CH 34.2

Shopping with Big brother (2)

“There were others too, but they escaped. Are they the people from that SATS(?) organization?”

When I said that, Alicia’s and Big brother’s faces turned pale.

“How do you know about that?”

“Please tell us everything you know.”

“Father said something like putting them on me when I was born. I think they might be people who do bad things for our country?”

I didn’t think much of it, but I have known about its existence from the beginning. This is my Father’s fault, isn’t it?

I do not detest the people of SATS or anything. And although I think it would be better if they didn’t exist, they do everything in their power, even bad things, to protect the nation. I can’t deny that the other world is similar… I hope I can lead an honest life if I can.

“… Are you okay with that?”

“They do bad things… for the country’s well-being, not because of their personal feelings, right? Although I think it would be for the better if an organization like that didn’t exist, it would be self-righteous of me to force it to disband.”

While saying that, I cast Heal onto the uncle. They went easy on him. He only had a light bruise, so it healed quickly.

“… Sorry.”

“May I inquire about your situation?”

When I asked him about his situation, he told me that his daughter had a bad disease, and he really needed three gold coins. He confessed that he was thinking of kidnapping me to get a ransom from my Big brother. Moreover, it seems that the disease cannot be cured by magic, so I can’t cure it either.

Fortunately, he was told that it could be cured if she took some medicine and took a good rest, but the commoner uncle could only arrange one gold coin (about $8,500, I think), so he kidnapped me. He confessed that he had no particular plan, and that he had snatched me on the spur of the moment because I was well-dressed outside the inn where nobles often stayed.

“Big brother, what are you going to do with this uncle?”

“We’ll have to hand him over to the Knights Order. He kidnapped a noble from another country. He cannot complain even if they execute him.”

I thought so. But that would mean letting his daughter die, too. I wouldn’t be able to sleep well.

“Then, I will hire you as a city guide for a day. Quick Draw.”

I used my treasure tool, its shortcut function (it’s a function of the key, so it’s not magic) that allows me to draw what I can with my own hands from the Treasury of Contracts, and I took out my true pocket money—the rest of money in my possession is currently controlled by Alicia, so I can’t spend it freely. I took out three gold coins from the treasury and gave them to the uncle. The uncle was taken aback.

“I’m sorry about your daughter, but it’s not like her condition is going to deteriorate that quickly, right? Guide us through the day and I will give this to you as a reward.”

“Are you sure? That is a lot more money than you think… although I shouldn’t be saying this.”

“It’s fine. This is my money. I don’t need anyone else to tell me what to do with my money.”

I have been accumulating snacks in order to eat them secretly, but when I discovered Quick Draw and Quick Close, I managed to hoard cookies made by Alicia in a stable manner, so I stopped buying snacks, and the pocket money was left in a corner of the treasury.

“Where did… oh, from there?”

“Young lady… how do you have money? I’m in charge of everything… and I’m sure there’s no mistake in my calculations.”

The two people who knew about the treasury were not surprised that I suddenly pulled out gold coins, but Alicia did not miss the fact that I had money. Alicia, who said that I was royalty and didn’t need to touch it because I was so important, was in charge of all my personal assets. So I haven’t touched the money much either. I made a cat piggy bank out of ceramic before and played with it, but it filled up pretty quickly, so it was taken somewhere else, and since then I don’t know how much I have to spend. If I wanted to use it, I would just ask Alicia if I had enough, and I had enough all the time.

Like most nobles, I like to save money. But I think people who need the money should have it, and if you have it and have no use for it, there’s nothing wrong with rewarding others.

“Alright. I will accept your request. I have no reason to refuse. After that, you can hand me over to the Knights Order or do whatever you want with me.”

“I’m not handing you over or anything.”

I’m not going to hand him over to the Knights. There were extenuating circumstances, and if he doesn’t do anything wrong in the future, there’s no need to hand him over to the Knights.

“No, that’s not good. We shouldn’t set a precedent like this.”

“That is correct.”

“I don’t remember any kidnapping happening.”

After that, we talked for about 10 minutes, the two angry people snapping at me, while I was insisting that nothing had happened, and then there was the bewildered uncle, and I also realized that the people who had been escorting us were gone. Perhaps they had already decided that there was no danger, or they had run away so that I wouldn’t remember their faces anymore. Well, the danger was already over, and if anything happened to me, they will come out of nowhere again. I will thank them for today then.

“Let’s go to a café for a snack before we go to the weapon shop, Uncle, is there a store near here that has tasty snacks?”

“There’s one about five minutes’ walk away, but… are you sure, Lass?””

Uncle was still looking at the two who were unconvinced, but I’m already tired. If I don’t intake any sweets, I won’t even feel like moving, and I will have to eat the cookies I hid in front of Alicia. If she finds out, she will get angry. Alicia’s sweets are very tasty, but she’s an extremely fresh-oriented person when it comes to me, so she never serves me the cookies she’s been saving for herself. If she knew I had stored them, she would be very upset again. Well, I usually eat them in secret when I ran out of the sweet fuel, though.

“Are you listening? You are listening to me, aren’t you, Young lady~”

“Give it up. She’s already lost interest. All Alice can think about now are sweets.”

“Ah, Young lady, it’s fine to enjoy tea, but sweets are forbidden for a while for you.”

What did you say————!!