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Chapter 30
“Children’s logic, honestly…”
Still, he couldn’t carelessly raise the white flag of surrender.
Franz deliberately spoke coldly.
“Sticking with me isn’t a good choice. You’d be better off going alone. Best case, you find your dad.”
“Exactly. I’m just going to pretend you’re my dad for a little while and stick close.”
“Aren’t adults all annoying and inconvenient to you? If I were you, I’d enjoy wandering around freely.”
“That’s true, but after someone kept nagging me all the time, it feels weird when nobody’s around.”
Even if not quite a mother, it seemed Naomi secretly missed Angelina, who had been more like an older sister.
She was still a child, after all.
“Why are you laughing? I didn’t say anything funny.”
“You really are… never mind.”
“You tell kids not to hide things, but adults are full of secrets.”
“Looks like your pirate dad has secrets too?”
“You don’t need to know. Even if you heard it, you wouldn’t understand. You’ll naturally figure it out later.”
Naomi imitated Captain Blaske’s voice.
“Everyone talks like thaaat.”
“Then stop complaining and grow up already. Though it’s early, girls your age get married too. You wouldn’t even have to go back to your father. What do you think? Why not open your eyes and start looking for a husband?”
“What wonderful advice,” Naomi shot back sarcastically. “And how am I supposed to get married without my dad?”
She looked at him like he was hopeless.
Kids really were impossible to beat.
Still, Franz couldn’t just become her temporary father like she wanted.
Dropping his gentle expression, he spoke sternly.
“There’s nothing good about following me around. And I never agreed to travel together. I’m not taking responsibility for anything.”
“I know. If you were responsible, you wouldn’t have run away to live alone.”
“……”
“I’ll just follow you until I stop feeling so gloomy.”
“Suit yourself.”
Unable to push away a child who was begging this much, Franz finally relented.
“By the way, what’s that tucked under your arm?”
“My livelihood.”
Naomi tilted her head in confusion. Without much explanation, Franz set up his easel in the same spot.
“You bought all this too?”
“No.”
“…Don’t tell me you stole it?”
Her eyes widened like bells, and Franz found it amusing enough to stay silent.
“People here are really scary. I almost got dragged to the guard station just for touching some meat! Hurry up and return it and apologize. Ah, wait—they said you’d have to pay back ten times the value. Just run away instead. Far away from here.”
Franz burst into laughter.
“I borrowed it. In other words, debt.”
“Mister, you’re secretly kind of reckless. I’m starting to understand why sticking with you is a bad choice.”
Franz laughed again and sat on a bench. Naomi sat beside him.
“How long are you going to draw?”
“Until I pay off this debt and make enough money for travel expenses.”
“Travel expenses? You’re leaving here?”
“Of course.”
“Me too.”
“I don’t have enough money to drag you along.”
“I have money.”
Naomi took out some coins.
“Where’d you get that? Did you steal it?”
“What do you take me for? My sister gave it to me.”
“Then you can just buy a ticket.”
“I already checked. It’s nowhere near enough. She gave me too little on purpose. So I’d stay here and wait for Dad.”
Naomi puffed out her cheeks.
“Come to think of it, I never asked how much she sold it for. Is that why she separated us?”
“Sold what?”
“The telescope. That’s why I’m avoiding Dad even more. I ran away and sold his stuff—do you think he’ll just let that slide?”
“You’ll probably get scolded.”
Franz answered plainly.
“How many pictures do you need to draw before you can leave?”
“About a hundred? Maybe two hundred?”
Naomi’s jaw dropped.
“There’s no such thing as easy money.”
“Pirates make it look easy.”
“They’re risking their lives for it.”
“No need to defend them. I don’t think it’s a good job either.”
Hearing such mature words from her, Franz picked up his pen.
As the sun moved another handspan across the sky, no customers came.
Naomi yawned repeatedly, then suddenly sat in the customer’s seat.
“Draw me.”
“If you pay.”
“How stingy.”
