Bethany and Jessica sat on the ground in a duck-like squat, while Letia stood tall above them, looking down at the pair.
“Sigh…”
Letia let out an exaggerated, theatrical sigh, one hand pressed to her forehead as if she were suffering the world’s greatest misunderstanding and injustice.
“What on earth… what nonsense do you two spend your days thinking about?”
“Look at me, really look into these sincere eyes of mine,”
“Do you honestly think…”
Her voice rose and fell, tragic and full of self-moved emotion.
“Do you think I, Letia, would be the kind of person to sell her noble soul and… uh… body for a paltry sum?”
“My Dignity! My Faith! Are they only worth a measly hundred Luens?!”
On the ground, Jessica, who had barely made her presence felt, finally lifted her small, expressionless face.
She looked at Letia with calm, undisturbed eyes, and murmured in a quiet voice.
“…Then… maybe it’s just that…the money…wasn’t enough?”
The mask of sacred sincerity on Letia’s face cracked on the spot.
“Hey! How many times do I have to say it, the money he just gave me was just because I wanted to help, that’s my salary to begin with!”
Letia conveniently ignored the fact that she had been the one to ask for it in the first place.
“Besides, I’m not interested in men, otherwise why would I go to Dreamland all the time? What I like are soft, sweet girls. How could I ever have any interest in Red for free?”
It was clear she was getting a little anxious.
But neither of them wanted to call her out any further, and neither of them liked binding play anyway.
If they kept this up and Letia really got mad and tied them up, that wouldn’t be good.
“Uh…wait a minute,”
Bethany scratched her head in confusion, her thoughts finally clearing up a bit.
“Since Red already paid you, shouldn’t you be staying put in that crappy shop, helping him out?”
Bethany pointed at the run-down shop.
“So why are you here?”
“Aiya~”
Letia acted as though a light had suddenly gone off in her head.
She made a fist with her right hand and lightly tapped her left palm, putting on an expression of sudden realization and nodded solemnly.
“Bethany, what you say makes perfect sense.”
Her face grew as solemn as if she were listening to the archbishop preach.
“Emotionally, Boss Red generously paid me a whole hundred Luens in advance!”
“Logically speaking,” Letia straightened her back as if making a vow:
“I, Letia, as an honored Holy Church priestess, having taken the money and not working, yet running off to slack and chat here… That really is…”
At this point, she paused, clutching her meager chest as though her conscience were stricken with overwhelming guilt.
“Highly unprofessional! Highly immoral! It’s simply shameless!”
Bethany stared at Letia’s sudden bout of self-reflection, utterly dumbfounded.
She couldn’t possibly be having a genuine awakening and turning over a new leaf, could she?
Yet in the very next second—
Letia grew a little bashful, cupping her face in both hands with an awkward expression.
“But…”
“But…”
“But freeloading just feels so good!”
In that instant, time completely froze.
“……”
“……”
The two sitting on the ground fell silent for a long while, exchanging glances, and finally reached a single conclusion.
This one is hopeless.
“Unbelievable,” Red tied up the mess of planks on the floor and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Letia said she was going to the restroom, but now where’s she gone?”
Honestly, from the very beginning, he hadn’t expected Letia—the ultimate salted fish who could probably sun-dry into salt crystals—to be of any real help.
He’d have been thankful enough if she didn’t make things worse.
But to just run off without a word was a bit much, wasn’t it!?
“Oh well, just as expected.”
Red sighed.
Using a hundred Luens to get that noisy girl out of his hair wasn’t a bad deal.
At least it was a lot quieter.
“If I get all this sorted, I should be able to open up tomorrow… Though, calling it opening a shop, it’s really more about passing the time.”
Since he was currently unemployed, Red wasn’t keen on heading back to the dungeon, so he had to find something to do.
Opening a weapon shop, helping adventurers with repairs and maintenance, tinkering with the little gadgets he liked—it wasn’t a bad way to spend his days.
In the past, he’d driven himself crazy trying to conquer the dungeon, becoming a stranger to himself inside and out.
Now, taking life a bit slower didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
After tidying up for about half an hour, Red glanced at the time.
“It’s getting late. I’ll grab something to eat outside first.”
Red pushed open the door, ready to head to the Riverside Tavern for a meal.
But as soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of a nun dressed all in white.
“Litt?”
Red’s eyes filled with surprise.
Clearly, he found Litt’s sudden appearance strange.
After all, he hadn’t told her about this place—he’d planned to let her know when he went back tonight.
“What are you doing here?”
Seeing how disheveled he was, Red couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, as though someone had caught him at his most unpresentable.
Yet Litt didn’t seem to care about Red’s bedraggled state; her face remained as warm and gentle as the sun.
“On my way back, I met a priestess of the Holy Church.”
Litt’s voice was soft, almost carrying a power to soothe the heart.
“She told me you’d rented a shop here and were cleaning up on your own. She told me… to prepare dinner and bring it to you.”
With that, Litt lifted the two Lunchboxes she’d wrapped with clean cotton cloth, the warmth of the food inside seeping out through the fabric, its delicious aroma tempting in the cool evening air.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze full of gentle concern as she quietly, tenderly watched Red, then smiled and said,
“You’ve worked so hard—you probably haven’t had time to eat, have you?”
Letia… you, at least, I’ll upgrade you from a monkey to a human being.
Looking at the healing presence of the white-clad nun before him, Red felt a faint warmth in his heart.
“Yeah, just finished up.”
Red cleared his throat, trying his best not to look too messy.
“It’s still a bit of a mess inside. How about we eat back there?”
“It’s all right,”
Litt glanced past Red at the pile of clutter, not a hint of distaste on her face, only a tolerant smile blooming there.
“No matter how messy, this will be your workplace from now on, won’t it?”
As she spoke, Litt walked into the shop, headed to a long bench covered in dust, and, without the slightest hesitation, gently brushed the dust away with her hand.
She turned to the still-dazed Red in the doorway and said, “What are you standing there for?”
The white nun’s smile carried a playful spark.
“After we eat, we’ll clean up together.”