I promised Deanna that we would talk to her alone in the evening, and we headed to the blacksmith shop.
　I've been meaning to get Marina's halberd rusted off and regrinded, but I've been putting it off for a while, so I finally got it done.
　It cost me six gold coins at the armor shop, and I'd hate to spend too much more, but I think I can handle the cost of sharpening it.
　However, the cost of Marina's equipment alone (she gave me a knife holder and sword belt as a freebie) was the same as the amount of money I sold for velvet. It's a coincidence, or rather, what a coincidence: .......
　Maybe I should have bought my own armor and stuff. When I save up a little more money, I'll go back and buy some more. My equipment is second-hand enough, so it won't cost much.

　Marina's 'Annihilation Purple Halberd' was sharpened in an hour. Even the blacksmith's old man was taken aback by the purple color.
What's this, it's not rust, it's the original color?
　But he said the grind itself was no problem.
　I only had to spend 30 ells on the grind.

　In addition, I also brought the "Rusty Tsugi -2" that I bought a while back with me today, so I asked him to remove the rust from that too.
It's no use grinding anymore, it's as rusty as this.
　I was rejected.
　A "-2" bad status in the Mirror of Truth appraisal?　It's just the way it's treated, and I think there's a way to get it back to "0". I'm not sure I understand the line here. Are you saying that the blacksmith can handle up to a normal rust (-1) ......?
　Well, it's not something you have to do something about in a hurry, so let's take it home quietly this time.


'I'll get my knife sharpened while I'm at it,' said Rebecca and Hetty, and I decided to wait outside while they stayed in the blacksmith's shop.

　The cream-colored cobblestones reflected dully in the sunlight. Stone built houses with painted ivory clay walls. Street trees that resembled olives swayed in the wind.
　In the midst of it all, Marina, dressed in her mithril silver pale armor, watches the halberd glowing dully in a dull purple halberd and is a picture to behold.
　I took out my camera and clicked the shutter several times. Marina smiles shyly when she notices the camera.

　Let's pull this one out and make a panel to display: .......


　Rebecca and the others came out of the blacksmith shop and we talked about where to go next.
　Personally, I'd like to attack more tool shops and such, but when I said that the budget might be too tight for shopping, I said, "Then do you want to go to the guild to get an apprentice placement? Rebecca said.
　Hetty is also on board, "Sales don't seem to be too bad," she said, "I think it's good.

　Hmmm ....... I think it's too early for me to be an apprentice, but it seems to be normal for business people to have apprentices in this world. But I wonder if it's really a good idea for an old guy like me to have an apprentice. The parents would be disappointed.

Jiro's still young and he's going to grow the restaurant. On the contrary, there are a lot of kids who would rather be an apprentice of such a 'just starting out' place than a strangely established organization.

So it's all about potential?

As we grow the shop together, we can gain a lot of experience. With a large organization, you can steal the know-how, but not the experience.

　So that's how it is.
　It's not a big organization, the armor shop also had two young men who looked like apprentices, and the blacksmith shop had about six apprentices.
　Maybe it's easier to be small than to suffer the hierarchical relationship of apprentices in such places ......?　Is it only the Japanese NEETs who think like that?

　But, well, it's also true that it helps to have an apprentice, or even one employee. As they say, you have to follow the township!





　◇◆◆◆◇





　When I entered the guild, I saw a familiar face.

　It was a well dressed silver haired young man.
　As usual, he doesn't have an attendant, and is arguing something with a staff member by himself.
　For a moment, I wondered what I should do, but I didn't want to go through with it, so I called out to him.

I called out to him, "Hey, that's Evta-san!　It's been a long time. Hetty has always been a great help to me, you've been really good to me and Deanna, and I'm so grateful to you.

Oh, Mr. Jirou!　Good, I was just about to send someone out to look for you.

　What's the matter with you, eating all that foam? I'm the one you've been looking for?

And this Hetty person, is she around?

What's going on? What do you mean, really? I've got Hetty right there.

　I did so and turned around to see Marina with a scowl on her face, Deanna as usual, and Rebecca with a curious look on her face.
　And there was Hetty, who didn't even try to hide her grin and nasty chuckle.

'He...... What's up, Miss Hetty?　You look that bad: ......

No, no, I just thought you'd be here sooner than I expected.

(............?)　(What do you mean?)

　Efta doesn't say anything.
　She just stared at Miss Hetty with a blue face.

'What is it? What on earth is wrong with you? 'Please explain, Mr. Efta,'

　When I asked him that, Evta came to himself with a huff and said.

'Nah, why are you here!　Sister Henrietta!

