Chapter 296: (Gossip) Pumilla’s Fiancé and His Store 5

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Afterwards, the lottery began with the use of a surprising gadget. Out of astonishment my wife even forgot all of her anger and ill feelings.

…How was Benjamin able to get his hands on such an amazing magic tool? That frivolous, non-serious guy…

However, the image of him fiercely glaring at us with a sharp glint in his eyes still lingered in my mind as a memory of our last meeting.

＊

“Our deepest condolences to all those who lost this round. If it suits your convenience, we would be delighted if you could give it another try for the next lottery round.”

Baroque wrapped up things with those words and the applications for the next lottery drawing started. Having completely forgotten why we came here, my wife passionately talked about how she would apply and win the lottery, but…she’ll likely not win anything.

In the first place, she can’t write and you can’t apply without being able to write. In short, they’re only targeting the intellectual people with this lottery. And yet, they’re still making a profit.

My wife called me over and had me apply for her. When I reluctantly filled out the application for her, I stopped the writing brush at the address field.

“…Why would you need the address?”

“A written invitation will be sent to those who won the lottery. We would like the winners to show that invitation to our doorman when visiting the store.”

…I don’t really want to give them my address, but I guess I have no choice if they’re going to deliver an invitation.

Once I wrote it down and handed it over, the application was placed into another box. And somehow I could clearly tell what that meant.

＊

I spotted Pumilla when she was about to go back into the store. As such I called out to her in a hurry.

When I mentally prepared myself what sort of face she’d make when seeing me, she merely stared at me blankly. It was the expression of a person who couldn’t identify their counterpart.

Suddenly, my wife clung herself to my arm and snuggled up to me, trying to show off our relationship. I felt like shaking my wife off, but since I was curious how Pumilla would react, I refrained from doing so.

After alternately looking back and forth between my wife and me, she finally seemed to realize who we were, but…after getting surprised, Pumilla started to look annoyed.

……That was an expression I didn’t expect her to show in this situation.

I was convinced that she’d feel nostalgic. That she’d be jealous of the relationship between me and my wife.

Yet, her expression clearly told me that she was wondering why we had come here while lumping my wife and me together into one big bother.

――Pumilla has become pretty.

As if to prove her affluent life, her skin was smooth, her hair was glossy and neatly arranged, and she was using an expensive-looking barrette. Her clothes were probably the store’s uniform, but it seemed to be a lot more expensive than the dress my wife was wearing, not to mention the clothes Pumilla had worn at our place. And even though she used to have rough hands in the past, they were now soft and white.

Given that her hands were stained with ink as she was apparently writing documents, I could immediately tell that Benjamin was very likely having her do simple work like writing letters out of consideration.

＊

Even when I talked to her, Pumilla didn’t say much, and Baroque, who showed up shortly after, scolded me while getting quite angry.

She hurled various words at me such as 『shameless』, 『unscrupulous』, or 『getting swayed by your short-term greed』, but since she was correct on all accounts, I remained silent.

But I have reflected, and I want to apologize and remarry with Pumilla. I wanted her to understand that, but Pumilla cast her eyes down, and after a short farewell, she turned around and left. Even though I called her, she never looked back.

Moreover…her disappointment in me had clearly shown itself on her lowered face.

＊

My wife approached Baroque, trying to slap her at the height of an argument, but she got attacked by a monster that had suddenly materialized, and fell down.

“Pid!”

I pretended to make sure of my wife’s safety by calling her name, but in my mind I cheered on the monster. If my annoying wife was killed after getting attacked by a monster, the employees of Benjamin’s store would be investigated.

Counting my chickens before they hatched, I hoped that I could use this as a pretext to revoke the agreement, but the guards, who showed up a little while later, roughly grabbed my wife and dragged her away.

…I felt dumbfounded.

A chill ran down my spine, seeing the capital’s guards treat my wife like a big piece of trash.

“J-…Just wh-…”

Baroque watched me getting all shaken up with cold eyes and an expression full of scorn.

“It’s a common occurrence around here. People try to enter this store by falsely framing its employees or even worse, by trying to attack us. ――For this reason, this store comes with guard golems who protect us. Just like now. Since the guards are kind enough to frequently patrol the area, they’ll pick up the criminals, who were tossed outside the premises after getting magically paralyzed by the Ryokus…the guard golems, and get rid of them for us.”

With Baroque talking about my wife as if she’s garbage and with the guards treating her like garbage, I got terribly scared of the capital.

Baroque glanced at me with a freezing glare, “Anyway, please leave the premises now. …How about you follow the guards, if you care about the fate of your beloved wife whom you chose while even going as far as discarding Pumilla who had devoted herself to you for many, many years? No one in this store, including me, knows what the guards do to those they took away after they caused problems over here. Nor does any of us care.”

Saying those words over her shoulder, Baroque entered the store.

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