Family Heirloom

"What did you say she wanted to do?"

In the lavish study, Baron Bane, whose chest hung to his belly, belly to his legs, and legs filled the chair, lowered the handkerchief he had been using to wipe his sweat.

"She wishes to purchase your shop on Cornflower Street, my lord," the butler answered respectfully.

"No, I'm asking what she wants to do with the shop."

"Open a toy store."

"Hmm..." Baron Bane stroked his beard. "Does she have a grudge against the Aclight family?"

"I have heard no such rumors."

"How much is she willing to offer?"

"She did not say, but she asked the shopkeeper to bring this." As he spoke, the butler presented a grimy cloth bundle.

Sir Bane eyed the bundle with some distaste and waved for the butler to open it directly.

Covering his nose with a perfumed silk handkerchief, he leaned forward to look while muttering, "Why open a shop right across from the finest toy store in the city?"

"Of course, to draw on their customer traffic."

At the restaurant, Drogo and Aisha chatted privately through the magic in their contract.

Aisha was very curious why they had to open their shop directly opposite a competitor. It practically seemed like a taunt.

"Customer traffic?"

"Yes. This is the area toy buyers visit most often, so we can always get a share of the business. We will not need to advertise our address all over the city, and our toys are unique enough."

Real business wars were often simple and unadorned. On Earth, it was common to see shops selling the same type of goods facing each other across the street.

You could often find McDangdang near Ken Fried Chicken, and finding one milk tea shop usually meant finding a whole cluster of milk tea shops.

Of course, that only worked if the products were not too different. Otherwise, whoever had no customers would be the awkward one.

Aisha only half understood. She did not understand many of the things Drogo did, such as having her give the shopkeeper a rusty broken sword as payment for the property.

How stupid would Sir Bane have to be to agree?

Unable to figure it out, she decided dessert suited her better.

The desserts here were quite good. The soufflé in particular felt as light as bubbles.

Unfortunately, every bite came with the guilt of gaining weight. The more she ate, the angrier she got; the angrier she got, the more she ate.

Drogo watched in surprise as she viciously stabbed her spoon into the cup, scooped up cake, and stuffed it into her mouth.

What was wrong with the kid? Why was she getting worked up over dessert?

Beside them, the Half-Elf was still diligently recounting the history of Twin Towers City.

"Of the Twin Towers, the eastern one belongs to the Legendary Mage Soren Ambrosius. To protect the common people, he withstood Red Dragon Drogo's full-force attack from within his mage tower..."

The dragon in question awkwardly scratched his nose. At least he now knew the young mage's name.

Just then, the restaurant door was shoved open, and a richly dressed fat man waddled in with a twist of his hips.

As he ran, he shouted in a cracking voice, "Where is the honorable Lady Stone?!"

It was none other than Sir Bane.

The shopkeeper stepped forward to greet him, but the gentleman ignored him and headed straight toward Aisha.

"Beautiful lady, you must be Aisha Stone. I have long heard of you, but never had the opportunity to pay you a visit."

He even performed an exceedingly complicated bow.

Aisha still had a spoon in her mouth. Watching the fat gentleman struggle through his bow, she had no idea how she ought to respond.

Sir Bane continued on his own, "Thank you greatly for recovering my family's ancestral sword. To show my gratitude, I have brought the deed with me."

While he turned to ask his butler for the deed, Aisha hurriedly set down her spoon and assumed a more dignified posture.

She was astonished and asked Drogo whether he had planned to open the shop long ago, even stealing the gentleman's family heirloom in advance.

"Not really," Drogo said casually. "Nine out of ten noble family heirlooms in this city are with me. I chose this shop only because it happened to be directly opposite."

Bane fitted the two halves of the broken sword together. Tears instantly welled up in his eyes as he kissed the family crest on the hilt, his hands trembling uncontrollably as he held the sword.

"Do you know? This sword represents the glory of our family. My great-grandfather used it to resist the evil Red Dragon Drogo during his invasion, bravely cutting off one of his scales. The sword was lost in that very battle..."

Hearing this, Aisha began another private chat with Drogo.

"Is that true?"