　Sister Henrietta!
　Mr. Hetty called out and fluttered his hands lightly.

'Oh hallo~...it's been about two years, Mr. Tarr.

"Ta-tah, please don't do that!　Sis, didn't you marry a wealthy merchant from the Fire Nation!

'That's a friggin' dad lie. It's true, though, that his wife almost got done.

And the fact that you had Mildus wrapped up in a fish tank and locked up in a warehouse when he was supposed to come to Elishe?

Me. But don't worry, I didn't spend a single drop of money on the house.

'It's not about the money ....... Why are you doing this ......?

'Hmmm?　My principles of behavior haven't changed in 15 years, okay?　To get out of the way of my dumbass father.

　............ What the hell is going on here?
　The story is so rushed that I can't follow it at all .......
　And next to me, Rebecca is exclaiming, "I didn't even know ......".

　Sure, they both have silver hair and look alike, but sisters and brothers are ....... Why was she dressed as a maid .......

'Hey, Efta, Dear Tee, please explain to me what you both mean by that!　First of all, were you two siblings?

　I decided to interrupt the conversation and ask for an explanation anyway.
　What is it, it's been two years?　Maybe that's why Efta looks strangely happy and seems to be talking to each other forever.

''That's right, Jirou-sama. You can call them sister and brother, but they are half-siblings. Since this is the time to say it, the reason I came to Jiro-sama was also to interfere when I found out about Diana-sama's guidance.

'What?　That's right!　For that, though, he was very cooperative from the beginning.

Do you remember the first time you met me?

　When I first met Hetty ......?
　Oh ...... ahhh. Is that when you ran away from Deanna when she told you about her "everlasting love"? I thought she was a nobleman's daughter then, and I told her about the distance between her and her slave. Now that I think about it, I guess I was almost right in thinking I was a nobleman's daughter.

''Yes, I remember. Now that I think about it, I'm embarrassed to hear that, that time.''

Hmm, that was quite an impression. And then, afterwards, I can't tell you much about it, but there was a little incident.

　Was there a bit of that? I mean, after that ......, it was like it was already 1:00 a.m. at that time .......

'Oh, so it was ...... and you said at that time, 'I was going to interrupt you, but I changed my mind.'

　Deanna, who had been listening quietly, suddenly joins in the conversation. When was that time?

Dear Deanna, is it OK to go to ......?

It's all right. Master is a tohenbok.

'Why is he suddenly dismissed!

...... After that (...), I watched Master talking to Hetty, sneaking around in the shadows. It was after that that I spoke to Hetty and asked her what she and Master had talked about.

　Deanna comes out with something scary in a straightforward manner.
　Hetty asked, "Are you sure?" which means she was keeping quiet.

'That's what happened. ....... So you two had never met then?

'That's what I mean. So I talked to Deanna for a bit, and - I'm afraid she's been poisoned.

　Hetty nodded in agreement.
　But it's not quite clear," he says.

When you say "trying to interfere," you mean ...... trying to interfere with Deanna's guidance. Does that mean that you know what Deanna's guidance is?　Huh?　Am I the only one who doesn't know this?

　He said that the content of the guidance was secret, but that's just what Efta and Deanna said. It's possible that it's actually well known.

'I know. I didn't know about it until I met with Deanna and talked to her.

'What?　No, it can't be. Your guidance is an absolute secret, I would never tell Hetty or anyone else!

　It was Deanna who was upset by this.
　From the look of this surprise, it seems it was really a secret. I don't know what kind of critical thing I was running on about that I was detected just by talking to him.
　I'd like to know what the hell you're talking about.

I think I might have been exaggerating when I said I know ....... It's just a matter of 'I have an idea' to be precise. --because I've never missed this kind of hunch.

　Hetty says siree.
　Deanna said something like 'no way, no way' for a while, but then Hetty said 'well, it's just a guess' and she backed down.

'Then at first I came to Elishe because I didn't know what the guidance was, but I was going to interfere anyway, but then I found out what the guidance was and I reconsidered and decided to help out: ....... Is that what happened?

　When I summarized it that way, Hetty affirmed that it was in the grand scheme of things, regardless of the details.
　So, I guess that means it was Deanna's fault as a result.

'But I shudder to think that maybe Hetty-san would have been the enemy!

'I wouldn't go so far as to call them enemies. I was just trying to get rid of all the elements so that your guidance would fail.

　Scary... Scary, Hetty...
　I'm so scared... I mean, I was about to get eliminated.

　Well, I thought I was too lazy to make a mistake that night, but I guess it was a good thing in the end. It's all right.

