Chapter 57: Musachi: I know you're soft, but where's the light? Remielle: Harsh words hurt Remi's heart~ (Patreon)

"Ugh, seriously, do we really need to run all these promotions...? I just feel like we're going to lose even more money doing this..."

That night, Remielle looked at the pile of supplies beside her and cradled her face with both hands.

The promotional posters and various other odds and ends were all things they'd need for tomorrow, so they had to get everything ready today to make sure nothing went wrong.

"What are you talking about! Our shop is absolutely going to turn a profit! In fact, ever since we rolled out the membership card system, things have been steadily improving!"

Musachi said, dead serious.

"It's only been a little over ten days this month, and we've already scraped together half the rent!"

"And the water, electricity, and wages?"

Remielle rolled her eyes.

"As long as we're not losing money, that counts as earning. You don't get it — I don't care about the money itself, I only care that this shop doesn't run a deficit! As long as we're not in the red, that proves my management strategy is sound!"

Musachi said, looking thoroughly invigorated.

"So you've already given up hoping to actually make a profit... Lord Manager, following you really doesn't feel like it has much of a future..."

Remielle sighed, watching Musachi's fired-up expression.

He always started out with grand declarations, and by tomorrow he'd probably have gone dead silent.

Remielle had always been pretty pessimistic about the bookstore's profitability.

After all, the overwhelming majority of the store's members these days were people they already knew personally — only a handful of strangers had signed up.

Musachi refused to admit it, but Remielle had already figured out that he probably had zero talent for running a business.

"Just wait and see. You just wait. My bookstore isn't just going to survive — it's going to become a chain! One day I'm going to open branches all the way out in the Outer Ring!"

Musachi let out a cold snort.

"The Outer Ring, huh..."

Remielle's mouth twitched.

Illiteracy rates out there were supposedly pretty high — if you opened a bookstore there, the best use anyone could imagine for the books was toilet paper...

No, actually, they'd probably complain it was too rough even for that.

"You'd better pray I turn a profit, or I'll fire you. Since when does a shop employee not trust her own proprietor?"

Musachi rolled his eyes.

"Going to cast me out, are you? I knew it — you can't hide it anymore, can you?"

Remielle crossed her arms and gave Musachi a look of exaggerated fright.

"...?"

Musachi looked puzzled.

"A delicate, soft-bodied girl like me, once cast out onto the streets — you don't need me to spell out how that ends, do you? On a rainy night, the wind cutting cold, I'd be curled up in some drafty tunnel under a bridge, wrapping my own wings tight around myself just to keep from freezing... And then, our wicked shopkeeper would show up in front of me holding an umbrella: 'Learned your lesson? Fine, then come home. Remember to listen to me from now on, or this is what happens.' And then the poor, cornered employee would have no choice but to follow her shopkeeper back to the store, get tamed by him, and end up as the black-hearted manager's little toy... Isn't that how it always goes in novels?"

Remielle blinked as she said all this.

"Your most urgent task is deleting that Tomato off your phone and unfollowing every hype account clogging your feed with tweets. Cut back on this braindead chick-lit garbage."

Musachi's mouth twitched as he shot back, then looked her up and down.

"And besides — if you're going to put on an act, fine, put on an act, but why smuggle in your own agenda? 'Soft-bodied' I'll grant you, sure, but where's the 'delicate' part? You're nothing but meat from head to toe, you look heavy just standing there."

Musachi eyed Remielle with open disdain, and successfully got her cheeks puffed up in indignation.

"Your cruel words wound my heart! I'm not fat, I'm really not fat! I'm even skinnier than before!"

"Mm-hm, sure, skinnier. I believe you."

Musachi nodded, thoroughly unconvinced.

"Hmph."

Remielle ground her teeth at his attitude, but in the end did nothing about it — just gave a huffy snort and stomped upstairs, fuming.

"Lighter on your feet. Don't cave the stairs in."

"If they cave in, they'll crush you dead, and good riddance!"

Remielle snapped irritably.

...

The next day, the sky had barely lightened when Musachi was jolted awake by his phone.

Cecilia: We're here, Manager. Come down and open the door for us.

Musachi checked the time and blinked.

It wasn't even past six...

"Time to get up, lazy piglet."

Musachi threw on some clothes, knocked on Remielle's door next door, and headed downstairs.

"You're here this early?"

When Musachi came down and opened the shop door, he found Cecilia standing right outside.

