Volume 2 - CH 54

The doorbell chimed. Under the pleasant morning sky, it was Falk who came to visit.

The ice cream shop is closed today, so he’s visiting as a friend, not as a customer. He uses metamorphosis magic to assume a brown hair and brown eyes appearance for walking outside.

The day has come for the coffee float prototype meeting that was decided at Café Heston the other day. After coordinating schedules with Falk, they were about to head to the café together today.

From the day he revealed his Shirotaka’s identity, she began to exchange letters with him by same-day delivery.

She is glad that they are now able to combine their days off in this way. Now, they can go out to the city to have fun without relying on the two of them coincidentally having the same day off.

Alme opened the front door of the ground floor shop and invited Falk in.

“Hello Mr. Falk. I’m sorry for calling you earlier than the prototype meeting time. Please come upstairs.”

“Hello. I’m rather glad to be able to spend time with you early, Miss Alme. I’m the one who gets kicked out of the Temple for hanging around on my days off.”

The prototype meeting was scheduled for early afternoon, but she called Falk to her house earlier than that time. Because she had something to discuss with him.

Julio’s uncle, Darnell, sent her an agreement on the compensation money, but she didn’t know how to write certified mail to send it back… she decided to consult Falk.

This kind of complicated social system is something that is taught at the school as a child, but not specifically how to use it.

The stance is that ‘when you grow up and need it, you should look it up and use it on your own,’ so most people end up forgetting about it without grasping how it works. It goes without saying that Alme is one of them.

There are circumstances that make it a little difficult for Alme to go to the library for information. When she casually told Falk that kind of thing, he agreed to show her how it’s done. Thankfully, she can learn from him.

That is why they decided to hold a consultation before the prototype meeting at the café.

After inviting Falk into the shop, Alme led him upstairs to her home, but Falk stopped in front of the stairs.

“Is it alright if I go up to your house?”

“Yes, of course. I have all the writing materials upstairs, so I thought it would be better to do it at home than in the shop.”

When she replied, Falk made a somewhat complicated face.

“I know it’s rude to meddle in people’s lives, but…I think it’s better not to carelessly let a man into a single lady’s house.”

“As expected, I choose people! I’m not picking just anyone. Only my trusted friends. Such as Aiden.”

“…Did Aiden go up?”

“Yes, he’s already been there many times since he was a kid.”

“Well, I’ll leave it up to you.”

When she mentioned Aiden’s name, Falk changed his attitude and quickly followed her. He seemed to have a kind of pouty expression on his face, perhaps because of the dimness of the staircase.

She opened the door of her home on the second floor and invited him inside. At the table in the living room, she immediately asked him to look at the documents.

Alme prepared tea while he was looking over the documents, pouring the pre-made iced tea into a glass to serve.

It has been a long time since Alme has sat like this in the living room of her home, facing a person. Her grandmother used to sit in the place where Falk is sitting now.

What would her grandmother say if she saw this scene? She wondered if she would laugh, joking, “Oh my goodness, he’s taken my seat.”

(When I was a kid, when I was having a tea party with a stuffed animal sitting in my grandmother’s chair, didn’t she say that?)

While she was thinking of an old memory, Falk looked up.

“What’s wrong? Look at your smiling face.”

“No, well, now that I’m going to get compensation money, I was thinking that I will be able to safely return the money I owe to Mr. Falk.”

Alme had let someone else read the documents while she was lost in memories that had nothing to do with him, so she made a fool of herself.

Since this money will be used for repayment, the debt to Falk will also be cleared and liquidated. It’s true that she’s smiling because she’s glad she was able to return it early.

With a change of heart, Alme also faced the documents.

“It seems that I can receive 4 million G as compensation, but I was surprised that the amount was large. I thought it would be about a million G.”

“It depends on the status of the family, but I think this amount is reasonable. If it’s a marriage between commoners’ families, and if the engagement is canceled due to cheating, the market price is around 1,500,000. Add 1,000,000 as an apology for various troubles, and add 1,500,000 as a wish not to make things any bigger, for a total of 4,000,000 G. This is roughly the breakdown.”