"There was a slight discrepancy. I was packing things into a Mimic when someone climbed over and caught my attention. He threw the sword at me and ran. It hit my foot and broke. It looked expensive, so I kept it."

"And cutting off a dragon scale?"

"After the sword hit me, my foot felt a little itchy, so I scratched it. I might have scraped off quite a bit of dead skin..."

Sir Bane grew more and more excited. Bragging about their ancestors' half-true, half-false glorious deeds was an important part of noble socializing, so most nobles memorized several such speeches.

"After driving off the evil dragon, my great-grandfather kept that dragon scale, making it another treasure of our family. Every head of the family has worn it close to their body. Great-grandfather has blessed us! The two treasures have finally been reunited."

He removed his necklace. Hanging from it was indeed a dragon scale, dark red and identical in color to those on Drogo's body. He rubbed it over and over in his hand, then solemnly kissed it.

Aisha seemed to realize something. With the hope that perhaps it was not so, she asked Drogo, "So what he's kissing now is...?"

"Old dead foot skin, probably."

For the first time, she hated the custom of kissing things.

The more solemnly Sir Bane kissed it, the stronger her physical revulsion became. Her stomach churned violently, and it took a long time for her to settle down.

"Isn't it a little wrong to buy their building with their own things?"

"It's fine. He should be thanking us."

"Allow me to express my gratitude once again."

Bane bowed once more before leaving the restaurant with his family sword.

The butler stayed behind to oversee the removal. They moved very quickly, and the work was mostly complete before evening.

Some furniture was left behind, so Drogo's group stayed there that night. They kept only the first and second floors as the shop. Their product range was not large anyway; for now, they only had Yo-yos.

Meanwhile, after finishing her work as a guide, the Half-Elf Toto headed home beneath the evening glow.

Of course, being a guide was not her only job.

A mixed-blood like her, welcomed neither by Elves nor humans, needed more than one skill to live well.

She was also an excellent thief, and her deft fingers were widely praised within the trade.

The harbor was her work area, and travelers from out of town were the best targets.

What was that woman's name today? Aisha, perhaps.

She had to be some noble family's child, maybe even newly graduated. She practically had "easy to steal from" written all over her face. Not robbing her would be an insult to the clear stupidity in her eyes.

The stolen bundle was not heavy, but the cloth was of fine quality. Whatever was inside had to be valuable.

She had held herself back from looking. Saving up several days' hauls and opening them all at once was her favorite thing.

The sky gradually darkened, and she arrived home.

The slums were a chaotic place, literally filled with fish and dragons. Many races lived together there, from Murlocs to Dragonkin.

Before entering, she checked the strip of cloth wedged in the doorframe.

It had not fallen. Safe.

She pushed open the door and lit the oil lamp.

"Let's see what treasure is in here..."

"Nothing valuable."

"How could that be..." Her voice stopped as she realized the danger. Reaching toward the cabinet beside her, she demanded, "Who said that?!"

A tall Elf with pale gray skin and silver-white hair stepped out of the shadows, holding a hand crossbow and speaking in a teasing tone.

A Drow!

The most dangerous race among Elves.

Toto had no time to wonder how she had provoked these people. She sprang backward toward the door to flee, only to collapse weakly to the floor.

When had she been poisoned?

The Drow approached without hurry, picked up the bundle, and took out a red ball.

"This Yo-yo is called Firepower Warrior."

What the hell was that?

Toto could not understand any of it. Had this Drow come seeking revenge against the wrong person? At least let me explain!

The Drow then took out a sheet of paper. It showed hands using the Yo-yo to perform several moves.

Why did that look like a toy?

Toto suddenly realized that the Drow was Aisha's person.

"I heard you are a decent thief, and your hands are quite nimble. You have one night to perform the moves on this sheet with the ball. If you succeed, you will see tomorrow's sun."

Toto struggled desperately on the floor, trying to say something through slurred speech.

The difference in strength was enormous. The Drow was not worried that Toto would escape, so she neutralized the poison.

Toto took several deep breaths before finally steadying herself enough to say with difficulty, "Tomorrow will be cloudy."

"..."