"Anything... whatever I want..."
Upon hearing those words, Firefly couldn't help but imagine Clara beneath her... and swallowed hard.
An involuntary heat spread through her entire body.
"Clara, what... what would you like to eat?"
"Mmm... let me think." Clara rolled her eyes upward, a finger resting beside her lips, putting on an air of serious contemplation.
Firefly: (´﹃`)
Taking in Clara's expression, Firefly felt her heart instantly melt.
How could there possibly be a creature as adorable as Clara in this world?
At the same time, Firefly's heart was flooded with self-reproach.
What was wrong with her just now? How could she have entertained such blasphemous, defiling thoughts about this little angel...
"Big Sister Firefly, I want to eat the great fish from the North Sea, the giant shrimp from the Xianzhou, all sorts of exotic delicacies from mountain and sea!"
"And I want the limited-edition cake from the Interastral Peace Corporation!"
"Ah, that..."
Listening to Clara's list, Firefly felt a wave of helplessness.
She only had thirty thousand credits. For a normal meal, that would be enough for a feast.
But not a single thing Clara mentioned cost less than five million credits...
[Credits to real-world currency roughly 1:100(Yuan), give or take.] (T/N: Idk where author got this number is from)
Especially that limited-edition Interastral Peace Corporation cake.
Its price tag was a staggering twenty million...
"Clara... I..."
Firefly really couldn't bear to refuse such an adorable Clara, but she simply didn't have that many credits...
"Big Sister Firefly~ Can't you?"
Clara's "innocent" eyes fixed on Firefly, as if she'd burst into tears the moment Firefly said no.
Seeing Clara's expression, the words Firefly was about to say died in her throat.
"It's not that I can't... it's just... I don't have the money..."
Firefly desperately wanted to agree and take Clara to taste the universe's finest delicacies.
But remembering the cold, hard reality of the thirty thousand credits in her wallet, Firefly could only silently shed tears of poverty.
"If you don't have money, you can borrow some. Then you'll have money, right? Big Sister Firefly~"
Firefly: ?
Just as Firefly was mourning her balance in silence, Clara's utterly "guileless" voice chimed in.
"Little Clara, borrowed money has to be paid back."
"And borrowing money seems like a bad habit too."
"So we should..."
"Big Sister Firefly, which is more important, money or me?"
Clara refused to listen, firing back with a question of her own.
"Of course you're more important, Clara!"
Firefly answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Then why won't you give up your money for my sake?"
"I..."
Firefly fell silent. If she had the money, she wouldn't hesitate for a second to spend it all.
But she really didn't have any...
Borrowing money... that just didn't seem right...
"Big Sister Firefly, just think about it."
Clara spread her hands, a "pure" smile blooming on her face.
"You may have lost your money, but you still have me."
"I can absolutely become your most treasured possession."
"Right?"
"Um..."
Listening to Clara's reasoning, Firefly thought it made perfect sense.
She could go without food and drink herself. And if she was going without, what was she saving the money for?
Of course, it was to treat Clara to something nice.
Now Clara wanted to eat delicious food, and she couldn't afford it.
The only option was to borrow!
After borrowing the money and treating Clara to what she wanted, she'd just work like crazy to earn it back!
But...
Firefly thought of a very important problem.
"Well... Clara."
"You know this too, as someone without proper papers, I can't borrow money at all..."
Firefly's tone couldn't help but turn dejected as she spoke.
Here she was, always talking about doing things for Clara, yet she couldn't even afford a single meal...
"I have money, you know. You could always borrow from me, Big Sister Firefly."
Firefly: ?
"What do you mean?"
A giant question mark seemed to pop up above Firefly's confused head.
How was it that she understood every single word Clara said, but when strung together, they made no sense?
She wanted to treat Clara to a meal, but had no money, so she'd borrow from Clara.
Use Clara's money to treat Clara to a meal.
Mmm...
Firefly felt her brain was about to short-circuit.
Why couldn't a situation like this be solved by just setting the seas ablaze...
"I mean exactly what I said." Clara tilted her head, putting on an expression that wondered why Big Sister Firefly would ask such a question.
"Little Clara has money."
"Big Sister Firefly needs money urgently right now, so little Clara can lend it to you."
"Then Big Sister Firefly can use the money little Clara lent you to treat me to the great fish from the North Sea, the giant shrimp from the Xianzhou."
"And the limited-edition cake from the Interastral Peace Corporation."
"And then~"
"Big Sister Firefly can work hard to pay me back."
Clara beamed a beatific smile, as if everything was as wonderfully simple as she described.
Well... things were wonderful for Clara. The other party, though...
"Mmm..."
Firefly felt Clara's logic was impeccable, yet she also had a nagging feeling that something was off.
But she couldn't quite put her finger on what...
Ah, forget it. If she couldn't figure out what was wrong, then nothing was wrong! o(￣▽￣)ブ
Instantly, Firefly's face filled with solemn determination as she addressed Clara gravely:
"Clara, please lend me some money!"
"Of course."
Watching Firefly slowly step into the trap she'd laid, the smile on Clara's face grew wider and wider.
"How much would you like to borrow, Big Sister Firefly?"
"I want, um..."
Firefly was about to ask for thirty million credits, which would just cover all of Clara's requests.
But then she remembered that Clara probably didn't have much money either... Firefly hesitated.
Knowing what was worrying Firefly, Clara waved a hand grandly, speaking with great magnanimity.
"Don't worry, no matter how much you want to borrow, little Clara can provide~"
"Then... thirty million?" Firefly watched Clara's expression closely, ready to change 'thirty million' to 'three thousand' at the slightest sign of distress or difficulty.
"Of course." Clara nodded, took out her phone, and transferred thirty million credits into Firefly's account.
[A brief explanation: How can a Stellaron Hunter without proper papers use software developed by the Interastral Peace Corporation? Why, it's all thanks to the tampering of our top-tier hacker, Miss Silver Wolf, of course~~]
Hearing the notification from her phone, Firefly opened it and stared blankly for a moment at the thirty million now in her account.
This was probably the most money she'd ever see in her life...
But she quickly snapped out of it. This money was for treating little Clara to a meal—she couldn't squander it!
"Little Clara, I have money now! I'll treat you to a meal!"
"Okay then~"
Looking at Firefly, who remained completely oblivious to the severity of her situation, Clara revealed an exceedingly "sweet" smile.
Big Sister Firefly~ You're already halfway into the abyss, you know~
…
I have completed the author to TL pipeline, 2 chapters per day. 150+ chapters in advance on patreon.
patreon.com/intraneer
Give power stones please I survive solely off of number go up.