"Didn't I say I would pay? I'm almost ready to buy the [Sheriff] formula. If I advance to Sequence 8, the remaining debt will be much smaller!"
After leaving Snow's house, Xio kept muttering in Fors's ear. Fors, however, had reverted to her lazy self, replying in a dazed tone, "Because it's better to use my debt for this."
"Why?" Xio was surprised and asked.
"Because it's a debt," Fors said, her lips curving into a hint of slyness. She narrowed her eyes and continued as if it were common sense, "A debtor must be alive to pay back the loan, right? If you paid, he wouldn't care much if I lived or died. But since I'm the one who owes him, he has to consider whether I can actually pay it back. After all, it's a debt of at least a thousand pounds; no one would let that much money just vanish, would they?"
Xio's gaze toward Fors changed. She looked at her roommate of many years as if seeing her brilliant side for the first time.
After a long while, she blurted out, "Fors, you're so cunning."
"Hehe! After all, my protagonist is a smart person!" Fors laughed sheepishly. At her words, Xio finally relaxed.
However, Fors suddenly asked a question that made Xio tense up again, "By the way, you still haven't told me what price you paid to ask about the full moon ravings."
"Ah, that... it was a bonus for my father's question. No charge!" Xio turned her head slightly, her tone stiff.
Fors wasn't stupid. Hearing this, she immediately grew suspicious.
"The full moon ravings involve a hidden entity. Does your father's matter involve a True God too?"
"That..." Xio was stumped. But her mind raced, and she immediately counter-asked, "By the way, did you notice? Mr. Panreadax's house is right across from where Mr. A holds his Beyonder gathering."
"It's Mr. V now," Fors rolled her eyes. The thought that Snow was likely Mr. V gave her an inexplicable toothache.
Xio's subject-changing tactic succeeded. Fors soon shifted the topic back to the relationship between Mr. V and Snow. It wasn't that she was being fooled; she knew Xio's debt was likely more than just the strike mission. If Xio received any strange tasks later, she'd just help her out. But thinking about it,
'Wait... did Mr. Snow do this on purpose? This way, he can hire two Beyonders for a single low price!'
...
In the window, Snow silently watched the "Salted Fish" and Xio depart. With a smile on his face, he sat down at his typewriter and began to strike the mechanical keys.
Even with Emperor Roselle's improvements, the modern typewriter remained inconvenient due to material limitations. Yet, the clack-clack of metal friction sounded like music to Snow's ears.
He truly did love the sound of a keyboard.
"It would be even better if I could get a set of rosewood keycaps."
Snow looked at the cool metal keys with a hint of disdain. But what could he do? He couldn't exactly descend an oracle and have Lavis sacrifice a set of wooden keycaps to him, could he?
'I really wish I had an Auto-Recording Doll...' Snow stretched luxuriously. Suddenly, he heard an almost imperceptible sound and turned his head.
"You're back?"
"Meow..."
Lily looked up at Snow, then slumped her head back down. With a look of total dejection, she crawled into the cat bed in the corner, appearing as though she had just experienced the greatest despair of her nine lives.
"What happened to you? Did a mouse beat you up?" Snow's expression turned strange. To beat a [Instigator] cat into this state, was it that half-god rat in the sewers?
"Meow..." Lily called out weakly. She stretched her front paws out and stared at her soft paw pads with disgust. Then, she let out a sigh that sounded entirely too human.
"What use are these claws?"
"What the hell?" Snow felt his scalp tingle. Since when did you learn to speak such perfect Loenese?
Lily ignored Snow's "I've seen a ghost" expression. Her voice was filled with the tone of "I'm tired, let the world end."
"A cat's claws... they can't make dried fish snacks!"
Pfft...
Snow couldn't help but burst into laughter. Lily, however, remained indifferent.
"What are you laughing at? You have no idea how hard it is to make dried fish! There are so many tools, and I can't use any of them with paws!"
"No, wait, when did you learn to speak?" Snow crouched and picked up the little kitten who seemed to have lost her dreams. Lily looked at him like he was an idiot.
"I hear those idiots talking every day; it came naturally."
'Idiots? Does she mean the people she instigates into fighting?' Snow wondered. He rubbed Lily's head vigorously until she started making "I'm going to bite you" sounds.
"Then why didn't you speak before?"
"Are you stupid? Speaking human language is exhausting!" Lily tilted her head and pointed a paw at her throat. Her expression clearly said 'This thing isn't designed for such complex sounds.' Well, she might not have been able to make such a complex face, but Snow could sense that's what she meant.
Seeing the usually obedient Lily suddenly acting like a rebellious teenage girl, Snow found it incredibly amusing. He magically pulled out a dried fish snack and handed it to her.
"If you wanted fish snacks, why didn't you just tell me?"
"You'd just make me do a lot of annoying things anyway, wouldn't you?" Lily muttered with disgust, though she honestly took the snack and began to take small, dainty bites.
"No labor, no food. Do you know how much the fish you're eating costs?" Snow squinted, looking at her with a grin.
"Chicken-wrapped Snow-Anchovy jerky. Five sule per stick. Although buying ingredients to make it yourself is much cheaper. Fresh Snow-Anchovy is less than three ounces per piece; one is only two sule. Chicken breast is cheap, and the spice usage..."
Listening to Lily detail the production process, Snow realized he had underestimated her obsession with fish snacks. But...
"Do you know how hard it is to earn a single sule?" Snow praised his "raise girls with wealth" policy and asked a soul-searching question, "It shouldn't be hard, right? That stupid Witch spends hundreds of pounds every time she chats..."
Lily counted her paws and spoke with total confidence.
"Hmm, it seems you need a lesson in the wages of ordinary people." Snow narrowed his eyes, revealing a demonic smile, "Coincidentally, I have a friend who works at the docks. Help me deliver a letter to him. While you're at it, witness for yourself what a human has to do to earn enough money for a single one of your fish snacks."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: "Auto-Recording Doll" (自动书记人偶) - A reference to the anime/novel Violet Evergarden.
T/N: "Sheriff" (治安官) - Reminder: Sequence 8 of the Arbiter pathway.
T/N: "Instigator" (教唆者) - Sequence 8 of the Assassin/Demoness pathway.