i wanted to read this real bad after seeing the promo but no one was translating it so i decided to mtl this series too. there’s gonna be a lot of inaccuracies. so as always if a real translator comes along then ill stop c: enjoy!!

ALSO ALSO, sorry for not adding this earlier but

ojakgyo “refers to the bridge that birds make once a year to connect the female and male main characters in traditional korean fairy tales” basically a wing man.

01

–

I hate this situation. Going back in time, it was when I was five years old. Like any other 5 year old, I didn’t want much. My dream was to have a pink wedding with my destined prince while going over the rainbow bridge on a unicorn, just like it appeared in the storybooks.

“Mother! Mother!”

I put on a thin pajama dress and ran into the bedroom, to my mother’s arms. My mom and dad woke up, dumbfounded. My mom smiled softly, embarrassed by my actions.

“Oh, my daughter, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”

I cried bitterly and wet my mother’s skirt. My throat began to sting, but I didn’t care. Rubbing my face against her soft, silky pajamas, I struggled to hold back my tears.

“Mom… I don’t think I can marry…”

I burst into tears again when I said so. My voice was hoarse and I heard a voice that wasn’t old enough.

My mother kept patting me while I was crying without responding. When my mother asked me what was going on, I couldn’t do anything but cry. It was because I was still shocked. I could still vividly remember what happened when I was five. Even my father had to stop me from blowing my nose onto my mother’s skirt. On that night when I was five years old, I was dumped by a boy who I had confessed to with courage. It was a dream that had changed my life.

That’s why I crying so badly. Because that dream was about my old life.

* * *

I read a book before I died. The title of the book was, Hestia’s Fishes. It reeked of a third-rate harem novel. It was a romance novel, but with a poor story. Although the novel could have been repulsive because there was such a poor storyline, I read it for the romance rather than the story, so there was no big problem.

In my dream, I realized that the world I was living in was the same world as that of the novel that I read in my previous life. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence that my name, “Charine West,” was the same name as a character from the book. But when I realized that my friend Hestia Fleur de Couture, had the same name as the female lead in the book, I slammed my head on the desk and wished that everything would just disappear.

But soon I had to admit to the reality. Because the setting of the novel and the place where I lived horrifyingly matched. In the novel, I was only an Ojakgyo. Charine West was the friend of the pretty and good-natured heroine. She went back and forth between the male lead and the heroine, becoming a hardcore Ojakgyo. An Ojakgyo so faithful that it was enough for someone’s hair to fall off.

I could never find love here. In the novel, all the guys that Charine liked were only interested in Hestia. Only then did I begin to see why all the boys I was interested in were looking at Hestia. Reality was so cruel, you… my dream of being with my destined prince was fully ruined on the day that my past life’s memories returned, I burned all the traces of princesses that i had, with empty eyes.

“Mom, why do you think people live?”

“…?”

“If there’s a thing called fate, why do people even try……….?”

My mom, who was packing her face to straighten her wrinkles, looked at me strangely.

“……Everything’s useless. It all goes one way anyways.”

And I began to change.

* * *

Girls of my age came to my house to play after a long time. They came here with their favorite prince toys and chatted with me about their favorite sets of unicorns, but I wasn’t impressed at all. The madam, which was watching us play, asked us.

“What are our princesses’ dreams?”

The madam spoke in a very sweet way when dealing with the young children. While some girls were being rude and holding their prince and princess dolls together, I thought I didn’t want to listen to her. The children answered her question with all their heart. Even if I wanted to scream, I didn’t have any energy left after eating the cake. But the children announced their dreams in a loud voice.

“Me! I’m going to meet a prince who cares about me to the ends of the earth and give him a kiss! We’ll get married, too! I’ll live a flowery life every day!”

“Linda– Linda, I want to meet a fateful person and live happily ever after! I’ll raise a unicorn as a pet! I’ll wash my face with mystical powder every day!”

