༺ Sisters Are The Closest Friends! (2) ༻
I, Judas.
No, Ha Tae Ho.
When I was young, I once stole something from a convenience store.
According to my memory, it had been my first time stealing.
How old was I?
It was before elementary school so maybe 5 or 6.
I had really wanted bubble gum.
At the time as a young kid, I didn’t have allowances and no experience stealing.
I was obviously caught by the adults.
The owner of the convenience store was a good friend of my mother. Because of that, most of the aunties in the neighborhood came to our house to have a meeting of sorts in the living room.
And all at once they aggressively scolded me…!
Imagine a 6-year-old kid who wasn’t even in school yet being verbally attacked by a bunch of older women.
On top of that, the girl that I had liked at the time–Yerim, who was the kindergartener’s princess–was also there!
It had been completely traumatic.
Anyway, that was my first experience of having been publicly condemned for stealing.
In hindsight, it may have been an adult’s harsh discipline to lead a child on the correct path–or something like that.
Despite that, I still became the King of Thieves so all that had done was leave me hurting without any correction.
In fact, it only hardened my resolve to think, “Don’t get caught when stealing!”
… And that was only due to that that I survived, lucky, right?
Anyway.
Why is my childhood trauma resurfacing now—?
Because I was now in the same position as those angry aunties who caught me stealing before.
To think that I would witness Tywin Cladeco sneak chocolate away into her pocket.
What should I do here?
It was but a fleeting moment.
But as I immersed in those old memories, it felt like a rather long time.
If I catch Tywin and shout, “This kid’s shoplifting!”, everyone will focus here and say, “That Tywin Cladeco?” or criticize her like, “So she was actually a misbehaving child! Thief!”
And if she gets condemned like that, Cladeco’s princess rank might drop to A-, or even further down to B.
Then Naru and Cecily will have no example of princess qualities to learn from, which will cause them to grow haphazardly and the probability that they become world-destroying rogue princesses will increase.
Whirrrrr—
As the future played out like a panorama in my head, I came to realize one thing!
Exposing Tywin’s wrongdoing wasn’t a good idea, at least for my own future!
Snatch—
For now, I grasped Tywin’s wrist and pulled her outside the store.
“Kyaaa! Let me go!”
Tywin screamed in reaction.
Struggling against a kidnapper was a smart move as a Princess.
“A kidnapping?”
“What is it? What’s going on?”
People were starting to look at us.
I spoke to everyone here.
“I’m her dad so don’t mind us. Sorry for causing a commotion!”
“How are you my Dad?! Die!”
Wow-.
She was swearing and scratching with her nails, how wild.
It felt like I was putting a wild lynx into a cage.
It continued that way as we left the store and arrived in an open area where I finally let go of Tywin’s hand. She pulled away with a snap- and vehemently cursed me.
“Kidnapper! Demon! You thief!”
“Hey, I helped you. You stole some chocolate. The ones in your pocket.”
“Wh-When did I steal anything? Don’t accuse me!”
She’s denying it.
It was a common reaction from kids who got caught stealing.
Tywin was a smart child so she was lying–because she knew exactly that there would be consequences if caught.
That’s why I was curious.
Why did such a smart girl steal something like chocolate?
Just then, Naru who had been following us from the store circled around Tywin.
“Tywin, you stole chocolate?”
“…….”
Tywin tightly shut her mouth.
Naru then added something.
“Tywin, you can’t just steal stuff. We learned that at school.”
“… Naru, I don’t want to hear that from you of all people! And I said I didn’t steal!”
That made sense.
Naru and I advising Tywin not to steal was a bit ironic.
Sifnoi who had been watching quietly clicked her tongue tsk tsk-.
“If it had been I, Sifnoi, I would have gone for the candy instead of chocolate…! The delicious limited-edition honey candy… only 10 are made per day from authentic honey…!”
Indeed, Sifnoi had a very different way of thinking.
Let’s skip over that for now.
I should tell the situation to Tywin’s mother instead of solving this on my own.
“We’ll need to inform Headmaster Elle about this.”
“……!”
Tywin was very shocked.
The effect of telling one’s mother- it had a big impact on children.
Tywin began to shake.
I looked at her and spoke.
“However, you’re a kid who knows business, so let’s have a deal and pretend this never happened.”
An agreement of silence between thieves to keep things secret was fairly common.
Hearing this plan, Sifnoi laughed creepily.
“Mwehehehe, as expected of you, Lord Judas…! Such cruelty, using the circumstances to mercilessly take advantage of even a child…! You are the most vile out of any robber or thief that this Sifnoi has ever seen…!”
What a compliment.
Thanks to that, Tywin shook even more in fear.
Was she scared of me?
That’s right, you should be.
But to Tywin, the possibility of her mom finding out seemed to be worse than the King of Thieves.
“What kind of deal.”
She asked shortly and I pretended to think about it.
Immediately, Naru shouted.
“Strawberries! Lots of strawberries!”
Strawberries.
That was nice.
They were delicious, and sweet and tangy.
But there was something more important than strawberries.
“Cecily.”
I was dying to know Cecily’s birthday!
