had imagined.

"Is there a problem sir?" Daniel asks in concern. He gets the feeling that something went wrong, and he's not going to like it.

Kevin turns toward Daniel, seriously looking at him, and asks while his eyes are looking deep into Daniel's eyes.

"Please tell me the truth, Mr.Blake. Are you…? perhaps… have some… misunderstandings with the royal family?" Kevin is trying to ask without making the royal family sound bad.

"Misunderstanding?" Daniel repeats. Now, anger begins to rise within him as he thinks back to the night that changed his life.

Seeing anger in Daniel's eyes, Kevin's face immediately became complicated. It's not that he doesn't know about the domineering manners and willful acts of the Tessia Kingdom royal family. Especially crown prince Victor Justius who is the worst of them all.

Anyone who knows him knows about his cruelty and philanderer way of life, if he were to interest some girl, he would directly tell his henchmen to bring the girl to him, No matter who the girl is. If she were to be the people of Tessia Kingdom, she can't escape the crown prince's lustful grasp.

If the girls dare to refuse him then, he'll bring doom to that girl's entire family and loved ones. If the girl were to be his and dare to act out or displease him just once even with minor things such as he didn't like the girl's haircut. He would punish her with lash or imprison her in his personal secret prison where no one knows about its location. or even killing the entire girl's family if he were to be very very displeased.

Other than his power and maintaining his vanity, He didn't care for anything or anyone at all. The only one who is said to be somewhat able to restrain him was the deceased king Pious Justius, father of crown prince Victor.

Even with all of this wanton cruelty and myriad scandals. The crown prince was still able to maintain a bare minimum public image just enough to not cause massive protests or cause rebels to break out while maintaining cruelty and mercilessness to keep anyone from asking questions or speaking badly about him.

All of this is considered an open secret, nearly all of the people in the Tessia Kingdom know but no one dares to speak out because anyone who spoke out had already gone missing and no one could ever find them ever again. And from time to time some unlucky fisherman would find a few rotten corpses with their belly full of concrete, under the main River of Tessia kingdom.

Kevin didn't say anything, only let out a long sigh. With this reaction, he more or less knew what had happened.

"Listen to me Mr. Blake, all of your wealth and assets are marked as donations toward the personal funds of the royal family. You know, even if this were somehow the result of someone bullying against you or something outside of anyone's control had happened and you are the victim of this… unfortunate… event. I can't help you." Kevin tried to explain while softening the blow toward the royal family as much as he can.

Anger rushed toward Daniel's head but he still tried to be civilized.

"But the law stated that…" Daniel wants to refute but Kevin immediately cuts in.

"Mr. Blake, I know what the laws had stated. I graduated from law school but there's a saying in our country's law schools. The unwritten rule involving the royal family always takes priority over the written law. Please understand Mr.Blake."

After hearing a cruel truth from Kevin, Daniel's fist clenched harder and harder until red blood seeped out of his closed fist. Daniel tried controlling his anger until it was controlled even though it didn't reduce even one bit but it was fully displayed in his cold eyes.

"I understand… Mr. Sun. Thank you for informing me." Daniel's voice grows a notch colder, and bows toward Kevin and then gets up from his seat but Kevin's voice stops him from immediately walking out of the office.

"Mr. Blake, I sympathize with you. Even if I can't help you with your current problem. I could always help you with things that are not involving the royal family. Also, This time, I'll put your case off the records. No one will find out about your attempt to reclaim your wealth." Kevin offered with his smile, greatly sympathizing with Daniel's situation.

Daniel slowly turns his head toward Kevin and smiles weakly.

"Thank you, Mr.Sun. I'll remember this favor." Daniel then walks out of Kevin's office, losing any of his former optimism and aspiration toward the future.