"Mm, people usually sleep in a little on Sundays, but coming early means we get more prep time — and since Sunna and the others have never done anything like this before, it's good for them to get used to it early."

Cecilia smiled and lifted the breakfast she was carrying.

"You two haven't eaten breakfast yet, have you? I brought some along."

"That's really kind of you."

Musachi's eyes lit up at the sight of the little steamer basket in her hands.

"Should be to your taste, right? I noticed you eating this filling before."

Cecilia smiled warmly, watching Musachi eat sitting at the table.

"Of course it's to my taste. Cecilia, you're so thoughtful — I didn't expect you to pick up on something like that."

Musachi nodded.

It was his favorite — mushroom and pork buns.

"Teacher Cecilia is so good at looking after people. Sunna's usually such a clumsy little goof — if it weren't for Teacher Cecilia, she'd have botched all sorts of things."

Nangong suddenly plopped herself down across from the two of them, propping her chin in her hands with a bright grin.

As she spoke, she glanced from Cecilia to Musachi and back.

Hmm...

Nangong could tell Teacher Cecilia was quite invested in the Manager. It wasn't that Nangong hadn't seen Cecilia interact with other men before, but the way she was with Musachi felt different from that whole crowd.

Though, come to think of it, the Manager and Sister Remielle also seemed pretty close...

"What?"

Musachi looked a little curious at Nangong's steady stare.

"Nothing. Just realized the Manager's actually pretty handsome — kind of a good match for Teacher Cecilia, hehe~"

Nangong giggled.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Go on, shoo."

Cecilia's cheeks flushed slightly as she flicked Nangong's head, sending her scampering off with a giggle.

"Oh right, Manager, what are we doing today? You only gave us a rough rundown before — we still don't really know the plan."

A little while later, Nangong drifted back over with a grin, looking at Musachi.

"What are you doing? Handing out flyers to bring in customers, obviously. You're all going to be idols someday, right? So today, give it everything you've got, and the goal's simple — make customers interested in the bookstore! There's a stack of flyers right here, remember to hand them to guests."

"That's it?"

Cecilia stared at Musachi, stunned.

"What, that's not enough?"

Musachi asked, a little confused.

"I knew it..."

Cecilia held her head in her hands, looking exactly as resigned as she'd expected.

"Look, your bookstore's small, so you don't need to plan events down to the last detail, but this is way too slapdash, isn't it? If you actually want to drive traffic, you have to put in some real thought. A plain discount promotion alone just won't cut it."

"Then how about... sign up for a card, get free eggs?"

Musachi said carefully, watching Cecilia suddenly turn dead serious.

"Only old grannies care about that kind of thing. Your bookstore's target audience is clearly young people."

Cecilia sighed. "Never mind, luckily I came prepared."

She smiled, then pulled a thick stack of tickets out of her bag.

"What's this?"

Musachi looked at her, puzzled.

"Heheh, I did come here to help run your event, but there's nothing wrong with promoting the Angels of Delusion while I'm at it, right? Sunna and the others are idols, and after all this practice time, they've got the basics down for performing live now. So I've decided — today, everyone who signs up for a card gets an Angels of Delusion concert ticket!"

She waved her arm, the thick stack of tickets fluttering in her hand.

"Won't that lose you money?"

Musachi frowned.

"Of course not. Right now Sunna and the others haven't performed a single show, haven't done any promotion online — they're complete nobodies. Give away free concert tickets on their own and nobody would even want them. But dress it up as part of a promotion, and people always feel like they're getting a deal. Then once the ticket's in their hand, they'll think, 'Well, I already paid for the membership card, wouldn't it be a waste not to go to the concert?' Two birds, one stone — it promotes your shop and builds the Angels of Delusion's name at the same time!"

Cecilia looked thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Wow, no wonder you're the great Cecilia. That's impressive."

Musachi praised her.

"Of course. Say what you will, I had my glory days too — I wasn't in management, but this kind of thing, I know inside and out!"

Cecilia laughed, a hint of girlish pride crossing her otherwise mature face.

"There was something like that going on? And Teacher Cecilia didn't even tell us ahead of time! We had zero mental preparation for this!"

Sunna, listening to the exchange, protested bashfully.

She'd figured it would just be simple flyer-handing, but now it looked like it was going to be a lot more trouble than that.

"Aww, it had to happen eventually, Sunna. Nervous?"

