If You Cheat, Just Don’t Tell Me - Chapter 16

A slightly kinder than usual voice came from Alta beside me.

“Hey, you know any ways to make a lot of money fast?”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

I asked Alta, who was sitting next to me in the nighttime gathering spot. As usual, our friends were fooling around noisily, and nobody was listening to our conversation anyway.

I wasn’t really expecting an answer. I was just talking to sort out my own thoughts.

“You don’t need to prepare money that urgently, right? It’s not really a problem, is it?”

“Huh? Ah… nah, it’s not about that stuff. I already paid the registration fees and insurance fees when I went the other day.”

“Is that so. Then what is it?”

“I just need a huge amount of money. Can’t tell you why.”

Even though Alta’s my best friend, I can’t talk about Freya’s circumstances – things I can’t even tell my own family. I don’t think Alta would tell anyone, but who knows who else might be listening in this gathering place.

But well, Alta’s the type who won’t press too deeply into my circumstances.

“If making big money was that easy, nobody would struggle. Not me, not you, not any of these guys here.”

“Yeah, true.”

“Well, if I had to suggest something, maybe gambling? Going for that one big reversal.”

“…Nah, that won’t work. Gambling’s set up so the house wins in the end. There’s no way I could get the amount I need through gambling.”

If I paid out that much money, the gambling bosses would go bankrupt. So, they’d absolutely rig it so I lose somewhere along the line. Whether I could even win that much is unknown to begin with. I can’t rely on such an uncertain method.

“…Dicca, just how much money do you need anyway?”

“Enough to buy a noble house.”

Actually, I probably don’t need that much, but that’s about the target.

“House… you mean an actual house?”

“Nah. What do you call it? A noble lineage? Noble blood? Well, whatever you call it. Enough money to buy that kind of thing.”

“That’s impossible, man. I don’t know why you need that much money, but there’s no way to earn that amount living honestly.”

“Yeah…”

Truthfully, no matter how much money you pile up, you can’t buy a noble house. If that were possible, the Fidel family would have bought one long ago and joined the nobility.

But there are rumors circulating about how much it would take to buy a noble house. What I want is that rumored amount.

Even that rumored amount, like Alta said, is absolutely impossible to earn living honestly. That’s how much value “nobility” has – they’re people living in a completely different world from commoners.

From my perspective, I’ve never felt a single coin’s worth of value in noble status… but people like me are rare.

“Should we raid some street gangs and steal their funds? It’s not like we couldn’t do it.”

“Idiot, Alta. Think about the aftermath. How are we supposed to live in this city after that? Even if we take down one or two gangs, more will just swarm up afterwards, and it would start a war between us and the gangs. I don’t want that, and I won’t let it happen.”

Even if we got money temporarily, it would be meaningless if these guys suffered afterwards. We finally have a path to live honestly.

Plus, if these guys became unhappy, Freya would be sad too. That’s the kind of person she is.

“Dicca…”

“What?”

“You’ve really changed, you know.”

A slightly kinder than usual voice came from Alta beside me.

“You’re consulting me about your worries, and you’re thinking about these guys here. Before, you acted like you didn’t care what happened to anyone but yourself.”

“…”

“Is it Freya’s influence, after all?”

Freya’s influence… huh.

When he said that, Freya’s face came to mind. The face she makes when scolding me. Her serious face during lessons. Her gentle face when talking with classmates. Her blushing face when talking with me. Her happy face when riding the motorcycle.

If I’ve changed, there’s only one person who could be the cause.

She changed my thoughts, my life, the environment around me. If we’re together, she’ll probably keep changing me from now on too.

“Is the money needed for Freya’s sake?”

“…”

“Nah, don’t say it. You can’t, right? I don’t know the circumstances, but there’s no way you’d suddenly say you need huge money for yourself.”

“…Alta”

“You know… I’m grateful to Freya. Everyone here feels the same. Thanks to Freya, we have a path to continue forward. No, maybe even become something greater.”

“It’s not like she directly did anything, right?”

“But you changed because of Freya, didn’t you? Then effectively, it’s thanks to Freya. Am I wrong?”

I fell silent at Alta’s words. What Alta said was absolutely right. If Freya hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t be thinking about these guys, and just like I always said, I would have left this city right after graduating school.

But now the thought of leaving this city had disappeared. Of course. I can’t just leave easily anymore. Because I’ve taken on that kind of responsibility.

This is all Freya’s fault. Because she changed me.

…So now, for her to marry someone else like I could ever accept that.

“So, what name did you register our clan under anyway?”

“Hey, I already told you before.”

The reason I can’t leave this city anymore. These guys’ path to the future.

A clan – an adventurer group registered with the Adventurers Guild.

In this country, maybe the first in the world, where every member ride motorcycles, the adventurer clan I lead.

Steel Whirlwind, that was our new place to belong.