The madam listened to their stories with a warm smile. Hestia hesitated to speak up beside me, but she soon said that she wanted to marry a prince and live happily.

“What do you want to do Char? Do you want to marry a prince too?”

I was in a daze but shook it off quickly when she asked me the question. Then I hardened my face and spoke firmly.

“I want to become an official.”

Honestly, it was a better investment than looking for love.

People looked at me strangely, but I calmly ate my share of cake. Yes, life shouldn’t depend on men alone. I firmly made up my mind. When I was five years old, the dream of my previous life quickly faded away, but it provided me with enough information to judge the situation.

I was not really feminine in my past life and I was the only woman in my family. To be exact, I was like a man in a woman’s body. I was the leader of my three younger brothers. After our parents died in a sudden car crash, I had to take care of my younger siblings with the leftover inheritance money and was always forced to make sacrifices.

Dressing in my favorite clothes, hanging out with friends after school, or dating was nothing more than a blow to me. Since the cost of living for my younger brothers was moreimportant than spending time for myself, I always had to endure until I died at the age of 19. I had a hard time living. The only break I had was when I went to sleep. I spent all of my breathers on working part-time. I couldn’t live with only a part time job for the rest of my life, so I had to study harder to get a stabler job.

I memorized English words on the ceiling above my bedspread. The word table was arranged in an easily memorizable algorithm and was on a piece of paper glued to the ceiling. I would mutter what I had memorized during my part-time job. I also paid attention to the fact that my younger siblings, without parents, could not get enough love and attention if I only focused on studying and working. When people saw me like that, they would call me boorish.

I, who lived such a hectic life, had only one hobby that I worked for, and that was reading romance novels. My hobby of reading books was so that I could enrich my soul, and it was informative and fun. It was my only source of entertainment. I spared time every once in a while so that I could read romance novels. Some days I said to myself that I would only read for ten minutes, but when I started reading, I already read through the whole thing. Of course, one of the books I read was the book in question.

The contents of the novel was dark, but in the end, it was a happy ending. Wait, no, was it a happy ending? Actually, I can’t really remember well. When I had the dream about my previous life, pieces of information from the novel came out from time to time, like ‘One after the other’, but when I woke up, my memories faded away.

Even though I can’t remember anything else, this fact was clear—The heroine of the novel, Hestia, ends up with no one. She is torn between her choices and the novel ends.

The author of the novel seriously favored Hestia. They gave her only good traits such as being motherly and other abilities, and not any abilities for the supporting role, Charine. Still, there were always many people around Charine because she had a close relationship with Hestia. The problem was that the character Charine, was a character with a personality like kimchi soup. She used to mistake that anyone approaching her was because of Hestia’s charm. So when the person she cared about confessed to Hestia, she would feel betrayed and swear at Hestia.

In the book, she was jealous and a slow-moving child, and her end was not good. From the information I I got from my dreams, in the book, she lost all of her money to the other nobles around her, and her status gets sold to some rich commoners. In the process, she gets married off to some rich family.

Thanks to the developments of the novel, my current life will be a series of broken relationships. No matter how much I saw the future in my dreams, the feelings I had in my heart will probably not change. Through repeated demonstrations, I was finally able to find the pattern. First, I get interested, then I get closer and find out that I like them as more than a friend. Second, when I come up to confess, they ask me to connect them to Hestia.

It was a bit like this. Repeatedly this turn of defeat led me to naturally give up during my childhood and change my goal into making a lot of money to expand my options in the future. Hestia sat in front of me and I watched her weave flowers. Sitting in the sun’s best spot, her skin glowed even more. It was hard to distinguish which one was the actual flower.

Hestia, who came to my house today, was working hard to make a wreath for my head. Her pinkish hair drifted in the wind, and you could see her bulging green eyes through them. She had bright cheeks and was a very lucky child. Hestia smiled and tilted her head as I looked away.

“Char? Is there something on my face?”

“I wish for another good year. ”

“Hmm?”

“The future is guaranteed.”

