Chapter 33 - Light and Darkness (4)
"Ribbit ribbit frog."
I didn't know how to react, so I just laughed.
But among the words just spoken, there was something serious I couldn't simply overlook.
Like, why was the fact that his mother liked frogs in the past tense...?
Phew.
I don't know.
It's not an immediate important issue, so I'll just pretend not to notice.
"Hehe! Anyway, I never thought I'd meet someone else who knows about the sponge frog besides me. As expected, the main family is different. Their information is incredibly fast. No, it's good that it's fast, young master. Hehe. Excuse me. I'm so happy to meet someone who knows about sponge frogs. Wow, as expected, a young master of one of the Eight Great Families is different!"
"We're in the same class. It's fine, just speak casually."
"Really? Then I will. Hehe."
Froggy's eyes widened, and he smiled contentedly.
"More than that, I didn't expect the poison frog to be deployed already. Did a good opportunity just come up, so they tried it right away? Ah, too bad. I should have gone and seen the poison frog in action... Oh? Oh?"
"Why?"
"That... no, sorry."
Then he suddenly deflated, bowing his head and apologizing.
"I'm sorry. I got too carried away. This isn't something to get excited about, but I just couldn't help myself... Did I upset you? I'm sorry. What happened to the Granvelle family is truly regrettable."
So that's what it was about.
Actually, I don't get upset over things like this.
Anyway, even if he seemed eccentric, his personality wasn't completely broken.
"It's okay. You probably don't have any ill will towards me."
"Ill will? Never!"
Froggy waved his hands as if it were absurd.
"Absolutely not. Who would ever have ill will towards you? Oh, is it because of Giel? That's just his family being weirdly pushy... Oops, I misspoke again. I don't want to get caught in the middle... Did you went to his place?"
"He didn't even come to school."
"Phew. That's a relief."
Froggy looked around and patted his chest.
"I need to be careful with my words. Anyway, our house is just an ordinary corner store, so we don't have time to think about other things. Anyway, it's all because the Poison King family is bad. The Poison King family is the problem. Right?"
"Right. The Poison King family is always the problem."
"In that sense, the poison frog seems really important. Because it can deal with the attacks of those evil Poison King family guys. The more there are, the better. Anyway, the frogs that were smuggled this time have appeared on the market..."
"Smuggled?"
"Oops, I made another mistake."
Froggy covered his mouth with both hands and looked around nervously.
"It's... rather than smuggled, it was brought in through a different route... It would be troublesome if the story spread too far up. Can you keep it a secret?"
"Of course."
"Really?"
"The Granvelle family always keeps its promises. That's our family motto."
"Oh, that's a good family motto."
Of course, a family motto is a good thing.
Especially a brand new, just-made family motto is even better.
"Actually, there's a black market that only wholesale dealers know about."
"A black market? There's such a thing?"
"Yeah. It's a secret. A secret everyone knows but keeps quiet about."
"The poison frog appeared there?"
"Yeah. Maybe because the rumors haven't spread much yet, it wasn't super expensive. Still, it's a bit tight to buy it with just my money."
That's why he had spread out money on his desk and was counting it endlessly.
But buying a poison frog?
Why?
"What are you going to do if you buy it? Are you going to start a poison purification business?"
"No. For now, I just want to raise it."
"Huh?"
"I like frogs. Big frogs are even better. And poison frogs get really big, right?"
Froggy spread his arms wide and cheered.
"Wow! Isn't that the best? I never thought such an animal existed in the world. And they even absorb poison and are said to be well-behaved. Of course, if I raise them well and they breed, I could do other businesses later. But more than that, I want to raise it because it's cute. What do you think? You saw it yourself, didn't you? Isn't the poison frog cute?"
"Yeah..."
Is that so?
I don't know, for one.
When I think of frogs, bad memories come to mind first.
Actually, isn't it stranger to think a giant frog is cute?
