Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Debt Girl
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The three female protagonists of [Vengeful Goddesses].
I've already gone through two of them.
Piel and Aira.
By saving those two one after the other, you could say I've been tempered a bit.
At the very least, one thing was crystal clear.
Helping and rushing were entirely different matters.
It had been that way with Piel.
When I first found her, the girl saw herself as little more than a mongrel pup, just because she was a beastkin.
A child who found even sitting at a desk overwhelming.
I'd found that frustrating.
So I'd thought putting us at eye level might help and forced her to sit across from me in a chair. The result, as everyone knows, was a disaster.
Vomiting.
Incontinence.
Convulsions.
She collapsed, spilling everything without restraint.
I realized too late that it wasn't help—it was violence.
Aira had been the same.
A girl who'd never once received praise from her family her whole life, then lost her eyes and tongue to those same family members before being sold into slavery.
Wanting to fill that void with warmth, I'd swung too far the other way this time and showered her with too much praise.
The outcome? An obsession to look good. Sleepless, reckless studying.
And finally, getting caught rummaging through the mansion's storeroom, dragged into pointless trouble.
My intentions had been good. The result? Fresh wounds.
The dreaded sweet potato plot.
Only after enduring it twice could I admit that people do learn.
Besides, I'd survived in a line of work where one mistake could mean death.
So this time, I was handling it differently.
With Levi, I would help—but not push.
Make her cling to life, but not at a pace so frantic she couldn't keep up.
I wouldn't dangle hope or promise salvation.
Just ensure she couldn't die, then wait for her to take that first step on her own.
That was how I planned to keep Levi alive, without her even realizing it.
And.
The driving force behind human survival isn't some grand thing, surprisingly.
At least, that's how it looked to me.
The most vital part was simple.
Just getting the body to move.
"Twist the cloth like this and use it."
Aira said, squatting by the window.
She twisted the cloth in her hand into a long roll and pushed it into the inner edge of the window frame.
"Start from the corners so no dust lingers."
"Wow..."
Levi's hands paused as she mimicked her from the side.
A bit of cloth poked out between her small fingers.
"It's true. This way, it'll go so much faster."
Her eyes flickered with quick calculations.
"Then... I can earn more money!"
Piel, leaning against the windowsill, burst out laughing at that.
"Hehe. Exactly. And it's not just this—if you're doing maid work and don't know something about chores or tidying, ask me or Aira. We'll teach you everything we know!"
"Yeah."
Levi nodded.
She caught her breath for a moment, her cheeks flushing a bit, then added,
"Please take good care of me... until I die. Aira sis. Piel sis."
The words had barely landed when the two exchanged a glance and smiled in perfect unison, as if they'd rehearsed it.
Then they each grabbed one side of Levi's head and started petting her like she'd just become their real little sister.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Good girl, such a good girl."
To be honest, all I saw was two big kids gaining one slightly smaller kid.
Anyway.
The reason Levi had started calling Piel and Aira "sis" like this?
Surprisingly, it hadn't been my idea.
It was Aira's suggestion.
It happened right after Levi accepted my terms and agreed to work as a maid to cover the old couple's funeral costs—once Piel had guided her to change into her maid outfit.
"Lucas."
Aira spoke up first.
Her green eyes gleamed softly.
"You're buying time on purpose to save that demon girl Levi, aren't you?"
She'd nailed my intentions.
"Yeah."
I didn't hide it.
"Between retrieving the bodies from the Papal Court and the funeral costs, it'll be about a year of work."
"A year..."
Aira tilted her head, doing some mental math, then nodded.
"Not too long, but not something you can shake off easily either."
"Exactly."
I shrugged.
"People can't give up on hope that's close enough to touch... but just out of reach."
Aira's face lit up with approval as she smiled.
To be frank, the deal was outrageous.
Bodies branded "heretics" by the Papal Court.
These weren't ordinary corpses.
They were preserved with magic, paraded from village to village as a warning.
