Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: I Want to Make a Deal
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"Save me, Bella! I-I'll do better!"
"Give me just one chance! I'll make sure to repay you somehow!"
Desperate cries poured in from beyond the iron bars. Those sharp voices weighed heavily on my heart.
"What would you like me to do with them?"
Through the gap, red eyes urged me for an answer.
One word from me would change the fate of those two.
Just yesterday, I had been utterly powerless against them... but in a single moment, everything had flipped.
And the reason was the woman standing right in front of me.
For the first time, I met her gaze head-on without looking away.
"You're helping me this much because there's something you want from me, right?"
I couldn't keep ignoring reality forever.
The woman before me was the one called this world's black. For some reason, she was showing me kindness.
"That's right. I need you."
"Is it my herbs you need?"
"Yes."
I fell into thought as I watched Roselia nod gracefully.
That had to be the only reason. Her very first words to me had been asking if I was the owner of these herbs.
In the game lore, Roselia was tainted by a curse and ultimately fell into madness.
Could my herbs be helping with her curse somehow? Was that why she was going this far to help me?
Either way, it was clear she had done me a great favor.
I looked at the people trapped behind the bars.
The director who had tormented me until now, and the merchant who had taken away the life savings I'd endured that torment to gather.
Just looking at them twisted my stomach.
Of course it would be a lie to say I didn't resent them.
But even so...
"Please don't kill them."
Roselia raised one eyebrow slightly, as if surprised.
"If you're worried about loose ends, don't be."
I slowly shook my head at her reassuring words.
My reaction seemed to displease her, as a faint furrow formed between her brows.
"You might not know this because you're still young... but being too kind isn't always a good thing."
"That's not it."
I wasn't asking her to spare them out of charity.
I probably wouldn't care much if they died right here.
It's just that...
"I don't want to see you get blood on your hands because of me, Roselia."
"...What?"
"I'll definitely succeed later and get my revenge myself."
I clenched my small fists tight and glared sharply at them beyond the bars.
I didn't want to resolve what I'd suffered through someone else's hands. At the very least, I wanted to prove I could become someone greater than them with my own strength.
Of course, I'd already received too much help for that to hold much weight...
"...Hmm."
A meaningful smile tugged at Roselia's lips.
"I don't like good adults much. But... a righteous little kid like you might just grow on me."
She grabbed the back of my collar and slowly pulled me toward her face.
We were close enough for our breaths to mingle.
"Instead, I want to make a deal."
"A deal?"
Roselia tilted her head slightly, intrigued.
"You said you need herbs from me."
"I did."
I didn't want to be saved by someone's pity through one-sided aid.
Even if others might mock me as foolish for it. This was my stubborn pride.
That's why I proposed a deal.
"I'll make those herbs for you every day. In return... grant my requests."
At the very least, to match the help someone gave me...
I wanted to be helpful to them in return.
"......"
Roselia looked down at me quietly. A moment later, she nodded slowly, as if to say go on.
I quietly pointed at the director and the merchant behind the bars.
"I want you to tell the temple that this woman embezzled the orphanage funds and abused the children. The orphanage budget sheets will be the proof."
If I said it, the temple would just dismiss it as nonsense from a snot-nosed kid.
The temples in the empire's heartland might be different, but the ones near Binhel Village had all taken bribes from the director.
But Roselia's influence couldn't be ignored.
"B-Bella...!"
Knowing that, the director clutched the bars with one hand and screamed.
"And that uncle is a con artist. I have a forged contract with his fingerprint on it."
"You want them detained?"
"Detention might be hard with that. But... I want people to know he's a fraud."
So no more victims like me would appear.
"Hmm, and?"
Roselia waited for my next words with an inscrutable expression.
"And... I want a good person to become the new director at Binhel Village's orphanage."
Uncle Hans... I could repay him separately later.
But Isabel, who needed help right now, was there.
Annie and Eddy too... even if we didn't have many good memories, I didn't think those kids were at fault.
Children grow up watching adults, after all. The problem was that the one guiding them had been the director.
If a good adult led them, I believed even those troublemakers could change.
"C-Could you do that?"
I looked up at Roselia cautiously.
Continuing like this made me feel embarrassed.
I'd started off so boldly with a "deal," but now I was just timidly listing my requests.
"Those three are all?"
Roselia asked.
"Yes, that's it."
"You seem naive about the world, so let me tell you something."
"What?"
"Those herbs you brought? They're worth far more than you think. Do you know how much that con artist sold it for?"
"How much?"
"Five hundred runes."
"What?!"
My mouth fell open at the unexpected amount.
Five hundred runes?
He sold each of my herbs for five hundred runes?
I'd thought even fifty was expensive.
If he sold ten a day, that was academy tuition for a year every two days.
"So you could ask for more. Your herbs are worth that much."
That was definitely no small sum.
It was real money—enough to live proudly even in the empire, maybe.
But through this incident, I'd learned one thing deeply.
No matter how much money came into my hands, without the power to protect it, it was useless.
"In that case... I want to add one more condition to the contract."
"Go on."
Roselia waited, interest sparkling in her eyes.
"Until I become an adult... I need protection."
"Be precise."
Growing up without parents, not even an adult yet.
Right now, I was too weak to even open a vault in my name in the empire.
But there was one path.
The only way an orphan like me could stand alone without anyone's protection.
"Get me into the temple."
The moment I joined the temple, my protector would become the great god above.
Of course, it was just words. In reality, it meant being confined within the temple's massive fence.
But it would be hundreds of times better than staying at an orphanage.
If I worked hard and earned the position of priestess, I wouldn't be treated like dirt or despised anywhere.
"......The temple?"
But something was off.
Roselia's eyes had hardened slightly. She even looked a bit angry.
Had I asked for too much?
Given her status, it shouldn't be hard, but my judgment was wrong.
"...No temples. I'll put all other conditions in the contract."
"Ah, yes, I'm sorry..."
It was such a firm refusal.
She'd already done so much for me. I'd been too greedy.
Embarrassment flooded me for no reason.
"I can't send you to some temple..."
Roselia muttered something with furrowed brows.
But her voice was too soft for me to hear properly.