The ink was still wet on the dismissal notice, though “notice” was a generous word for a crumpled sheet of parchment shoved into Kael’s chest by the Hero’s own gauntleted hand.
And Kael knew exactly where to invest his first three copper pieces. End of Raw Chapter 46.1
They compound .
They didn’t want clever. They wanted shiny.
He was the “Kiyou Binbou”—the clever poor person. The one who could stretch a single copper piece into a week’s worth of trail rations. The one who could repair a torn leather boot with tar, spider silk, and sheer desperation. The one who never had the right bloodline, the blessed lineage, or the flashy天赋—but who always, always kept the party alive.
But as he walked into the darkening woods, he allowed himself a small, quiet smile.
So now Kael stood at the edge of the forest, his belongings in a burlap sack that smelled of old potatoes. His entire net worth: 43 copper coins, a bent sewing needle, half a loaf of black bread, and a map drawn on a tavern napkin that supposedly led to a “minor dungeon of negligible threat.”