Human tastes are... No, come to think of it, the purification squad people in the village also had quite positive reviews.
Perhaps this creature, the poison frog, has a magical power to attract people.
"So, why me? What do you need?"
After all that circling, we were back to square one.
It seemed we had established some common ground, so I should get straight to the point.
"You know about the inter-class competition the day after tomorrow, right? Do you want to participate? We need a player for the aura event."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You."
"Why me? If it's aura, then..."
Froggy sharply turned his head.
There was a student still hunched over sleeping at his desk, long after the lecture had ended.
"Isn't he there?"
"...Doffenhauser?"
"Yeah. Look at her, aura is just gushing out of her body even while she's sleeping. They say her aura is 7-star?"
It didn't look like much to my eyes... Anyway, the issue with Eunice Doffenhauser was already concluded, so I casually changed the subject.
"Right. She's amazing. But Miss Doffenhauser seems to be a bit... difficult to talk to."
"Talk?"
"Like, she's the type who isn't good at conversation..."
"Ah! Right. She does seem that way."
Froggy nodded as if he understood.
"She's always sleeping or just looking out the window. And she doesn't seem to listen to lectures at all."
"So, could you do us a favor this time? Besides Doffenhauser, your aura is the highest in Class B."
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"No way? Craven or Loca are probably higher than me?"
It was true. I felt my words catch in my throat for a moment and I fell silent. How did he know that without even looking at the student roster? Do aura users just naturally sense the power difference among themselves?
What a dirty world. To think they were having secret communications among themselves in a place I didn't know.
"Hoo..."
"Huh? What's wrong? Why the sigh?"
"...Giel Craven has the flu. Redin Loca is an unexcused absence. So it's just you. So, would you participate? If it's okay, you can come to our dorm later and we can train together."
"Train at the dorm?"
"Yeah, the dorm is empty. No one's watching, so you can train comfortably."
"The dorm can be empty? Even our dorm is bustling with seniors... Is it the new dorm rumored to be built on Ghost Mountain?"
"That's right. That's the one."
"Wow. I only heard rumors, but it was real. But I'm busy today. I have to go to the black market to see the frogs I mentioned earlier. If I don't buy them today, I don't know when they'll be available again. So... Oh? Oh?"
Startled by something, Froggy blinked several times and then began to clear his throat.
"Ahem, ahem, ahemmm."
"..."
"That poison frog I mentioned. Actually, I'm a bit short on money to buy it, you see?"
"Yeah. You just said that."
"Did I say that? Anyway, that's one thing, and it'll also be a problem if I buy it. I need to find a place to raise it. So, could you help me? With buying and raising the frog."
I knew this was coming the moment he started clearing his throat.
Froggy suddenly hugged my arm like a frog, pleading.
"Huh? Please. I'm begging you."
"That..."
"The Graveyard Mountain is the perfect place. No one will notice. There's also a stream flowing there, right? If we divert it well, couldn't we make a pond? A local expert said that's what you need to raise them well. But no matter how I think about it, a pond in our backyard is impossible. I don't even know if my dad would allow it. So please... Huh? Huh?"
The frog was expensive.
The auction started at 1,000 sil and sold for 1,100 sil.
We barely managed to buy it with Froggy's entire fortune of 650 sil, plus my precious 450 sil.
This expenditure was unexpected.
To think I'd be helping someone buy a pet with a large sum of money when I'm eating pickled potatoes for meals.
But Froggy's expression, as he looked at the poison frog, was so earnest.
He also said he'd pay me back with interest when he got money later, so all I could do was wait.
"Wait, so your entire fortune was 500 sil? And that was congratulatory money you got from winning the succession match recently?"
"Yeah. Now I only have 50 sil left."
"...Sorry, I'll pay you back as soon as possible. Ahem, but it's heavier than I thought, isn't it? I heard it grows even bigger, is that true?"
"I don't know. Are you tired?"
"No. Not at all."
Despite sweating profusely, he grinned widely, so happy.
