A cane struck the cobblestone street rhythmically as Ira meandered down the main square. His heels thumped loudly on the stonework, his long coat swishing around his body. It was about to rain; clouds covered the sky and the scent of water almost smothered him. Over his head, he held a black umbrella, slowly spinning it as he walked to his destination. When he reached a crosswalk, he stopped and waited for the lights to change.
A train thundered past not long after he’d started waiting, loud puffs of air leaving it as it quickly continued forward. It disappeared behind a treelike soon enough, and the long thingy keeping one from accessing the tracks lifted. Ira began to walk again.
Soon, he’d reached the building he’d been searching. Confirming that the words on the sign were the same as the words on the letter his (best!) friend had sent him, he entered.
“I’m here to pick up my best friend, a Ren Wilde,” Ira told the police officer at the front desk. The officer glanced at him, subtly sneering at his cheap clothing and haggard appearance. But it wasn’t Ira’s fault—he’d been working in the fields, trying to bury as many strawberry seeds as he could before the weather became unfavorable. And when he’d gotten the express letter, he’d hurried out as fast as he could!
The officer finally just sighed and said, in a monotone voice, “They’ll be out in a minute. Just sit down somewhere while you wait.”
Ira rose an annoyed eyebrow and rolled his eyes, but did as the officer requested. He found a seat that wasn’t too dirty, flopping down on it like a dead fish. After a moment, when Ren didn’t immediately appear as he’d been led to believe(stinky eye at officer) Ira sighed and pulled out a wrinkled and bent tiny pocketbook from his pocket. He bent it in the other direction to flatten it out and began to read.
Over twenty minutes had passed by the time Ren join him. Ira jolted when they grabbed his shoulder, shaking it. Looking up from his book, he frowned, “What?”
Ren cocked their head. “I’m here, let’s go,” they said and pulled on his arm. Sighing loudly, Ira allowed himself to be pulled up and dragged out of the small police office. Out on the street, Ren glanced at him and said, “Thanks. For coming to get me. I know you’re busy.”
Shrugging, Ira said, “Wasn’t a problem.” He’d just thrown some money at a homeless child and told them to keep planting seeds. He didn’t particularly care how it turned out.
“Still,” Ren said, patting him on his shoulder. They continued to walk on the cobblestone street, heading down the spare street with the dirty buildings to get to the edge of the town where Ira’s farm was located. It was tiny; really, it was more of a garden than a proper farm. But it wasn’t like he needed a lot of money, since Ren was a pretty good clockmaker and paid the rent.
Night would fall soon, and lamplighters were turning on the streetlights. Ira watched them passively, his eyes tracking their progress. It occurred to him than that he was still holding his book in his hands and he winced, putting the book back in the inner pocket of his coat. He patted it softly, assuring himself that it would be safe there. Ren was looking at him with amused eyes when he raised his gaze again.
Ira cleared his throat and looked away. He couldn’t resist one last pat to his chest, but then he shoved his hand in an outer pocket and slouched as he walked. Ren giggled from his side, but he didn’t dignify that with a response.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Eventually, after a good thirty minutes of walking, they reached their home. Ira unlocked the door, as Ren had lost their keys at the pub, and held it open like a gentleman. Ren bowed, long hair swishing around them, and entered. Ira felt amusement well up in his chest, the warmth whooping through his veins like a train about to derail.
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Heading for the kitchen window, Ira opened it and shoved his head out. “Do you have any money?!” he yelled, voice carrying over the field.
Ren, who’d been bent next to the kid (nice to know it was still around, at least) turned to face the house. “No, I spent it all last night!” they answered, yelling just as loudly as Ira. The kid next to them flinched from the volume. Ira shook his head, waving at Ren to convey his disappointment.
Money problems, huh.
He didn’t really feel like doing that again.
“Can you borrow some money so I can get a ticket to Dingro?!” Ira finally yelled back. The kid flinched yet again, scooting away from Ren.
Ren answered, “Sure, what for?!”
“I have a goldmine there!” Ren made a thumbs up and Ira pulled his head back inside and closed the window. He latched it shut so it wouldn’t accidentally open again (it had done that lots of times) and grabbed the milk from the fridge. Chugging it while he walked to the bedroom he shared with Ren, he pulled out the knapsack and started to fill it with some clothes and other necessities.
He was going to see Xiao Wei. Obviously. There was really nothing else he could mean when he said goldmine (that said, if it turned out that Xiao Wei wasn’t rich in this world, Ira would have to go on a robbing streak to support them and he was… kind of looking forwards to that). Because of Xiao Wei’s tendency to spoil Ira useless, he hadn’t had the need to rob people in a while. Maybe it was time to change that.
He frowned thoughtfully as he packed and shut his knapsack, throwing it over his shoulder. Then he ambled his way through the narrow, cramped house and out the backdoor. He waved at Ren to get their attention, smiling when Ren looked over. Ren looked at him silently for a moment, brows furrowed in confusion, before their expression cleared and they asked, “Wait, you meant now?”
