Chapter 14: Preparations For After Death


TL: Scaramochi


***


"Master. Are you all right?"


Tiana asks me as she hugs me tightly.


"I was just poisoned a little. I've already been treated and I'm fine."


"I'm glad to hear that......"


"Yeah, I'm fine now."


"But, but, when I went out shopping, I heard a rumor that Master was critically ill with a deadly poison. I heard Master had gone to the temple, and I waited for him, but he didn't come out, so I was worried....."


"The delay was because I slept a little. I tied up the front side as soon as I got the wound, so the poison was slow to circulate and I wasn't actually in danger of dying."


"It must have been so bad that you lost consciousness."


"I was just tired from working all night. Look, people are watching us."


Tiana looked up and around in a panic. I thought she was going to leave, but she squeezed me again.


"I don't really care about that."


Since there's publicity, I decide to go the other way.


"Well, I'm very hungry."


Tiana bows her head as she quickly leaves.


"Yes, you are. I'm sorry. You've been working all night and I'm......"


"Let's get my paid at the guild, do some shopping and go home."


"Yes."


As we walk with our backs against the temple, a children younger than Tiana come walking toward us in groups, wax plates and iron brushes in hand.


They were children who were learning to write at the school attached to the temple.


I noticed that Tiana stopped and gave them an enthusiastic look.


"What's wrong?"


"N-Nothing."


***


The front entrance to the guild was a melancholy scene.


Apparently, word had gotten around that the party that had entered earlier had been wiped out. The assistant guild leader was trying his best to calm them down.


We entered through a back door on the side.


Jonathan came out from the back and laid out the silver coins on the counter. Eight coins in all.


I was afraid to touch them, thinking that I had originally been promised four, but he told me that they were a bonus for bringing back the belongings of all of them and part of the reward was from the trio vanguard.


"By the way, they were a hell of a feeder to run away when they were the vanguard."


I raise my eyebrows involuntarily.


"And then they get poisoned and collapse in a heap of foam, what a shame."


"Um. Yeah."


I reply appropriately.


I guess it's because the vanguard isn't here.


Normally, people don't trust you when you tell them that the vanguard, the flower of the group, has run away. It would be dismissed as the ramblings of a bandit, and if the situation was bad, you might be framed for the crime.


But it was Gina who filed the suit, and not me, so it was probably effective. It sounded good to be able to use level 4 magic, even if it wasn't much use in practice.


Jonathan leaned forward.


"I heard you gave away the antidote."


I keep quiet, afraid of saying unnecessary things.


"If it were me, I wouldn't sell the antidote even if they offered me a lot of money. I can pay my own treatment. Well, I guess it's partly because the woman begged you, but Harris really a good person regardless of how you look."


Is it really that bad, me?


I feel a strong pressure from behind me.


"Well, I'll be around. I'll leave the six silver coins with you."


"Yes, Thank you for your help this time, Harris. You are a veteran. I'll ask you again in the future."


As soon as I left the guild building, Tiana came around in front of me. She stared at me.


"Hey, what happen? Let's go shopping and go home. I'm starving."


"Master..."


Tiana approaches me with an intensity I've never seen before.


"Is it true that you gave away the antidote to another person when you know you are also poisoned in your body?"


"No, well, yes. I had no choice."


"You told me that you wouldn't do anything reckless."


"Well, I'm safe now."


"It's not good. If anything happens to the master, I-I'm ......"


Oh. That didn't work.


Surely she's worried, considering I'm dead. It's not uncommon to hear about someone will selling the slave out in the middle of the night when the master is dead.


"Don't worry. Before I go out again, I'll make sure I have the paperwork in order for Tiana to be able to make a living if something happens to me. That's will be all right, hm?"


"Not good."


She glares at me with a resentful look.


I'm a little scared of her because she's usually so smiling.


However, I manage to calm her down, do some shopping, and go home.


Tiana puts on an apron and starts preparing the meal while I got some hot water and quickly wiped my whole body.


I got the smell of blood off me and made myself comfortable on the couch. Finally, I can calm down a little.


Well, it might be hard to be left alone in a strange town at that age. Maybe I need to give it some more thought.


I haven't been too concerned about it before, but my work is about life and death. I guess Tiana knows that she is dependent on me. But I'm not that financially sound either, and if I leave her only money, I'm sure the bad guys will targeting her. If I can get both money and a girl, some people might have bad intentions. And she's a pretty girl, too.


The only way to get the money and the girl is to entrust Tiana to someone you can trust, if I can find someone like that, I should have no trouble. The old lady next door, Audie, seems to like Tiana a lot, so if I had no other choice, I would ask her to take care of Tiana. She may be trustworthy, but I doubt if she can protect Tiana.


Wait a minute. It's not about what happens after I die, it's about what happens before. I don't want to die with my regrets left behind, so I'm going to embrace Tiana right away. I don't think she will cry out and resist. If I tell her that I do this to slaves in other places, she might give up and become quiet.


I twist my head toward the kitchen and look at the slender body preparing the meal.


Thinking it was still too early, I called out to her and she came quickly.


I tell her to sit down next to the couch and quickly duck my left hand behind Tiana's waist.


I was about to place my right hand on her thigh when I heard a powerful tap on the front door.


"Hey. Harris. I know you're in there.　It's me. It's Zeigt."


Damn. I was in the middle of a good thing, but of all the people I'm trying to avoid seeing the most, he pays me a visit now.



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