Hestia smiled at me, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about again.”

Hestia and I have been friends since birth. After realizing that this was the world of a novel, I have tried to distance myself from Hestia so that my future would be brighter. But Hestia was deeply rooted in my life.

First of all, our parents were really close, and Hestia couldn’t just stand by and let me go, acting like my brothers in my previous life. So far, I’ve just continued being her friend.

“Did Char apply for the admission into the academy this time?”

Hestia suddenly started talking while I was thinking. I was surprised and answered quickly.

“Ah? Oh. Uh-huh.”

Hestia put the wreath on my head and blew it into my cheeks.

“Geez! That’s too much! I said we had to apply together!”

“I thought that too, so I’ve already applied for you.”

“Oh! Really? Wow, we’ll be together at the Academy! Yayy!”

Her green pupils glistened into the shape of a half moon. Hestia clapped and laughed.

“I know it’s great, take this.”

I pulled out a letter, turning back my expression into it’s original state. On top of the pretty pink letter, said, “To Hestia.” This love letter was also asked of me to deliver. The boy who fell for Hestia this time was, Eric, a child of another person, who looked pretty good. He seemed to have smart features of those looking forward to the future.

“What’s this? A love letter? Is it yours? You’re pretty popular, aren’t you?”

Hestia showed interest in my letter. I sighed as I watched Hestia smile and ask if the letter was for me. She then snatched the letter from my hand.

“He’s the person I met at the tea party? His name’s Eric! Did he get interested in you?”

It’s a familiar pattern. Soon she’ll have a sorry look. Hestia scowls as she reads the name on the letter.

“Oh…… it was for me? It’s weird… You’re much more prettier & lovelier than me. Why did he come to me?”

As I stood still, Hestia asked those questions with a full smile.

“What’s wrong with them? It’s weird. Don’t you think it’s weird too?”

Hestia’s smile made me smile.

“Do you want me to hit you?”

At my words Hestia stuck out her tongue and made a grumpy expression.

_________

A/N : this story isn't mine the credit goes to the owner I have just uploaded to make it easier for you to read

At the age of 13, you’re eligible to enter the Academy. All of the nobility and the commoners have the chance to enter the state-designated academy. Of course, you can’t just walk right in though.

The story in the novel begins in the Academy, but it was not particularly exciting. I just needed to move towards my goal. I simply wanted to be an official. Officials in this world have a high salary, and the household that paid officials the highest pensions were the knights. So my goal has been set to serve the Knights of the Imperial Family. I wanted to go to the First Knights Templar and live my life after getting a large pension, but because of the limit of the “glass ceiling”, entering the Second Knights Templar was the primary goal now.

By the way, if I enter the academy, there’ll be a handful of men getting twisted by Hestia… I won’t be able to get into a relationship, but it was inevitable that I needed to attend the Academy. Even if it’s not my story, it’s a very interesting story.

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“Someone appeared.”

I woke up early in the morning and went to the training grounds as usual. Among the characters in the book, there was the Crown Prince of the Empire, the King of the Marquis and the Little Prince, plus the son of a rich upper class family. It was something cliche that appeared in every novel. All these characters’ families existed since the founding of the Empire. There’s a certain family, and even though they don’t have a title, they’re a top family that spent all their money helping the nation. The conclusion was that the whole house was well fed. One of the love interests is a character that I would love to meet in the future. I really loved them. Was it the Crown Prince….?

“Char!”

While I was walking around the field with magic formula notes in my hand, a man came running towards me.

“I heard the story! You’re going to the academy! When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What!?”

That someone was my blue-haired brother.

Harun West, with blue hair like the sky and black eyes, he was mentioned with Char West in the novel, and was a character with possessive characteristics. Harun had the same goal as me, so he would always come bother me around this time of the day when I was training. Seeing his blue colored hair drenched in sweat, I guessed it’s been a while since I’ve started training.

“What are you doing! Get out of here!”

