A Request from a Little Girl (2)

I was forced to get out of this carriage just to find out about the little girl that Leonard brought. My trip was a bit disturbed by this. Even after getting out of the horse carriage, I was still bothered by this little girl. Therefore, I should be able to put in the effort to find out about this little girl.

Judging from her casual-looking clothes, she was a resident of that town, but judging by the thing she was holding, she was not an ordinary little girl.

She was holding a knife, a carved knife, indicating that it was not the kitchen knife she had accidentally carried. The knife looked as if it was for slicing the skin of both animals and humans. I'm sure she intended to take the knife to fend for herself. I'm sure of it, so don't assume this little girl is after my life.

Therefore, rather than being prejudiced against the little girl, I chose to make peace and ask her.

"Hello. Is-"

"What's the matter, Uncle?"

Uncle? I'm not that old, I'm only 21 years old.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You must be a lolicon, right?"

Maybe because I stared at her for too long, she said that.

Of course, her words won't hurt my feelings.

Looking at her short blue hair for a moment, I looked back at her face and smiled.

"Hi, you have beautiful hair. Is your hair-"

"Don't praise me too much, Uncle."

I was quite close to her, so I could tell the annoyed look on her face was looking at me as if she was disgusted with me.

"Don't talk nonsense! I will..."

Before Leonard could continue his words, I glanced, to stop his words. I'm sure he will threaten the little girl for sure. And luckily, he was able to hold back what he was about to say.

"What are you going to do? You want to hurt me because you're taller than me, huh?"

This little girl's mouth can slightly hurt other people's feelings. She has a bad mouth, often utters harsh words.

Judging by her height and face, she was probably 7 or 9 years old. But even so, the words that came out of her mouth were so bad.

"Hi, Sweet Girl, what's your name?"

Hiyori approached and asked that.

"My name? What are you asking for my name, Auntie?"

"Aunt? U-Ugh..."

She was immediately wrapped in a limp, even making her knee touch this road. She seemed shocked by the word "aunt" directed at her. She must not have thought that she was considered an aunt by the little girl.

I have to show how to behave when dealing with a little girl. Therefore, I will take over and ask the reason why this little girl is following our horse carriage.

"My name is Ryuki Ko—Valkoinen. So, what's your name?"

I almost mentioned my surname earlier, and that's why this little girl immediately narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

"You are very suspicious, Uncle. Is that your real name?"

"Of course."

I'm not panicking, stay calm as usual.

"My name is... Q-Qiby."

"Oh, Qiby, what a name. So, Qiby, what is your purpose in following me?"

"I-I… i-want to…"

She stuttered, indicating that she had something to say but she hesitated.

"Umph?"

"I-I…"

"Yes?"

"PLEASE SAVE MY SISTER!"

She shouted suddenly, even though she had objected, making me shocked.

"... Oh really?"

After I said that, I walked into the carriage of horse carriage, just walking away from them.

I'm sure they must be confused as to why I suddenly left.

"Aunt? Am I the aunt? Are you serious?"

I can still hear Hiyori's mutter coming out of her mouth.

After going inside, sitting quietly on this bench, and taking some tools from the drawer of this desk, I told Leonard to send Qiby into the carriage of this horse-drawn carriage.

Of course, before that, I had already closed the door of this horse-drawn carriage.

Qiby opened the carriage's door, and I could hear her low voice say, "Excuse me!" before she finally came in here and sat down nicely.

"So your name is Miss Qiby, right?"

"Yes, that's right. What is this?"

"What is your complaint? You must have come here because you want to ask something, right?"

"What the hell with this Uncle? Is he still sane?"

The moment she said that I saw Hiyori standing near the entrance of this carriage. She is also confused about what I'm doing at the moment.

I didn't forget to also prepare stationery, such as pens, ink, and paper. All this stationery I have prepared and took from this desk drawer. Of course, it was Leonard, who I had commissioned to design this horse carriage.