Nangong grinned at the visibly nervous Sunna beside her.

Sunna had been a little tense, but seeing Nangong's obviously teasing look, she snorted. "I am not!"

"Alright, little angels, your first real stage debut is still a ways off, but this event is your very first appearance in front of the public — so you need to look absolutely gorgeous, okay~"

Cecilia said, hoisting up her bag right there.

Then she pulled out two outfits from inside.

Two adorable cat-ear maid uniforms.

As for why there were only two — that was because Aria could simply project her clothing and didn't need to physically wear anything.

"I'm going to borrow your room upstairs for a bit, Musachi. I need to get the little angels changed."

"Wha... what do you mean, changed?! Nobody told me about this ahead of time!"

Sunna said, blushing, at the sight of the outfit in Cecilia's hands.

"A surprise is a surprise precisely because of that uncertainty, little Sunna~"

Cecilia said with a grin.

"No, Teacher Cecilia, you're definitely doing this on purpose! You just want to see me in this outfit!"

When did this kid get so sharp all of a sudden?

Cecilia looked at Sunna in surprise, then turned her head away, looking a little guilty.

"Come on, I'll take you upstairs."

Musachi laughed, then led Cecilia and the three girls up the stairs.

...

"Ow, Nangong, stop pulling at my clothes! This maid outfit is so embarrassing!"

"Hehe, I knew it — this cat-ear maid outfit was just made for Sunna~ So cute, I can't even imagine what the audience is going to look like later!"

"I hate this! I hate Teacher Cecilia too! I hate Nangong too! I hate Aria too!"

"Huh? I'm getting hated on too? I didn't even say anything."

That was Aria's innocent voice.

The noisy chatter of the three girls drifted through from the next room.

They could even find something to bicker about just changing clothes — though, in another sense, maybe that just proved how close the three of them were.

"They really are noisy, huh. Anyway, thanks for the help today, Cecilia. You've done so much I'm actually considering giving you some equity."

Musachi leaned against the table, joking as he watched Cecilia sitting gracefully on his own bed.

"It's mutually beneficial, that's all. I should thank you too — if it weren't for you last time, Sunna and the others might have been in real danger. I've been shaken by it these past few days. If something had actually happened to them, what would I have done? So ever since you proposed working together, I've been thinking it over — as long as the bookstore stays afloat, you'll keep employing Sunna and the others, Musachi, and then I won't have to live in constant worry."

Cecilia gently tucked a strand of hair that had blown across her forehead back behind her ear, smiling warmly.

"Aren't I doing this for my own bookstore too? That Remielle was mocking my shop for not making money just yesterday — I have to shove that right back in her face!"

Musachi let out a cold snort.

Then he noticed Cecilia sitting on his bed, glancing around the room.

"What is it?"

Musachi looked at her, puzzled.

"Nothing, I'm just a little surprised your room is this tidy, Musachi. Guys' rooms are supposed to have the blankets unfolded, stuff strewn everywhere, and some kind of smell, aren't they?"

"Where'd you get that stereotype from?"

Musachi's mouth twitched.

"Isn't that how it always is in movies and shows? And there's usually a secret stash of magazines or discs or something... Don't worry, I'm not that curious — I'll respect your privacy on that front."

Cecilia said with a grin.

"There's nothing like that. And besides, what era do you think this is, using paper stuff like that? You can find anything online..."

Musachi shut his mouth the instant he saw the subtle look on Cecilia's face.

Damn it, this woman's dangerous — she'd been leading him on!

"Come to think of it, you've really worn yourself out for these three girls — you're practically their mother at this point."

Seeing things were going somewhere he didn't want, and worried Cecilia might soon trick the very color of his underwear out of him, he quickly changed the subject.

Cecilia clearly saw through it, but just smiled.

"Of course. Even though I'm not singing anymore, the dream isn't dead. I want them to carry on down the road I never got to finish — it makes up for my own regrets, in a way. Though, to be clear, I only started training them because I genuinely like them. I'm not treating them as replacements for myself."

A trace of nostalgia crossed Cecilia's face.

After retiring, Cecilia had actually thought about giving it all up, but she always felt there was a flame burning inside her, steadily, endlessly — until she met the three girls, and a new idea took shape.

If she herself could no longer perform, then she'd raise up a group who could carry her dream forward in her place.

"I see..."

