Bonus Stories
#1: Inheritance from Gibeon’s Mother
Gibeon was cooped up in the room he’d been provided in the castle. Normally, he would be working around this time, but he managed to snatch some time off just for today after bargaining with Euclase. It was because Euclase knew the reason. Euclase normally worked him to the bone, but they’d easily authorized his time off this time without a word—so simply that it left Gibeon in utter surprise.
After losing his home country, Gibeon lived every day with just the clothes on his back. During the time he spent with his Reaper friends, he’d at least managed to keep sadness at the back of his mind, but after the leader had died and the Reapers disbanded, the way he lived and the way he felt had hit a rough patch.
Despite their beautiful appearance, Euclase was as terrifying as a magic beast when someone angered them or when it came to work, but they had a penchant for seeing people for who they were. They evaluated Gibeon without any preconceptions and treated him as any other person. Euclase could be scary but also just as kind.
That was why, despite his bellyaching, Gibeon didn’t mind being used for menial tasks by them. But Euclase wasn’t the only one who was kind; the people who worked at the castle were also soft enough to worry about Gibeon.
People like Jade accepted Gibeon even though they knew he was a criminal who kidnapped a sacred beast and had to worry that he might swindle them down the line. The same could be said for Ruri.
“Ruri is a softie too—she just plopped over all of this to me and said it’s because it’s an inheritance from my mother.”
Gibeon’s room, which wasn’t cramped by any stretch of the imagination, was filled to the brim with lavish and luxurious wares, all keepsakes from his late mother and all marked with his mother’s crest as queen.
Gibeon didn’t know how Ruri had obtained these items, but it didn’t matter. Even though his home country wasn’t a great nation like the Nation of the Dragon King, the items belonged to the queen of a nation nonetheless, so they would have fetched a fine price if sold, but Ruri had given it all to Gibeon without asking for anything in return.
“I’m starting to owe Ruri more and more...” Ever since he first met Ruri, he couldn’t help but feel that everything was heading in the right direction. “I can’t just take this all and do nothing in return...”
However, he had no idea what to actually do for Ruri. That was because, for Gibeon, these items were irreplaceable treasures that reminded him of his beloved mother. He had offered to pay her back with money, but she had firmly refused, saying that it was because they were his mother’s. If money wasn’t an option, what could he give her?
Gibeon groaned to himself, but then a light went off in his head...
“I should ask Ruri’s mother.”
Riccia was like Euclase, beautiful but a bit intimidating, but Gibeon decided that desperate times called for desperate measures, so he braced himself and took a trip to her shop.
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