“Is that so… I didn’t think about the breakdown at all.”

It seems that the number four million is loaded with various thoughts. While she was staring at the number on the document, Falk smiled at her.

“Should we request an additional 1 million G and agree on 5 million G?”

“Add! No, um, 4 million is quite enough.”

Instead of a gentle smile, she brushed off the idea.

From her point of view, it seems likely that there will be further exchanges with Darnell in the future regarding the matter of matchmaking, so she would like to avoid making too much trouble.

When Alme requested the status quo, Falk looked a little thoughtful before agreeing.

“If that is alright with you, Miss Alme, then let’s agree to it as it is. Then, please sign.”

“Yes.”

“Incidentally, I’ll list my name as well. Let’s add a little authority.”

“Hmm…”

She wondered how Darnell and Julio would stomach seeing the authority of Shirotaka written on the documents.

“Somehow I feel sorry for Mr. Darnell…”

“You must not confuse kindness to others with sweetness, Miss Alme. Now is not the time to be lenient. If you don’t take a firm stand, the other side will take advantage of you.”

“Alright.”

The word “take advantage” somehow reminded her of Julio. Julio’s spiteful habit may have been caused by Alme’s humble attitude of following him.

If she had to deal with him from now on, she would always try to maintain a cool attitude.

After signing, Falk went on to create a document to go with the agreement. He writes on the paper Alme had prepared.

The date, her name and address, and the other party’s name and address. A letter of notification stating that we have agreed to the compensation and the payment due date and bank account number.

Finally, the treatment when there is no transfer within the deadline. Falk included here the content of ‘change the procedure to the guardian’.

By this sentence, it seems that Falk’s signature, which he had added by Alme’s name, will come into effect.

Literally translated, it is a sentence that says, “If you don’t keep your promise, Shirotaka will do something about it, so be prepared for that.”

Alme wondered if along with the letter she should enclose some stomach medicine.

Looking at the document that was written in a blink of an eye, Alme was deeply moved.

“Mr. Falk really knows everything and can do anything.”

“Don’t buy into it. There are many things I can’t do and many things I’m not good at…Recently, I made a mistake in dealing with a child patient and was severely scolded. A four year old girl…”

“To be scolded by a four-year-old… what did you do?”

Falk completely changed his reliable look until now and showed a pathetic grimace.

“Don’t treat me like a child! she said and scolded me, and my hand was shaken off when I tried to hold hers. Even though she was a high-ranking aristocratic daughter, she was only four years old, so I acted like I would normally treat a child. It’s just that… I’m completely hated.”

“Girls grow up quickly. Isn’t it better to treat them like princesses instead of thinking that they are children?”

“Like a princess? That’s difficult. Is it like this?”

After a thoughtful look, Falk got up from his seat and kneeled beside Alme’s chair. He held out his hand in the same position.

“I adore you. Please take my hand. If it is said like this, will the girl take my hand?”

“Please don’t practice likening people to girls. Didn’t you get scolded for that?”

“…Thank you for your strict guidance, it’s much appreciated…”

When Falk’s hand extended to Alme, she brushed it away.

It was like a scene from a picture book she saw when she was a child about a prince and princess, and it made her girlish heart flutter just a little. She didn’t tell him that and clapped her hands to hide her embarrassment.

While enjoying the chat, after putting away the documents and taking a breather. Alme and Falk left the ice cream shop.

Falk had a cloth bag on his shoulder. This bag contains an ice cream container and plenty of ice magic stones to keep it cool. This is the milk ice cream to be used in the coffee float prototype meeting.

Since it was packed in a small container, even Alme could easily carry it around, but it was snatched by Falk when they left.

Falk said in a good-humored voice with his hand on the ice bag he took from her.

“It’s cool and comfortable. I want to hold it all the time.”

“I’m sorry for making you carry the bag. If your shoulders get tired, I’ll take over.”

“No, no, I will be responsible for carrying it to the end. I will protect this ice cream with my life.”

Is this priest going to cast a healing spell when the ice cream melts?

Imagining the appearance of a priest treating ice cream, Alme burst out laughing.

Unfortunately, only ice magic can save ice cream.