It's Not Because of the Salary... (Please Vote!)

Ron emerged from the Dimensional Plane, greeted Nora, and headed to the second floor to start making lunch.

Because there was an extra mouth to feed in the shop, he prepared a larger portion than usual today.

After a simple meal was ready, Ron called Nora upstairs to eat, and soon he heard the pitter-patter of footsteps at the top of the stairs.

Catching the scent of food from the dining table in the living room, Nora couldn't help but twitch her nose, and her stomach began to growl.

Although there hadn't been a single customer all morning, Nora hadn't been idle; she had cleaned the shop inside and out, and by noon, she was quite hungry.

Nora sat down at the dining table, and Ron served the final dish, sitting opposite her and gesturing for her to start.

The living room was soon filled with the sounds of cutlery and chewing.

"How old are you this year?" Ron asked casually after swallowing a bite of food.

Nora's movements paused, and with food still in her mouth, she mumbled, "...Sixteen."

"Two years younger than me," Ron nodded. "Have you always lived in the Chaos City?"

Nora swallowed her food, shook her head, and after a moment of silence, said, "I was in the Imperial Capital of the Human Empire when I was little. My mother and I were caught by human traffickers and sent somewhere near the border. Halfway there, my mother helped me escape, and then... I fled here."

The room fell quiet for a moment.

Nora glanced at Ron and forced a smile to comfort him, saying, "It's been seven or eight years already. I don't mind talking about it, so don't look so sorry for me."

Ron nodded and dropped the subject.

As for the fate of Nora's mother, Ron didn't press for details.

After so much time had passed, and considering she had helped Nora escape from traffickers, her outcome was likely not a good one...

Nora lowered her head and continued eating. She hadn't had hot meals in a long time, but she had eaten several in a row here at Ron's place, which made her cherish them deeply.

Thinking that she would be able to eat like this in the future, the gloom surrounding her mother's memory dissipated slightly.

"Take off your hat, you're sweating," Ron said, noticing beads of sweat on Nora's forehead. "There are no outsiders here, you don't need to keep your ears covered."

Prompted by Ron, Nora also felt a bit hot, so she obediently took off her hat and set it aside.

A pair of light black, furry cat ears were thus exposed to the air, and to Ron's line of sight.

Ron kept his head down, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but he found himself subconsciously glancing up at those cat ears.

Perhaps because they were rarely exposed to the air, or perhaps because she felt nervous after noticing Ron's gaze, Nora's cat ears twitched, making one want to reach out and give them a rub.

Ever since she started wandering to the Chaos City, Nora had almost never exposed her cat ears in front of others.

Exposing them like this without flinching was a first in many years.

If one looked closely, the insides of Nora's ears were tinged with a faint pink hue due to her nervousness and shyness.

This was a stark contrast to the demeanor she had displayed earlier when teaching those thugs a lesson.

"Ron... Shopkeeper," Nora asked, sensing the atmosphere was a bit strange, "Are you a local of the Chaos City?"

Ron shook his head. "I'm not."

"Then did you come to the Chaos City specifically for business? Just to open this Flower Shop?" Nora asked curiously.

"Well..." Ron pondered for a moment, set down his cutlery, put on a serious expression, and said, "Since you asked, I won't hide it from you."

"Actually, my father is the current Emperor of the Human Empire—Andre III."

"I am his seventh child."

"Pfft..." Nora had expected something serious given his expression, but upon hearing this, she burst out laughing and nearly choked. She patted her chest to catch her breath and said, "Cough, cough... how could you lie like that..."

Ron didn't mind, smiling as he continued, "As for this Flower Shop, I actually opened it because I received a decree from the Goddess of Harvest. Otherwise, where would I get those magical plants?"

"...Shopkeeper, you shouldn't joke about the Goddess..." Nora was also a believer of the Goddess of Harvest, and she hesitated before offering a reminder.

Clearly, Nora didn't believe a word Ron said.

The son of Andre III, a decree from the Goddess of Harvest—it all sounded too fantastical...

It sounded like a lie through and through...

Ron just shrugged; after all, he was telling the truth.

Well, the "decree from the Goddess of Harvest" part was still a lie for now, but in a little while, Ron would be able to make it "true."

"I'll stop talking about it, just take it as a joke," Ron changed the subject, thinking that seeing is believing, and no matter how realistically he spoke, others wouldn't believe him.

However, in this day and age, the most absurd things were often the closest to the truth.

"Um... will the shop be hiring any more employees?" Nora asked, moving on from the previous topic. "I remember your recruitment notice said you were looking for two employees?"

"Uh..." Ron was momentarily speechless, thinking that he had only written "two" to protect her pride, so she wouldn't feel like it was specifically prepared for her.

But that wasn't something he could say to her face.

It felt like he had ulterior motives.

Especially when he looked at Nora after her bath, Ron did feel a hint of ulterior motives bubbling up.

"Ahem." Ron cleared his throat and said carefully, "I did originally intend to hire two, but it's not very urgent now. I'll see if the right person comes along."

"Besides, I don't think you'd want me to hire another employee," Ron added with a playful glint in his eyes.

"H-how could that be?" Nora hurriedly defended herself, "Hiring staff is the manager's right, how could I possibly disagree?"

"If we hire another employee, that would definitely mean one of you takes the day shift and the other takes the night shift. By then, your salary would have to be split in half with that new hire," Ron looked at Nora with an innocent expression, "But this way you could also take it easy and not be so tired, it seems like..."

"No way!" Nora stood up in a panic, her dark-colored cat ears twitching several times.

Perhaps realizing her rudeness, Nora hurriedly explained, "No... I mean there's no need... um... what I mean is it's not worth the trouble... Right! I can handle everything by myself, there's no need to trouble the manager to hire anyone new!"

Ron looked at Nora and chuckled, "Sit down. I never intended to hire anyone else anyway, your salary won't be cut."

"I... I'm not doing this for the salary..." Nora sat back down on the chair and muttered in rebuttal, "I really don't mind the exhaustion..."

"Alright, just keep up the good work," Ron smiled, "Eat quickly. Once you're done, go downstairs to watch the shop. The afternoon is when we get the most customers, so be prepared."

Nora nodded vigorously.

She would definitely cherish this hard-won job!

Flop Diary: Ah... my buffer of chapters... I only have ten left...