“This is how I make a living. Asking for it free isn’t very polite.”
“It’s not free.”
Naomi shot back immediately.
“People don’t go into empty restaurants, right? I bet it’s the same here.”
“How do you know that?”
“My dad always says delicious restaurants never run out of customers.”
“Fine. Let’s see if your marketing trick works.”
Franz started sketching Naomi.
A child with still-soft, rounded features wasn’t hard to draw.
The problem was that she couldn’t sit still for long.
After five minutes, she started fidgeting. By ten, she couldn’t take it anymore and stood up.
“Wow, that’s me?”
“What do you think?”
“You’re… pretty good.”
“Thanks.”
“So you have to be this good to make money.”
“Yep.”
“Teach me too.”
“Just because I teach you doesn’t mean you’ll get this good.”
“If I work hard, I can.”
“I’ve never worked hard in my life.”
Naomi looked at him with utter disbelief.
“That explains why you don’t have a home.”
Caught off guard, Franz burst into laughter again.
“You should try working hard now. Otherwise, you’ll end up like my dad—famous for all the wrong reasons.”
“He’s rich though.”
“Dad just enjoys feeling rich. He doesn’t even know how to spend money. There’s nowhere to spend it.”
“He might leave it all to you.”
“Then the crewmen would chase me down and I’d probably die miserably.”
Franz had thought she was just a clueless child, but she was surprisingly sharp.
Strong on the inside, too.
If only someone steady guided her, she’d grow up well.
The thought left Franz bitter.
“By the way, your sales tactic doesn’t seem to be helping much.”
People passed them without even a glance.
“Maybe everyone’s busy. Or not interested in this kind of thing.”
“Guess so.”
“How are you supposed to make money like this?”
“I should probably head to Is.”
“Where’s Is?”
“The capital.”
“Take me with you.”
“I’m walking.”
“How long will that take?”
“If we don’t stop, maybe by the middle of the night.”
Naomi’s mouth fell open.
“So? Thinking of going back to your dad yet?”
“Nope. Ah…”
Suddenly spotting something, Naomi slipped between Franz and the easel. The way she squirmed was like a cat trying to climb into someone’s lap, and Franz blinked in surprise.
“What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t secretly call people to take me back, did you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Pirates.”
Naomi whispered with a frown. Franz looked up.
Between the buildings, he spotted pirates—the same ones he’d eaten and drunk with. Captain Jin Blaske was among them.
They were heading somewhere.
They were probably searching for the Crown Prince and Princess, but Franz had no reason to want attention from them either.
After all, he had helped them escape.
Franz hurriedly stood.
“They went that way. If you’re running, now’s your chance.”
“They really left?”
After watching the fading figures, Naomi straightened her shoulders.
“They’re probably looking for my sister and brother-in-law.”
“Then hide on your own.”
As Franz turned to leave, Naomi grabbed the hem of his pants.
“I feel like they’ll find them.”
“I told you, I’m not taking responsibility—”
“My sister and brother are staying at the Red Moon Inn. That direction is toward the inn… what do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? Ignore it and go your own way.”
Naomi’s head wavered like a reed in the wind before stopping in the direction the pirates had disappeared.
“Where are you going?”
“To report it to the guard station.”
“Don’t. That could be even more dangerous.”
“Then what do we do?”
When no answer came, Naomi took a step forward.
Franz grabbed her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“I know talking them out of it probably won’t work, but I want to try stopping them.”
Though young, her steady gaze seemed to accuse him.
Ignore it and go your own way, Franz.
Franz stood frozen, unable to release her arm.
He really didn’t want to get tangled up in this.
He never should have accepted that proposal. No—he never should have taken that tabloid assignment in the first place.
But now that everything had already happened, Franz had no choice.
“Then will you do exactly as I say?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
Naomi answered immediately.
“Then you’ll be the hostage.”
Watching her eyes grow wide, Franz wondered if maybe, just maybe, Naomi had wanted to corner him into helping all along.
