Night fell.
Xiao Jiu had just pushed open the door, and as she gazed at her pitch-black home, a flicker of confusion crossed her small eyes.
‘Why weren’t the lights on at home?’
“Big White~”
Xiao Jiu promptly abandoned Aya Tone, who was still behind her, and, pulling her soft, sweet voice, began searching for Big White inside the house on her tiny legs.
Yet, after circling the rooms, she couldn’t find the round, white figure anywhere.
“Papa, isn’t Big White home today?”
“Uh…”
Aya Tone, still holding his school bag, stiffened.
He could only steel himself and improvise a nonsensical explanation. “Big White… it ate too much recently, and its stomach isn’t feeling well, so it was sent for maintenance.”
“Maintenance?” Xiao Jiu tilted her head, bewildered.
‘Isn’t Big White a dog? Why would it be sent for maintenance?’
‘How strange—’
“Ah, no, that’s not right.” Noticing Xiao Jiu’s increasingly puzzled gaze, Aya Tone suddenly felt a bad premonition.
‘Damn it, it’s been too long; I’ve forgotten what Big White’s original setting was.’
“It’s just that Big White might not be home for the next two days. In a couple of days, Xiao Jiu will see Big White again.”
“Oh, I see…”
Hearing that she wouldn’t see Big White for two days, Xiao Jiu couldn’t help but feel a little downcast.
That big, white, silly Big White had been by her side since her earliest memories.
‘Big White isn’t home, I’m unhappy…’
“…”
Observing his daughter’s visibly plummeting mood, Aya Tone wanted to offer comfort but found himself at a loss for words.
“Oh, that’s right.”
Aya Tone tossed his school bag onto the sofa and turned, running toward Big White’s room.
“Ta-da~ Xiao Jiu, look what Papa has in his hand!”
When he returned to the living room, he was cradling a pure white egg, seemingly conjured from nowhere.
Upon closer inspection, one could even discern mysterious patterns shimmering on the eggshell.
Yet, looking again, those patterns seemed like an illusion, as if they had never been there at all.
All signs indicated that this was no ordinary egg. (Which sounded like stating the obvious.)
“Papa~ What’s this?” Seeing the egg in Aya Tone’s hand, Xiao Jiu’s disappointment was instantly replaced by curiosity, her little hands restlessly fluttering with excitement.
‘This egg is so pretty, and it gives me such a comfortable feeling.’
‘Heh~’
‘Indeed, the best way to appease a child is to change the subject.’
“Big White left this behind when it left, for Xiao Jiu to protect carefully, okay?” Aya Tone gently placed the white egg into Xiao Jiu’s arms.
“Big White’s egg?” Xiao Jiu hugged the white egg tightly, blinking her adorable eyes.
“Cough, cough!”
Aya Tone coughed strategically.
Although he knew Xiao Jiu didn’t mean *that*, someone knew too much and couldn’t help but let his mind wander.
“Yes, this is Big White’s egg.”
In fact, saying this wasn’t entirely wrong.
For this egg truly was what Big White had transformed into.
After Big White was filled with her magic, some kind of anomaly seemed to occur.
The Starlight magic within Big White and Aya Tone’s Sunfire magic collided, and then Big White suddenly transformed into an egg.
Aya Tone hadn’t fully grasped what had happened.
The only thing he could confirm was that Big White was still alive; the mental fluctuations within the egg were incredibly strong, as if it were dreaming.
Once the dream ended, Big White would break out of its shell.
‘Probably…’
‘As for whether it would be in two days, well, who knew?’
All of this was just something he’d hastily made up in a moment of desperation.
Watching Xiao Jiu treat the egg like a precious treasure, Aya Tone could only pray his daughter wouldn’t remember Big White’s existence too soon.
‘Otherwise, where would he conjure Big White from?’
****
“What is it?”
On the screen, Bai Xiao’s gaze was as sharp as ever, speaking without beating around the bush.
“Um… Aunt Bai, it’s just that…” Fire Finch stammered awkwardly, like a child caught in the wrong.
“Speak!”
Bai Xiao’s single, calm word instantly brought Fire Finch back to her childhood days, when Bai Xiao would hang her up and beat her.
Bai Xiao’s words had always been similarly decisive.
However, the past was the past.
Fire Finch didn’t feign pity, instead stating directly, “About Aya Tone’s salary… perhaps it shouldn’t be withheld? After all, he was a major contributor this time, wasn’t he?”
“Oh? So your wings have grown strong, daring to teach your aunt how to do things?” So this was what it was about.
Bai Xiao suddenly shed her usual seriousness, leaning back languidly in her chair, her gaze playfully fixed on her niece.
This left Fire Finch utterly dumbfounded.
‘Was this still her incorruptible, serious Aunt Bai?’
‘She couldn’t have been possessed, could she?’
“Auntie won’t beat around the bush with you; the money, it’s gone.”
The S-rank dungeon raid had consumed immense manpower and resources, yielding nothing in the end, and costing so many lives.
Bai Xiao naturally wouldn’t neglect the families of heroes who had sacrificed themselves for the country.
Consequently, the White Tiger Guild was now penniless, unable to gather enough funds to pay Aya Tone’s salary in the short term.
“However!”
Bai Xiao changed the subject, continuing, “The S-rank university construction discussed at the last meeting, especially after the losses incurred from this dungeon raid…”
“It’s likely to proceed to a second round of voting. If it passes, I’ll nominate your Aya Tone for a position.”
‘The establishment of an S-rank combat academy?’
Hearing this, Fire Finch raised a delicate eyebrow, pondering Bai Xiao’s true meaning.
She knew, of course, that it was an inevitable trend; the adventurer profession was simply too dangerous, and not everyone would choose to enter it.
Even with immense benefits, people would instinctively seek advantage and avoid harm.
Compared to wealth, one first needed a life to spend it.
The guild system wasn’t entirely formal; while nominally under state control, it was fundamentally a civilian organization.
It lacked mandatory authority.
A university focused on training combat personnel would be planned as a military academy.
Therefore, with reasonable adjustments, the plan would undoubtedly be implemented swiftly.
As the first combat academy, the nation’s investment in resources would certainly not be meager.
At that time, many would be eyeing the position of principal.
She just hadn’t expected Bai Xiao to be willing to give her nomination slot to Aya Tone.
‘It seems Aunt Bai truly has no money to pay Aya Tone’s salary and is trying to default on it.’
Fire Finch pursed her lips, a smile playing on them; it was indeed a very attractive proposition.
However, Fire Finch ultimately shook her head.
“Forget it, that position isn’t suitable for him. It’d be more practical to just give him a higher salary and hire him as a physical education teacher.”
She knew Aya Tone’s true nature too well.
A salted fish, no matter how many times it’s flipped, remains… a salted fish!
On matters of great principle, he was irreproachable, but to make him a principal…
‘He probably wouldn’t even visit the school once in half a month, just taking the principal’s salary and idling his days away.’
‘For the other half a month, he’d either be leading students astray or picking his toes in the principal’s office.’
The thought of the nation’s blossoming youth falling into the hands of such an incompetent principal made Fire Finch unable to help but worry for the country’s future.
(Meanwhile, a certain salted fish at home, watching anime with his feet propped up: “Achoo~ Who’s talking about me?”)
“I’ll reserve my judgment. If you ever change your mind, you can always come find me.”
“…”