"Yeah, that's right, I came here to ask for help. I saw the writing on the front, so I came here."

"The right decision. So, what is your request?"

Even though she had said her request, I kept asking it to make it look like this was a start for me to start.

"Please save my sister!"

"What's the matter with your sister?"

"My sister...my sister has..."

"Umph?"

"My sister has lost her identity, she is not what she used to be. She...she has now become a thief since her father and mother died."

"Oh, I see. Does that mean you want to ask me to help your sister get her back to her true self, like that?"

"Yes, it is true. She is my only older sister."

I understand that feeling, the feeling of a young sister. I have also been in her position, being a young brother, even though my elder sister is my step sister. Therefore, this request is quite good, she wants to help her older sister so that her older sister returns to her identity.

"So where is your sister now?"

"I've looked here and there, but can't find it. I've even asked the Adventure Guild for help looking for it, but right now, none of them are willing to take up the quest."

"Um… why? Why won't the adventurers take your request? Is your quest properly installed on the big board? Or, is there some rogue there, hiding your quest so they can't help you? What is the reason?"

"It's because..."

"Because of what? Are you being bullied?"

"No, it's not like that, it's just..."

Her face was sad, looking down, hesitating to say that.

"If you don't want to say that, it's better-"

"I'll say it."

"Oh..."

I think she was trying to convince herself to say what she wanted to say. She must be fighting herself, struggling with her hard work to be able to say that. What a wonderful little girl.

"May I ask first?"

"What do you want to ask?"

"I-I don't have anything, except this knife. All my and my family's belongings have been devoured by the fire. Therefore, can I pay you to just use this knife?"

I understand now, although she didn't say the real reason why no one took her quest.

In every quest attached to the big board, in the Adventurer's Guild, there is something called a "reward". Every adventurer who has completed a quest will be given a reward in the form of a "reward" listed on the quest. Of course, every reward on a quest was given from people who asked adventurers for help, and the Adventurer's Guild just arranged it neatly.

So, every time you complete a quest, you will receive a reward given by the person who asked you for help indirectly. Adventurer's Guild parties are only third parties, who connect you with people who ask you for help.

And in the case of Qiby, I believe that she cannot give something great and luxurious, in the form of a reward, to the adventurers who will take her quest, thus making them prefer to seek a greater reward than the reward. Therefore, no one took the quest, even though the quest had been posted on the big board.

Maybe that's the reason why she came here, by looking at the writing on the carriage of this horse-drawn carriage and following this carriage in the hope that her request could be helped by me. And that was why she chose to ask first before explaining about her quest which had a small reward.

"Umm… May I ask a question? Have you eaten?"

Well, I think I should ask that first before answering the question.

"Of course it was..."

Her stomach growled, indicating she was lying.

"Is that so? Well, you don't have to answer the reason why you haven't taken your quest on the big board yet. Okay, now..."

I took something out of this desk drawer and gave it to her.

"What's this?"

"You just eat that!"

It was my lunch box, which Hiyori had prepared for lunch later.

"N-No, I can't accept this. I've already..."

Her stomach growled again as she said that.

"Maybe your mouth can lie, but not your stomach. When you're hungry, eat it, and don't talk like you're refusing a gift from me."

"What's with this Uncle?"

"Yeah, I'm Uncle Ryuki, so hurry up and eat that!"

Guests are guests, so I have to make my guests comfortable first.

Even if she is poor or rich, I still have to treat her as a guest. I can't look down on her, I have to be professional with my job. Because after all, inside this horse carriage is an office where I can receive all kinds of guests.

P.S: As long as the guest does not exceed the height and length of this horse-drawn carriage.

After she opened the lunch box and ate the food, I realized something.

If you look closely, I seem to have taken the wrong lunch box. The lunch box turned out to be Hiyori's, not mine. Geez. What can I do about it?

"Ah, my lunchbox."

Hiyori quickly got into the carriage of this horse carriage after realizing that her lunchbox was being eaten by Qiby.