"So?"
The very moment I stepped into the backroom of Claire's shop, she was already standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes giving me an expecting look.
"So?" she asked again as I stood agape in silence, "just what kind of insane idea did you get this time?"
I looked at the confrontational stance of the girl for a moment before breathing out a sigh and shaking my head.
"What makes you think I've got one?" I asked, crossing my arms over my own chest as I copied Claire's pose.
In response to my words, she leaned her head over her left arm and gave me a look as if she was staring at some sort of idiot.
"Because you were too busy checking out the wares in my shop for it to be a mere passing curiosity," she ended up answering, as if not to drag this needless confrontation any longer.
Then, Claire shook her head... Only to then raise her hands and slap her cheeks with them.
"Now, putting that aside and to get things moving before I get another wave of customers..." Claire nearly groaned when she spoke about the crucial part of her job, serving others, "what's your decision?"
For a second she stared at me with an expecting look on her face, only to then roll her eyes before leaning her head over her other arm.
"That's why you came here, right?" she suggested. "To give me your answer, right?"
For just a little longer, I pursed my lips and stared at her in silence.
"Well..." I hesitated for but a second, merely acting my hesitation out as I'd long since come to a decision. "Well yes, but actually no."
"You have the answer but you don't have it?" Claire squinted her eyes as a look of doubt appeared on her nicely expressive face.
"Ah, my bad," I quickly reflected on myself as I shook my head. "Yes, I'm going to pick you, but no, I'm not going to fully deny your father either. That's why rather than being here to give you an answer, I'm here to schedule a meeting with your father and..."
This time I hesitated for real.
"A meeting with both your father and you, so we can discuss making the deal together."
This time, Claire didn't make any face, making it quite the challenge to read her mood and thus reaction to my response that she clearly waited for.
"A meeting with father, huh?" she muttered as she shook her head, only to suddenly bring it to a halt and raise her chin, flashing a playful smirk as she grinned at me, "what, are you going to ask him for my hand or something?"
This time it was my turn to lean my head over my shoulder, cross my arms over my chest, and flash Claire with a small, cheeky smile.
"I mean, the trail you gave me back at my place surely made your hand and thus companionship quite desirable..." I then shook my head, "but I'm sorry. I am a man of god and I don't know you well enough to further engage in acts like that."
At first, Claire was smirking. But as I kept going, her smile grew weary, dimmed out only to turn into a rather peculiar expression as my response came to an end.
"What is it that you want to discuss with my father, then?" Claire, her mood clearly dampened, asked.
"The details of the deal I want to make with the two of you. Because while I would much rather just work with you and have absolutely no strings attached..."
The way I left the latter part of my sentence to hang to dry was enough to tell the girl everything she needed to know.
"But you cannot go without a proper backer now that a part of your abilities came to light because of that unfortunate stream?" she suggested as if to prove she already knew what worries I was troubled with.
"That's a part of it, yes," I nodded my head, "but there's also the topic of me knowing pretty much nothing about cultivation, forcing me to seek proper help in that regard. That also connects to my lack of knowledge of what cultivators would desire, making it hard to figure out what I should try crafting next. Then, ultimately, there's still the matter of funding..."
Claire raised her eyebrow while moving her arms back to the top of her chest where she locked them together.
"What, am I not paying you enough?" she asked, her tone indicating I've now stepped into the muddy waters through which I had to step really, really carefully.
And so...
"Yes," I nodded my head as I ignored my own sense of preservation for the sake of my... well, longtime preservation.
The topic of money was something that would come up sooner or later anyway, so I was well within my right and natural reason to get it out of the way BEFORE making the deal as opposed to trying to arrange it AFTER the deal was done and shaken upon.
"You see when going around the shop, I've found quite the number of parts that I might possibly need for the next thing I want to craft. Whether or not my product will sell, however, is one big unknown. And with all the bills I have left to pay and how I'm doing all this crafting instead of going to my part-time work..."
Claire bit down on her lower lip, a tragic sight for me who already felt the softness of those lips directly on the skin of my neck before. It was like watching someone take a precious piece of art... and cut it to pieces without even realizing the loss they were inflicting upon humanity as a whole by doing so!
"How much do you need, then?" Claire ended up asking, looking at me with... strangely honest curiosity.
It was as if...
'Wait, don't tell me...' I nearly froze when a sudden idea struck me... Or rather when an array of random points I've noticed well in advance have all now connected into a clear picture.
'Isn't she just a spoiled young lady who knows pretty much nothing of the actual cost of living for a normal person?'
I gulped my saliva down.
"Let me give you a run-down," I said before breathing a long sigh. "Just my rent alone amounts to nearly two thousand Esecs per month, all bills and fees included. Then the costs of food, transportation, occasional medicine... Let's round it up to another thousand. That makes it three big ones just to live in..." a grimace appeared on my face as soon as I thought back to the conditions I was living in.
"Just to live in the cage I call my home, eat the most basic and efficient foods, and have little to no money on any sort of leisure. I now also have to pay for the loan I took before coming to your store... And that's all before ever mentioning the costs of materials and tools I need to craft stuff!"
I wasn't exaggerating here. Just by running down the list of things I found potentially useful to the project taking root in my mind, the total cost without any discounts would amount to a measly... seventy-three thousand spiritual coins.
To say it again, the cost of cultivation materials alone for my project amounted to pretty much three years' worth of sustenance! That was all before including the cost of other parts, tools I might need to buy, increased bills once I started to use said tools, and ultimately the cost of my labor.
With all of that in mind, the half a million that Claire's father offered in his first breath certainly sounded far more exciting and reasonable than anything the girl wanted... or could offer!
"Let's ignore the numbers for a moment and speak needs," Claire requested, clearly listening in to my points only to then instantly turn them on their head. "You need a place to stay, stuff to eat, maybe reasonable allowance for personal affairs, and then all the materials and tools that might be necessary for your crafting, right?"
The girl listed out before putting a bright yet strangely cheeky smile on her face.
"You forgot about help with my cultivation, both theoretical and practical, oversight over my creative process to determine projects that can actually sell and projects I can complete merely for training purposes, some level of protection now that parts of my abilities leaked out..."
I opted not to make the list any longer, even if there was a countless number of further things that had to be discussed.
There was no need for me to make my position look any harder to satisfy, after all!
"Well then, get the hell out of my shop, then," Clarie called me out, only to reach out and stuff a piece of paper in my breast pocket.
"This is my number. Call it sometime tomorrow, and I should have the meeting with my father arranged," she informed only to leave me with an extreme sense of anxiety sourcing directly to the wicked grin that emerged on her face.
"I think I might have just the right solution for what you, I, and my father all need!"