Etsigoya’s Shop

Marie and I headed toward Etsigoya’s shop, walking hand in hand.

“Do we look like siblings from the outside?”

“Kent-san… that’s mean.”

When I teased her, Marie made a dejected face. Though there was about a twelve-year age gap between us, I thought her expression was incredibly cute.

Etsigoya’s shop was located just past the main street of the city. Unlike Marie’s bakery, which sat on the outskirts of the city center, this was in a commercial area, making it a prime location.

“We’re here.”

“Man, it’s a total wreck.”

When I had visited before, the storefront featured a tacky sense of luxury, but now it looked painful; the decorations had been stripped away, and the walls were peeling everywhere.

“Shall we head inside?”

Marie used the key she had received from the guild master to open the door, and we stepped into the shop.

“The inside is a disaster too.”

“You’re right. Being asked how to utilize a place in this state is a bit of a headache.”

Marie spoke to me, looking troubled. The interior had been looted of all equipment, and items were scattered all over the floor. Even the bread ovens had been destroyed. We headed further in to find the shop’s office and reception room, but every item of value had been taken from there as well, leaving nothing but scattered documents.

“Looks like they even took the bug… It did look expensive, so I guess it couldn’t be helped.”

The gold “Beckoning Cat” I had prepared to eavesdrop on Etsigoya’s conversations was also gone from the reception room.

“Kent-san, I found a staircase.”

Marie had discovered the stairs. When we went up to the upper floor, we found rooms that seemed intended for live-in employees. It appeared the employees hadn’t been treated very well, and while there were signs of people having lived there, the rooms themselves were untouched by the looters; personal belongings were still lying where they had been left.

“I wonder what will happen to the employees who were arrested?”

“Most of them were likely uninvolved in the incident, but I’m not sure what will happen to them.”

Since I wasn’t involved in the judicial system, I didn’t know what kind of punishment the employees would face. I could only pray that those who were innocent wouldn’t be dragged into the mess.

“Let’s leave the personal items here as they are. If they’re released, we’ll have to return them.”

“That’s true. But we should check the rooms anyway, or we won’t be able to gather data on how to use this place in the future. Let’s take a look.”

With that, I went around checking each of the rooms.

“Oh?”

I found an opened envelope sitting on a desk.

“Pardon me for a moment…”

I pulled out the letter that was inside the envelope.

“Oh, it’s a letter.”

Marie seemed curious too; she pressed up close to me to peek at the letter. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but her chest was pressing against my arm, and I could feel a pleasant, soft elasticity.

“Let’s see… ‘Big sister, thank you for the money you sent the other day. Since Mother passed away and Father became unable to work due to his injury, we’ve come to rely solely on the money you send. …Please take care of yourself, Big sister. I’ll write again.’”

As I read it aloud, Marie began to shed large tears.

“Now that her income is gone, how is this family supposed to survive…?”

“There’s nothing we can do about it personally. But if the owner of this letter is safely released, we’ll have to help her find work at our place.”

“You’re right…”

I pulled Marie into a hug and stayed still until she calmed down.

“Kent-san…”

“What is it, Marie-san?”

“When you hold me like this, I feel so at ease.”

Marie leaned her weight into me, and we stayed that way for a while.

Once she had composed herself, we looked around the rest of the rooms and then headed back down to the ground floor.

“Ah, that’s right.”

I pulled out my terminal.

“Let’s test if I can get in touch with Emily from here.”

I selected the Calls icon and called Emily.

“Yes, this is Emily.”

“Oh, it connected.”

“Master. Do you have a request for me?”

“I’m at Etsigoya’s shop right now, and it looks like we can talk just fine.”

“Yes, I can hear your voice clearly, Master.”

“I just called as a test, so I’ll hang up now. Thanks.”

“Yes, understood.”

I ended the call.

“That’s amazing, Kent-san. You can contact Emily-san even from a distance.”

“It seems so.”

Marie spoke with a look of admiration.

“If I’m here, I can handle procurement for both shops and keep in touch, so it might even be possible to operate two locations.”

“In that case, rather than selling this shop, it might be better if we opened a store of our own and managed it.”

It seemed Marie was thinking of keeping the shop and starting some kind of business, not necessarily limited to a bakery.

“Well, repairs are going to cost quite a bit, so let’s leave it as it is until we can secure the funds. We have plenty of time until then, so let’s all think about what kind of shop we want to make it.”

“If that’s what you’ve decided, Marie-san, I won’t say a word against it. But I won’t hesitate to help you, so please don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Thank you, Kent-san. Well, it’s almost dinner time, so shall we head back?”

Marie and I stepped outside, locked the door, and started walking toward home.

“Welcome back, Kent-san, Marie-san.”

“I’m home, Caro-san. You look… much better.”

“Yes, I’m sorry for the trouble I caused.”

When we got home, a rejuvenated Caro greeted us. When I saw her at noon, her face was pale and she looked unwell, but she had returned to her usual healthy complexion.

“Ah, Big brother, welcome back.”

“Welcome back, Big brother.”

Rachel and Catherine seemed to have returned already as well. Once I entered the house and reached the living room, Catherine spoke to me.

“Hey, hey, Big brother. I found a strange ingredient in town today, so I bought it!”

Catherine spoke with a suggestive air.

“I thought they only existed in storybooks, so I was shocked to find they were actually real.”

Rachel added, looking somewhat excited.

“Now that you say that, I’m curious.”

Marie said, her interest piqued.

“Big brother, do you know what this is?”

Catherine showed me an object sitting inside a flat basket.

“Hmm, it’s shaped a bit like ginseng… what is this?”

In the end, I couldn’t give an answer.

“Actually, it’s called a Mandrake.”

“Wait, is that the thing that screams when you pull it out, and if you hear it, you die?”

“You know about it, Big brother?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen a real one.”

The object sitting in the basket was twitching and letting out low groans.

“It’s incredible. I only learned about it for the first time because Catherine-chan told me.”

“So… can you actually eat this?”

“Probably…”

When I asked Catherine, she looked away as she answered.

(This is definitely something you shouldn’t eat.)

I felt it instinctively.

“Caro-san, Marie-san, do you know if it’s edible?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve heard they’re used in medicine and such, but I don’t know if they can be eaten.”

“I don’t know either. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen a real one myself.”

Apparently, it had cost a pretty penny, but I decided we couldn’t use something as an ingredient if we weren’t sure it was edible. We decided to let the Mandrake-san rest in the refrigerator for a while.