Chapter 19 (1/2)

Chapter 19

Work

The little girl’s blonde ponytail swayed as she skipped in front of Kei and Aileen She turned around and gave them a smile “Over here is Satyna’s symbol, the San-Dirk Clock Tower”

Kei and Aileen looked up at the stone clock that Lily pointed at with an awe-filled, “Oooh”

“Forty-two years ago, the previous lord built this to celebrate the birth of the current lord It spins the gears by using a systehts! Every day, the servants look at the lord’s ic timepiece and adjust the time, so it’s really accurate!”

“Wow~, that’s cool!”

“You sure know a lot, Lily”

“Ehe,” Lily said with pride after their praise

It was the day after they found Montand’s shop

Lily was giving them a tour of the city

Of course, even though they alking around the city, it wasn’t just for sight-seeing They were following Lily to some craftsmen that were close with Montand They had already been to an armor shop On his back Kei carried a thin wooden shi+eld predoht and would be easy for Aileen to use to deflect arrows Since they were acquaintances of Montand, they even got a small discount

“Then next is Connor-ojisan’s place!”

“What kind of craftsain?” Aileen asked

“Leather!” replied Lily cheerfully

In the end, they stayed late at Montand’s shop so they stayed for dinner too While Kei was hitting it off with Montand, Aileen got along really ith Lily and Kiska In the s, and even took a bath together Kei was grateful for their kindness

“Hmh that Aileen had taught her

Yesterday, she wore the blonde hair that she inherited fro she copied Aileen’s ponytail As she held Aileen’s hand and briskly walked their faces looked sis

“You sure are cute, Lily~,” said Aileen with a smile

Originally, Montand was supposed to have been their guide However, in the ent request, so both Montand and Kiska were busy with preparations

Therefore, Lily acted as his replaceladly showed theood chance for her to show thehts of the city They watched over her as they cheerfully followed her

“And this here is the bronze statue of the first lord, Count Patrick Heimeroth Satyna Balquet”

“Oooh,” said both Kei and Aileen said in awe once again as they looked up at the statue

The statue was atoward the sky as he stood in a daunting pose

They continued their sightseeing for a while longer

As they walked through the crafts was over, Kei said “Lily, you really know the history of the city, don’t you?” with a look of admiration

It wasn’t just e, so she wasn’t too good at expressing things in a roundabout way Although, she still frequently used technical terhts, and she see of the historical background surrounding them

Aileen, whose parents were both English, was bilingual and understood Lily’s explanations perfectly fine On the other hand, Kei, who learned it later on, felt a little pathetic asking a ten-year-old to explain the many words that he didn’t understand

Lily smiled elatedly as she pulled Aileen’s hand and walked “Hehe McDonnell-sensei teaches us a lot at cram school!”

“McDonnell?”

“Yeah He’s a specialist at the Cornwell company He knows a lot about history!” she looked proud

Kei slightly tilted his head to the side Speaking of Cornwell, it caht It was Montand’s biggest custoht

“I see, so you’re going to cram school then”

“Yeah About a year ago, one of dad’s friends introduced us to McDonnell-sensei After ht me horite and spoke with hi history and arithmetic! I even made some friends…” Lily’s excited expression clouded over “But, sometimes the rich kids make fun of dad… I don’t really like them…”

“They make fun of your dad, huuh? Those are bad kids!” Aileen said cheerfully as she playfully rubbed Lily’s head with her hands

It looked like it tickled as Lily squire

“Ahahaha, stop! That’s where I’m ticklish!+ Ahahaha!” Aileen retreated behind Kei and looked out with a warm expression

“Good job! That’s good”

“Lily is so mature…”

“Ehehe, I’m mature!”

They reached their destination, the leatherworker’s shop on the east side of the craftsmen’s area

“Connor-ojisaan! You have customers!” shouted Lily as she opened the wooden door

The air filled with the smell of leather In the back of the faintly lit roonized her and s well as usual?”

“Yep! And you?”

“Of course!” He put the leather on the desk and with a he biceps The man looked to be in his early fifties—Connor the leatherworker

His leather apron fell over his protruding beer belly The grey hair on either side of his head had retreated substantially It made him look like as commonly called an M-head

“So, you said there were customers?”

“Yeah, dad told me to introduce them to you”

“I see, I see Welcome, you two I can’t turn down soht hand and gave a hearty smile

“So, what can I do for you?”

“I’d like to have you work this piece of hide—“ as Kei pulled out Mikazuki’s hide, the clock tower bells rung, gong, gong

“Ah” Lily tugged Aileen’s sleeve “Onee-chan, onii-chan, sorry I should get back home now”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah I have craet ready”

“Okay then” Aileen said regretfully, “Should I bring you home?”

Lily shook her head “I’o back by myself!”

“Alright Got it, be careful!”

“Yep! Connor-ojisan, take care of them! Onii-chan, too, see you later!” She hurriedly ran off, her ponytail flicking behind her

“Is she really going to be okay…?” asked Aileen, worried

“The Old Town has a lot of guards All the neighbors are friendly too No one will do anything Don’t worry about it,” responded Connor as he clapped her on the shoulder

“Okay…” she reluctantly agreed

“Getting back on track, as it?”

“Ah, yes This hide has a lot of sentimental value, so…”

They spoke for a while after, which resulted in Connor telling theood quality and that he would make them each a leather purse

“So, how long will it be?”

Connor played with the small silver coin and copper coins he received froive some leeway, around four days”

“Four days… That’s a little longer than I expected Did we handle it poorly?”

