THTE 60

Chapter 60

Everyone at the breakfast table turned to look at Nibelia.

“You want to make money?”

Soles asked, recalling the paycheck account.

“You’re already earning, aren’t you?”

“No! I want to run a business!”

After her spectacular failure with the cookie business, Nibelia’s entrepreneurial ambition had been quiet for a while.

But today, out of nowhere, the thought of starting a business suddenly popped into her head.

It was time to take out the “Meow Shop” sign she had carefully stored away in her drawer.

“Hmm…”

Kaleo gave a skeptical response. He smiled gently, trying not to hurt the child’s feelings, and said softly,

“But you totally failed last time.”

Celetina shot Kaleo a quick glare. Smiling didn’t make words any less hurtful.

“That’s true!”

But Nibelia wasn’t particularly upset. On the contrary, she proudly admitted her failure.

“I totally failed, and I even had a lot of debt. I owed 1.28 million Uba…”

“O-one point two-eight…!”

Areph’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.

She had taken on that much debt?!

But Areph didn’t know—

That on the very first day he arrived here, when Nibelia guided him around the main mansion, that was actually her final labor to pay off that exact 1.28 million Uba debt.

“Nini, why do you suddenly want to do business again?”

Celetina asked.

Nibelia replied,

“I invested, but no money’s coming in.”

She had invested a staggering fifty million Uba in a pharmaceutical company. But since the company hadn’t opened yet, she hadn’t earned a single cent.

In other words, she wasn’t getting any income from her investment.

Of course, thanks to Monatos, she had secured a notarized pre-contract, but just waiting endlessly made her restless.

For cats, hunting is instinct.

For Nibelia, hunting meant earning money. She had to work hard to support Areph, marry him later, have children, and live happily together.

Otherwise, she might end up like the Tower Master—living for 200 years and still not owning a single house.

“Nini wants to be the one receiving rent, not the one paying rent.”

“What a shrewd kid.”

Armiphera admired her niece’s sharp conviction.

“So, what are you going to do this time?”

Muniel asked.

“Are you going to make cookies again?”

“Heh.”

Nibelia smirked, lifting one corner of her lips.

“You’re underestimating Nini as if she’s still a rookie.”

She clicked her tongue dramatically and wagged her short index finger back and forth. It looked like a little white sausage wiggling.

“Where did she learn that from?”

While the adults whispered about how cute yet cheeky she was, the child revealed her business plan.

“Auntie!”

Armiphera’s eyes widened. She never expected her name to be called here.

“Nini will sell for you.”

“Huh?”

Sell what?

While Armiphera struggled to follow Nibelia’s train of thought, a smile soon bloomed on her face.

“…Ah!”

She understood what her mischievous yet lovable niece meant.

“What’s this? A rock?”

“Oh? You found that? That’s a stone mushroom.”

On the first day Armiphera arrived, she was showing the kids the things in her bag, when she pulled out a lump shoved deep in the corner.

It was a mushroom, dark and deep like the midnight sea.

“Latro is beyond some very steep cliffs, right? This mushroom grows there. You can eat it raw or cooked.”

“Is it tasty?”

“It is, but… well, it’s hard to harvest and looks like this, so people don’t eat it much. Our mercenaries usually just pick them out of boredom and eat them as emergency rations.”

When stone mushrooms are dried in the sea breeze, they shrink into little round stone-like shapes, gaining a deeper flavor and richer taste.

But because of their appearance, and because they were known as “mercenary food,” they weren’t popular at all.

Armiphera cut some and gave the kids a bite.

The mushroom pieces melted in their mouths like cheese after a few chews.

Thanks to the sea breeze drying, the salty flavor was addictive—it made you crave more.

In the end, the kids begged for more until the mushrooms were all gone right there.

“Stone mushrooms, huh…”

After hearing the story, Ardoreth nodded.

“I ate them during the war once. They were pretty good.”

“They added depth to any dish. Thanks to them, wartime meals felt just a little happier.”

Muniel also showed a positive attitude, recalling old memories.

“They’d go well with salads or pasta. The flavor is unique, and the texture is excellent. Now that I think about it, it’s strange they’re not distributed.”

Grinning proudly at her grandparents’ approval, Nibelia nodded.

Armiphera’s eyes sparkled too, but she soon shook her head.

“It’s not like we haven’t tried selling them.”

“Because harvesting is difficult?”

Kaleo asked.

