Chapter 13

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“We’re here! Liti! This is the second largest downtown area in the capital of Morcatium.”

Mathias took Lestia to the downtown area that they had just seen from the top of the mountain.

The city was filled with colorful and large buildings that caught Lestia’s eye at a glance, and the streets were filled with countless people walking everywhere.

Then Lestia looked at Mathias anxiously. Mathias scratched his head awkwardly at her expression. He thought Lestia would be just as happy as she was on the mountaintop.

“Liti, you don’t like it here? Shall we go somewhere else?”

“Oh, no. I’m worried about brother Mathias.”

“What? You’re worried about me?”

Mathias’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.

She’s worried about him…

In all the dozens of times he had run away from home, no one had ever cared.

Not even his twin brother Joel, who was born on the same day at the same time, but his half sister, whom he met for the first time today, cared about him.

It was a strange feeling.

Lestia said carefully to Mathias, who stood speechless and froze in place.

“I’ve heard that using magic is dangerous.. but you use it so often………”

Lestia thought that Mathias was taking unnecessary risks in order to get her from place to place.

When Mathias understood Lestia’s worries, he smiled cheerfully.

“Wow, Liti, Liti, you’re really worried about this brother of yours.”

The strange feeling that Martias felt had somehow turned into joy.

When was the last time he received such warm concern from a stranger?

He thought when Joel asked him to come home because he brought his half-sister to the mansion.

He thought Joel brought an interesting pet into Verchester that was just boring, uninteresting, and irritating.

He remembered a dog he got as a gift when he was little. Even though it died soon after.

But this new pet was not a dog, it was a person, she could communicate and was cute.

When he knew her name was Lestia, Mathias immediately picked out a pet name for her, ‘Liti’.

It was short and easy to call.

That was what he thought… He really felt like he had a family, not a pet.

Unlike the Verchester family he knew, this was a family where he could exchange interest and love like a person.

‘It’s nice to have a sister.’

“No, it’s nothing. It’s okay! I’m fine! Don’t worry! I told you. I was born to have fun.”

Mathias pointed with his finger to the green earrings dangling from his ears. (*It was the magic neutralization stone that he made into earrings.)

“This is enough.”

With those words, Mathias tugged on Lestia’s arm.

“Don’t worry, let’s go play!”

“Oh, brother.”

Lestia was eventually taken by Mathias to the center of the crowded downtown area.

“Ah…..”

It was then that Lestia’s vision began to take in the glamorous shopping stores in the area.

The colorful windows stimulated people’s desire to buy.

In the eyes of Lestia, who had never escaped from the favelas, it all looked like a different world.

However, it was not the windows that captivated Lestia’s gaze, but the signboards.

It was very strange to be able to read the words on the sign.

‘I seemed to be able to read a little bit better.’

Lestia stared at the words on the signs, inwardly shouting with joy.

A shoe store, a cafe, a costume shop……….

‘So the letters conveyed these meanings.’

She felt as if a new world was unfolding.

When Lestia couldn’t take her eyes of one sign, Mathias stopped and asked,

“Liti, do you like that one?”

“Huh? What?”

Lestia looked at the sign that caught her attention.

It said “Accessory Shop”.

Apparently, Mathias had mistakenly assumed that Lestia had developed an interest in accessories.

“No, no! I was just looking at the sign, that’s all.”

Lestia waved her hand in surprise and tugged at Mathias’ sleeve.

But Mathias grinned and said,

“Liti, earlier we took walks that you liked. Now, I’m going to do what I like?”

“Yes…..? It’s fine. What do you want to do, brother Mathias?”

Lestia was inwardly curious what Mathias liked to do.

“Shopping!”

Mathias exclaimed loudly.

“What? Shopping?”

“Yes. That’s right. Playing is about spending money!”

“… spend money?”

Lestia posed a question, but Mathias didn’t even answer. He just walked right into the shop.

“Brother!”

Lestia called out at the top of her lungs, but Mathias didn’t respond.

She looked around in frustration. There were a lot of people passing by the place.

She had never been in a place with so many people.

Fear washed over her.

‘If I stand here alone, I might get lost. ……’

Eventually, Lestia had no choice but to follow Mathias into the store.