“Why not?” Ira shrugged. They had rent coming up soon, and Ren couldn’t make enough money in time. They lived in a pretty small town, after all. Opportunity was limited.
Ren scowled and stood, cleaning their dirt-covered hands on their (equally dirt-covered) pants. “I’ll track down some people,” they said and started to walk. When they reached the gate in the fence, they turned and pointed at the kid. “You! Keep planting and you can sleep here tonight!”
The kid nodded fervently and went back to planting.
Ira cast one last look at the garden-field-thing, and left.
Ren stomped over to their nearest neighbor, a Mr. and Mrs. Something. Ira never spoke to them, he always turned off his hearing when he was around them, and so they were under the impression that he was deaf. This time, too, in order not to blow his cover, he turned it off. He adjusted the knapsack as he followed Ren up to their front door.
Ren knocked, hands firm. They crossed their arms over their chest, then, giving Ira a stinky eye and saying something that he couldn’t hear. Presumably, it was complaining about not giving Ren more time to get the money.
Ira shrugged.
Ren stared at him, then threw up their hands and turned back to the door just in time for it to open. A large man stood in only a morning robe, blinking blearily at the sun like it wasn’t almost one in the afternoon. He rose a hand to cover his eyes while he began a quick back and forth rapport with Ren. A rapport that Ren eventually won.
The man disappeared for a minute and returned with a fistful of money. He handed it to Ren, refusing to let go until Ren physically tore them from his grip. Ira snorted, and the man glared at them. But Ren pulled Ira away before it could escalate.
A shame.
He turned on his hearing while Ren was in the midst of ranting “…try not to antagonize him! He’s one of the only people willing to loan you money, Ira! And he’s not actually as bad as you make him out to be, you just don’t like people, so maybe, I don’t know, be nice to him? I promise, he’ll go away faster.” Ren descended into muttering too low for his human-limited hearing to pick up.
Ira knocked his shoulder into theirs, and Ren looked up. They exhaled, and smiled. Finally, they rolled their eyes after Ira knocked their shoulders again. “I do hope your journey goes well, or we’ll need even more money,” Ren commented.
“One way or another, I’ll get money,” Ira said. Ren eyed him suspiciously, but Ira just smiled sunnily at them until they ran out of energy to be suspicious. (It was for the better, Ira had plenty of energy to keep going. Ren couldn’t win thisbattle.)
With the money in hand, they walked to the train-station. The ticket counter was dingy, paint chipping and a cloud of smoke perpetually leaving it as the person behind the counter smoked to their death. Ira used up all the money to pay for his ticket, and watched with a pout as the teller took the money. It wasn’t his money, granted, but it still hurt to see it leave so soon. They could have really been something! They could have gone all the way together!
By the tracks, Ren stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Are you sure you want to do this? We can still demand a refund,” they said, looking with searching eyes at him.
“I’m sure,” Ira said. He smiled at them, patting them on their shoulder as they had once patted his. “Don’t worry. The goldmine I’m talking about will give me all the money he has, as long as I stay with him.”
Ren’s eyebrows twitched. “That’s not a good thing. You get that that’s not a good thing, right? You shouldn’t be devaluing yourself like that.”
“He’s rich as fuck, I’m valuing myself very highly here,” Ira crossed his arms and glared at Ren. “And… ahh, you confuse me!” He stepped back from Ren and snapped, “I meant that he loves me so he’ll give me anything I ask. It’s not a chore or imposition, I’m just visiting my fiancé and asking him to fork over some money for rent, okay. Don’t turn this into gross sex stuff, I don’t even want to,” disgusted shiver, “hear about that!”
Ren waited for Ira to tire himself out before they rose an eyebrow and drawled, “Fiancé? Why haven’t I heard about this before?”
“You never asked,” Ira snapped, still angry.
Ren maintained a severe expression until finally, they relaxed and grinned at him. “I wasn’t talking about gross sex stuff, I just wanted to point out that giving your attention to somebody solely when they give you money is not conducive to a good and healthy relationship. But as long as you’re happy, I’m not going to interfere. I know you have an, ah, different worldview from me.”
Ira uncrossed his arms. The anger left him so suddenly that he was feeling a little bereft and he nodded, said, “Good that we’re agreed,” without knowing what they’d agreed on, and nodded again. Ren bumped their shoulders together and Ira, after a moment of staring into thin air, rolled his eyes.
“Good luck,” Ren said when the train pulled in.
Ira tossed his head arrogantly and retorted, with a relaxed wave, “Don’t need it.”
A/N: it’s back!!! (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)
The 50 patrons goal is still up! Help unlock Silas’ true history by joining me on Patreon! In addition, there are a bunch of new Patreon exclusive novels now~ (including one I just started writing, titled Every Day, I’m Pretending to be an NPC!)
Welcome back !! ❤
Happy to see you there because that means you feel better !
Welcome back! :3
How was your break?
It was great! 😊
Welcome back!! And thanks for the chapter~
Ira basically has a sugar daddy 😝
😂
Yay! I hope you enjoyed your break! Happy to see this come back 😁
Nice