It was late summer now.
Pulling the giant frog in a cart all the way to the dorm was a chore, and creating a place to raise the frog once we arrived at the dorm was another. Froggy tried to dig a pond near the dorm, but it was impossible to draw water from the nearby stream.
Simply digging a side channel in the stream didn't mean the water would flow.
After several attempts, we finally had to give up.
Instead, since there was a well in the dorm, we decided to pump water from there to create a small puddle.
So, late in the evening, as the sun had set, we finally managed to put the frog into the completed puddle.
Ribbit ribbit.
"Woohoo!"
Froggy cheered excitedly.
"It's complete, Antoarica! You finally have a new home!"
"What?"
Phil, who had helped dig the puddle, looked back at Froggy.
"Antoarica? Is that the frog's name? What kind of name is that...?"
"Isn't it elegant? It's my deceased mother's name. My mother loved frogs, so I decided to name my first frog after her."
"...That's a nice name. But can we just leave it like this? Will it not escape?"
"No. If you feed it well, it barely moves. We dug the puddle quite deep, so it should be fine, right?"
"It's a frog, what about jumping?"
"It can't. Because it's so big."
"Really? Its hind leg muscles are no joke..."
After staring at the frog for a while, Phil snorted and backed away.
"Well, it's none of my business. Anyway, I helped dig the pit, so you're buying me a meal at the Golden Garden later, right?"
"Of course. Besides a meal, I'll give you daily wages too. Your name was Phil, right? Phil Lucavre?"
"My real name is Phil Digi. Don't worry about daily wages."
"Really? But Digi? As in, Digi Orphanage?"
Phil nodded.
And before Froggy could say anything, he laid down the law.
"Thank you for all your help so far. The director is always grateful. And so am I. So don't worry about daily wages. Just buy me a meal later. But Ray? What should we do with the dirt we dug out here?"
"Let's spread it over there," I said, pointing to the dorm's front yard.
"So we don't get hurt as much during training. Not today, though."
"Why? Let's just finish it all while we're at it?"
"Me too. I can still move."
The aura users still seemed full of energy.
I felt my legs trembling and immediately shook my head.
"It's fine, let's do it later. The inter-class competition is the day after tomorrow, after all..."
"Leave it to me!"
Suddenly, Froggy raised both hands and shouted.
"I'll go out there and beat everyone! Leave the aura event to me!"
Then he turned his head and pointed at a bundle in the cart.
"So, when I'm not here, could you feed the frog for me? It's dried fish. They say you only need to give it twice a day."
"..."
"I'll pay you too. How about 5 sil a day? Huh? You just need to throw ten fish into the puddle once a day."
"You said twice a day?"
"Ah, I'll come and feed it once myself."
"You'll come here every day?"
"Of course. I'll come and see it every day."
"I don't mind, but... you know you owe me money, right?"
"Of course. I know. I'll pay you back everything before the end of next month. Believe it or not, I'm the son of the Plank Merchant Guild. I have plenty of sources of money. Oh, and."
Froggy looked around the darkened dorm and asked, "Aren't you lonely being here by yourself?"
"Huh?"
"So, I'll move into this dorm. Until then, please feed the frog for me, and occasionally pour some water for it. When I come, I'll manage it myself. How about it? Good, right? Ribbit ribbit frog?"
"What?"
Phil, who had been silent, suddenly glared at him with a bewildered expression.
"Hah, really. How childish. Are you a kid? Even my youngest sibling wouldn't do something like that."
"Huh? Ugh, sorry."
Froggy bowed his head with a good-natured smile.
"That's something my mom used to say all the time... it just comes out without me realizing it. I'm sorry. Hehe..."
And then silence fell.
It was a very long silence.
It was indeed the right choice not to challenge him on this issue in the classroom earlier.
Even so, it eventually exploded.
The silence was broken by the frog in the puddle.
Ribbit.
Ribbit.
Ribbit ribbit...