Amber Sword

"Princess, have you never visited here before?" He was slightly taken aback and asked curiously.

Princess Griffine placed a finger against her lips and replied softly, "No, Mr. Brand. This is my first time here as well. But I know the shop owner; Aunt Tania met me once when I was very young."

"Aunt Tania," thought Brand, assuming that was the name of the shop owner, one that has the characteristic of an Elf’s naming. Elves from Vorn tend to take human names, usually simple and without a clear pattern.

He looked around and found that there was surprisingly no one in the large shop - or rather, there was one person. When the three passed through the central hall, the noise finally alerted the shop’s only employee. Technically speaking, it wasn’t until Brand saw a head pop out from a huge pile of boxes that he realized there was someone there.

It was a young girl, with short brown hair, big eyes curiously looking at them: "What are you here for?"

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This question was laden with meaning. Generally speaking, thieves wouldn’t visit at this time unless eager to register at the City Defense Cavalry’s prison; otherwise, the remaining options were just customers or debt collectors.

The young girl cleverly did not reveal her relationship with the shop, so even if the visitors claimed to be debt collectors, she could pretend to be a temp or something else. Brand’s thoughts were scattered, but the young girl had already widened her eyes:

"Ah, are you customers?"

Brand saw her quickly drop what she was doing and rush out. He and the Princess couldn’t even have time to shout ’Stop!’ ’Watch out!’ before the girl let out an ’Ah’ and bumped into the open cupboard door, then bounced back.

There was a chaotic crash, and piled-up weapons, armor, pots, and other items scattered all over the ground—

Brand inwardly exclaimed ’Wow,’ pondering how the shop didn’t seem as reliable as rumored.

...

"Sorry for startling you two. This young girl is named Carlo. Her father owes me a debt that he can’t repay for the time being, so she’s temporarily helping me out."

Brand and Princess Griffine sat on chairs, while the Elf Miss, dressed somewhat like a loan shark merchant in a gray-purple robe, sat on the counter. With silver-edged glasses, she somewhat resembled a jewelry merchant from Perry. However, she self-identified as a manager and investor for the ’Silver Cross Commerce,’ and this weapons and armor shop was merely a side business.

Silver Cross Commerce is a trading association from the Naios - Deepwater Port area, reportedly under the craftsman wizard Bujia’s commercial organization, hence Brand was quite skeptical of her introduction.

Fortunately, for all that silver wizards are nominally influential over the Earth and its people, they practically carry no actual influence—since they’ve practiced isolationism for some time now, Brand couldn’t be bothered to ask further. He glanced at Carlo, clutching her reddened forehead, eyes welling up with tears, thinking to himself how she resembled the legendary child labor.

Brand expressed his sympathy.

"This child is too young, Aunt Tania, how could you bear to let her do such things?" Princess Griffine also complained, "How much does her father owe you, Aunt Tania? I’ll repay it for her."

"Heh," the Elf Lady raised her tiny white porcelain teacup, which looked like a toy from playhouse, and took a sip, "Last time I saw you, you were just a little one, Griffine. But her father owes me a total of two million Thor. Are you sure you want to repay it for her?"

"Ah!" Griffine was startled: "Why so much!?" Two million Thor would be an unbelievable amount not just for Ordinary people, but also for most nobles in Erune. Even among the Royal Family and powerful Dukes, it’s not an insignificant sum.

Brand couldn’t help but curiously look at the young girl, wondering what kind of capabilities her father had to owe so much money.

Unexpectedly, Tanaya answered, "Her father was my friend back in our adventure days, and I agreed to lend him money to start this shop. So in fact, Carlo will be the future owner of this shop, and I’m having her manage these things since she should learn it all as future owner."