Arc 2 - Chapter 5: Trade (2/3)

"You might as well not take it off, you're no better than a clown."

"I've dressed up as a clown before, but I still don't understand why you thought I was a clown."

The purple dye in his hair ran down the street, washed away by the water Yurine had poured.

Yu had dressed up as a clown in a show for children a year ago. He didn't think it was good for him, but he didn't like to disobey his older sisters, so he agreed to be a clown and tried to entertain the children.

The result was disappointing; Yu became a clown that the children feared and made one of them cry.

It was supposed to be a bad memory, but because the incident had made her sisters laugh, it was etched in her memory as a funny memory.

After all the paint was gone, he dried his hair with a towel and put on her everyday clothes. Since it was impossible to dry his hair right away, he would have to walk around wet and prayed that he wouldn't catch a cold.

"Normally I'm not keen on back alleys and I'm not keen on being separated from you, but I'll make an exception for this. I don't want either of us to be alone."

For the job he was going to do, they had to be unrecognizable, and even in disguise, if he took Yurine with him, he would be more likely to be recognized.

So on his way to meet with the heads of the eight teams in the tournament, he left Yurine in a park that could be seen from the team building, and when Yu came out of the building, he went to a secluded corner that they had predetermined and quickly changed his clothes.

"But you know what? Even when I was dressed as a clown, I looked so charismatic. I mean, it's just my nature, you know? No matter what I wear, it's always number ten, five stars on me."

"Hmph." Yurine stepped in front of Yu as she walked away to avoid talking face to face.

"Patrick Larren, that guy is a real idiot. What kind of person makes a deal with someone who shows up in a clown costume? I was already sure I could convince him, but I can't deny that I was surprised. He was convinced very quickly, he didn't make me work for it like the others." He couldn't understand how some people got to certain positions. "There seems to be some lack of merit here too."

Even if Marino couldn't persuade his loan shark to grant him a grace period, he would still need to make money. So he decided to try a method he had heard of around the world: he would charge the teams money in exchange for helping them win.

"Patrick's team will pay the most, if he wins we will get two hundred gold coins. I don't think so, but I hope he wins."

Yu was in no mood to go and convince the jury and referees to favor the Sea Monsters or any other team, that would require bribes and he didn't have the money to bribe them.

He had made deals with five of the eight teams that would play in the tournament. The other three he didn't go to because he didn't want to take any risks.

He would wait without lifting a finger and if one of the teams he had made a deal with won, he would get his money as agreed.

"I'm great, right? I convinced whoever I talked to."

"You're an asshole."  Yurine voiced a truth that Yu knew in his heart.

"Don't be so rude," Yu said. He was hurt by the sudden truth being thrown in his face, but he didn't let it bother him.

"I'm helping you to get my mother back, don't forget that."

"I know."

After winning the matches, it was not certain that the people he had dealt with would give Yu the money they had agreed to, so with Yurine's help he created the magic deal game to prevent this from happening.

The idea of the so-called 'magic deal' was to frighten the people involved and make them stick to the deal.

Yurine had the ability to cast light magic even at a distance. Before Yu went to talk to the team leaders, she put the light magic in his palm so that he could show real magic to them.

The idea of a deal embellished with a small magical orb was more reliable than a plain deal. If the people Yu was dealing with were aware that a magical pact didn't exist, he still wouldn't get his money, but they seemed genuinely scared and Yu assumed that they believed that the pact existed.

"What kind of person have I become? Have I always been like this?"

He knew what he was doing was bad, but his conscience was clear. The idea of scamming the public with letters bothered Yu, even though he had come up with the idea, but he didn't feel bad about scamming the teams.

"Are you going to share the money you get here with that stupid person?" By stupid person, Yurine meant Marino Swann.

"I'm hurt, I'm hurt," Yu said, his lips curled down, even though Yurine couldn't see it. "You call me and him 'stupid person' even though we sleep in the same bed. You should have at least called him a stupid creature like you called me before, it's hurtful that you equate me with others. How will you mend my broken heart, Yurine?"

"Stop talking nonsense! You will be sad if you overestimate this, every human being is inferior to my superior being."

Yu was the one who knew where they were going and Yurine, not knowing where to go, slowed down as she walked in front of Yu and let him come to her to show her the way.

"No, I'm not going to share the money I get here with Marino, why would I do that anyway? This is all my idea and I'm not asking for his help, and it's not even certain that he and I are going into the letter business yet."

It was to be decided tonight whether he and Marino would start delivering letters together. If the loan shark refused to give Marino a deadline, they would have to part ways.