My clothes and body were sweaty and stuck together, so I asserted my voice. I grasped him, crushing my notes. The strong smell of sweat came from Harun. If it were someone else, they would have listened to me, but my brother responded just as strongly as I did.

“When you leave, I can’t have fun with you anymore. I won’t be able to see you sword training every morning.”

“You can see me when you enter the Academy someday too.”

I didn’t like the feeling of his bare skin, so I pushed him away and he had a hurt expression.

“That’s just too much! If you passed, you should have told me first! Then I would have given you a bunch of flowers or hosted an event!”

I put on a look of astonishment at his remark.

“Don’t. I thought I told you not to.”

“Why? Char, do you hate me?”

“Just try. I’ll tear it all up.”

Harun, who started running around the training grounds, tilted his head.

“Why? Aren’t you the only lady of the West family? That’s what you should do. Our parents are really preparing hard for you to go there.”

“If you’re going to spend money on useless things, try to pay it back soon. Oh, and don’t call me that.”

“Ha-ha, but you’re the only one who wants to be an official!”

I’m still worried about what happened eight years ago. This brother of mine still remembered the incident, which marked me as a strange child among the aristocratic wives.

“Don’t you just want to see Hestia anyways?”

“As always Char. You’re quick to notice!”

I opened my mouth, lightly staring at my brother Harun, who was running ahead.

“Don’t ask me to do that. I’m never doing it.”

“Eh? Have you ever even thought about connecting me to her?”

Of course I’ve thought about it, but this brother and and all of the other men around me, are dying to meet Hestia. But even if I thought about it…

“Don’t even think about it. Hestia will feel guilty. ”

“It’s okay. This brother will never ask Char to do such a favor.”

Harun said so and smiled like a cheese stick covered in butter. I’m uncomfortable. I think I just got goosebumps.

“Smile that way in front of Hestia.”

“Why? Is it attractive?”

“Yes, very much. You’re going to get dumped.”

When Harun heard me, he raged, saying,

“What’s the matter with you?”

But I only huffed in reply.

* * *

After regaining the memories of my previous life, I thought about my future after graduating from the Academy.

Marriage was the best way to solve financial holes in houses, but it wasn’t good to think about. That’s why I saved up money rapidly to avoid the worst. I often did things anonymously because i couldn’t raise money openly as an aristocrat. All the jobs I received were technical. For example, repairing magical vents and repairing magical coolers. These were things that were difficult even for the creators of the magical tools, because it was much more easier to understand the concept of magic rather than actually use magic.

Because of this, I was able to charge a high price for every job. My alias was quickly decided and named ‘Charibalen,’ which seemed to be getting quite popular recently. The job requests kept coming in. In fact, this was only possible because of my previous lifes’ memories. There were many overlapping parts of the science in my past life and the magic here. It was very useful majoring in mechanics and programming in my past life as a student.

I pumped mana into my fingers andand pulled out the magic formula drawn on the item, after that, I enlarged it. When I grasped the reason, it seemed that some parts of it had been erased by an external power. With the combination of various magic spells and the recovery magic that I came up with, I returned all the lost parts of the magic telephone tool.

And I never forget to finish things off by casting a protection spell so that they wouldn’t leak any information. Once I finished the job, I put all of the finished products into a storage space and stretched.

Today’s total is 10 gold, which is a little more than the average living expenses for a commoner, a year. 10 gold earned for dealing with 4 cases. It usually takes about 10 to 20 minutes per case, so it’s a pretty good source of income.

I don’t think it’s necessary to pay attention to this, but the fact is, that having a certain income on the surface has a positive effect on my future credit. Besides, I’ve already been drilling a hole in my house for how much I’ve earned, so I don’t have to give up my goal of serving the knights. The main reason was that holding the sword was pretty fun. I put the money I received into my pocket. The jingling sounds couldn’t be heard because it was in a pocket I made with magic. Having finished my work, I slowly got up to pack up for the academy tomorrow.

Knock, knock, knock.

