Grant, Grant, GrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrant!!!
The name that had stolen everything from him. A name he loathed no matter how many times he heard it.
He resented the way the Grants rose to power across the continent. All of that should have been his. The glory he had built. The rights he alone should have enjoyed. Yet everything had been taken from him.
"Heh... hehehe."
So he would take everything from them in return. If he couldn't have it, then neither could they.
A man wearing a deep black hood pulled low over his face walked slowly through the crowd. Beneath the hood, a scraggly, unkempt beard was visible. His pupils were hazy and distorted, as if he were on drugs. He suddenly burst into laughter, shoved his hand into his pocket, and kept moving while hiding his suspicious appearance among the many people around him.
The man slipped through the crowd and stepped inside a building.
I'll destroy it all. Every last Grant.
The building he entered had the name Grant Department Store carved boldly across its front.
Having an incompetent boss was difficult, but having a workaholic boss who never let go of his tasks was even worse. After serving as the secretary to the Majoan, Nel had learned this lesson the hard way. Over her long years working beside him, she had developed her own methods for relieving stress.
One of those methods was treating herself to a gift on her days off. Sometimes she would indulge in an incredibly luxurious and delicious meal. Other times she would travel to a place with a beautiful view. This time, for her vacation leave, the gift she had prepared for herself was to buy something expensive. Whether it was a designer bag, clothes, cosmetics, or perfume didn't matter. She would simply wander around the department store and shop for whatever caught her eye.
That was why she had deliberately taken the day off today—the day after her paycheck had been deposited.
"Mmm."
As the secretary to the Majoan, a position of considerable importance even within the royal palace, her salary was quite substantial. In fact, it was among the higher brackets even among civil servants. If she wanted, she could easily afford one or two luxury items and still have plenty left over.
But perhaps because of her naturally frugal personality, even after deciding to buy herself a present, she found it surprisingly difficult to make a choice.
What would be the most efficient thing to buy?
It was already a lost cause to be thinking about efficiency while on a shopping spree for luxury goods, but even this moment of contemplation felt like healing to her. It had been so long since she'd escaped the office for a leisurely outing. If she got tired, she could even treat herself to a cup of coffee at that expensive café she normally wouldn't dare enter.
Her heart fluttered with excitement as she browsed through the department store.
"Everything from here to there. Give me every piece in the right size."
And then she saw it. A scene completely different from her own life, yet one she had always dreamed of. It was exactly like something out of a drama—the rich young master casually pointing left and right, committing what people called "money-wasting."
The man wearing rather shabby clothes was pointing with his finger to the left and right, doing exactly that.
"Uncle, I really don't need this many clothes..."
"I have zero interest in styling or fashion, so I'll just buy whatever. Wear them however you like."
"Uncle?!"
"Oh, right. They probably won't all fit in the closet, will they? We'll have to stop by the furniture store later."
"Just how much are you planning to buy?!"
They seemed to be uncle and niece. It looked like a wealthy uncle was spoiling his niece with everything she could want.
I'm so jealous.
Normally, an adult envying a child would be considered quite pathetic behavior. But in this situation, holding back her envy was simply impossible.
If only someone would buy everything for me like that. Then I wouldn't have to agonize over what to get.
"Haa..."
Yes, just walk away. Getting jealous or envious would only ruin her own mood. Look, just a moment ago she had been perfectly happy simply browsing around. Now she was only left sighing over her own circumstances.
And it made sense. No matter how important her position as the Majoan's secretary was, as a civil servant she would never be able to utter such magnificent lines in her entire life.
Well... if I win the lottery, maybe I could say it once.
With a bitter smile, Nel quickened her pace and walked past them faster than before.
Kain didn't even glance at her. He simply looked at the neatly wrapped pile of clothes, opened his wallet, and—
"......"
His brow furrowed ever so slightly.
The black card that appeared when he opened his wallet had been given to him by Huren Grant, the second son of the Grant family. It was a token of formal financial support since Kain was raising Arina. Since this was a business under the Grant Corporation, using this card would undoubtedly bring considerable benefits.
"Here."
Nevertheless, he handed the employee a different card instead.
That man had gone on about helping him and all that, but in the end, he had been one of those who dared try to send his niece away. Giving him this card had only been to save face. Kain had no intention of owing even the slightest debt to such a person.
"Sir, you have quite a lot of luggage. Would you like our pickup service to deliver it to your home?"
Perhaps because he had spent such an enormous amount of money, the employee's attitude was far more polite than when they had first arrived.
"No, not necessary."
He did have a lot of luggage, and he would be buying even more, but there was no need to go through the hassle. Thinking that, Kain lightly waved his hand toward the pile of bags.
A black portal opened in midair and swallowed every last item.
"Ah, so you have a spatial pouch?"
A spatial pouch. In simple terms, it was one of the magitech artifacts engraved with space-type magic. Since it required highly advanced spell formulas, these items were sold at prices higher than most luxury goods. From the clerk's perspective, it was only natural to assume that such a wealthy customer would own one.