“This and this. I’ll buy this one. I like this one too.”

In that short time, Mathias had already picked out dozens of accessories and hung them all over his body.

“Yes, yes! You have good eyes!”

The store owner followed Mathias around, hands clasped together, praising him.

“Come here, Liti. I’ve found everything that looks good on you, but if you see something else you like, I’ll buy it too.”

“Yes?”

Why accessories all of a sudden?

“I’ve never done anything like this before, and I don’t want to have it.”

Lestia shook her head and refused.

“Liti, what are you talking about? No one is born with accessories from birth. You can do it now.”

Mathias placed all kinds of jewel-encrusted accessories on Lestia’s body. Then he exclaimed incessantly.

“Oh, my sister! There’s nothing that doesn’t look good on you. You’re like a blank paper page. It gives me the desire to create.”

The shop owner also stepped in.

“You’re right.There’s no jewelry that doesn’t suit your sister. How about this ruby necklace?”

“It’s nice. Take out everything else that would look good on my sister besides this!”

Thereupon, Mathias began to use the mannequin as a model to display the accessories one by one, and repeated the process until Lestia said she liked it.

“How about this one? This one is not so good either?”

“No, um, brother. I don’t need this trinket.”

“My sister doesn’t like it. Please bring me something else!”

“That’s not it.”

“All right, all right. I think this emerald brooch will look good on you.”

It was as if Mathias already made a decision, so Lestia could only meekly say ‘yes’.

“Please wrap it all up.”

At last, the accessory shopping, which seemed to never end, was over.

Lestia sat down in a chair with a tired look on her face.

It was the first time she spent such a long time buying something.

“Alright, sir. Here’s the price of your purchase!”

The shop owner held out the invoice to Mathias and smiled.

Mathias searched his pockets. Then, in a slightly groggy voice, the shop owner asked,

“You don’t have any money, do you?”

Mathias laughed.

‘Joel took everything away…’

When Mathias returned to the Verchester mansion, Joel took all the money away, saying that Mathias would do nonsense if he had money.

So the bottom line was that Mathias didn’t even have a penny.

The shop owner glanced at Mathias and frowned.

How hard had it been for her to take out the accessories as she was told to do?

But Mathias was a man who had a bone to pick with her business.

However, as she looked at Mathias and Lestia’s outfits, she realized that they were valuable materials.

“Haha! Young Master. Why would a precious person carry around money, right? Just write an IOU in the name of the family and I’ll go and get it myself.”

“Hmm, I don’t want to do that.”

“What?”

“Because I want to buy this as a gift for my sister. What’s the point if I buy it in the family name?”

Instead of writing the IOU, Mathias didn’t hesitate to take one of the earrings from his ear and place it on top of the bill.

“I’ll bring you the money. In the meantime, you can keep this.”

The shop owner’s jaw dropped when she saw the elaborate patterns on the earring Mathias gave her.

She had been dealing with accessories for a long time and had seen all kinds of jewels.

At a glance, this earring was never a commonly available item.

“Brother Mathias! Don’t do that…!”

Lestia exclaimed in a dismayed voice.

Even the quiet estia could not help but raise her voice in this situation. But Mathias was unconcerned.

“It’s okay, Liti! Follow me. I’ll try to make some money.”

“What?”

“I know a place where you can make money and have fun. That’s our next destination.”

Mathias chuckled, then used his earrings as collateral to get enough money from the accessory store owner.

Then he squeezed Lestia’s hand and began to hobble away again.

“What are you going to do with that money, brother?”

Lestia asked irritably.

“Hmm, this is the initial fund.”

“Initial fund?”

Lestia was confused.

“Oh, we’ve arrived.”

Mathias soon stopped in front of a gorgeous building with magnificent lights.

“This is……?”

It had the most gorgeous signage of any building she had seen downtown.

Lestia stumbled over the building’s sign, as if reviewing the letters she had learned.

“The God of Fortune looks down upon you…..Do you want to make a fortune?”

The place where Mathias arrived was a casino located in the center of the downtown area.

But Lestia couldn’t understand the meaning of the words on the sign, so she ended up having to ask the question again.

“What does the casino do, brother?”

Mathias answered cheerfully.

“It’s where they give you money if you play!”