I raised my head at the knocking sounds. Who could it be? When I questioned that in my head, the door opened.

“Sister Char…”

My other brother, who was two years younger than me, ran to my side. In his hands was a glass filled with warm milk and thick chocolate chip cookies that smelled of smoke.

Karim West is the name of this cute little creature that just ran to me. He had sky-blue hair like Harun’s, but his eye color was scarlet like mine. His fluffy hair was like that of a puppy’s. I brushed my fingers into his fluffy hair, it smelled like muffins. It looks like he baked a muffin with a maid before coming in. I could see his watery eyes between his lashes. He must have been crying.

“Are you really leaving tomorrow?”

Karim hugged the back of my waist tightly and sniffled. I patted his head and turned to face him. He looked a little more shy after that. He then began to eat the cookies and milk that he had brought over. Wait, didn’t he bring that for me? I was a little embarrassed, but I wiped the cookie crumbs off his mouth and told him to eat to his heart’s content. He cried while I held him, and ate everything, he then opened his mouth and said

“Will you forget about me when you leave? Can we talk on the phone every day so you don’t?”

Karim’s voice was shaking. I felt a pang in my heart so I hugged him even tighter. Karim then asked if I could change into Hestia. I tickled his stomach at that statement. Karim began to cry and burst into laughter after I tickled him. He made an excuse that he would listen to the school stories that I didn’t tell him, from Hestia.

“Don’t be so sad because I’ll visit you on my break. If you listen to mother and father, I’ll come visit you soon. By the way, do you remember what I asked you to do?”

“Eh, to write down all the household expenses? I didn’t forget! I’ll write it down! Don’t worry!”

Karim continued, and I stroked his hair, delighted.

“Also, Linda replaced father’s shirt with a spare one from my wardrobe.”

“Ah! I see, but I guess it can’t be helped since she’s getting too old to see. ”

“Good. Then we can say that she’s trustworthy.”

Due to the recent recession, we had to expel all the maids and employees.

So we only have a few employees left. One of them was Linda, the oldest maid in the family, and her age led to an increasing number of mistakes. But if we fire her now, she’ll definitely have nowhere else to go. So for some reason we’re trying to cover up her mistakes. Once I enter the academy, I’ll be absent for a long time, so I asked Karim for help, and he understood me well. Karim smiled shyly when I kissed him on the cheek a few times. It was because he was so cute.

Karim slept in my room that night. Karim was still young, so he was afraid of sleeping alone. Because of this, he often visited my room. When he came to visit, I always read him a fairy tale book or told him a made up story so that he could sleep comfortably. Tonight, the story I toldhim was “A thrilling chase between the unemployed and the ring leader who sat in a pile of light.” Karim seemed to struggle falling asleep at first when he heard my story, but soon fell asleep soundly.

I tucked Karim into bed. I had to pack myself a wooden sword and a real sword, or I would fall behind in the sword department. After all my preparations, I stood in front of the mirror and meditated with the five magical words, “self-made, landlord, official, land registry certificate and career woman,” before lying down beside Karim to sleep. I was doing it every night because the self-help book said it would work, but I was so embarrassed that I wiggled my toes until I fell asleep.

My mother and father stood there to see me off. I had no choice but to watch my parents affection until they disappeared from sight.

“Oh, that’s right. Harun, I’m joining up with Hestia mid-way. Is that okay?”

Harun was sitting opposite of me, and was looking out at the surroundings. I suddenly said something, so he was surprised.

“What a surprise. You would always ignore my words.”

At those pathetic words I lifted the corners of my mouth one way.

“If it’s Hestia, it’s perfectly fine. ”

Harun saw my smile and soon spoke up.

“Ah, I knew it. ”

He calmly gazed at me. But it was obvious that he was holding back a flamboyant smile and he made another strange statement.

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“Anyway, our Char always has a dead look in her eyes, why can’t you be more lively? My only wish is for you to laugh more often! Am I asking for too much when I want you to hug me like you did when you were four, saying ‘big brother~’?”

