“Yes, most certainly.” Pointing towards the bag of coins in front of Arche’s father, the man asked, “By the way, are you not going to check?”
“Heh, I’m fine with it even if it’s one or two coins short.”
“Is that so?”
Towards the generous yet foolish response made by Arche’s father, the man nodded once more.
The amount of coins had already been verified before, so there shouldn’t be any problems. But it was definitely not a good sign seeing a family that was nearly at the end of their rope to still be acting this way. No, perhaps their house was fated to end the moment that man became its master.
However, it was exactly people like these that made the best customers.
“Well then, you’re fine with the usual interest rate and loan term, I presume?”
Towards this question, Arche’s father responded in a manner as if he was without a doubt someone from a wealthy and high class background.
The man nodded his head once more, showing that he understood.
“…By the way, is your daughter still well and healthy?”
“Hm?”
The man suddenly remembered that there were three daughters in the family.
“I’m talking about Arche-san.”
“Ah, Arche huh? Right now she’s out making money.”
“…Is that so?”
While your daughter is out and about earning money, what are you doing instead?
A look of disdain briefly appeared in the man eyes as he thought about this. He started to pity the girl with this kind of a father.
The man wasn’t without emotions.
However, it was more important for him to recover the amount of coins that had been lent previously including the interest on top, and to ensure this cycle of loan and repayment continued. He couldn’t care less about meddling in other family’s businesses.
“Just because she was able to make a bit of money, she started to act arrogantly.”
The man frowned when he heard the unpleasant mumblings made by Arche’s father. After all, if a troublesome situation was to happen, it might cause a delay in the interest payment. If possible, the man would like the current situation to continue as long as possible. For that, he couldn’t help but ask.
“Did something happen?”
“No, nothing big. It’s just that my foolish daughter seemed to have forgotten about her obligations to her parents for raising her from birth and is starting to become disrespectful.”
“If it’s just that then…”
“Honestly! It’s about time to let her understand her insolence! I need to teach her what being an aristocrat is all about!”
The man swallowed the rest of what he wanted to say. However, he couldn’t help but let out a final remark.
“It must have been really troublesome.”
“Of course. Such a foolish daughter…”
The man had purposely omitted who it was that he was talking about and allowed Arche’s father to mistakenly believe that it was said for him, which resulted in more and more muttering.
One hundred gold coins was an incredible sum. However, at the rate that Arche’s father was spending, he would soon be out of money again. If that happened, he would most likely come back to borrow more. The man had already decided not to lend any more until the money previously lent had been repaid.
The man glanced around the room.
What he saw was a room filled with luxurious furniture and decorations. Should the worst happen, he should still be able to recover what was originally lent, even if he had to sell them.
The man lowered his head in order to hide his thoughts.
“In the end, isn’t it weird for the daughter of the Furt family to be doing that kind of dirty work? The friends that she associates with all seemed to be of common birth too, they probably share the same vulgar character.”
“…Is that so?”
The man thought deeply about the two people that he met in the inn, and finally gave his reply. Perhaps it was due to misunderstanding the tone of the man’s reply, Arche’s father quickly spoke once more.
“Mu, I didn’t mean all commoners are like that. I was mostly referring to those that are adventurers.”
“Perhaps that is so.”
“Isn’t it? My daughter began to rebel exactly because of them. I will need to properly punish her later. In the end, it is natural for a daughter to listen to her father. She’s still ten years too early to be giving me lectures.”
After taking one final glance at the unhappy father, the man stood up from his seat.
“…Anyway, I must head over to the next customer now. We will talk more next time. I will be counting on you for the timely repayments.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“Just when will onee-sama return?”
“Perhaps a little longer?”
Inside a certain room, using the bed as a chair, two young girls sat side-by-side next to each other. Their facial features were exactly the same.
A slight flush of red could be seen on their tender white cheeks, which made them look like little angels. They possessed delicate faces which looked very similar to their older sister’s. One could definitely anticipate just how their appearance would bloom in ten to twenty years’ time.
The two of them wore matching outfits consisting of a pure white dress without a single ruffle. Their small white feet dangled from below, making a ‘pa-ta’ ‘pa-ta’ sound as they aimlessly kicked into the air.
“Is that true?”
“It is true…”
“Is that so?”
“That is so…”
“When onee-sama return, we will be moving right?”
“That’s right…”
The two of them laughed happily. They had very little understanding on the meaning of moving, but they did know it meant that their favourite onee-sama would no longer be going away. That was the source of their excitement.
Their sister—Arche, often had to leave home for extended periods of time. Although they did not know what she did, they understood that it was something important. That was why they never voiced any selfish wishes to Arche. However, even so, they couldn’t help but have the desire to wish to be able to play with their gentle sister more.
That’s right, the two of them loved Arche very much.
She was an extremely gentle, knowledgeable and warmhearted sister.
“Onee-sama, still hasn’t arrived…”
“Still hasn’t arrived huh…?”
“Looking forward to it aren’t we, Kuuderika?”
“Un, very looking forward to it, Uleirika.”
“I want to read together with onee-sama…”
“I want to sleep together with onee-sama…”
“Kuuderika is too cunning…”
“Uleirika is also very cunning…”
The two of them looked at each other and a smile then began to form on their faces, gradually turning into cute sounds of laughter.
“In that case, Kuuderika can also join in, together with onee-sama and I.”
“Un, Uleirika can also as well, together with onee-sama and I.”
The two of them smiled once more, looking forward towards the fun and exciting future that awaited them.