Chapter Ninety-two: Orphans’ Request 5
Looking at Tim, who had realized what he’d done, Jutta seemed satisfied with that. Next, she turned to Harald.
“Now it’s your turn to apologize, Harald.”
Harald looked up at Jutta with dark, hollow eyes.
This one wasn’t going to be so easy.
“What are you trying to make me apologize for, Teacher? Are you saying it was wrong to hit him? Then how should I have stopped him from blabbing about my secret? Should I have just let him talk and then asked for an apology afterward? And if that ruins my whole future, I’m just supposed to live with it?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, but—”
“If this makes it impossible for me to find work in this town, will you support me for the rest of my life, Teacher? Or will you make Tim be my keeper forever?”
When Harald said that with dead fish-like eyes, Tim—sniffling and teary—blurted out:
“I will! I’ll take care of you!”
Harald glared at Tim with murderous intent.
“I’d rather die than live such a life. I want to survive by my own power. Even though you’ve completely messed things up for me.”
Being fifteen years old, Harald was quite articulate.
Seeing that Jutta was at a loss for words, Karen spoke up:
“Well, from what I’ve heard, doesn’t Harald have the right not to apologize? If he hadn’t hit Tim, Tim would have blabbed everything.”
“The people from the adventurer’s district are so quick to resort to violence…”
Jutta held her head in her hands. She came from the residential district in the royal capital where she had lived for a long time. She was quite the young lady from the better part of town, even among commoners.
Karen’s previous life had similar ethics to Jutta’s, but living in the adventurer’s district made it impossible to stand against violence. In this world, potions existed, so fights rarely resulted in injuries that couldn’t be treated. Even if someone was hit in a bad spot, as long as they drink a potion quickly, they’ll usually be fine.
So for instance, it was better for everyone if two adventurers with excess energy and bad tempers fought it out rather than let them wander around causing trouble. After fighting and clearing the air, their grudges often disappeared and they became friends.
“Here, both of you, take these potions and drink them.”
“…”
Neither of them moved an inch when Karen offered the small bottles. These two showed absolutely no signs of making up. Karen looked at both stubborn boys, then shrugged.
“I was thinking of hiring you if you’d drink them, but I can’t hire children who won’t listen to me.”
“What? I’ll drink it! Wah!”
While Tim was speaking with wide eyes, Harald snatched the potion from Karen’s hand and drank it. Tim nervously took the potion from Karen’s hand and began drinking. As Tim was just starting to drink, Harald, who had already emptied his bottle, looked up at Karen with challenging eyes and said:
“You just found out my magical power is low, and you still want to hire me?”
“The kind of work I want you to do doesn’t require magical power anyway.”
Even if he had magical power, she had no intention of making him brew potions. Just as the orphans had pointed out, someone should stay behind and watch her shop. This time it hadn’t been a problem because it was an orphan who had been kept waiting, but if it had been a noble, it would have been bad for her heart. Having told the Ehlertt ladies she would sell potions in the royal capital, there was a high possibility requests would eventually come in.
“Mainly I want someone to watch the shop. Also shopping, cleaning, and other odd jobs.”
“I’m good at watching!”
“…I can do calculations, so please leave the shopping to me. I can also clean. Please leave any odd jobs to me.”
“Also organizing materials and such. I know most of the ingredients that even you could eat, Harald, so I can teach you about those too.”
“…!”
Harald gasped and his eyes widened.
Seeing this, Karen smiled.
“So that’s what you were after.”
“…I’m sorry. I thought if I worked for an alchemist, I could increase my knowledge because you know and understand many materials.”
“No need to apologize. It’s understandable that it is important for you.”
“What will you teach us?”
“Tim, you should show a little restraint.”
Just a moment ago, Tim had been red-eyed and snotty, but now he already looked completely recovered. Harald glanced at Tim with disgust.
“Lady Karen, if the jobs don’t require magical power, I believe I can handle everything by myself. There’s no need to hire Tim as well.”
“Hey! Don’t be so mean! Let’s work hard together!”
“Don’t touch me! You’re annoying!”
Looking at Tim, who wasn’t deterred at all by Harald’s intimidation, and then at Harald, Karen said:
“I already know Tim, you see. Tim might be a bit scatterbrained, but I know he’s trustworthy. But I don’t know you yet, Harald.”
“…You mean you can’t trust me.”
“Well, we just met, so it can’t be helped. That’s why I’m thinking of hiring both of you together.”
Harald seemed dissatisfied but appeared to accept it as he fell silent.
“So you trust me, Karen! Hehe!”
“Well, I also think you’re a bit of an idiot.”
“Hey!”
“I’d be happy if you two could complement each other and help me.”
Both Tim and Harald nodded at Karen’s words.
“Karen… are you really sure about this? I’m sure there are many others who would love to work for you.”
“Are there really that many people who want to work for me?”
Karen tilted her head at Jutta’s words. Jutta shook her head as if there was nothing to be done.
“From our perspective, we’re just grateful you’re hiring our children, so I’ll refrain from saying any more.”
Sara looked up at Karen cautiously.
“Lady Karen, is it all right to make such an important decision as hiring someone so easily?”
“If I need to hire someone, isn’t it better to choose someone I know and someone who has a desperate reason to work for me? I’ve been giving the orphanage children pocket money to do various errands for me before, so this is just an extension of that.”
“If that’s what you prefer, that’s fine… but our household could have introduced someone, or I could have worked for you full-time.”
“It’s not really a proper job, so that would be too much to ask.”
“…In any case, I agree that someone should be by your side, Lady Karen.”
Sara spoke with a sigh, then turned to face the boys. By then, her face had taken on an icy, expressionless mask.
“Since you will be employed by Lady Karen, you must serve her with utmost devotion. Lady Karen is a rare alchemist whom the Ehlertt family treats as family. Many nobles are among her clientele, waiting for their turn to purchase her potions. Understand that if you make any mistake while serving such a person, it could cost you your life. Is that clear?”
“Sara, you’re exaggerating.”
“But it’s the truth, Lady Karen.”
Facing the two boys who had frozen under the pressure emanating from her, Sara continued:
“I was also an orphan but was taken in by the Ehlertt family. The opportunity you have been given is similarly an extraordinary stroke of fortune. Remember that it is only natural to serve with your lives on the line.”
Karen became flustered at the "lives on the line" part, but Sara’s intense gaze prevented her from interrupting. Tim and Harald nodded with serious expressions.
Still, Karen had only heard about Sara’s life after she came to the Ehlertt household, but apparently, she had been an orphan. Karen’d heard Sieg had discovered her, but Karen couldn’t imagine how an orphan like Sara would have ever met Sieg.
“If Lady Karen is ever in danger, you must be prepared to sacrifice your lives to help her. When Lady Karen does something reckless, stopping her… would be beyond your station, so if Lady Karen engages in life-threatening research and her life is in peril, one of you should go for help while the other attempts to save her life.”
“Come on, I’m not really risking my life!”
“If you continue with that kind of research, you’ll die someday. Now that we have watchful eyes in place, let’s have them keep an eye on you, Lady Karen.”
“I’m being careful and staying within safe limits…”
Nevertheless, Karen gratefully watched as Sara gave Tim and Harald instructions about emergency situations.
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