If I found that out then I’d be able to greatly progress in my relationship with Cariote!
“You can know when Cecily’s birthday is, right?”
She’s that thing, a priestess of a Demiurge.
Epar or whatever.
Like a servant of the lady of stars and magic, no?
She could find out Cecily’s birthday.
“… The secret. You have to keep it.”
Tywin reluctantly pulled out the small crystal ball as if she had no other choice.
It was a really small crystal ball.
“━━──.”
Tywin muttered indecipherable words towards the crystal ball.
Shortly after, the crystal ball lit up with a Voooom— sound.
“… There is a maiden holding a balanced scale.”
A maiden with a balanced scale.
I was thinking it was another ambiguous answer when Sifnoi cried out.
“Ahh-! This is about the stars…! Us nymphs are very knowledgeable about the stars, and this means it’s the end of September during which the scale and maiden constellations overlap…!
Oh-.
To think that Sifnoi would be helpful for something other than carrying our luggage.
This one couldn’t even steal properly despite being a thief.
“September…”
Babies usually take about 10 months to be born so…
November to December?
It should mean that Cecily was procreated around then.
It’s May now, so, shit, still a while to go!
* * *
We purchased lots of snacks.
Naru bought enough to share with Elizabeth so her bag was pretty full.
“Hehe, Naru is rich in cookies! Thank you, Dad!”
Hug—
Naru hugged my leg.
To express her gratitude.
It was good manners.
Swish— Swish— Swish— Swish—
I was using the Barabaroi Style 「Ruthless Stroking」 when I noticed someone’s stare.
Tywin was watching me and Naru with a kind of envious look, and then she started.
“Tywin, aren’t you going to thank me?”
I inquired.
I had also bought cookies for her.
But with a hmph- she snorted.
“Isn’t this the deal? Since I already paid the price to Epar by telling you Cecily’s birthday, I won’t thank you.”
How harsh.
Though watching her now, Tywin also seems to quite enjoy junk food.
She must have stolen the chocolate for tomorrow’s picnic because she didn’t have any money.
“…….”
Her mother Elle Cladeco didn’t help her prepare for the field trip?
I asked again.
“Do you have lunch packed for tomorrow’s trip?”
“…….”
Tywin didn’t exactly answer.
However, as an adult, it was easy to see through children’s lies or mischief.
There definitely wasn’t any lunch inside her bag.
“Tywin, your mother must be very busy. Not even giving her own daughter money to buy snacks or packing her lunch for the field trip.”
Although Elle Cladeco was known to be the greatest educator and researcher in all of Freesia.
Yet she neglects her own child?
Though they do say that monks cannot shave their own heads and doctors cannot operate on their own families.
“Mom is busy.”
Tywin finally said.
There seemed to be a lot of meaning behind that phrasing.
“What about your dad?”
Who was Tywin’s father?
I always wondered.
It was also a question of who would marry a woman like Elle Cladeco.
At my question, Tywin mumbled.
“That, I don’t know. Mom never told me who my dad was.”
Really?
The snacks I gave her must be having an effect since she’s being rather cooperative.
Indeed, buying someone food is the best.
Though not knowing anything about that– is it?
Was Elle Cladeco a single mom?
If not, did Tywin also time-travel back here?
Swoosh—
I glanced at Tywin’s shoulder.
Tywin was wearing a white dress with spaghetti straps.
The shoulder exposed due to the design didn’t have any clover mark.
The chances of Tywin being my daughter were pretty low.
Then again, this brat. She was too intelligent to be mine.
Just then, Tywin added in a tiny voice.
“… Big sister might know…”
Big sister?
Tywin had an older sibling?
I never heard that before.
Pabababababat—
Tywin then ran off quickly and disappeared.
Not a shred of sentiment, that brat-.
Thinking that, I said to Sifnoi.
“Take Naru home first. I need to drop by somewhere.”
With that, I immediately headed towards the underground market.
I might eventually have to come into contact with Elle Cladeco about this matter.
It’d be advantageous to gather information on her beforehand.
The Temple of Snix.
There, Muscle Thief greeted me.
“Was it Baraba?”
“That’s correct. You finally remembered. What brings you here?”
“I want to know about Elle Cladeco. What kind of woman she is. Who did she marry and how many children did she have– this kind of stuff.”
“I see. There’s someone who would know better about that than me. Perhaps, Judas, you may know them as well. I will give you the address so try this place.”
Scritch— Scritch— Scritch—
Muscle Thief Baraba wrote me the address.
The house on 7th Street.
It was an ordinary-looking residential complex.
I headed towards there knocked on the door, and was greeted by a red-haired man. His face was very familiar.
“Aren’t you… Naru’s father?”
“Ilgast the pharmacist?”
“How can I help you?”
What should I say?
No, is there any point in being vague?
“I heard you know about Elle Cladeco? I’d like you to tell me what you know. From her birth to marriage, her childbirths, everything-. In return, I’ll owe you one, good?”
To have me indebted-.
This kind of chance doesn’t come by every day.
Ilgast the pharmacist seemed to be a smart man.
With sharp eyes, he spoke.
“Please, come in.”
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