Chapter 42: The Previous Woman


TL: Scaramochi


***


"I'm back."


Tiana's voice at the door made me realize something was wrong.


Her usual bouncy voice was gone, and she sounded terribly listless. 


When I turned around, I could see that she was trying to manage a smile.


Her hands and feet were smeared with blood.


"What's wrong?"


I stood up and the chair fell with a clatter.


Rushing nearby, Tiana shrank back and bowed her head.


"Master. I am sorry. I broke the eggs I went to the trouble of buying. I will reimburse you with the money you gave me......"


"I don't care about that. You're wounded."


She kneeled down and reformed her left limb.


It was covered in blood, sand had gotten into it, and it was hurting badly.


This is not good. If I don't treat it properly, it's going to leave a mark on her skin. If I don't clean it off first, it will be worse if it festers.


I let her leave the shopping basket where it was and grabbed her right hand to take her to the backyard.


I pumped up clean water from the well.


"It's going to sting a little, but bear with it."


I took a hand tub and poured it over Tiana's limbs to rinse the sand off.


Beads of blood immediately started to float to the surface.


It's a pretty bad injury.


"What's wrong?"


"I fell down. I was carrying my luggage and it looks like I scraped it as it was. I'm sorry."


"Don't apologize. You must be in a lot of pain.　Let's go to the temple right away."


"Oh, no. It's okay."


"No."


Leaving Gina and the others in a daze, I went to the temple with Tiana in my arms.


I coughed as I told the priest at the reception desk, who had become a familiar face to me.


"I want you to heal her wounds."


"Oh. This looks painful. This way."


The young priest cleansed the wound with holy water and then began chanting a healing spell.


Soon the chanting was over and Tiana's wounds were healed.


Relieved to hear that there would be no lasting wounds, I thanked him and left the room.


"I apologize for the extra expense."


Tiana bows her head.


Oh, right, she didn't know about the membership card.


It would be troublesome if Gina finds out that I gave away the antidote for the poisonous snake when I told her that it was free this time.


I told Tiana to wait a little further away and went to the reception.


"How much will this treatment cost?"


"Eh? Usually about a silver coin."


I take a silver coin out of my pocket.


It was part of yesterday's two instructional fees.


Without asking, I pushed the silver coin to the receptionist.


He looked puzzled, but suddenly smiled and put the silver coin away.


"Thank you very much for your kindness."


As I was walking down the street with a very grateful Tiana, I bumped into Moore.


We had not seen each other since our reconciliation handshake with the guildmaster the other day.


"Hi, there. Harris."


"Oh."


Moore was completely derelict.


Even though he was a retired adventurer, the guildmaster was a figurehead.


He was about to open his mouth to say something, but I bailed and walked quickly past him with Tiana in tow.


I had decided that Moore was no longer a liability.


It was hard to believe that a mere rent-a-cop father would make the choice to make enemies with the town's most powerful people. Especially since he has a good base of livelihood.


Zoe, who has since left town, is more of a problem. He is young, and there is a danger that he will act according to his emotions.


When I returned home, I found that the shopping cart had been neatly put away.


She had washed the dirty food and collected as much of the broken eggs as she could and put them in a bowl.


She was indeed a housewife who had learned to save money.


Tiana said she was fine now and started to prepare the meal, and the two of them began to help.


I was lounging on the sofa, since there seemed to be no room for me.


After lunch, Tiana starts putting away the laundry and we continue our conversation.


"I'm not as good a cook as she is, but I can help with food preparation and other things. I can also do a few household chores, so could you leave me to live here?　Please?"


Misha said with enthusiasm.


I question Gina.


"When you were renting the room, was the rent something like three silver coins a month?"


"That's about right."


I folded my arms and thought about it.


I couldn't be too naive.


The house was big enough for my needs, and I still had a spare room that I wasn't using.


However, there was no end to the number of times I would have let people live in my house for free.


People in similar circumstances might come one after another after hearing our story.


It is impossible to house everyone.


"Hey, let me ask you something. Are you prepared for what it will look like in the eyes of the world to live here with me?　You've heard of me, right?　That's why you hesitated to come here. A woman I used to live with talked a lot about me. A rogue who dominates women with money and violence."


I didn't raise my voice. Considering that I sometimes still feel like screaming when I recall the trauma of that time, I was miraculously calm in my response.


Aisha lived with me for a short time.


She was the one whom Zeigt, who happened to wander by, told me not to be with that woman alone.


But that advice didn't get to me.


She was a nice girl. She was good looking, and we were perfectly compatible.


I twisted my neck many times, wondering why such a woman was with me.


At the time, I still had some money left over from my inheritance, so I spent it on Aisha.


The same tongue that whispered sweet nothings to me, cleverly blurted out what a terrible man I was on the outside.


She also told me that the injuries she sustained in the dungeon had been inflicted on her by me.


By the time the woman I thought was an angel revealed her true nature, it was too late for anything else.


After she and her new party had gone off hand in hand, all that remained was the massive debt she had incurred in my name and a bad reputation that made me want to cover my ears.


It must have been about three years ago.　But I could feel the scab peeling off my heart and the blood pouring out.



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