Retrieving them wasn't a matter of throwing more money at it.
It meant defying the Papal Court head-on.
And finding the connections willing to stick their necks out for it? That alone was a nightmare.
If we broke it down to pure cash?
A year of a noble mansion maid's wages? Laughable.
Even assuming she spent nothing, ate nothing, and saved every penny, it'd take at least ten years.
And that's optimistic.
Plus, this was a medieval-style fantasy world.
A class-ridden society where human rights were a fuzzy concept at best.
A proper coffin, funeral, and grave? That was noble territory.
Of course, it wasn't legally banned.
But the costs alone soared far beyond what commoners could dream of.
All things considered, Levi already owed me decades' worth right this instant.
But.
Lay that out straight, and I'd crush the spark of will to live that was just starting to flicker.
"Live to pay off your debt" isn't salvation—it's just another chain.
So I kept it hidden.
To let her nurture that "hope" at a steady simmer.
That's why I set it at one year—not too short, not too long.
She didn't need motivation to thrive yet, just enough to endure and keep moving.
That was perfect for Levi right now.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
The annex's alarm clock chimed right on cue.
In our annex, it only rang for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—mealtimes.
There were only three of us, after all.
So we always ate at the same table, at the same time.
I didn't mind it one bit.
Slowly like this, sharing gentle days—eating together, working together, letting time slip by. Little by little, naturally, the urge to die will fade.
Piel and Aira stopped their hands at the chime, just like always.
Piel stretched with a grin, while Aira sneaked a glance toward the kitchen.
"Aira, what's for lunch today?"
"Yes!"
Aira replied brightly.
"Foie gras today. I'll tweak some of yesterday's leftover sauce and pair it with grilled veggies."
She paused, then added,
"And now it's four servings starting today, so it might run a little late."
"Doesn't matter."
I said right away.
"Aira's cooking is worth any wait."
Aira beamed and practically danced off to the kitchen. Piel started gathering plates and utensils with her usual deft motions.
I wanted to pitch in, but last time I'd gotten a firm "Don't!" and "No way!" so I knew better.
Instead, I figured I'd take Levi and retreat to my room like a proper master of the house.
But then.
Scrub. Scrub.
"...Levi?"
The sound came from the window frame.
"It's lunchtime now. You can rest."
Her reply held zero hesitation.
"I'm fine."
Levi didn't even look up.
"More than that... I need to clean one more frame."
Her hands never stopped.
"So I can earn money."
Me, Piel, and Aira all froze at those words.
Levi's gaze wasn't on any of us.
Not me. Not Piel. Not Aira.
Just obsessively fixed on the uncleaned window frames.
Like someone who wouldn't eat, sleep, or rest until every last debt was paid.
Even now, her eyes screamed that time was running short.
"Um, Levi... you still have to eat."
"I'm okay. I'm not hungry at all, Piel sis."
She said that, but right after—grrrrowl—her stomach let out a very clear rumble.
Levi's expression didn't change. Her hands kept scrubbing.
"Levi..."
This time it was Aira.
"Lunch is foie gras today. Super expensive luxury dish. Most commoners go their whole lives without—"
"Anyway, for me."
Levi cut in calmly.
"I'm a body that's going to die soon. It's not for me."
In that moment, the air grew heavy.
Aira's mouth snapped shut. Piel shot me a glance.
"Master... what do we do?"
"Should I say no pay during lunch breaks?"
I shook my head.
"Won't cut it. She'd just find other work."
It was exactly that.
Levi wasn't just diligent right now.
She'd fully evolved into a workaholic—gone wrong, straight into the dark.
And starving a beast like that to tame it? That wasn't training; it was just strangling her lifeline.
So I decided it was time to lay it out.
Who really ran this annex.
"Alright. From now on, we're switching to the half-assed 'shitty small-business system'."
"Pardon? Sho-so... what?"
"Shit...? Master, surely nothing's wrong down there?!"
"Aira, it's not that—get your hand out of my pants first..."