CH 14

“…This store is yours, Miss Esmeralda?”

“Heeheehee, that’s right. It started as a hobby, but it’s surprisingly enjoyable. Before I knew it, I had been doing it for three years.”

“So you’ve been at it for a while. Well, it should be doing great with someone as famous as you behind the helm.”

She then walks over from the back.

“Don’t be silly. I just showed myself because I heard your voice. I don’t usually put my name out there.”

“…So you’re hiding that this is your store? But why?”

If she started advertising them as products made by Esmeralda, they’d fly off the shelves. I mean, she was said to be the greatest sorcerer in the capital at one point.

“Kaka, I don’t like that kind of branding. If that was what I was after, I would have sought employment with Bitne.”

“Haha, I guess that’s true.”

I think it’s funny that she’s talking smack about those high-class brands.

“Do you know each other?”

The employee asks while looking back and forth between me and Miss Esmeralda. She’s looking at Miss Esmeralda like she’s asking if she really wants to be out here like this.

“He’s the man that made me retire from school.”

“Ehh!?”

The employee looks at me with a shocked look on her face.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”

Hum, did I do something?

I’m actually unsure. I mean, I forgot that I was banned from Gatlin too, so…

“It’s true. Once you showed up, I became the number two in the empire.”

“…Ah, that’s what you mean.”

I was known as the biggest prodigy in the history of the empire, a title that once belonged to my teacher, Miss Esmeralda.

“But it’s not like you got fired over that. There wasn’t anyone in that faculty that was a better sorcerer than you.”

If someone had to go, a lot more people would be fired before her.

“You’re right, but I quit.”

“…Hey…”

I guess the way she just says things hasn’t changed.

“But it’s true that I looked at you, and decided it was time. Like the time had come to hand over the reins to the next generation.”

“I see, so that’s how it was.”

She was number one in the empire for over fifty years, so the fact that that finally changed probably got her thinking it was time to end her career.

“Ah, is he the one you talk about from time to time…”

Says the employee like she just remembered it. And come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself.

“My name is Weiss Frenberg, and I used to be Miss Esmeralda’s student.”

“And the biggest problem child.”

“Quiet.”

If I was a problem child, you were a problem adult.

Miss Esmeralda then turns her eyes to Ririi, who has been fighting a fierce battle trying to put on a robe in a corner of the store.

“What is it with this child?”

It looks like she noticed ‘it’ immediately.”

“Ririi is an orphan. I’ve been taking care of her for a year now.”

“She’s so cute, and her blue hair is stylish too. So there are elves like that too?”

Asks the employee.

“She was born with that hair color. Some elves are like that.”

“I see… I’ll go help her.”

Ririi shoved her head in a robe, and is trying to poke her head out from a sleeve. The employee can’t bear to watch any longer, so she walks over there.

After making sure the employee is far enough that she can’t hear us, Miss Esmeralda starts speaking again.

“…What are you planning to do with her?”

“Nothing, really. I’m just thinking of making it so she can eventually live even if she’s on her own.”

There’s no doubt that she’ll have a more difficult life than most elves. I want to make sure Ririi can overcome the problems that will come eventually.

“So you’re a full-on loving parent then.”

“I guess. I think everyone would want their daughter to be happy.”

She laughs with her dry voice. It must be funny to her, seeing a problem child suddenly show up as a parent.

“Sure… Don’t you want a really good robe to protect her?”

Deep inside that wrinkled face, her eyes shine strongly. Merchant’s eyes.

“Well, yes, but… Are the products out on the market really that different from each other? It’s not like I’m doubting your skill though.”

A robe’s efficiency is mostly determined by its materials. Big brands have connections and distribution routes they use to make sure their products are good, but that also means that there isn’t much skill involved.

“I guess there’s not much difference… If we are talking about the products on the market.”

“…?”

What I’m getting from her words is that she’s talking about something not on the market.

“…Weiss, you want her to wear a good robe, right?”

She asks, as we watch Ririi with a big smile on her face, after the employee helped her put on the robe. She’s so adorable.

“Of course. The best in the capital. No, the world.”

I say, and she grins.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Weiss… Can you hunt a crystal dragon for me?”

“…Crystal dragon?”

It’s said to be the world’s strongest dragon, and the most difficult one to hunt.

Crystal dragons’ bodies are covered in crystals that suck magic energy… I know them by their nickname too, ‘sorcerer killer’.