kscans

Chapter 207 - Is It Okay?

...tentekateka tententeen...

I'm sleepy, cold, and my body feels heavy. And yet, it's so noisy.

Dammit! I shouldn't have turned off silent mode.

I stretched my arm out from under the covers and grabbed the smartphone by my pillow.

[Claire]

That's what the screen displayed.

"...Do you have any idea what time it is?" I answered the phone, still half-asleep.

'It's ten in the morning, isn't it?'

Ugh...

"The time difference. It's still six o'clock here."

'I'm in Japan too, you know.'

"Don't wake me up..."

So damn sleepy.

'You're as lazy as ever.'

"Shut up. What do you want?"

'At this rate, I'm guessing you haven't seen the news.'

News?

"Haven't seen it..."

Yesterday, I was drinking while making potions, and then I went to bed.

'Watch it. Your friends made a statement, just as promised.'

"Hold on a second. I'm getting up."

I sat up, got out from under the warm covers into the cold air, and headed for the living room. The living room was warm since the air conditioner had been left on.

I gently nudged the princess sleeping soundly on the sofa, sat down, and turned on the TV.

"Hmm, I see."

A morning talk show was doing a special report on it. The content was about America announcing its participation in the auction and proposing to host it themselves.

'Will this suffice?'

"Should be fine, I think? Though the Guild officials are probably in a huge panic because of it."

Sorry about that.

"You're being too loud..."

Arc, sleeping right next to my hip, pulled the blanket over his head.

'Hm? Is someone there?'

"My disciple is sleeping. Even though it's already ten o'clock."

Get up.

'That's so blatant it's hard to even comment on.'

"Should I give this sleepyhead a little whack?"

'Isn't that mean? It's that short kid, right?'

Short... Nanapon?

"It's a different short kid. Disciple number two."

'How many disciples do you have?'

"Two. More importantly, thank you for your hard work. Now other countries will follow suit, and the Guild will start to panic."

If things went badly, they might have made me wait a whole year.

'That's all well and good, but how are you going to hold the auction?'

"We'll work out the details from here."

Discussions with the Guild, I suppose?

'Let me give you some advice. When you involve countries from all over the world, you're going to run into problems with money, or rather, currency.'

"Currency? What do you mean?"

'The amounts will be astronomical, so it'll be a problem if you don't standardize it to yen or dollars. To put it bluntly, a country could just print a ton of money and buy it, right? But by that point, inflation could make it just worthless paper. That part is extremely difficult.'

"Yen is fine, isn't it? I like yen."

I'm Japanese, and exchanging currency is a pain.

'There's no way other countries can prepare tens or hundreds of billions of yen.'

"Then what should I do? I don't want to barter. I don't need any missiles."

I wouldn't know what to do with them!

'Use your favorite thing, gold.'

"Gold? As in, gold?"

'That's right. Just hold the auction based on the amount of it.'

"Gold, huh... Its value is stable, right?"

I've heard something like that before.

'The total amount is fixed, so there's little fluctuation. In fact, its value has been rising year after year.'

"There's a ton of it to spare in Frontier, though."

'What? How do you know that?'

"Secret."

I'm about to get enough gold ingots to fill a room. The floor will probably collapse.

'Well, whatever. Using gold would be a good idea. That will make the value of gold rise even further. It's perfect for you, since you have those gold bars.'

I see.

"How kind of you."

'It's just a piece of advice.'

"Tell the President he's lucky to have such a good friend."

It's just more convenient for them to use gold. So transparent.

'This is a kindness from me.'

"There's no way a merchant like you would call me about something that doesn't put a single cent in your own pocket."

'That's not true.'

Well, I'll let it slide...

"Mother, you're being too loud..."

The sleeping Arc wrapped his arms around my waist.

'What? That disciple is your child?'

Claire was having a massive misunderstanding. Annoyed, I raised my fist to punch the clinging Arc. But I immediately stopped and lowered my fist.

"Of course not. I don't have any children. He's just talking in his sleep."

'Really?'

Claire sounded extremely suspicious.

"Don't touch on that subject too much. This child's mother died of an illness."

His siblings, too. All of them.

'Oh, it's like that... I'm sorry.'

"If you think so, then don't call me so early in the morning."

'I told you, it's not morning!'

"Ten o'clock is morning."

Back in college, I used to sleep until noon.

'Fine, fine. Next time I'll call in the early afternoon.'

"Please do. I'm hanging up now. Work hard. Bye."

'Good bye!'

I hate that woman.

I tossed my smartphone onto the low table and patted Arc on the shoulder.

"Arc, it's time to get up."

"Ngh?"

Arc looked up at me with half-open eyes.

"Good morning."

"Morning... Huh? Why am I hugging you!?"

How should I know!

"Do you have a crush on me?"

"What? Oh, I'm the one doing the hugging..."

Did he think I was hugging him... That would make me the weird one.

"Was the sofa comfortable?"

"It was, but I fell off once."

Well, it is narrow.

"Want to take a bath? Your bedhead is terrible."

"Your hair is sticking up too, you know."

Arc said this as he let go of me, sat up, and tried to fix his hair with his fingers.

"I'll get the bath ready, so just wait."

With that, I stood up and left the living room. Once in the hallway, I grabbed the doorknob to Kaede-chan's room and tried to pull it open.

...Clunk.

But it was locked and wouldn't open...

"Kaede-chan, it's morning."

"...Okay," came Kaede-chan's muffled voice. She was probably still in bed. Kaede-chan, who was always an early riser, had become completely lazy due to her recent string of days off. Would she be able to get her daily rhythm back when the Guild reopened?

Feeling a little worried, I went to the bathroom and prepared the bath.