Chapter 59: Sponsor, and – 1

Chapter 59: Sponsor, and – 1

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

“…I think so.”

“Ah, first, take this. It’s the item that saved your life… Originally, it’s a brooch with the power to grant the user’s wish, but now its power is depleted, so it’s just a pretty brooch.”

Saying that, a brooch was placed in my hand before I could even say anything.

……It was certainly pretty.

“…Is it okay to just give something like this away?”

“Is it okay to go to your death without saying anything?”

“……Uh, Christie? Your eyes are a little scary right now?”

“Wouldn’t they have to be? Don’t you remember what state you were in when I first saw you?”

Hmm… roughly a stab wound that split my torso, hands gushing blood, and scratches and scrapes everywhere?

Plus, there must have been a lot of blood splattered during the fight…

Hmm. It definitely wouldn’t have looked like a normal state.

“……”

“Sigh. How did I end up with a younger sister like this? Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, the Duke’s family could greet today safely.”

“…For someone saying that, your eyes are scary?”

“Of course, now, as punishment for acting on your own, you’ll be confined to the Duke’s mansion and won’t be able to take a single step out…”

“I’m sorry!!”

At those words, I instinctively sprang out of bed and slammed my head on the floor.

If it were anyone else, maybe, but with Christie’s eyes looking like that and saying those words, it didn’t sound like a joke at all.

No, she really looked like she was about to bury someone, so it only sounded sincere!

“Pfft. It seems your body is fine now. The brooch’s performance is really good.”

“…What did you wish for?”

“I wished for you not to die. And then it healed all your injuries.”

“……Is it really okay to use such a grand item that grants wishes, just for me?”

“If I don’t use it on you, who should I use it on? And it’s difficult to make, but if you search the Duke’s family vault, there might be a few more.

In the past, they used to give one to those who rendered great service to the Duke’s family. …Now, we can’t do that because we’re having difficulty securing important resources.”

‘……So this brooch was mass-produced.’

In the novel, Christie never ends up using this brooch.

And for good reason… because the wish she always made on this brooch was to bring her dead mother back to life.

They said there was a disqualifying factor among the conditions for the brooch to grant wishes, but I don’t know the details.

“Ah, more importantly… take this.”

“…What is this?”

“My surprise, which you would have received immediately if you hadn’t fainted?”

Seeing Christie smile as she said that, I smiled along with her.

…And for good reason, the exact proposal was written on it.

A pledge, clearly stating ‘Sponsor Proposal’, that the Duke’s family would become my sponsor from now on.

“…If I sign here, will the Duke’s family become my sponsor?”

“As it says there, I, and Father, see a lot of potential in your potions.

The fact that you drove someone equivalent to a high-ranking Knight to the brink of death and stopped Father’s attack already proves this.”

“Simply put, you’ll support my potion research, and I’ll report the results periodically, right?”

“Yes. Oh, of course, we’re not trying to monitor or interfere with anything,

but since it’s an item that can turn a delicate girl like you into a weapon comparable to a high-ranking Knight, as the Defense Commander, I think a preliminary inspection will be necessary.”

“…Th-that’s true.”

As she said, the conditions stated that if I developed a new potion, I had to report its performance to the Duke’s family first.

Well, it wasn’t really an annoying clause.

I also intended to ask Christie, who knows this world much better than I do, if I could release these potions in large quantities onto the market.

“But, this… the funding seems a bit strange.”

“Huh? Really? Is it too little?”

“…500 gold coins? For an unverified business? Is it too little?”

“Is that so? It’s my first time sponsoring from the Duke’s family, so I just made it generous, you know.”

“Wow… that was really annoying just now.”

It was such a typical capitalist bourgeois line that it made me a bit angry.

…Someone else has the system constantly taking their money!

“And what’s this last condition? ‘Since you call the Duchess ‘unnie’, why don’t you call her that comfortably?’ Is this really an official document from the Duke’s family!?”

“Why~? Don’t you like it?”

“……I don’t, not. But……”

“I cherish Lucia like a younger sister… but it seems Lucia doesn’t feel the same way……”

Saying that, Christie put on a sulky act.

……If only her acting wasn’t so obviously terrible, it would have been great, but unfortunately, Christie’s acting skills were abysmal.

“Haa… You’re not going to write official Defense Commander documents like this later, are you, Unnie?”

“Of course not. Ah, and this is punishment for my younger sister who recklessly got seriously hurt and almost died.”

At those words, I sighed softly and signed with the pen Christie had prepared… Christie lightly smacked my head.

……It hurt. Quite a lot.

No, it honestly hurt more to be hit by Christie just now than to be hit by the man who came to assassinate the Duke.

“……It hurts.”

