yemalu

There was actually quite a large amount of money placed on Andrew\'s head it seems.

The entire trip made me two hundred Creas in total including the reward from Lisa\'s escort quest too. A very substantial amount of money to be sure, especially considering the fact that this was after I gave Lisa a cut of it too.

She didn\'t want any of it at first but I insisted since she had helped me tie them up anyway and my puppy eyes finally got her to accept it.

Lisa was also gushing about my spar with Victor, who I assumed had some beef with her in the past judging by their earlier interaction.

The wagon and most of the supplies were sold off though Lisa did keep a few of it for herself, which I helped her transport back to her shop.

"Ehehe~ This was the most fun I\'ve had in a while, Aster! I\'m so glad I met you!" She giggled while storing away her mushrooms that she had gathered from the cave.

"Unn… I have to say that things have been indeed interesting with you around as well, although I do hope that this isn\'t a regular thing too."

"Ehehehe~ In that case, you can just hang out at my shop whenever you want! I\'m ok if you just want to come over to play you know?"

I grinned, "Come over to play in a potion shop? I think that\'s one of the last things a normal person might do…"

"Oh! I guess I never told Aster about it… But I also own the general store beside us!"

"There\'s a general store beside us?" I couldn\'t help but mutter in surprise.

"Yep! Although I only open it on weekends since that\'s when most people would come here to shop~."

I stepped outside the shop for a moment and looked to the building to the side and sure enough,  there was another shop with a signboard that said "Lisa\'s General Shop".

How did I miss this before?

Going back inside Lisa suddenly gasped, "I know! How about Aster come over during the weekend and we can have a date at the general store!"

I narrowed my eyes at her, "Aren\'t you supposed to be busy running the store or something?"

"Ehehe~ It\'ll be fine! Besides, you\'ll need some school supplies as well right? You can get them from my store!"

Oh yeah… I haven\'t actually thought of that…

She gave me a thumbs up, "How about it? I\'ll even make sure to arrange all the things you need for school and I\'ll even give you a discount!"

"Umm… Do you know what I even need for school?"

"Not really, but I can find out!"

I stared at her for a few moments but her smile never wavered in the slightest.

Oh well, I guess it\'s still better than trying to find all the materials I need by myself, though I guess the option to ask Mother for help is there.

Since she offered, I guess I\'ll just take it.

"Alright… I guess I\'ll take you up on that offer."

"Yesss!! Don\'t worry, I\'ll make sure to get the best materials for you! Ehehehe~ Isn\'t this like a wife helping to prepare for her husband\'s work~ Ahhhh~ I can\'t wait! I should go and find my contacts quickly!"

I\'m… Just going to leave now…

*

When I got home, Katsuki was there to greet me at the entrance.

"Welcome home Mistress. Would you like dinner, a bath, or perhaps… Some cookies first?"

"Cookies!" I answered without hesitation.

Katsuki then dug out a cookie from her apron and presented it to me which I started munching on with relish.

Mmmm~ Raspberry with white chocolate chips~ So perfect~

"Would Mistress like to have dinner before your bath?" Katsuki asked after patiently waiting for me to finish my cookie.

I licked my fingers clean of the cookie crumbs before nodding, "I guess I can do that first~ Is it ready?"

"Yes, Mistress. We can proceed to the dining room now."

What a reliable maid I have~

Katsuki really has changed a lot in this year and a half. If someone were to tell me that Katsuki was Mary\'s long lost daughter or something, I would have believed them at this point.

Speaking of which, Mother knew about Lisa\'s situation so maybe someone else in the house knows about her as well? If they do, I could find out more about her and whether I should continue to associate myself with her or not.

"Katsuki? Could I ask how good our information network is?" I asked while moving towards the dining room with Katsuki a step ahead of me.

She tilted her head slightly, "Is Mistress looking for information on Miss Lisa?"

Ok… I\'m not even surprised that she knew about her or even what I wanted to ask.

"Umm… I guess?"

"What would Mistress like to know about her?"

I thought about it for a moment, "I guess I just need to know if she is someone I can trust?"

She sat me down at the table while a few servants came along to set the table for me, bringing out my dinner for the night.

"If Mistress wants to know if she would stab you in the back or do something to hurt Mistress, then the likelihood of that happening is very low."

"Eh? What makes you say so?"

"It is also related to why that tras-- Apologies, that knight was hostile to her. Is Mistress also interested in knowing about him?"

Right, of course she knew about the spar too.

I nodded and Katsuki then took out a small notebook from her dress and flipped through quickly.

"It seems like she was once a slave that was sold to the owner of the current store that she owned."

I almost choked on the food I was eating, "Guhk! I thought the owner of the store was her grandma?"

"Her owner was indeed an elderly woman who had bought her and treated her like a granddaughter and later on accepted her as an apprentice as well. She had written in her will that Lisa would be free and inherit the store upon her death."

"How did she become a slave to begin with?"

Katsuki flipped through her notebook, "She was caught trying to steal something and also an attempted murder though details about the last one was quite vague. The tras-- Apologies… The knight Victor was the one who apprehended her and their interactions were not exactly on the best of terms during her time as a slave."

I took a sip of water from my cup, "How long was she a slave?"

"About ten years, Mistress."

I frowned, "And even after that, Victor was still pissed at her? This doesn\'t make any sense…"

Katsuki peeked at me, "Unfortunately I do not have much information about that, Mistress. Should I investigate the reason?"

I shook my head, "No need, it\'s not that important anyway. Although I still don\'t know why you would say that she wouldn\'t do anything to hurt me?"

"What she said about no one accepting her is true, Mistress. And according to what I have been able to find, she was quite desperate to find someone she could be attached to, most probably because of the loss of her grandmother slash owner."

"What about her parents?"

"Unfortunately, there\'s no information found out about them. Should I also search for them?"

I shook my head, again seeing it as something that wasn\'t important enough to warrant troubling Katsuki, even if she definitely doesn\'t see it as a problem.

I tapped my cheek with the end of my spoon, "Right… So she was a slave who is now desperate for someone to accept her… I guess the fact that I was the first one to come along made her attach to me, but she has those two stores, surely her business is booming enough and customers would talk to her right?"

Katsuki pursed her lips, "That\'s one problem, Mistress… There is a weird thing we realise when asking around about her. It seems like most people can recall her existence, but when asked about her appearance… Things start to get a little weird."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Mistress… What does Miss Lisa look like?"

Eh? What is with this weird question? I mean… I probably wouldn\'t really be able to give a very detailed description of her looks but I guess I can just state some basic features like the fact that her hair colour is…

Wait a minute… Why don\'t I remember?

Actually… I don\'t even remember what she looks like now…

I remember her giggling but I somehow don\'t recall how she looked while she was doing that…

"Why is this happening?" I asked.

Katsuki nodded, "If I had to guess, she has a powerful spell or magic item on her that prevents people from remembering what she looks like in detail. Thus, if you were to go to her store, you would know that she is Lisa but if you meet her outside, you might just pass her without recognising her."

"But why? And Victor seemed to have remembered her?"

"From what I managed to get, he uses the fact that he cannot recall her face as a method to recognise her."

That… Doesn\'t even make any sense… Then again, he had ten years to get used to her I guess?

"There is one thing though," Katsuki continued. "It is suspected that she has dealings with the underground of Crown Capital City including thieves, bandits and even assassins."

Wow…

Lisa… Should I be worried about you or not?