“Tie, were you waiting?”

Selina parted her lips in confusion. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Then she suddenly shouted:

“What do you mean waiting! I just, as the neighbor from the house across the street, asked where you disappeared to!”

Tie nodded.

Then she looked carefully at Selina and gently removed the scrap of paper stuck to her head.

“By the way, Selina, did you squeeze through the fence again?”

Selina’s face flushed bright red once more.

And in a barely audible voice she muttered:

“I, I rang the bell several times, but no one answered, so... I had to come in. There really wasn’t any other choice...”

“Really? That’s strange. There are so many people in the house—why didn’t anyone hear the bell?”

“Oh, how would I know! It’s your house, so you should know.”

“Ah, I see! Then Tie will definitely fix the bell later!”

Selina stared at Tie in complete bewilderment.

Then her shoulders drooped limply.

“...But why are you waiting for neighbors anyway?”

Tie widened her eyes and hesitated.

“Well, it’s just... neighbors are...!”

“Because you want to be closer?”

“Mm...”

“You think someone your age might move in? Even if the owners aren’t ordinary aristocrats but a mercenary squad?”

For some reason she added in a grumbling tone:

“If that’s the case, do you really have to wait for someone to move into the house across the street? I live across from you too.”

Tie’s lips parted slightly, and Selina blushed again.

“N-no! It’s just that you seem about my age. And last time we talked pretty well...”

Silence fell between the two children.

Tie looked at Selina, who was avoiding her gaze, and suddenly understood.

‘I see. Selina wanted to play with Tie after all.’

There were children like that in the Quail group too.

If you want to play together, you can just walk up and say, “Let’s play!”

But for some reason they would blush and start talking about where they went last weekend.

Or what sweets they liked.

Seoyun and Harin, the princesses of the Quail group, did not like children like that.

They deliberately avoided playing with them, but Tie got along with everyone and played well.

Tie hurriedly smiled.

“Mm-hmm, last time was fun! Then are we friends?”

Selina’s eyes opened wide.

Her lips parted, and soon a hesitant little voice came out:

“I, I... well I...”

“Then let’s go inside and play squirrels! Whoever gnaws through the corn fastest wins!”

Selina blinked for several seconds, then hurriedly nodded.

“Okay!”

“Great! Let’s go!”

Tie took Selina’s hand.

Selina involuntarily lowered her gaze to their clasped hands.

“Young lady, please step aside. I’m not going to include you in the game.”

The voice she had heard that morning at the Imperial Academy rang in her ears.

“Father told me not to play with you. He said we don’t play with upstarts who bought their titles with ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ money.”

“Selina isn’t even a real aristocrat, but she keeps pretending to be noble. Isn’t that funny?”

Selina unconsciously rubbed her eyes.

Then, after hesitating, she followed Tie.

Tie and Selina each gnawed through two whole ears of corn.

After that they lay on their stomachs in front of the fireplace and chatted for a long time before finally getting up.

Tie stood by the gate seeing Selina off.

Although seeing her off only meant watching her cross the road and enter her house.

“Selina! Let’s play squirrels again tomorrow!”

“Let’s!”

Bale, watching the two girls standing on opposite sides of the street and energetically waving at each other, burst out laughing.

He took Tie by the hand and led her into the mansion.

“Kid. Is playing with corn that fun?”

“Yeah!”

“And the little aristocrat from across the street said it was fun too?”

“Mm-hmm, she said it was fun. I didn’t know, but I think Selina’s friends at the academy are very bad.”

While they were playing squirrels, Selina had told Tie a little about herself.

“Selina wasn’t an aristocrat at all, but Mama and Papa are very rich, and they bought it.”

“The title?”

“Mm-hmm! Now Selina is an aristocrat too, but the bad friends at the academy won’t play with her. They say Selina isn’t an aristocrat, she’s an upstart.”

“Children are scary, scary. They’re only a few years older or younger, and already...”

“That’s why they said Tie is an upstart too!”

Tie lowered her gaze and looked extremely proud.

“Really? Good job.”

Bale answered awkwardly and went into the mansion with Tie.

“And that’s why Tie, as an upstart, wants to buy something!”

“Buy? What are you planning?”

Since the Weapon District had been destroyed, this was the first time Tie had said she wanted to buy something.

Hearing the conversation, the other squad members gathered from the dining room and the living room.

Nordix asked curiously:

“Tie, are you going to spend the reward money?”

Tie nodded vigorously.

“Yes! Teleportation portals! A lot!”

And without even taking off her outer clothes, she continued:

“We’ll buy portals, and from now on we’ll raid magic crystals a lot, a lot! Because Tie is the King of the Dead who hides her power!”

Basto’s eyes widened.

“Anyway, Agavert is a mercenary squad, so we have to raid magic crystals a lot, right?”

Tie’s words were correct.

Originally, the squad members’ goal had been to raid magic crystals to expand Agavert.

The reason was simple.

The larger the squad, the safer Tie would be.

The more members there were, the less often the squad leader would personally go to the front lines.

But still...

“Kid, are you really greedy for power?”

At Bale’s question, Tie shrugged.

“Mm-hmm! Tie is the boss, so having lots of money and power is good.”

Raul and Enzo exchanged glances.

From a child’s mouth it sounded strange, but Tie was not wrong here either.

“If there’s lots of money and power, then the Order won’t be able to watch Tie.”

The reasoning was convincing.

“And Selina said there are a lot of magic crystals right now. But Tie has bone friends and subordinates, so small magic crystals can be raided quickly, right?”

The intention was fair and justified.

“If we want to all eat and live together, we can’t just save up, we have to keep developing the business.”

The plans for the future were extremely realistic and concrete.

In the end, the frozen Basto repeated:

“And that’s why you want to buy teleportation portals?”

“Yes! We have to move fast, fast to become the first mercenary squad!”

As Tie said, raiding magic crystals took a lot of time just traveling back and forth.

If they had teleportation portals, they could shorten the distance and capture them faster.

But still...

Raul and Enzo frowned.

“So the squad leader isn’t just talking about speeding up magic crystal raids.”

“You’re planning to surpass Tregava too?”

“Yes!”

Tie shouted brightly and tilted her head.

“Can’t we?”

In fact, Tie had not only played squirrels with Selina just now.

While gnawing the corn, she had been thinking and thinking with all her might.

‘He won’t come. The head maid said this house is only for show.’

About Selina’s words that the house across the street was only for show, and Papa would not return here.

If that was true, what should Tie do?

‘I won’t go to the Northern Continent to look for Papa.’

Tie could not endure simply waiting for him to return.

Besides, that was exactly what was written in the papers she had secretly looked at in the Commander’s house.

Recently, Tregava and Tesetan had been raiding only on the Northern Continent.

Even a quick glance was enough to understand—if she waited for Papa to come back, years would pass.

‘Then there’s really only one way left!’

The child’s eyes shone brightly.

The method Tie came up with was simple—make Papa come looking for Tie himself.