The afternoon sun shone brightly over the city of Zibil as we left the Paisley Company behind.
“With this, finally…” Mr. Chotos spoke softly, as if he were releasing everything that had been pent up inside his chest. “I’ve finally settled my debt with the Company…”
“So you have. Well, I’m glad for you,” I said.
“I was relieved from the bottom of my heart. I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve felt so at peace. Thank you, Nemaki. I really, truly appreciate it.”
“Huh? Ah, yeah.”
Mr. Chotos was moved to tears. Ah, what an ugly face. Hey, stop that.
Maybe I should have said, While you didn’t forget to show me gratitude despite being who you are, aren’t you getting a bit lax? Your battle starts now! You’ve repaid your debt, but you’re only at square one of rebuilding your life. Your shop shelves are barren, and your customer’s footsteps echo far, far away. You also have to raise Teru while you’re managing your shop. That’s at least three kinds of normal hardship stacked on top of each other, don’t you think? Do you get it? Huh, mister?
In spite of my entirely sensible and composed, albeit unvoiced, concern, Mr. Chotos wiped his sweat and tears as he smiled, relieved. “Ah ha ha… Still, to think that Sir Spero himself would come out. I was so nervous that I was drenched in sweat.”
“Sir Spero?”
“You know, the man who greeted us at the office and handled the repayment procedure? The fellow with the monocle.”
Ah. Could he be talking about that dashing, bespectacled, middle-aged man with a strange fetish for me? Now that he said it, I realized the guy had seemed to be of a rather high position. “Is that man a big deal or something?”
“He’s the branch manager. And of course he’s a big deal; he’s Paisley Company. The average merchant won’t ever reach such a position. I believe he’s also from the Kinas territory, where the main branch is located.”
Hmm…Kinas, huh? Well, whatever. That branch manager seemed to have a variety of dangerous qualities, so there was nothing better to do than to forget the whole thing. I was a man known for his strategic memory loss. “Well, I don’t really care. More importantly, how about we all go and eat a baked sempiol?”
“What?! You don’t care? You’re the one who asked!” Mr. Chotos was back to his normal self, sighing with an astonished face, but he suddenly looked shocked. “Ah! Now that you mention it, yeah. We haven’t had breakfast yet. I was so nervous that it completely slipped my mind.”
“You just realized it now?! You’re so slow, mister!”
As we yapped at each other, we headed to a cozy hole-in-the-wall by the street. In all that time, the sleeping lady in my arms hadn’t opened her eyes. My arms were starting to lose feeling.