Chapter 341: CH.337 Unika’s family

It had been three days since we got back from the Green dungeon when we finally got a call from Unika. We hadn’t spotted Nel again, by the way, so we still have no clue where she is hiding, and I actually almost sent one of my monsters to check out the house she entered, but I can wait a bit more.

But back to Unika. Since she called for us, I’ll go meet up with her.

 

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With the emergency device (not finished) that I gave her, I located Unika in the city and beamed down very close to her. Not right next to her, but pretty close. I also brought Ria with me, just in case.

 

“Unika. I’m here.” I called out to the purple tailed fox-girl. 

She was standing in an almost empty alley with a young boy, probably 10 or so years old. The boy didn’t have a tail, but he does seem to have some sort of ears on the top of his head. Though unlike with Unika, where her ears are standing up straight, the boy’s ears are flat against his head. Oh, and his hair was cut quite short and was a blue-ish color. Quite a light blue at that. It is an interesting contrast compared to Unika, as she is a very dark blue. Well, purple, but purple is a mix of blue and red, while this boy is a very light blue.

“Ah? Lord Brian? You really came?” Unika seemed genuinely surprised that I had come to meet her. Did she not trust me?

“Of course. I promised as much.” I reassured her. “Is this your younger brother? It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Brian.”

“I’m… I’m Valoa.” The boy introduced himself.

“I apologize that our mother couldn’t be here. She wasn’t able to take a day off.” Unika told me.

“Don’t worry. That is no issue. Let’s head to a local tea-shop or something, where we can talk in peace.” I told the two, and as I saw their faces change, I quickly added. “Don’t worry. I’m paying.”

“Then… then we can go to the place mama works at.” Valoa said. “... maybe she can take a break.”

“I’m not so…” Unika tried to say no in a gentle way, but actually, Valoa’s idea sounds just fine.

“I think that is a great idea. Can you show me the way?” I asked.

 

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After just a short walk, we stopped in front of a small diner. It looked … fine, but it looked a bit run down, so maybe it lacked customers. Or maybe the owner was just a cheapskate. 

Following Valoa and Unika, we entered the building. I quickly noticed that there was a considerable number of customers inside, despite the somewhat early hour and the state of the building. If I owned this place, and I had this many customers every day, I would fix this place.

 

We were quickly spotted by a server, and she rushed somewhere to probably get someone. And very soon, a fox-folk lady with dark blue hair, ears and tail came to us. Her work uniform… well, I can definitely see what kind of ‘diner’ this is. She was dressed in a skimpy uniform that covered just a bit more than the minimum. If I didn’t know any better, actually I don’t know any better, so maybe this place is actually … that kind of place. Hopefully not.

 

“... what are you doing here?” She didn’t yell, speaking quietly but assertively. “I told you not to visit me while I work.”

“But mom…”

“No. Leave.” She said, still in that hushed tone.

“We came to eat. Would that be possible?” I asked.

The fox-lady then turned to look at me, as if this was the first time she noticed me.

 

“... Sir? I’m not sure you would enjoy any food in this place. Are you sure you don’t want a recommendation for a better restaurant?” She asked.

“... is that really how you treat your customers? No wonder the owner doesn’t fix this place.” I said, before I told her. “But yes. I would like to eat here. And I would like you to join us.” 

“I… I’m not sure that is possible.”

“It isn’t if it is possible, but how much it costs. So how much for you to dine with us?” I asked, as I got a gold coin out of Storage and handed it to her.

“I… I’ll go ask.” The fox-woman agreed to my suggestion. She guided us to an empty table that would fit all four of us, before entering some back area, possibly the kitchen.

 

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“The manager allowed me to eat with you for the cost you already paid.” The fox-lady came back and told me. She then sat down at the table with us.

“That’s good.” I was honestly expecting him to ask for even more money for this, but just one gold is very little. “Can you recommend some good foods?”

“A-Are you sure? This place is..?”

“You still have plenty of customers, and they do seem to be eating happily, so it cannot be terrible, right? If it was, you would be shut down, or at least basically empty.”

“If you say so, but …”

“Mom. Relax.” Unika spoke over her mother. “He asked for your recommendations, so just give them.” She then added in a bit quieter tone. “He likes pretty normal foods.”

 

… are my foods normal? I mean, I suppose they are. They are just … regular-ish ingredients prepared with the highest possible skill. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but they are prepared by the highest skill I have available. And a lot of the meat ingredients we use come from B-rank monsters, so that also adds to the flavor. Higher rank monsters do generally taste better. Though I haven’t tried any of the SS-rank monsters, so I could be wrong. But that theory does apply to all monsters from D-rank to A-rank, so it might be correct.

