Profession, Merchant Volume 5 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10 – Arrest, II

“Here, milk.”

Returning to my room, “I” offered milk for the little girl and green tea for myself.

“Y-you know…”

Then ‘I’ spoke first, taking a sip of my tea.

“W-what did you mean when you said you liked me just now? No, I wasn’t saying that I was excited about it, so don’t get me wrong, okay!”

Are you a Tsundere, me!?

“I see. Come to think of it, ‘like’ can be interpreted in many ways in your language. Sorry for not making it clear. What I meant by ‘like’ is what is commonly referred to as ‘being in love with someone’.

“Seriously…?”

“Yes, what I mean is that I’d like to have you as my ‘wife’ right now.”

The young girl courts the effeminate “me” in a refreshingly masculine way, not even changing her expression.

As for this “I”, well, he blushes pathetically, not even noticing the contradiction of being treated as a “wife” instead of a husband.

I guess it’s just the innocence of childhood… although I think I’m the last person to deserve that praise.

“B-but I think we just met. What do you like about me?”

I ask, blushing like a woman in love. To which the girl replied.

“I have a lot, actually. Like the kindness of making me drink milk to make my tits grow, or the fact that you don’t look at me lecherously even though you’re a lecherous person, or the fact that your face looks like a really attractive girl even though you’re a sourpuss underneath.”

“Are you praising me? That’s just plain slander!”

Yes. Even I think so too.

“Well, apart from how much I love you. Do you know where the ‘hero’ is?”

“No way… she really said she loved me…”

The hell…

 “I” was so embarrassed and fidgeting that even my present self couldn’t bear to look at it.

“But to answer your question… well, I have no idea where she is.”

“How does your dad do it anyway?”

“I heard they use some kind of communication magic to intercept each other’s messages. But I can’t use that kind of magic yet.”

“I see. Then how about this. Do you have anything that belongs to this ‘hero’?”

“Hm? There is, but what do you want to do with it?”

Saying this, “I” offered the little girl the panties the “Hero” had given me.

Without any shame, of course.

The girl held the panties in her left hand and held her right hand over them as if she was going to cast a spell without changing her expression.

“…!!”

The panties glowed a faint blue, and then she spoke.

“Thirst Island. That’s where she is.”

“Eh?”

“That’s where the ‘hero’ you’re looking for is. Or at least the owner of this underwear.”

“You can even use magic like that. That’s amazing.”

“I” being amazed was an appropriate response. It was not a spell that one could normally use at such a young age.

“So when do we leave?”

“I’m leaving right now. Are you coming with me?”

“Of course. You’re weak and I worry about you.”

“I” shifted my gaze here and there, as if troubled, but soon “I” spoke again, as if I had made up my mind.

“All right. I understand. You can come with me. But I probably wouldn’t come back to this villa again. I’m going to sort out the property and see what I can pawn for bonds, so just wait a minute.”

“Yesh, sir.”

“Wait, you’re out of milk. Do you want another glass? It might be the last time.”

“Sure, I’ll have some.”

Saying that, “I” fetched another glass of milk and handed it to the little lady.

“Sorry,” I whispered at a volume she couldn’t hear.

The little girl took the milk and drank it in one gulp.

Without suspecting anything.

“Is it good?”

“Yes, this milk is… good… but I’m… sleepy… suuu… suuu…”

Soon the breathing sounds of a sleeping young girl could be heard.

“Well, the sleeping pills seem to have worked.”

“I”, muttering this, reached out and embraced the young girl in her sleep – not with the intent of doing anything to her, just picking her up and carrying her somewhere.

“I” then went to the café of my senior’s house, right next door to us.

“I” had probably decided that no matter how skilled she was at magic, he couldn’t just let the girl he’d just made friends with join him in his recklessness.

My senior’s father happily agreed and took care of her, but from then on, I have no idea what happened after the little girl woke up.

I am sure she would have been furious.

That’s fine with me, but in the end, I couldn’t help but wonder if she would have continued to run away from home or decided to return to her country and become part of her Church.

Come to think of it, I can’t even remember the name of that little girl’s country.

But that was okay.

I don’t think I’ll ever see her again.

After my father’s arrest, “I” immediately organized my belongings and loaded the minimum of luggage into the wagon that belonged to my family.

I wrote a letter to my relatives that the property would be managed by them, prepared documents to hand over our other businesses to subcontractors, made sure all contracts were in order, and for the final step before I left, filled out the school withdrawal form.

Yes, we had been planning to leave the country from the beginning, ever since the “hero” was branded a “fake hero”.

It’s just a question of when.

After all, we are supplying the Fake Hero, which is basically giving money and ammunition to a terrorist.

Looking back, I can’t tell you how many times I regretted this decision.

I had experienced first-hand how hard it would be to leave my country and become a traveling merchant.

Then again, I was completely out of my mind at the time.

I drove the wagon to a nearby harbor.

After loading the wagon onto a medium-sized magic boat belonging to my family, I set off for the Island of Thirst.

Looking back, it is probably a miracle that “I”, who was not very good at navigation and could hardly use magic, was able to reach Thirst Island all by myself.

It was probably because the waves were not too rough and the island was easy to reach once we got on the current.

The problem, however, arose off the coast of Thirst Island.

Thirst Island, as its name suggests, is a small, economically unattractive island of rock and sand – an island that cannot even quench a parched throat.

To the west, however, warships flying the flags of various countries were bombarding the island, and to the east, Demons and their monster troops were attacking in packs.

This was clearly an attack on the “Hero”.

She is the target of subjugation by human countries all over the world, and because she is still a hero, even though the title has been taken away from her, the demon inhabitants of Newland hold a grudge against her, so she is literally an enemy of the whole world.

But the next scene made me realize just how formidable a person she is.

Lightning and earth-shattering thunder could be heard, making it difficult to approach the island.

Shivering, I had no choice but to watch the situation on the distant boat.

Then the collision, which seemed to go on forever, finally stopped.

The warships sank, and the swarm of monsters disappeared as if swallowed by the island.

“I” took advantage of this and quietly pulled the boat over to the island.

After setting foot on it and walking around for a while, I found corpses of armor-clad soldiers from various countries and strong monsters strewn together.

One woman was standing in front of countless corpses, clasping her hands together, her trousers making noise in the air.

It was none other than the “Hero” herself.

In addition to silver goggles and a tank top, she wore black combat gloves to keep her sword from slipping.

She seemed to notice my presence and spun around.

“Oh, it’s you. It’s been a while.”

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