“No, it was handled very well It just needs to tan, otherwise it won’t last long Since it’s good hide and has so to you, shouldn’t you spend time on it? Well, if you need me to, then I’ll have it done sooner What’ll it be?”

Kei looked at Aileen “Well… I think that we should put the time into it too”

“Yeah, that’s what I think too… Let’s do that”

“Got it Then I’ll get back to work”

Kei called to hi I have eight co to sell, do you know anyone ould want them?”

“Eight sets… How did you get these?”

“On the way to Satyna ere attacked…but, we ed to kill them and take it from them”

“Armor from the dead, and plains people at that… Sorry, but I don’t think I know anyone that would want to buy it”

“Alright…” Kei looked bitter The armor shop they visited earlier turned them down as well

He brought the topic up with Montand last night after dinner, and his reaction was just like the others so he began to suspect so

There wasn’t any demand

It wasn’t popular

Plains people’s armor was entirely unwanted

“The quality of their gear isn’t that great in the first place Their scie, they break very easily Even though the ornareat, the softness fro method leaves it with unsatisfactory defenses However, their coood They’re easy to handle even on horseback; even souards prefer them But even so, the ones that do like them usually already have one…”

“So selling the arh…”

“Yeah… Not to et their hands on a cheap, new set of armor then—”

“—no one would go out of their way for a used set,” said Kei with a resigned expression He scratched his lowered head and sighed “Actually, e took it all I thought that it was of okay quality… But, I suppose that someone else wouldn’t want it if I wouldn’t even want it”

“Suppose so Perhaps in a h here There are a lot of works by apprentices or goods da around Poor quality second hand goods don’t stand a chance” Connor sighed and looked distant “This neighborhood sure is tough… During war, craftsone down Soave up and returned to their far to sell too cheap—there are all kinds” He threw his hands up and then patted his leather apron “Even me, recently I’ve only et the occasional guard that needs their ar ar passed”

“Is there a recession now?”

“Not a recession, but peace To put it simply, there’s no need to buy armor and weapons For a short ti destroyed equipment, but now… Because they don’t use it, they don’t break it Because they don’t break it, they don’t need to replace it Because they don’t need to replace it, they don’t buy new ones… Well, it’s to be expected”

“I guess”

“But, it’s not like they don’t sell at all, right?” Aileen asked, pointing at one of the mannequins dressed in a full set of leather armor in the corner

“H, jou-chan What sells, sells However, it’s not enough to live off of I can get by since I live alone, but recently everyone has a side job now The saoes for Montand…well, he still makes a lot from his main job, but he’s an exception”

“As I thought, he’s rather skilled at what he does”

“Yeah, of course! He’s probably the only one to keep up sales after the war ended” Conner shrugged his shoulders and gave a silly smile He pulled a pipe from the apron’s pocket and put it to his mouth “Huu… There’s a limit to how cheap an arrow can be All the others around him lowered their prices and quality, but he alone chose to raise the quality Thanks to that, heof his success, others raised their prices as well, but without the sa While the few skilled ones survived, the others iainst what everyone else did and had not only the foresight, but the ability to uy really is soht of the la off his butt and sitting down “O… Your bones start to hurt once you get to e”

“Ah, sorry We etic

“Haha, I just raot off topic, sorry about that But, I can’t buy that equipment off of you”

“Is that so… It’s unfortunate, but I’ot to hear the story in detail We should—“

“Ah, wait a second I can’t buy it, but if you don’tit dirt cheap then I know of a place”

Connor used a piece of charcoal and paper to write so down

“Here you go, it’s the address In the north part of the Old Town, it’s nuht by the entrance to the sluet a lot for it, but it’s better than throwing it away It’s not a good area, but with an-chan it should be fine However, you should be aruards there”

“Benoit street… In northern Old Town, right? We’ll drop by later, thanks”

“Don’t sweat it Sorry that I couldn’t be of more help”

They took the paper fro said, “We’ll see you in four days”

†††

[PART 2]

The sun had set

A little girl quickly scaht blocked by the rampart walls

We ended a little late this time…

Lily’s ponytail flicked back and forth as she hurried on houards and drunks while wearing an uneasy expression

She pushed open the back door and entered the living room “I’m back!”

Without any lights on, both of her parents lay strewn across the table, exhausted

“Welcome home, Lily…”

“You’re later than usual today…”

They spoke with no energy

“We studied history today, so Mcdonnell-sensei’s bad habit kicked in”

“Aah, so that’s why you were late That man really loves history…”

“You’re one to speak, dear”

“How did it go for you and dad?”

Montand and Kiska sh we only have twenty, they wanted 30 ornamental arrows It was ridiculous This was the first time we ever made ten in one day…”

“It’s not good for ed to make it in time somehow

“Good work today, mom and dad!”

The two of them, like lifeless corpses, tried their best to speak cheerfully, “Thanks It really was tiring I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve worked this hard… Oh, it’s gotten this dark out already? Sorry, Lily, I’ll startdinner now Just wait a little”

“No, don’t worry about it, Kiska It’s been a while, let’s all go out to eat” Montand brightened up as he stood up from his chair and patted the wood chips off of his apron “We ht as well be luxurious, how’s Miranda sound?”

“Really!?” surprised, Lily and Kiska spoke at the same time

“Are you sure, dear!?”

Miranda was easily one of the top five restaurants in Satyna You could say it was the number one restaurant for the masses They had a first-rate chef who could ues moan There were even rumors of the feudal lord’s fanito to visit

Then suddenly, froh to make their eyes pop out of their heads

However, Montand tried to ease their concern, “Don’t worry about it Today we ht le rooht the lamp

“You’re right… It ant now and then”