"Honestly, watching Sunna and the others in their green, awkward stage always makes me think of when I was young myself. Really brings back memories — I climbed up from being an idol myself, step by step, back in the day."

Cecilia said, a hint of reminiscence in her eyes.

"You climbed up from being an idol? Never would've guessed the famous Cersea had a background like that."

Musachi raised an eyebrow, looking at Cecilia with curiosity.

He couldn't quite picture what Cecilia had been like back when she was an idol herself.

"Mm... I was young back then too, not like now."

She cupped her cheeks in her hands, smiling. "Come to think of it, I still have the stage costumes from my idol days tucked away somewhere — though it's been ages since I took them out."

"Cecilia had cutesy stage outfits like Sunna and the others too?"

Musachi looked at Cecilia in disbelief.

As everyone knew, a woman was like fine wine — the older, the richer. And no matter how you looked at her, Cecilia was every bit a fully-ripened woman. Sure, everyone had been young once, but looking at Cecilia as she was now, Musachi genuinely couldn't picture her bouncing around a stage in a cutesy idol outfit...

Even after Cyndi Wang's big comeback, her figure hadn't changed all that much from before.

But Cecilia...

As he spoke, his gaze drifted, almost against his will, toward the fullness of her chest.

That figure, in an idol's stage costume...

Whoa... no, don't think about it, don't think about it any more than that — if he kept going, Musachi felt he'd have to start showing the woman some real respect.

"You seem to be thinking something rather disrespectful."

Cecilia's brow furrowed slightly, her eyes sharpening.

"No, I promise, nothing!"

Musachi straightened up as he said it.

"Fine, if you say so, I'll believe you. Mm... but if the chance comes up sometime, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you see what I looked like back in my old stage costume."

As she said this, she gave Musachi a considering look.

For a moment, Musachi perked right up.

"Ahem, Cecilia, living alone must make certain things inconvenient sometimes, right? After all, a woman living by herself, and having to look after Sunna and the others besides..."

Musachi said.

"There is some of that, yes, but I'm used to it, and the neighbors are all pretty kind, so nothing like troublemakers coming around."

Cecilia said with a light laugh.

"Good to hear, but if anything ever gives you trouble, let me know. A woman living alone still faces some inconveniences, and we're friends — we should look out for each other."

Musachi said, looking utterly upright — definitely not because he wanted to see Cecilia in her stage costume!

"Heh, I know."

Cecilia glanced at Musachi, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

She could more or less guess what was going through Musachi's mind, but chose not to call it out.

And honestly, if she was being truthful with herself, Musachi was the man she'd had the highest opinion of in years.

Back when she used to perform, she'd had no shortage of suitors, some of them powerful and wealthy men. If she'd so much as nodded, she could have married into a wealthy family and never wanted for money again. But none of them had ever stirred her heart. Yet here, with Musachi — a small bookstore's little owner — the still surface of her heart had rippled just a little.

"Teacher Cecilia, we're done changing~"

Just as the two of them were about to keep talking, the three girls came bouncing out from next door, and Nangong looked between them.

"Seems like~ we came at a bad time? Were we interrupting Teacher and the Manager?"

She covered her mouth, snickering.

"Get outta here, you little brat."

Cecilia got up off Musachi's bed and gave Nangong a light flick on the head.

Sunna, watching Nangong's reaction, couldn't help but snort with laughter.

"Oh, Sunna, you dare laugh at me! You're handing out extra flyers later!"

Nangong pinched Sunna's cheeks and pulled them in opposite directions, seeing her snicker.

"Ow ow ow, Nangong you big meanie!"

Sunna said, her words garbled from the pinching.

...

"Bookstore promotion! Sign up for a card now and get an Angels of Delusion concert ticket~ Limited quantities, first come first served~"

The three girls stood at the shop entrance, their cute maid outfits drawing plenty of eyes, and a fair number of curious passersby wandered over.

After all, browsing a bookstore didn't cost anything.

"Welcome! Anything I can help you with? Today's our promotion day — 10% off membership sign-ups, 5% off book rentals, and annual members get a lovely free gift."

Unlike the three girls, Ellen was posted inside the shop, greeting customers.

Her listless, drained air somehow drew plenty of attention on its own.

"Angels of Delusion? Never heard of that group."

A woman at the entrance said, looking curiously at Nangong handing out flyers.

"Because we haven't officially debuted yet~ But we're definitely going to blow up in the future!"

