Bale answered without a hint of emotion:

“Yeah. They won’t last long. At most two minutes, no more.”

“Two minutes?! Only two minutes left?!”

Lea and Helga sprang to their feet.

“U...... ugh......!”

The maids lying on the ground began to writhe desperately.

Helga hurried forward.

“P-please, stop! Give us the antidote! Do you really want to kill everyone?!”

But Tie only puffed out her cheeks and shrugged.

Losing her patience, Lea ran up to her.

“Y-you, you’re mercenaries! How can you do this?! Mercenaries are supposed to protect people from magical beasts, what are you doing?!”

“Huh? Tie’s mercenaries didn’t do anything bad.”

“What nonsense! If this isn’t harming people, then what is?!”

“But we just put needle bombs in the cart. Someone came on their own and started touching them, so they exploded......”

Helga couldn’t find anything to say and shut her mouth.

Then Lea, standing beside her, shouted:

“W-what did we even do?! We just treated the young lady a bit coldly as maids because she was a little annoying — is that such a terrible crime?!”

Watching this, Tie muttered in astonishment:

“Wow, seriously... you mess it up yourselves and still get angry......!”

“U, uuu!”

At that moment, a desperate cry came from behind.

The head maid was letting out strange groans.

She stared desperately at Helga and Lea, as if calling them over.

When they collapsed beside her, the head maid moved her lips silently.

Understanding her words, Helga and Lea’s faces darkened.

Soon, they approached Tie again.

“F-fine! We were wrong! Then give us the antidote! It’s almost been two minutes already!”

But Tie answered firmly:

“No. You’ll get the antidote when you bring everything you stole from Selina.”

She demonstratively pulled her small {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} backpack closer.

And taking out the antidote, she waved it in front of them.

“First return everything to Selina’s mom and dad. And give all the money back to Selina too.”

“Uuu......!”

The maids groaned.

But Tie only smiled slyly, like a boss in a movie.

‘Hmph. Tie isn’t stupid.’

If they had stolen valuables from Selina’s house, then what they did with them was obvious.

They sold them and got money.

It was infuriating and unfair, but most likely they had already spent it.

“If you don’t want to — then all the bad maids can go to heaven!”

“Uuu! Waaah!”

Incoherent pleas for mercy spilled from the head maid’s mouth.

She looked at Helga and Lea again.

Biting their nails nervously, they exchanged glances and hurriedly spoke: 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“I-if you say so, then... some of the valuables we found in the mansion are in our quarters......”

“There are also things in the underground storage! A-and in the national vault under the young lady’s name......!”

“If you lie or hide anything — you’ll go to heaven too.”

Bale stretched.

“Now we can talk. Then let’s check first. If we find anything else you hid — our King of the Dead will kill you.”

The maids trembled.

“W-we understand! Then please give the antidote now......”

“Hey, noble kid. You’re coming with me. We’ll check their quarters and the underground storage. I don’t know the layout of this mansion well.”

Selina hesitantly took Bale’s hand.

“W-where are you going? We should give the antidote first......”

At that moment, Tie cheerfully exclaimed:

“Pupu! Subspace evolution!”

Hearing its name, Pupu wriggled its nose and created a subspace in the air.

Tie looked at Lucarion.

“Lucarion, let’s put all of them in there!”

Lucarion nodded and waved his hand.

Helga, Lea, and the paralyzed maids rose into the air.

“Aaa! What is this?! What are you doing?! What about the antidote?!”

“Uuu!! Uuuu!”

Despite the screams, Tie laughed brightly.

And after looking at the chaos one more time—

“Pupu, close it!”

She quickly began closing the subspace.

“Hey, wait—!!”

“Don’t—!”

Tie watched the space close with satisfaction and stuck out her tongue at the last moment.

Then she crossed her arms and smiled again like a true boss.

“Muahaha!”

The paralytic poison from the needle bomb lasts ten hours without an antidote.

That meant the maids would spend the next ten hours trembling in fear, thinking they were going to die.

“An eye for an eye! A butt for a butt! Muahahaha!”

Tie’s ringing laughter echoed through the mansion for a long time.

Two hours later.

Selina, having found part of the stolen valuables and money, returned to the dining room.

And there, in the kitchen, she saw an unfamiliar person.

“Selina! This is Aunt Marshal. She’ll cook us something tasty because we’re hungry!”

“R-really?”

It seemed she had seen her before.

The old housekeeper from the mansion across the street.

The kind woman who always waved at her whenever their eyes met.

Sitting down awkwardly, Selina watched as Marshal approached the table with two large plates.

“Our little ones, eat a lot. Here, vegetables too.”

Selina silently looked at the plate.

In the thick, rich soup, there was plenty of meat.

On the side were well-cooked vegetables — clearly prepared with care for nutrition.

“Eat as much as you want. Children need to eat well to grow.”

Marshal gently patted Selina’s head.

“Enjoy your meal!”

Tie greeted cheerfully and took the first spoonful of soup.

“......”

Selina picked up her spoon and was at a loss for words.

The soup was truly delicious.

Not burnt meat.

Not undercooked vegetables.

But real, tasty, carefully prepared food.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she had eaten something like this — her eyes began to sting.

“Selina, don’t cry, eat, and give some to Tie too!”

Seeing Selina’s reddened eyes, Tie flustered.

She scooped a lot of meat from her own plate and put it onto Selina’s.

Selina looked at it with red eyes.

And at that moment—

“Hey, noble kid.”

Bale appeared from behind.

In his hand was a communication artifact glowing with red light.

Selina’s eyes widened.

—Selina! We... we’re already on our way!

Her mother’s broken voice came from the artifact.

—My daughter, you must have been scared? Mom and Dad are already coming, just wait a little longer... uu...

—We didn’t know. This is all our fault! You were alone for so long......

Bale placed the artifact into Selina’s hands.

Selina held it tightly and barely managed to say:

“M-mom, dad......”

—Yes, sweetheart! It’s okay. Don’t say anything. Mom heard everything and... we’re so sorry. Until we arrive, Agavert promised to protect you, so don’t worry......!

Tears streamed down Selina’s cheeks.

Tie unconsciously rubbed her nose.

‘......will Dad remember Tie again someday too?’

And hug her, saying he was sorry he didn’t recognize her?

Tie, forgetting about the food, stared at Selina for a long time.

She felt so heavy inside that it was hard to hold back her own tears.

That evening.

“W-what?! You received a hundred teleportation circles?!”

At the Agavert base, where they returned together with Selina,

Nordix, standing at the entrance, staggered.

“Yeees! Selina’s mom and dad gave them for free!”

“Not for free. We agreed to watch over the noble kid for six days and received payment.”

Tie let out a small gasp and nodded.

“Right, payment!”

But even then, Nordix couldn’t close his mouth.

One teleportation circle currently cost 300 gold.

‘That means a hundred is thirty thousand gold......’

Nordix’s stunned gaze stopped on Tie.

Tie went out to spend sixteen thousand gold.

And came back having earned twice that amount.