"You play games behind people's backs to make a little more money, and if that's not enough, you even use a superior being like me as a tool in your disgusting games for a few gold coins." Contrary to what she said, there was no contempt in Yurine's voice. She was just saying it for the sake of saying it.

"A few gold coins is you said but it is two hundred gold coins."

"Child support?" She countered Yu's defense with her scam from the day before.

"I think one has to count a few pennies. People who console themselves with 'this is enough for today' or 'the pot is boiling, thank God for that' don't get any further than where they are."

Yu attributed the development of all wealth, technology and civilization to the ego of men. According to him, a man should be egoistic and always want more to satisfy his ego, so that science and technology would develop and civilizations would rise.

According to him, instead of being grateful for what one has, it is right to want more and more for more satisfaction.

Yurine asked, "Do you mean something like a trickle becomes a lake?"

"Hm? I'm glad you're trying to understand my thoughts." After Yu's confession, Yurine started walking with her eyes lowered to the ground as if she had lost all interest. "If you're a little warmer, your sweetness will be maximized."

"Isn't it already at maximum? Besides, what does maximum mean?"

"It means the highest level."

"Huh, so it's already at maximum and always will be!"

Yu still thought that if she was warmer and friendlier, she would be at least twice as sweet as she was now, but he didn't say it again.

"A drop in the bucket is a drop in the bucket. I still want to win as much as I can without losing anything." It was a nonsense saying, and saving money in the face of inflation was sometimes counterproductive. "We need money for things like research, travel, accommodation and we might even need to build a team. Even if we don't do any of that, the fact that we need money will still be there."

The sun was about to set when they entered the guild quarter. Yu had asked Lucia to pick them up in the afternoon, as he was going to deal with the teams today.

Now they were on their way to the Swann Post Office to meet Marino Swann.

It was late afternoon, so people were going home. Yu was walking along the sidewalk with Yurine, not wanting to get close to other people.

"By the way..." Yu said. Yurine held her breath, knowing what Yu was going to say. "I won the bet."

When he was dressed as a clown, Yurine had told him that he wouldn't be able to convince anyone that way. Yu had gotten ambitious and claimed that he could, and offered to bet Yurine if she wanted to.

Yurine accepted the bet, confident that she would win, but it was Yu who won.

"I have one wish, what should I wish for?"

"Pervert! What do you wish for?"

"You're breaking my heart talking like that. I just wish you would treat me better, that's all."

As he was talking to Yurine, he was scared out of his wits when a carriage pulled by a huge komodo dragon passed by.

"What the fuck!"

He leaned against the building that the sidewalk abutted, staring wide-eyed at the back of the passing komodo dragon.

Yurine laughed condescendingly, "Ha, coward."

"Of course I am! Didn't you see that creature?"

Even though Yu called it a komodo dragon, the komodo dragon was the animal's closest resemblance.

The creature was almost as tall as Yu, its body not low to the ground like that of a komodo dragon, but high off the ground because of the creature's long legs. Its tail was as long as its body, and as it moved forward, showing its long teeth, it looked like it was going to attack the first human it came across.

"You are the only one who is afraid of it, coward."

Yu looked around, people were walking on, not even paying attention to the komodo dragon passing by.

"It's the first time I've seen it, others are used to it." Seeing that he was the only one afraid, he became defensive.

Yu pulled his back away from the wall he was leaning against and continued walking with Yurine as the huge komodo dragon turned right on the road ahead and disappeared from sight.

"What was his name again?"

"Komodor."

Yurine walked to Yu's left, trying to balance on the corner of the sidewalk. It was easy for her, thanks to her different nature from that of humans.

Still, Yu held her and moved her to his right, afraid that she might fall into the path of the carriages.

"What an original name."

Ten minutes away from the inn was Marino's company. When they got to the company, Yu pushed the door like he had done last time and it opened.

The bell above the door rang and they were immediately greeted by Marino, who was pacing in the entrance.

"Welcome," Marino said as he hurried to Yu's side.

He shook Marino's hand. "If you have nothing to do, let's get going. Where is the loan shark?"

"We need to go to a place called the Thirtyoné Bar, south east of the Hull Quarter."

"We were already in the Hull Quarter, I wish we had met there instead of coming here."

The Hull Quarter was the largest part of the city, with the arena to the north of the quarter. South and east of the quarter was the poorest part of the city.

"We don't have to walk," Marino said. He gestured to the back wall of the company. "There are horses and carriages behind the building. We can go with them. But..."

Marino looked at Yurine. Yurine said, "But what? What are you looking at, nigger?"

"That place is not for children."