“Master! I get it now!”
“Good to hear.”
“Throwing the sword is way better than slashing with it!”
“You’re practicing sword technique! How can you just throw your sword away?”
Karin was still practicing in the backyard.
The afternoon weather was even better than the morning, the sun stronger and warmer.
Fala was still sunbathing.
Somehow she’d found the sunglasses Sephine had bought earlier.
They were nearly twice as wide as her face.
They looked silly on her.
Not the brightest look.
This time, Karin didn’t drag Fala up to the rooftop.
At lunch, Sephine had scolded Karin for that stunt, while Fala had slipped away scot-free.
It made Karin furious.
The wooden sword couldn’t kill anyone, but it hurt like hell when it hit.
Karin locked onto Fala, who was lying in the hammock.
The hammock was strung between the only two small trees in the yard, and Fala was the only one who could lie in it without breaking it.
‘Hehe. Just wait for me!’
“Are you tired? Why aren’t you moving?”
Aglis stood nearby, watching Karin cackle weirdly.
The kid had been bouncing around like she had ADHD all morning, but now she was frozen.
What was she up to?
The answer: taking aim.
Hitting Fala in the head would turn her into an idiot.
Hitting her chest would hurt too much.
So Karin aimed for Fala’s elbow.
“Take this!”
“Aha! Got you!”
Fala, lying in the hammock, got hit for no reason.
It stung.
She looked up and, sure enough, it was that little brat Karin, still holding a grudge from lunch!
“I don’t argue with idiots.”
Fala went back to sunbathing.
Seeing Fala didn’t even flinch, Karin got flustered instead.
“Let me aim for the head this time…”
Just as she was lining up her shot, Aglis walked over and confiscated the wooden sword.
“What did I tell you this morning?”
“I forgot.”
This little sister was way too wild.
Completely unlike Fala.
Aglis wished the sword prodigy was Fala, who was just lying there sunbathing.
“Never aim your sword at someone unarmed. Fala doesn’t have a sword, so you can’t hit her.”
“So if she has a sword, I can hit her?”
“Hiss… that’s not exactly what I meant… but I guess it’s sort of right. You need to wait for her to make the first move.”
“Ohhh~ I get it now!”
Karin ran over and kicked Fala.
Then Karin got chased down by Fala.
Fala chased her, yelling that she was going to beat Karin’s head into a pig’s head.
“Ah, so much energy.”
Aglis wanted to try the hammock herself.
The moment she got on, it snapped.
The afternoon yard was even livelier than the morning.
At Sephine’s place, the crowd was thinner than in the morning.
People probably had business in the afternoon and planned to come back for drinks at night.
At night, the tavern was mostly full of male workers.
They usually came in groups on the first floor.
With the Magic Academy being rebuilt these days, lots of workers chose the tavern closest to the academy to drink and eat, treating themselves.
Since the Imperial Palace wanted maximum efficiency, these workers were paid top wages.
They had plenty of money to spend.
“It might get crowded tonight.”
Sephine peeked through the curtains at the people passing by on the street.
To be fair, people on workdays were always in a hurry, rarely lingering on the street for long.
“Of course. Our tavern is always busy at night.”
Even Xiao Yi, who’d been busy in the kitchen, came out to rest.
Just like Sephine had done this morning.
“I never properly introduced myself. I’m Iluta. Just call me Xiao Yi.”
“Why not Xiao Ta?”
“Because I like the name Xiao Yi.”
“I see… It’s lovely.”
Iluta looked a lot like the tavern owner.
It was obvious she was the owner’s biological daughter.
But their personalities seemed worlds apart.
Sephine never saw a third family member around.
Her instincts told her something was off, so she didn’t bring it up.
As an outsider, prying into other people’s family business would be rude.
The owner seemed middle-aged.
Sephine couldn’t tell what race she was.
Some Demon Race members had tails, but they usually hid them, along with the horns on their heads.
Xiao Yi had horns on her head.
She might be mixed-blood.
For all Sephine knew, the owner might be pure-blooded Human, just like her.
“What about you? What’s your name?”
Sephine suddenly realized that only the owner had seen her ID.
She’d never introduced herself.
But the owner kept calling her by name, making Sephine completely forget about it.
“My name is Sephine!”
“It suits your look. Not bad.”
Xiao Yi had something in her mouth, probably candy.
Sephine stared at her mouth, but her stare was too obvious, and she got caught.
“Curious what I’m eating? Take a look. Bleh~”
Xiao Yi stuck out her tongue.
There was a little ball on it.
The color was really dark.
It didn’t look like candy.
“It’s medicine.”
“Do you have to keep it in your mouth? It must taste terrible.”
“This stuff really isn’t good. But I can’t help it. Mom makes me eat at least five a day. This thing is really hard. I can’t chew it, so I have to hold it in my mouth until it dissolves.”
Xiao Yi faked a crying face, indicating the taste was awful.
But after a few seconds, she was back to her cold expression.
She was used to the taste.
“That’s really unfortunate.”
“At least there’s treatment for it. That’s better than catching some weird disease. Incurable diseases are the real misfortune.”
“That’s true. You have a way with words, Xiao Yi. You seem like a well-educated person.”
“Of course. I went to school for a few years, at least.”
Xiao Yi, with her apron and tied-up hair, looked very experienced.
It turned out she was educated too.
Seemed like her education surpassed Sephine’s.
“Wow, impressive!”
“Hmph. What about you?”
“I never went to school.”
“You don’t look that old, though? Why didn’t you go to school and came to work instead? Was your family too poor?”
Xiao Yi’s words showed she was warm-hearted.
But she was getting a bit too close now.
Xiao Yi’s face was practically touching Sephine’s nose.
“I have kids to raise.”
“What?!”
Xiao Yi’s mouth hung wide open, like she’d just heard something that shattered her worldview.
Then she gestured at Sephine with her hands.
“Who’s the father? I think I should have him arrested.”
“I’m an adult, you know. And I might even be older than you.”
“Then he’s definitely not a decent person either!”
“Hehe, don’t get so worked up.”
Sephine stood on her tiptoes and patted Xiao Yi on the head.
This young woman was really interesting.
Sephine couldn’t help wanting to chat with her more.
Someone who looked so cold turned out to be so caring.
“Xiao Yi, come here for a second.”
Auntie Xue called her away and whispered something in her ear.
When Xiao Yi came back, she was barely holding back her laughter.