"Something like that."
Kain saw no need to correct the misunderstanding. Strictly speaking, he didn't have a spatial pouch—he had an entire subspace. But there was no reason to explain that in detail or show off. He wouldn't be seeing these people again anyway.
"Alright, next."
Kain left the first store without hesitation and headed straight for the next one.
Had everyone witnessed what happened in the first store? Every single employee was watching his approach with tense, eager eyes, desperately hoping he would enter their shop.
"......"
This is strange. This isn't the kind of shopping I had in mind.
Arina stared blankly at the scene before trudging after him with heavy steps.
Roughly two hours later.
After thoroughly raiding rather than simply touring the department store, Arina collapsed onto a café chair with an exhausted expression.
He really bought everything.
Everything that caught his eye as they passed by. Not a single thing was left behind. He had essentially swept the entire department store clean.
She had prepared herself mentally before entering, but his spending had far exceeded even her wildest expectations.
"Was that too much?"
It seemed Kain had realized it too. He peeked into his subspace and scratched his cheek with a troubled look.
This wouldn't be solved by buying one or two closets. No, if he brought all of this home, Arina's room would probably disappear entirely.
And there aren't any spare rooms left.
One kitchen, one living room, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms. Kain and Arina each had a room, and the remaining one was being used as Kain's study. There was no more space in the house.
If he'd known this would happen, he should have gotten a bigger house. He had thought it was plenty big for the two of them, but he had never imagined they would run out of space so quickly.
"Should I buy a separate warehouse house?"
"Stop it already, Uncle!"
Arina finally couldn't hold back any longer and shouted at Kain, who had once again reached an absurd conclusion. It was completely insane. To think that the solution to not having enough space for luggage was to buy an entire new house? How did his brain even arrive at such a conclusion?
"Absolutely not! Don't even think about buying a new house!"
"Well, it does seem inconvenient to go to another house just to change clothes, doesn't it?"
"That's not the problem..."
His way of thinking was truly on another level. Arina shook her head at her uncle, whose normal conversation was utterly impossible, and took a sip of the vanilla shake in front of her.
Perhaps because the cold drink went down her throat, her overheated head seemed to cool down refreshingly.
"Then how about we buy a spatial pouch instead?"
While she was cooling her head, Kain seemed to have come up with a new plan. He must have remembered what the clothing store employee had said earlier. Come to think of it, buying one spatial pouch for Arina didn't seem like a bad idea. Unlike himself, who had his own subspace, she didn't have anything like that.
"Yeah, that sounds better than buying a house."
Of course, even a good spatial pouch cost about as much as a house in a rural territory, which wasn't exactly normal. Still, if he were to buy a house, he would probably get an expensive one near their current home. A spatial pouch would be far better than that.
"I was planning to buy some artifacts anyway."
Arina's back broke out in a cold sweat at his casual remark while he sipped his iced Americano.
Artifacts. A general term for items considered luxury goods among magitech products. In simple terms, they were devices that allowed ordinary people to use magic without needing to cast spells themselves, unlike smartphones or similar devices. The spatial pouch Kain had just mentioned was one such example.
In other words, artifacts were incredibly expensive.
They would be cheaper than a spatial pouch, of course. But buying even a few artifacts would cost more than all the money-wasting Kain had done today.
And Arina knew. Judging by his behavior today, there was no way his shopping impulse would be satisfied with just a few artifacts. He would probably do the same thing again. Pointing from here to there and saying he wanted everything.
"......"
Just thinking about it sent a chill down her spine. The cold sweat that had been running down her back had now soaked her backside.
"Um, Uncle."
She had to stop him. Of course she was happy. How could she not be happy that he was buying things for her? But the problem was that it was simply too overwhelming. Just what they had bought today had already gone way over the limit. Any more would put too much strain on her heart.
"I'll go to the artifact store by myself."
She spoke firmly, like a hero steeling herself before facing the Demon King. It was impossible to change his mind once he decided to buy her artifacts anyway. In that case, it would be much better if she went alone and picked out just a few things.
"Well, I don't mind."
As expected, her uncle responded to her request with complete indifference.
"I'll wait here, so take your time."
Kain casually pulled a card out of his wallet and held it out to Arina. It was that terrifying card that had devoured the entire department store today. Though it carried the traces of Kain's touch, to Arina it was the most frightening and powerful object in existence.
She took it with trembling hands and gave Kain a bright smile.
"Thank you, Uncle."
"Don't hold back. Buy everything you like. It's a hassle to come back again."
"......"
One spatial pouch and one relatively cheap artifact. She would absolutely not buy anything more than that.
Making that firm resolution, Arina tucked the card Kain had given her deep into her inner pocket as if she would never lose it, then zipped it shut tightly.
Arina, twelve years old. A prospective student of Benedict Academy. At far too young an age, she had come to truly understand the terror of money.