Nangong replied without a shred of stage fright, smiling brightly at the customer.

"Ha, so confident. Well, sis believes in you. Ooh... what an adorable little matcha cake — mind if I get a photo with you?"

"O-of course!"

Sunna nodded shyly at that.

"Photos are free, sis. You're an early investor right now — once we're famous, this photo's going to be super precious."

Aria said beside her, just as full of energy.

Today she'd projected herself with twin tails, looking full of pep.

"Ha, then I'd better treasure it properly. Once you all get famous, I'll post it online and gloat about it, hehe."

After taking a photo with the three girls, the woman went right into the bookstore.

And she signed up for a monthly card without a second thought.

Before leaving, she waved her ticket stub at the three girls standing by the door.

"Sis will be waiting for your debut show, okay?"

"Thank you, thank you so much! We won't let you down!"

Nangong said with a smile.

Then she glanced over at Sunna, who was too shy to speak up loudly.

"Aww, seems like our Sunna's pretty popular."

"I couldn't say anything at all..."

Sunna murmured.

"But that big sister just now specifically praised how cute Sunna is. She bought a ticket the moment she laid eyes on you!"

"Really?"

Hearing Nangong's words, a smile crept across Sunna's face.

"Of course it's true~ Why would I lie to you?"

Nangong said with a giggle.

At that, Sunna finally broke into a real smile.

"Not a bad effect at all — barely two hours in and this many people have already signed up."

Musachi sat perched on the counter, watching the scene with a grin.

Then he looked at Cecilia with something like reverence: "No wonder it's you, Cecilia — you've really helped out big time. So many sign-ups already, way more than the total from the past ten-odd days!"

"Of course. With me around, no surprises."

Cecilia laughed and nodded.

Then Musachi shot Remielle a provocative look. "See, I told you — there was no way my event would fall through! How's that? I'm making money, aren't I?"

At that, Remielle sighed.

"My dear proprietor, what are you, a child? Getting this competitive over it. And honestly, the way you talk, anyone would think I'd be thrilled if the shop lost money — I work here too, you know. If the shop's actually bringing in income, I won't have to go find some other job."

"That's different!"

Musachi said, dead serious.

Men had some inexplicable competitive streak in them.

For instance, if someone called Musachi weak, he genuinely wouldn't argue — who'd dare call a Void Hunter weak, anyway?

That was the confidence of the strong.

But if Remielle said he couldn't run a shop, that actually got under his skin!

"Speaking of which, Astra had actually said she wanted to come hang out with me today, but I thought about it and turned her down."

Cecilia leaned her elbow on the counter, smiling.

"The famous superstar Astra Yao?"

"Yep. I told her I was running an event at the bookstore today, and she said she wanted to sneak out, but I turned her down. I don't want Evelyn glaring daggers at me, and besides, the bookstore alone is enough traffic for now."

"If Astra Yao actually came to this bookstore, she'd probably sign up for a card and grab a ticket without a second thought, right?"

Remielle said curiously.

"Exactly. A big star like her holding an Angels of Delusion concert ticket — if that got out, it would cause a huge stir. Astra's always under the spotlight, after all. But for Sunna and the others, getting too much exposure right out of the gate would put a lot of psychological pressure on them. This is fine as it is — the first show, having an audience in the seats instead of an empty room, that's enough."

Cecilia said with a smile.

"No wonder you used to be a big star — you really think of everything."

Musachi said, genuinely impressed as he looked at Cecilia.

Still, Cecilia had a point — too much attention right at the start really wasn't a good thing.

Being the sudden center of attention put a lot of psychological pressure on people.

It made sense Cecilia would worry the three girls couldn't handle it.

"Oh right, give me one of those tickets too. I want to go as well."

Musachi held out his hand and got a ticket from Cecilia.

"Oh, and speaking of the first show — have you picked out the songs yet?"

Musachi suddenly thought to ask.

As someone who'd crossed over from another world, this was one area where Musachi could actually offer some help.

Just pull any of the massive hits from his past life and throw a little marketing at them, and the three girls would probably explode in popularity.

"Don't worry, I already had it figured out ages ago. I'll just use the songs I wrote back when I debuted — I own the rights to all of them, so there's no issue at all."

Cecilia said with a smile.

"So dependable — Mama Cecilia."

Musachi teased, looking at Cecilia, who had everything neatly arranged.

"What are you talking about."

Cecilia shot him a look.