“That too, but no—harvesting’s easy. If you can’t climb Latro’s cliffs, you’re not a mercenary. The real problem is that people don’t like it because it’s seen as mercenary food.”

The prejudice against mercenaries.

Food only mercenaries would eat.

That was the biggest barrier to selling stone mushrooms.

“Nini, I’m sorry, but with stone mushrooms…”

“No.”

Celetina suddenly cut in.

Her green eyes, which had been silently listening until now, shone brightly like fresh leaves under sunlight.

“I think it could work.”

“Mom!”

Nibelia called out to Celetina like she was her savior.

“Nini can do business well this time! Nini will buy stone mushrooms and sell them to Mom!”

“Alright. Then in three days, let’s make a contract. In the meantime, think carefully about how you’ll buy the mushrooms and sell them to me.”

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“When is three days from now?”

“After you sleep three nights, it’ll be three days.”

“Got it!”

“So, how long are you staying here anyway?”

Kaleo asked his younger sister, who had become a muscular beauty like a wild rose.

Armiphera sat on the office sofa, stroking a black kitten like a mob boss, while absentmindedly flexing her fingers open and shut.

“I was planning to leave after about a week, but since things turned out this way, I’ll stay a bit longer.”

“Is it okay to leave your seat empty like that? Don’t you have a lot to do as the Mercenary King?”

“It’s fine for a while. The elders there like me.”

To be exact, they feared both Muniel and Armiphera.

Kaleo briefly wondered, What kind of life did our parents live, anyway? but quickly erased the thought.

Even as their child, prying into their past wasn’t right.

Besides, if it was their past, he definitely couldn’t handle it.

“Besides, I’ve found a way to make money too.”

Armiphera grinned.

With no large wars breaking out across the continent, the mercenary business had been in decline. Prejudice against mercenaries was also a major problem.

Armiphera had come out of Latro temporarily to figure out how to solve this.

Not like we can just start another war.

And right at that moment, Nibelia had discovered a way to break through.

“Nini gave her useless aunt a huge gift. Brother, you’ve really raised your kids well. Or, did Sister Selli raise them?”

“Both Selli and I raised them. Of course, Soles was sharp from birth, so he didn’t need much care.”

“Even the Tower Master calls Soles ‘the miracle of Deiamor.’”

“Careful, Fera. At this rate, you might lose your place. Soles could become the Tower Master’s favorite instead of you.”

“We’d have to ask Soles’ opinion first. Besides, I’m always Grandpa’s sparkling soda water. He adores me whenever I drive Dad crazy.”

“…Stop driving Father crazy already.”

As the siblings exchanged their silly banter, the little black dragon Ater, who had been purring softly like a real kitten, twitched his ears.

Then, slowly opening his eyes, he hopped off Armiphera’s lap.

“Ater?”

At the call, the black dragon meowed.

“Prepare the honey bundle made from my scales.”

The dragon’s gaze toward the office balcony window was unusually sharp.

That afternoon.

The Deigladis family returned from their long summer vacation and visited the Deiamor estate.

“Nini! How have you been?”

Rubens greeted Nibelia with a bright smile.

“Rubens!”

Nibelia jumped up and down happily to welcome him.

The two spun around together, hopped in place, and clapped hands while giggling.

“….”

Areph glanced at them, secretly wanting to join in.

“Areph! Have you been well too?”

“Have you been well, Lord Rubens?”

“Yeah!”

Areph shyly held out his hand.

Noticing his intention, Rubens grinned and clapped hands with him too.

They didn’t forget to spin around and hop together.

“Wow, Areph, playing with you like this is fun!”

“I was jealous—it looked really cool when you did that with the young lady earlier.”

“Hehe, really? Then do you know this one?”

Offering to teach him an even cooler fist-bump greeting, Rubens showed Areph a fairly complicated hand gesture.

Watching with a silly smile, Nibelia left them and walked over to Al, who was greeting Soles.

“Al!”

“Nini.”

Al welcomed her warmly.

“How have you been? Wow, did you grow taller?”

“Yeah!”

“Amazing! Oh, here—these are cookies made in our territory. They’ve got fruit inside that only grows there.”

Hearing Al say they might not be as good as chocolate but still tasty, Nibelia nodded.

“But Nini, who’s that person behind you?”

Nibelia turned around.

There stood Armiphera, solid and striking like a wild rose, smiling brightly.

“That’s my aunt.”

Nibelia introduced.

“She ran away from home a long time ago, then came back as a king. Now she’s doing all kinds of things with a big black lizard.”