Just as Emiya left carrying Zoe, the little shop exploded into chaos.
"Seele, Clara, hand over the money!" Hook's eyes bent into crescents as she laughed. "I told you already, Zoe isn't Emiya's sister, she's his wife! But you two just had to argue with me."
"Damn Bronya actually tricked me. Once I finish tidying up the shop, I'm going to settle the score with her!" Seele's face was full of unwillingness, but the facts were right in front of her. She couldn't not believe it.
"Hmph, I saw from the very beginning that the way Zoe looked at Emiya wasn't right. Most likely Vera and Acheron are also that kind of relationship with him!" Hook crossed her arms, lifting her chin proudly.
"What do you mean? How come suddenly you're so sure Zoe isn't his sister?"
Seeing Seele hand over a whole month's pay to Hook so readily, Clara's face turned confused. "Didn't we agree we'd ask Emiya after work to make sure? Did you guys already ask him just now, and I didn't hear it?"
"You really don't get it?" Hook's mouth dropped open in shock.
"I don't!" Clara kept her little face serious, nodding firmly.
"Ugh, this is tricky..."
'Clara is at least the founder of the Protection Association, yet she doesn't even understand this basic knowledge? How are we supposed to explain it to her?!'
Hook sighed unwillingly. To say it out loud was way too embarrassing. Since she didn't actually need Seele's and Clara's money that badly, she simply decided to act like the whole bet never happened.
"This bet was my idea, so I'll explain it!" Seele patted her own little chest confidently, and pulled Clara over to where the robot Pascal was mopping the kitchen floor.
"Clara, do you remember what Zoe said when she came to find Emiya?"
"She wanted to recharge?"
"Yes, recharge!" Seele patted Pascal's metal shell and had it demonstrate the charging steps for Clara.
Basically, open the cover, insert the charging port, then pull it out again and put it back.
Clara, who had been scraping by in the complicated lower district for years, saw this nearly explicit demonstration. How could she not realize what Seele and the others were implying?
Her little head couldn't help but imagine it. The picture was too vivid, her face turned so red it almost steamed.
"But... but... Zoe is so small, that's not right..."
"Zoe just looks short!" Seele swore with certainty. "Look at all the changes she brought to the lower district, she must be an incredibly experienced scientist. She might even be older than Emiya!"
"When you put it that way... it does make sense." Although something still felt off inside, facts spoke louder than words. Clara had no choice but to hand over her money obediently.
———
"Hm? Why aren't you all running the shop properly, what are you doing?" Bronya's voice suddenly rang out from outside.
Thanks to Zoe's battle robots and food supply, the Silvermane Guards no longer had to work year-round without rest. They now had rotating schedules, complete with insurance and benefits.
Today was Bronya's day off. She thought it had been a long time since she saw Emiya, so she came down to the lower district. But before she even stepped inside, she saw Clara pouting while reluctantly handing a pile of money over to Hook.
"Bronya, you big liar!" Seele, seeing that Bronya actually dared show up here, immediately ran out and fired off a barrage of complaints.
Listening to Seele's words, Bronya's forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Just from that one word "recharge," they managed to spin this much nonsense? Were their brains sharp, or just rotted from playing too much game?
Pa! Pa! Pa!
"Get down and kneel properly!" Unable to hold back her anger, Bronya smacked Seele and Hook hard on the head, making them kneel on the floor.
"Listen carefully. Zoe works herself to exhaustion for science. When she says recharge, she means Emiya tells her stories to help her fall asleep."
As she spoke, Bronya knocked both little eroge-addicts on their heads again. "If anyone dares spout nonsense and corrupt Clara again, kneeling for one hour won't be enough to settle it!"
———
Meanwhile, inside the room, Emiya was tucking Zoe under the blanket when he suddenly sneezed.
Completely unaware that his wise and noble image had almost collapsed under gossip, he straightened his thoughts and continued telling Zoe about the life of King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon.
Whenever Zoe was upset or exhausted, she could only fall asleep by listening to Emiya's stories.
Besides Emiya's own life, Zoe also liked hearing legends from the Throne of Heroes. In particular, the tales of King Arthur Artoria and the Conqueror King Iskandar, those two stories she never got tired of.
As the youngest member of the family, Zoe always felt a little inferior. She wasn't as curvaceous as Acheron, nor as unmatched in combat as Vera. More importantly, she couldn't stay by Emiya's side all the time.
Once Jarilo's situation was completely stabilized, Emiya and the others would have to leave for another place. Zoe, on the other hand, had to stay behind, endure a long development period, and only then meet them again.
So she could only take this chance now to learn as many of Emiya's stories as possible, so that during the long lonely wait, she would have something to comfort herself with.
The reason she rushed so much to stabilize the lower district was also so she could have more time to spend with Emiya, Vera, and the others, leaving behind as many beautiful memories as possible.
"Emiya, promise me, even if my companion weapon is exchanged, you can't leave early..." Rubbing her already blurry eyes, Zoe still refused to fall asleep.
"Mm, don't worry. Only more, never less." Emiya patted her back gently, smiling reassuringly. "Sleep now. Tomorrow's my day off. I'll go with you all to Rivet Town."
"Mm, you said it..."
Listening as Zoe's breathing softened into light snores, Emiya tucked in the blanket corners carefully before tiptoeing out the door.
Outside, Acheron and Vera didn't look too well either. They sprawled out on the sofa like dead fish, sipping iced cola with half-closed eyes.
"What made you this tired?" Emiya's voice carried rare anger. He had asked them to watch over Zoe, not join her in fooling around.
"Zoe wanted the Rivet Town estate to start construction as soon as possible, so we worked overtime today to erase a few extra rifts." Vera, normally full of spirit, now showed rare fatigue on her little face.
Normally, absorbing rift energy and erasing them was easy for Vera, and even beneficial for her strength.
But since Zoe wanted precise data on Vera's process of erasing rifts, Vera had to deliberately slow down, which drained her mental power too much. Now she was nearly at her limit.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.