"Round Shark, we're here too! Customers are here, hurry up and greet us~"

Just then, the door swung open and three lively girls walked in.

Leading the way was the yellow-haired Ruby.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted. Go find somewhere else to be..."

The instant Ellen spotted Ruby, she flashed her a dead-fish stare and waved a hand off to the side, dismissing her.

"What's with that?! What kind of customer service is this?! I'm filing a complaint!"

"Be my guest~"

...

TOPS Alliance, inside the Belobog Heavy Industries office.

Stapan sat in his office, rubbing his temples.

For some reason, ever since the injections, even though his physical capabilities had grown considerably stronger, he'd been feeling like his stamina wasn't keeping up — even his mind felt a little duller.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone rapped on the office door.

"Come in."

Before Stapan had even finished speaking, the door was pushed straight open, and Sarah's figure stepped into the office.

"Looks like you're in decent shape, Mr. Stapan."

Sarah looked at Stapan, a faint smile crossing her face.

"Sarah? What are you doing here? Krampus has been watching pretty closely lately — aren't you worried about blowing your cover?"

Stapan frowned, demanding an answer.

"Mm, there's some risk, sure, but I'm here to tell you something else. The city's operation is about to start — within the next two days. So it's almost time for you to make your move, Mr. Stapan."

"It's finally here?"

At Sarah's words, Stapan rubbed his temples again, and then a look of excitement crossed his face.

"Mm, if my intel's correct, the plan's tentatively set for daytime, two days from now. At that point, Hoshimi Miyabi and Yixuan, the two Void Hunters, will move out together to clear out the Notorious Ethereals gathered inside Hollow Zero. That's when it'll be your time to act."

Sarah nodded lightly, a trace of disgust in her eyes as she looked at Stapan.

But Stapan paid it no mind at all, nodding excitedly instead.

"Don't worry, in two days, in full view of everyone, I'm going to defeat Hoshimi Miyabi and Yixuan, and then announce to all of New Eridu — the return of the Taixu Sovereign!"

A thrilled smile spread across Stapan's face — finally, finally, the moment to verify all his results had arrived.

With a fragment of the Taixu Sovereign's power, plus the strength he'd extracted from the enemy Void Hunter weapons, Stapan was confident that even taking on two at once, he wouldn't come out the loser!

"Well then... good luck."

Sarah watched his manic expression, gave a small nod, then turned and left.

...

Sixth Street.

By now dusk had fallen, and the day-long event had wrapped up successfully.

The turnout for the event had been quite good — sales had shot up considerably — and per the original agreement, Musachi set aside a third of today's revenue as payment to the Angels of Delusion.

"This... isn't this a bit too much?"

Sunna hesitated, looking at the stack of Dennies Musachi held out.

If they didn't take on Hollow commissions, working a normal part-time job for half a month wouldn't earn them this much.

"It's not too much, it's what we agreed on — just take it. And don't feel like you're getting a free ride here either. Give it some time and once you're famous, I'll be the one benefiting more, so don't go pretending you don't know me when I come knocking for a collaboration later."

Musachi said with a grin.

"As if! The Manager's so nice, even after the Angels of Delusion officially debut, we'll still come work here!"

Sunna puffed her cheeks out, listening to Musachi's words.

"Alright, it's getting late. We should head back now."

Cecilia said with a smile.

"Won't you two stay for dinner? You've worked hard all day."

Musachi invited them.

"Nah, let's save it for another day. We'll eat together once the little angels have their official debut show."

Cecilia shook her head.

"Sounds good — I'll treat everyone at the celebration dinner then."

Musachi nodded and didn't push further.

After watching them leave, he raised an eyebrow at Remielle.

Remielle sighed at the sight.

This Musachi — happy about making money like this? All those high-value materials in the Hollow, and he wouldn't even glance at them... casually pulling a bit of Ether Crystal out of the Hollow would earn more than this whole day...

Remielle really had no idea what to do with him.

Then again, if Musachi knew what she was actually thinking, he'd definitely have argued back hard.

It wasn't the same thing at all, was it?

Back when Musachi worked a regular job earning a few thousand a month, he'd never been as happy as the first time he got paid two hundred for a novel he'd written.

It just wasn't comparable, okay?

But just as Musachi was about to close up shop, a message from Rina arrived.

Musachi raised an eyebrow at the sight.

A message at this hour — must mean there was work.