“I hit you so it would hurt. Don’t ever do something like that again. Got it? Think of yourself as precious.”

“…It’s because Christie is as precious to me as I am to myself. We’re friends… no, we’re like sisters, aren’t we?”

Of course, I haven’t actually been adopted into the Duke’s family, but… well, Christie seems to want that kind of relationship.

She even used a precious family brooch to save me, and I’m genuinely grateful.

Actually, I got hurt trying to save the Duke on my own, so I never expected her to wish on the brooch to save me.

*That’s how good your relationship is.*

‘Is that so? …Still, I feel a bit bad about the brooch. I was prepared to die.’

*Indeed, I also seriously suggested dying once and taking the penalty back then.*

Actually, this was why I pushed myself to the brink of death to save the Duke.

After fighting the attackers for a while, the system had told me that, for this one time, I could substitute death with a penalty if I died.

……However, that penalty was quite severe.

No, honestly, choosing between resetting to when I first fell into this world or a penalty of not being able to make potions for a while is too much, isn’t it?!

Of course, despite that, I chose to save the Duke… and unexpectedly, instead of dying, I was saved by Christie.

…Even using her mother’s only legacy.

‘No, shouldn’t I really do something for her?’

*Well? Something good might happen if you make a ‘Wish Potion’?*

‘…It’s not that the potion is more effective than the original item, is it?’

*Well, if you make it well, it could be good. Of course, there will be limits.*

…I wondered how messed up the crafting process must be for such a statement to come out, but that wasn’t important right now.

……Still, I should try to gather ingredients for the ‘Wish Potion’ whenever I get the chance.

But, why does Christie’s face look a little red? Is it just my imagination?

“…Do you do that with other people too?”

“Do what?”

“That… sisterly relationship, or friendship.”

“……Are you messing with me right now? You know the only person I’m close to is Unnie.”

I had met Melini before, but we were just customer and potion shop owner, roughly.

Elena… well, she’s the number one person I want to avoid, so she’s very far from the word ‘close’.

“No, it’s not that… Haa. Never mind. You wouldn’t have been born that way if you wanted to.”

“What’s wrong with me?!”

“……Anyway, this was my business as the ‘Duchess’ that I agreed upon with Father… and now, it’s my business as your ‘Unnie’.”

“What is it? You’re not telling me to infiltrate those ‘organization’ bastards again, are you? That’s an experience I don’t want to repeat…”

Of course, I had already guessed that what Christie was about to say would be quite unrelated to such ‘Defense Commander’ duties.

However, despite that… I deliberately said those words because I might be a little hurt if it wasn’t a request to do something private with me.

……Doing something with a friend had become such an old memory for me.

I didn’t think it would happen, but I was afraid that Christie wasn’t asking for something private, but rather proposing to work together.

So… I deliberately brought it up first like that.

“No, it’s not that?! It’s just… they’re having a festival and fireworks in the village this time, and I was wondering if you’d like to go together.”

“Really? You’re not going to lie in wait there and catch criminals, are you?”

“…Last year, I didn’t have anyone to watch the fireworks with, so I ended up just catching pickpockets… Well, there are plenty of single Defense Commander members anyway, so I can just make them do it.”

“That’s truly a Defense Commander-like thing to say……”

Fortunately, Christie’s request was a very private one, to go watch the festival and fireworks together, but…

My goodness, a boss who orders her single subordinates to work instead because she found someone to watch fireworks with.

It would be hard to find a more terrible boss than this.

“But, Unnie. Are you not even trying to hide your expression anymore?”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just you anyway. Honestly, it’s much more comfortable in front of you than Father. So, the festival… you’ll come with me, right?”

“Hmm… if you grant me one condition?”

“…What is it?”

Seeing Christie’s subtly nervous expression, as if she thought her proposal to go to the festival and watch fireworks together would be rejected, I let out a small laugh.

…She’s tall and usually has a cold expression, but she has a cute side when she’s like this.

It’s also because she’s no longer trying to hide her expression, so Christie’s true personality is showing.

Anyway, in a situation where I can make a request this comfortably, my request is already decided.

“Teach me swordsmanship later.”

“Swordsmanship?”

“I realized I might need it for self-defense this time. Unnie mainly uses a sword, so you must be good at swordsmanship.”

Swordsmanship from the system-certified strongest person in the future world? I can’t resist that.

In fact, when I fought this time, I tried to pick up a sword and use it, but I couldn’t even swing it properly.

When I said that, Christie thought for a moment, then…

“Okay. I’ll teach you sometime. Very… quickly and intensely.”

…She had the exact expression of a trainer catching members trying to escape from the gym.

She also seemed to mumble something like, “I should also make her build some muscle and stamina while I’m at it…”

……Oh, did I perhaps poke a hornet’s nest…?