Volume 5 - CH 15.1

Chapter 5-15 : Shopping Ⅲ (part 1)

「I swear I will punch him in the face the next time he visits my shop!」(Leonora)

「Le, Leonora-san, I don’t think you need to do that…」(Sarasa)

「It’s alright. I want to do it for my own self-satisfction. Because of that man, two of your friends almost died from being trapped in an unknown cave. Iris, I feel sorry for you. It must have been difficult dealing with that weird man.」(Leonora)

Leonora-san turned her gaze to Iris-san and looked at her with an apologetic face.

「I wish I could say, “That’s not true”, but I can’t lie to myself… Yeah, it was hard dealing with Nord-san. Being trapped in a cave for a few months was tough, but being forced to capture so many Lava Lizards was more painful, to be honest…」(Iris)

Iris-san looked into the distance while remembering the time when she almost fainted from exhaustion after capturing Lava Lizards with Kate-san.

I didn’t experience it myself but my eyes swelled up with tears from just listening to their story.

Listening to what Iris-san said, Leonora-san raised her eyebrows and distorted her mouth.

「He… He told you to capture Lava Lizards!?」(Leonora)

「Yeah, because he needed some of them for his research.」(Iris)

「Alright, I will not only punch his face once, but I will do it five timesー No, ten timesー No, I’ll probably do it until he learns his lesson!」(Leonora)

「We definitely need to teach him a lesson~」(Filione)

While Leonora-san cracked her knuckles, Filione-san smiled. However, I could feel a killing intent in that smile.

「P, Please don’t kill him. He might have forced us to do grueling work and we were trapped in the cave because of him, but he paid Kate and me well for escorting him.」(Iris)

「Hahaha! Of course, of course. He’s one of my regular customers after all. My store’s income will decrease if I kill him.」(Leonora)

Leonora-san laughed as she made such an unfunny joke.

I wonder if we would get involved with Nord-san again in the future.

Well… I hope not…

However, for better or worse, I was able to become acquainted with Prince Ferik because of him.

「Anyway, Leonora-san, you sure you won’t regret buying my artifacts at this price?」(Sarasa)

「Geez. How many times should I tell you? I’m one hundred percent sure!」(Leonora)

「Thank you very much! I’m currently in need of money, so this helps me a lot! …Oh, right. By the way, have you noticed any particular changes in this town lately?」(Sarasa)

「Hmm… There are no obvious changes but I heard that Baal Trading Company has been in a mess lately. It has something to do with Iris’ family, right?」(Leonora)

「So, you know about it?」(Sarasa)

When Iris-san’s father was trying to pay his debt to Baronet Kirk after he was tricked, he looked for aristocrats or rich merchants who could lend him money, and he found Hou Baal at that time.

Hou Baal agreed to help him pay his debt in exchange for marrying Iris-san. However, as a matter of course, no one agreed with that condition.

We then tried to make money ourselves by hunting a Salamander and selling its materials.

Fortunately, we made a lot of money and won the mediation. As a result, Iris-san didn’t have to marry Hou Baal. (the story in volume 3)

Perhaps the stress of not being able to marry Iris-san affected his work as a merchant and his company.

We didn’t spread any information regarding the problem between the Lotze Family, Hou Baal, and Baronet Kirk, but Leonora-san seemed to know about it.

「Information is important after all, especially if you’re doing business in a big town like this. I never thought that both father and son would mess with you and they both ended up losing.」(Leonora)

「Ahaha… I don’t know what to say about that…」(Sarasa)

Hou Baal is the son of Yok Baal, the cunning merchant who once picked a fight with me by trying to manipulate the market price of Ice Fang Bats’ fangs, hoping I would go bankrupt and borrow money from him. (the battle of Ice Fang Bats fangs in volume 2)

However, with Leonora-san and Filione-san’s help, we were able to outplay him.

After losing almost all of his fortune, Yok Baal made a contract with a criminal group and ended up being killed by them because he couldn’t pay off his debt, and since then, his son has taken over the Baal Trading Company.

「Baal Trading Company was big and successful when Yok Baal was the leader, but their business hasn’t been doing well since his son took over.」(Leonora)

After Leonora-san said that as she shrugged her shoulders, Filione-san giggled a little evilly.

「Fufu. That’s how you will end up if you mess with Sarasa-chan.」(Filione)

「Uhh… I feel like a villain now… But I was able to win against him thanks to your help.」(Sarasa)

If I was working on my own, the best thing I could do was probably drive Yok Baal out of the village.

It was thanks to Leonora-san and Filione-san’s cooperation that we were able to trick Yok Baal back and make a lot of money off him.

I feel that I didn’t contribute much, to be honest.

「Hmm, certainly you’re still young and don’t have enough experience to deal with a cunning scumbag like Yok Baal by yourself, but you did really well, you know?」(Leonora)

「If we were the ones who pushed Baal Trading Company into the water, then Iris-chan was the one who hit it with a stick and sank it.」(Filione)

Iris-san raised her eyebrows and waved her hands when Filione-san suddenly talked in parables and mentioned her name.

「Eh? Me!?」(Iris)

「Yup. Because Hou Baal couldn’t marry you, Baal Trading Company has been in a mess lately.」(Filione)

「But I didn’t even do anything useful. Store Owner-dono did everything for me and my family.」(Iris)

「So that means Sarasa-chan was the one who sent the finishing blow then.」(Filione)

「You think so? I was just trying to remove the chain of debt that wrapped around Iris-san’s father’s legs.」(Sarasa)

「Sarasa-chan, you’re such a humble girl. You were going against Baronet Kirk when you were trying to help the Lotze Family, right? Not many people would dare to oppose a noble, you know?」(Filione)

「Uhh, you’re overestimating me… Ah, speaking of Baronet Kirk, he came to my store with some bodyguards the other day.」(Sarasa)

I almost forgot that I wanted to ask Leonora-san about Baronet Kirk.

「Baronet Kirk? Came to your store? The person himself?」(Leonora)

「Yeah. He came all of a sudden and accused me of hurting ‘innocent men’ who were actually thugs who tried to attack my store a day before he came.」(Sarasa)

While recalling what happened the other day, I told Leonora-san everything, hoping that she would be able to help me with this problem.