Buisness Relationship

In the end, I found myself sitting at the table with the strange kid in my lap. To be honest, this wasn't very comfortable with me, being some sort of budget Santa. Yet, apparently, it was the only way that this little guy was willing to sit with us while Raisa was here.

Regardless, he was still glaring at Raisa the entire time while grabbing onto part of my shirt almost like I was a weapon he could use to defend himself.

The chefs were rather confused, but still prepared another and placed the bowl in front of me. After glancing back and forth between Raisa and the food in front of him, he eventually went to the food and began eating it.

Raisa let out an exasperated sigh. She rested her head against the table while looking over at us.

"But why is he so insistent on me being a bad person? I have a reputable image among the commoners!"

The kid stopped eating for a moment to shoot her a dirty glance.

"Stringless doll! Glass doll with no strings!"

Once again, he brought up his comparison of a doll with no strings, but this time he added the detail of glass. This made Raisa's eyes fly open. At first, I had no idea why that surprised her, but then I remembered.

She told me before that she felt like glass.

With a bitter expression, she glanced at me.

"Did you tell this kid about me?"

Before I could respond, the kid disdainfully clicked his tongue.

"I don't need to be told that you're a stringless glass doll! It's super duper obvious just by looking at you."

Raisa pressed her lips into a line. She looked rather depressed, but it seemed to be more because she was confused about why this kid didn't like her. Without another word, he continued eating.

With a small smile, I pet his black hair.

Saying that it wasn't smooth was an understatement. It was caked with dirt, while the hairs themselves were dry and stiff. He clearly hadn't taken a shower or bath in quite a while, but that didn't seem to bother him.

It definitely was not nice to stroke. To be more accurate, it was honestly a little gross.

But I didn't stop, continuing to do so while the kid ate his meal.

Raisa stared at me longingly as a faint blush formed on her cheeks.

"You... look a lot like a father."

I tilted my head to the side as my eyes landed on her.

"Is that so? That's quite ironic since it's going to be a long ass time before I become one, assuming I do in the first place."

Raisa pouted and rubbed her index finger along the table.

"Well... maybe it won't be too long."

I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"Yeah, maybe. If you think about it, the heat death of the universe isn't too far off either."

Both Raisa and Jess looked at me strangely.

"Huh?"

"What?"

I put a fist to my mouth and coughed.

"Uh, nothing."

The kid scoffed before glaring at Raisa disdainfully.

"Stop questioning the good person, bad person!"

Arianne had remained rather silent for most of this time, but she was looking at Raisa curiously.

"I... I might be wrong, but I don't think Raisa is a bad person. No matter how I look at it, I can see her as evil."

The kid frowned.

"Hmph! You don't have to believe me!"

Out of curiosity, I tapped the boy's forehead. When he looked up at me, I directed my finger toward Jess.

"Say, is she a bad or good person?"

Jess looked at him curiously, wondering what he had to say. The boy looked at her for a good few seconds before tilting his head to the side.

"Mm... confusing. I think she is a bad good person!"

My eyelid twitched. What was that even supposed to mean?

It seemed that most of the others had the same sentiment as me. With a small smile, I probed.

"What do you mean by that?"

The kid rubbed his chin and kicked his legs back and forth, awfully close to slamming his heels against my calves.

"She is almost a good person. Trying to be good, but bad at it."

Jess seemed somewhat off put by that answer, but smiled in the end.

"Hah. It seems you do have a good eye for people. What is your name, child?"

The kid smiled brightly.

"Gray!"

I gave a nod.

"Ah, so your name is Gray."

Jess shot me a puzzled look.

"You didn't know his name? But you sound familiar with him."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I never asked."

Jess gave me a blank stare.

"Ok..."

While Raisa was staring at the boy, on some whim, she reached out towards his head, probably wanting to pet his head as I did. However, before she even got close, Gray knocked her hand away and frowned.

"Stop! Get away from me, stringless glass puppet!"

Raisa was clearly quite upset but didn't argue back, probably because it was a child, and the words of a child were never taken too seriously.

After finishing his meal, he got out of his seat and scurried away, but not before giving me a wild wave and saying goodbye. After his departure, it felt strangely quiet. However, that didn't last for long as Nathan and Edward had both made their way over to us, looking rather worse for wear.

Regardless, there was still a bright smile on Nathan's face, even as his eyelids threatened to drop down and send him into a long slumber.

He sat down next to Arianne, but wasn't really focused on her, instead looking at me.