However, I'm curious about what Deanna's guidance was about, to have such a change of heart. Well, it seems that Deanna wants to keep it a secret, so I don't have to tell her.

'I certainly did. I didn't know that Hetty was the daughter of the Solo family, but I've heard so many stories about how much she hated her father. I wonder if there was something about him that struck a chord with her?　The kind of kid who would make a mercenary group just to get in his father's way would change his mind.

　Rebecca seems to be concerned about that, too.
　I wonder if Hetty's mercenary group was formed for that reason: ....... You're too dynamic .......

'It's not that I've changed my mind, Becky. It's just that Deanna and Giraud are the only ones who are willing to help. ...... because they're both too cute.

　If it's cute ......, it's ....... Is that still ...... in a virile way?
　Come to think of it, I was teased when we first met in the guild.

　After Hetty-san said that, she turned to Efta and declared.

''--That's why Tar-kun is also that Mildus?　Was it?　That macho, you don't have to bring them back, I'll support these two.

　Oh, that's encouraging. So you were actually about to get a macho. It's a relief, or should I say, it's a relief. If you're dealing with a strong macho character, you can't say too much of an egoistic thing, and it's probably possible that the mansion wasn't even maintained yet.

　Efta sighs with his head in his hands at Hetty-san's declaration. Then he replied in a yare-yare-yare-like tone.

'But, sister. You said that you didn't spend any money from the house, but then what have you been doing?　As I recall, there was maintenance at Mr. Jiro's mansion.

I can handle that one on hand. I hope you don't underestimate me.

10,000 or 20,000 won't do for a handful of money. ...... What are you doing, sister? ......

It's okay. It's okay. I do it for fun. I'm a lousy spender.

'I know my sister's donburi account as much as I hate it. --Well, that's fine, too, because I'll make up for what it's costing me so far.

No, I don't want that.

　I was shocked to hear that story.
　I didn't know that I was paying for all that selfishness with my own money .......

I'm sure you're aware of the fact that you're not going to be able to get away with it. It's not just the maintenance of the mansion, but also the purchase of three horses for you to use as well.

'Master Jirou, please don't be afraid of me like that. This was my favorite thing to do. It's just a hobby, if you will.

Dōraku: ......

'Yes. A rich man's daughter's waywardness. Besides, it's no doubt the money the Solo family was paying out either way.

　I feel like I'm being told off, but I don't know if it's okay.
　Is it okay if he's okay with it?
　The president of the black company says that when a superior buys a drink for you, the thing the person under you should do is not to be ashamed or refrain, but to be offered a drink comfortably, right?

　Well, if you want, you can pay it back gradually. As long as business continues to go well, we'll be able to pay back the loan.
　Rather than owe the Solo family a debt, it would have been better to owe Hetty personally.
　It turned out alright!　I've seen so many of them.
　Am I dancing in the palm of Hetty's hand?


"Sister Henrietta.

What?　Mr. Ta.

'Please don't, Mr. Tar. ...... Your sister said she would continue to support Deanna's guidance, but I'm afraid - things have changed.

What's going on?

I was going to bring Mildus along as planned for support personnel, but there's a lot going on. ......, instead--uncle Dida.

Gee, really?　How did that happen? Do you think that man can provide his own guidance and support?　The General of the Barbacro Chamber of Commerce himself?

'That's what pushed me over the edge to leave it to me. ...... You should have gotten to Elishe before I did, and I'm meeting you here again today.

　I had a bad feeling about it.

　But hey, ....... The world seems small and wide, no matter how many coincidences are ...... like that.

　Just then, the guild door opened and a familiar man walked in. It's a good idea to have a few cronies behind you.

''Ah, it looks like you're just here. Oh, sis, where are you going!''

Run!　Jiro-sama, that's it for today. I will visit the mansion again.

　As soon as she sees the man, Hetty says a quick goodbye to me, ducks down and escapes through the back door.

'Huh, sister Henrietta didn't like your father either, but she also said a long time ago that Uncle Dida was 'physiologically unacceptable' to her: ......'

　Efta explains to me as he looks off after Mr. Hetty, who has escaped.

　I'm more aware of the fat young merchant who's grinning and coming towards me.

　The scent of musk is strong. That's the third time I've smelled this: .......

'Well, well, well, well, well. Isn't this the Turk-loving merchant who sells cloth? Is that what it means to be with your boy?

...... reluctantly, it seems so.

　A thicker man who keeps grinning and shakes his body to talk to me.
　His mouth sounds surprised, but this guy is definitely not surprised at all. This deliberate face!　

　What happens twice happens three times. It was an encounter between me and the chubby.