“I’ll draw a map on your blanket like I did when I was 7.”

I said that and pulled a notebook out. Harun grumbled something along the lines of, “You’re so cold,” but I ignored it lightly. I took out a pen out of my pencil case. I thought I’d write something down in my notebook.

The beginning of the novel starts after entering the Academy. It’s important to know the flow of the novel. It’s like knowing the future. If one knows the future, they can live their lives more easily. The love interests are said to have mixed personalities, so if I can find out their weaknesses, it would be a great help in the future. Turning the pen round and around, I set my head at an angle. I begun to think about what would happen after entering the academy.

“…”

I swiveled the ballpoint pen to the other side.

“…”

The development of the novel was… I was trying to remember how the novel developed.

“…”

I folded my legs over the other and trembled.

What happens after we arrive at the academy…

“Char, you’re going to be hungry. Want a muffin?”

I was trying to think about the events that would dictate my destiny, but suddenly Harun talked and I forgot. I usually remembered everything because I was smart, but I forgot because he interrupted me. I usually never forget things. I stuffed my pen into my bag and ate the muffin I got from him. My mind fell flat, and the muffin was in my hands at the right moment. I don’t know. If I live freely, I’ll burst. Since I often dream about the novel, I don’t think I have to bother as much though.

* * *

I asked my brother to stop the wagon so I could meet up with Hestia. He looked at me suspiciously, but didn’t refuse. I left my brother behind and left for the town. I had to return the magic tools that I had fixed yesterday. It would have been finished if I had just sent the packages to the receivers, but there were some parts I wanted to buy and newly released swords brought out of town that I wanted to browse. I switched into a robe to freely look around and used a magic tool to turn into an adult.

The town was crowded with people. The pleasant sounds of people bargaining resonated through the air. I strode down the street, fiddling with my pocket full of money. If I’m lucky, I could get the rumored dwarf crafted sword. Apparently, it’s said to be put out on display at the weapons shop today. After finishing the work I needed to do, I headed straight to the dark alley, thinking of visiting the weapons shop.

“Move aside!”

As soon as I turned to go to the alley, a boy in a hood popped out. He was running pretty fast. I was flustered and quickly backtracked, but the boy who hadn’t stepped back yet bumped into me. I quickly held him into my arms so that he wouldn’t fall and get hurt.

“…”

The boy who was just embraced by a stranger stared at me for a moment. I don’t want this to be misunderstood as romantic. We strangely stayed like that for a few seconds. After a while, the boy grasped the situation, made an expression, pushed me away, and left. Looking at the boy leave, I dusted my clothes and turned away. Then, as I trudged through the alley, I erased the strange sensation that I felt before.

***

The smell of sweat leaked through the barely open door, and a creak sounded. A big beefy man in terrible condition could be seen through the door. The man kept looking nervously at the door, but when he saw me, the color was back on his face.

“So the request is finished!”

The name of this wicked-looking man is Carl. He’s been following me steadily ever since I helped him revive his failing business. What’s interesting is that my face was covered by my robe but Carl managed to recognize me. I nodded quietly at his statement. What he said was about the contents of the magic video tool that I recovered yesterday. They asked to retrieve the video footage that someone intentionally damaged and to retrieve information about the person who damaged it.

“We’re done with the recovery, and we’ve copied all the logs down. If you’re free after work, I can show you around.”

People secretly post requests because there’s no other alternative. Since this isn’t a popular job, there are often cases where clients have the audacity to accept only the results and not pay up, and in case of that, we make a copy log in advance. Of course, if the deal is completed successfully, it will be erased.

“Oh, I’m so comfortable with this clean-up job. I don’t have to worry about the fact that the client was in a high position and was difficult to deal with. Haha.”

“Didn’t you say there was a problem with the building’s protection system? Do you want me to take a look?”

“No, I wouldn’t dare ask Charibalen to do that. That’s what kids do.”