"Hey, I've been thinking about ways to keep the money we've been earning safe, and the only real way I've thought of is giving it to you. Frankly, hiding it is practically impossible given how robbers practically tear up the entire place to find things."

Edward was also carrying along a pig that had been drained of its blood. He set it down carelessly, with a loud thump, after which a few servants picked it up and put it into the carriage. From there, he pulled out a seat and practically collapsed into it. His eyes were unfocused. As for the issue of money, he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

He isn't doing this because Jess is here, right? Wait, he probably would've done this anyway as he did need someone to hold onto his money, so I'm just overthinking it.

I returned my attention to Nathan and gave him a nod.

"Alright, I'll hold onto it. But you should still keep a little bit on you for emergencies."

Nathan waved his hand before handing me a satchel of gold coins. From what I could tell, there were about two hundred gold coins within.

"I already took that into account. Don't worry about it."

I reached over to grab it then pocketed it without another word. The entire time, Jess furrowed her brows while looking back and forth between the two of us. She had concerns, but Raisa was the first to interject.

"Eh? You are able to simply trust him with the money you've made that easily? Do you... have some sort of blackmail against him?"

Nathan looked at her and raised his brow.

"I trusted him because I wanted to. Why are you trying to make things more complicated than they really are?"

Jess couldn't help but bring up her own question as well.

"Since when have you two had this relationship? I only recall seeing you come to our manor one time. Is my brother... perhaps blackmailing you?"

My eyelid twitched.

"Why do you guys keep defaulting to blackmail? You make it sound like it's impossible to have a business relationship without it."

The two of them proceeded to look at me as though I was stupid. Raisa cautiously answered.

"I thought... that's the only way business relationships worked."

I thought she was rather stupid for saying it but...

"I believe that is true. From my experience, it has only been like that."

Jess, for what felt like the first time, agreed with Raisa. It made me look kinda stupid instead.

I let out a sigh.

"Well, it's not. Just accept that much, alright? There are exceptions to everything."

From there, I opened the bag to take a peek inside, wondering if they were all gold coins, or if there were others mixed in. But it turns out that they were actually just all gold coins. Raisa had caught a glance as well while I was closing it back up, before looking at Nathan with wide eyes.

"If you have this level of wealth, then you can easily acquire a noble manor and become a baron if you wish! You can rise up greatly from your status as a commoner."

Hm... but it doesn't sound like it would actually be able to do that much as of now. After all, this was only twenty meals worth of money. Surely if he could keep this consistent earning amount then being a noble was probably feasible, but that was probably more trouble than it was worth.

Nathan appeared to agree with this sentiment as he rolled his eyes.

"And what is that supposed to do other than waste the money I've gathered and waste my time?"

Raisa blinked a few times before responding.

"You would be able to escape this detestable place and have your higher status publicly known. Is that not the dream of all commoners?"

Nathan shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. But I could care less."

Both Raisa and Jess looked at him in confusion. I guess it was incomprehensible to them why he was thinking the way he was. And honestly, that was fair enough. After all, they didn't understand that the actions he was taking were in consideration of saving this doomed kingdom as well as saving the lives of some of the main cast.

Nathan didn't seem to care too much about their opinions and instead shook Edward, who had his eyes closed.

"Hey, if you're going to fall asleep, go do it at your home."

Edward let out a weak groan before shaking his head.

"No, I'm fine... I'm fine..."

Nathan's eyelid twitched. A bitter smile formed on his face once more.

"I told you before that if you can't take it, then just stop."

Edward gave a weak nod. Wanting to know more, I asked.

"What's happening with him?"

Nathan clicked his tongue.

"Turns out this guy can't absorb too much blood at once or he gets overwhelmed by it. He turns kinda crazy and needs someone to forcefully stop him."

He proceeded to give Edward a slap on the back, which startled him.

Though Edward himself quickly calmed down, his body reacted rather violently. He let out a groan and gradually began lifting up his arm against his own will. And out of nowhere, veins began appearing all over his arm, bleeding into his own body.

That was strange, but what made it really strange was that the veins weren't just blue. Some of them were also bright red, and the two colors interlaced over each other chaotically.

For a moment, he looked like a monster, prompting the guards to draw their swords. But right after, it all suddenly disappeared, and Edward's arm fell, slamming onto the table with a thump.

Edward himself shook his head and blinked rapidly.

"Ah... I guess I did overdo it."