 

“Then …” The fox-lady quickly began listing foods she would recommend and I picked a few of them to order.

You are reading story Yugioh Card Summoner at novel35.com

 

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After the fox-lady took our order, which I went a bit overboard with, to the kitchen, she returned with some drinks and sat down with us. Though our drinks were just lemon water with some ice. But I have to say, having ice in drinks isn’t super common, so I’m actually pleasantly surprised by the fact that this place has some.

 

As we waited for the food, I introduced myself to the fox-lady, though she did already know my name. Her name is Olia, age … well, you don’t have to know a lady’s age, and race is fox-folk. … I’m just pointing out the obvious.

Anyway. Olia had some questions, as was to be expected. She had heard of my offer from Unika, but had deemed it ‘too good to be true’. Which in a way it is, but also isn’t. I mean, I am asking them to leave their entire life behind, basically. And I know Unika probably told them about how she ‘lived’ on HomeBase, but workers' rooms aren’t quite as nice as the guest rooms. Still good, and things like the beds are just as good, but they are a bit smaller and might not have all the features the guest rooms do, so hopefully they aren’t expecting too much. But it will hopefully still be better than where they used to live. … Actually, where was that? Did Endy track her like he did Nel? He probably did, I just didn’t ask.

 

“... So let me see if I got this right. You want us to live in your manor and act as maids?” Olia asked to confirm.

“Yes. Well, maid for you, Unika would be a part of my combat force, as she is already an adventurer and has some skills. And I won’t expect Valoa to work until he is fifteen.”

“... and we will be paid 7 gold a month?”

“Plus you will get three meals a day, and snacks. I’ll supply all of your clothing and any other day-to-day necessities. … as well as work uniforms that actually cover some skin. Oh, and the payment is 7 gold for you and another seven for Unika. Unika will also get a danger bonus when she goes out on quests. And you can each get a raise if you impress me. Valoa can also earn some pocket money by doing tasks, but again, that isn’t expected.”

“And you will teach him how to use magic?” 

“Not just him. You two can also join the lessons, magic, swordsmanship or some other skills. I have people who can teach a lot of things. We just don’t have a full schedule yet.”

“... I see… But why?”

“Why? Because I can?”

“But why us? What is so special about us?”

“Unika. She has a skill I’m interested in, as well as an interesting way to use it.” I answered honestly. Just getting access to Tamer’s Paradise is already worth paying some money. And honestly, I do need more people, so why not get them.

“Just for that? You would use this much money on just that?”

“... What is ‘a lot of money’ in your opinion? Let me guess, two gold coins? Maybe just one?”

“... I currently make 10 large silvers a month.” Olia answered. 

 

10 large silvers, huh. That is two and a half gold. … yeah, that is low. The maids at Sawyer manor made 3 golds every two weeks, so six a month, so making less than half of that is … kind of a joke.

 

“I see… so probably as little as one large silver would be a lot.”

“... Yes.” Olia confirmed.

“And that is the difference between us. For me, seven gold is something I make in my sleep. Multiple times over. It isn’t something enormous for me. If I were to look at it from your point of view, it would be equivalent to you using one copper coin on something you really want. Actually, that isn’t even a fair comparison, but I hope you get the point. The money is of no concern.”

“... I … I just don’t understand. We are nothing special. You could find another person with the same skill. That just… doesn’t explain it. Why us?”

“Because you are lucky. That is the honest reason. You are lucky. Unika just happened to run into me when she was in trouble, I helped her and because of that, we got acquainted.” I answered honestly. “And now I feel like helping her more, because she happened to interest me.”

“... alright. I understand.”

“Good.”

“You are not someone that can be understood by someone like me.” Olia said.

“... well, I suppose that might be the case.”

 

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“Thank you. For this. It will take me a bit of time to sort out everything, but once we do, we shall make the move.” Olia said, as we went our separate ways.

“Of course. Unika has a way to contact me, so when you are ready, just use it.”

 

For now, I couldn’t bring the group straight to HomeBase, even if I wanted to. They wanted a few days to deal with things like debt, their home, the school Valoa goes to and so on. And I was more than happy to wait a bit longer.

I had given the group a total of five gold coins, as prepayment. They could use that to clear away any debt they have, and hopefully they could do what they want with their house. I did tell them that I’d expect them to live on HomeBase, so keeping a house on the surface might be useless to them. Sure they can, but it is just going to be another money sink.

 

After saying see you later to the family, I located a nice quiet spot and beamed myself up to HomeBase.

 

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“Master. Endemion requests your presence.” Water Magician informed me when I arrived at HomeBase.