His eyes carried respect and loyalty. It was a little bit burdensome, but I nodded and trusted that they would take care of themselves.

“By the way, I want to see Charibalen at the big top this time. There’s something I want to ask for in person.”

I was hurrying to the weapons shop when his words stopped me in my tracks.

“I think you should consider it.”

I thought for a moment and nodded.

“I’ll contact you later.”

When I gave a positive answer, I could feel Carl loosen up his expression. Looking at the knife that greeted me, I fell deep in thought. What would his reaction be when he finds out that his boss was a 13-year-old girl? I searched my robes for extra money. I left the room with the thought that I should be more careful in the future, because if I get caught, I’ll be stuck in a difficult situation.

* * *

I ran straight to the weapons shop. It’s difficult to obtain the sword even if you try to get it through the dark path of the dwarves. I should’ve been in school for a while now, but I wanted to get a good sword. I ran with all my energy towards the shop.

“I’ll give you whatever price you want, just say it.”

“Gosh, mister, aren’t you the person from a few months ago? The person I’m selling this to is a regular, and the amount you promised before wasn’t even good enough.”

“I’ll give you three times that. ”

While I had been away for a while, something extraordinary seemed to be happening. I heard someone was trying to steal my sword. I ran towards the shop, swallowing the rage that was bubbling in my heart.

* * *

Weapon shops were typically located on the street in the heart of the capital, where it’s always crowded with people. But in the morning, it’s quiet, so I got up earlier than any other day on purpose. In my previous life, I had a habit of arriving at a place earlier than anyone else when the product I wanted was on sale. I think it’s been awhile since I’ve had to do that here, and I’m a little bit rusty. I should have bought the sword first and then gone to deal with the requests. It was the root of the fire that I headed there first because I had a client close to the weapons shop.

A boy who wanted to take the sword I wanted had long eyelashes and was also wearing a hood like me. He looked about 14 years old at most. It’s the boy I ran into earlier. I caught him when he ran into me, and this is how he pays me back. I began to approach him with a fierce look. I can’t let this go.

“How about 20 gold? You can’t sell it at a higher price than this.”

“Huh…… this is very difficult.”

The weapon uncle was bargaining with the boy that seemed to be my age. 20 gold for a weapon, of course he would be tempted. He stroked his short moustache and fell into distress. Because of the high price he was just offered, he must have forgot that he promised to give me the sword first. That was the impression I got. I quickly squeezed through the crowd to get to them.

“I’m sorry, but that’s the item I’ve wanted to buy from a week ago, and I won’t give it up.”

I almost cursed, but I changed my tone into an amiable one because my opponent was just a little boy. When I stepped in, the weapon shop uncle froze. It was evident that he was caught red-handed trying to sell the sword to the boy. He looked at me with a cool smile.

“Sir, this is the customer that offered to buy it first. I’m sorry, but if I get a better sword next time, I’ll give it to you. ”

I saw the boy’s protruding mouth through the hood. It seemed as if he knew the true value of the rare dwarf sword, the Missril Sword, or that he just hated losing. The boy pointed his finger at me without letting go of the sword.

“I’ll give you three times the amountshe offered.”

“What?”

This was no laughing matter.

That’s brazen! I looked at the armory uncle in discontent, but he had no choice. Money matters more rather than loyalty.

“I’m sorry for your loss, but as a profit-seeking merchant, I’ll sell it to the one who pays more.”

My face automatically crumpled up. If he was a profitable merchant, he should have chosen trust. It’ll make a bigger profit in the long run.

I was tempted to call him out for it, but I managed to swallow in my anger. While staring at the two with clenched teeth, the boy moved quickly.

“That’s a wise choice.”

With a sneer, the boy threw a pocket full of gold coins into the arms of the dealer. At first glance, 20 gold coins seemed like an overpowering amount. The red eyes seen from the hood gazed at me with derision. The boy was pleased to see my expression of loss, and began to walk away with the sword.