The next morning.
I woke early and sat down at my desk.
I wrote a letter.
The recipient was Boris of Waterhorn.
---
To Boris.
I’m thinking of sending a cat beastfolk child your way.
Her name is Pina.
She looks young, but she’s quick on her feet and sharp.
I know being beastfolk could be an obstacle,
but could you find her a place somewhere in Waterhorn Harbor?
She’s a child with no hometown or family left to return to.
If you help her get settled,
I’ll treat you big next time.
Klaus.
---
I folded the letter and put it in an envelope.
Then I infused mana into the carrier pigeon
and sent it flying out the window.
It would probably arrive by tomorrow at the latest.
I leaned back in my chair.
I didn’t think Boris would refuse the request.
Waterhorn was a port town, after all.
Ships came and went, cargo was carried, fish were cleaned.
It was a place that was always short on hands.
Besides, unlike the people in the capital,
sailors rarely discriminated just because someone was of a different race.
It was a characteristic of sailors to believe everyone was equal before the waves.
Well… I didn’t know whether Pina could endure harbor work.
Even if she didn’t take on heavy labor,
the people there were rough.
But this was the best I could do for her right now.
After that, it would be up to Pina.
* * *
I was preparing breakfast when Pina came down to the first floor.
Her eyes were still swollen.
She looked terribly exhausted.
“Sit.”
Pina sat down.
Aris, who was coming down the stairs, spotted Pina and trotted over.
“Pina~ Did you get any sleep last night?”
“…A little.”
“You get tired when you cry a lot~ I had times like that too. Though it doesn’t matter now that I’m dead.”
Pina stared at Aris in surprise.
“…Dead?”
Aris blinked for a moment.
“Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you. I’m actually not alive. I’m a ghost.”
“What? A ghost…? Ah… um… what?”
“I drowned in a lake and died. Look, if you look closely at my wet hair, it’s kind of strange. It’s always wet.”
Aris flicked away a drop of water that fell from her hair with her finger.
The water droplet landed right on Pina’s face,
then faded away.
Pina touched her own face.
“…It disappeared.”
“Yeah, the water soaking me is part of me too.”
“No, more importantly…”
Pina looked Aris up and down all over again.
Her hair, her face, her clothes.
She wore an expression that said she didn’t understand at all.
“Then you’ve been a ghost this whole time?”
“Yep~ That’s right. You didn’t know?”
“From the beginning?”
“Yep, yep!”
“How do you eat? You’re a ghost. No, and I could touch you, and you were even warm?!”
I, who had been watching the two of them, cut in.
“I’m forcibly maintaining her physical form with magic. She tried to eat a free meal and pass on, but I held her back.”
Pina stared at Aris for a while.
Her ears slowly tilted forward.
“I-I don’t really understand… but I think I get that it’s something amazing.”
Well, it was normal to be shocked when first finding out about Aris’s condition.
The current Aris hardly seemed like a ghost unless someone deliberately told you.
But thanks to that, Pina seemed to perk up naturally.
She could have been grieving with yesterday’s events still lingering in her head,
but it seemed Aris bringing up the ghost story had startled those thoughts right out of her.
Wait, could Aris have… done that on purpose?
No… there’s no way that gluttonous strip of wet seaweed could think that deeply.
I thought as I watched Pina poke Aris with her finger.
* * *
A few days later.
A reply arrived from Boris of Waterhorn.
Its contents were simple and clear.
---
Beastfolk? What’s the big deal?
Among the sailors here, we’ve even got dwarves and lizardmen.
As long as she’s honest and decent, there’s no problem.
I just need to introduce her to somewhere to sleep and somewhere to work, right?
Send her over for now.
---
As expected.
I folded the letter, put it in the drawer, and came out into the hall.
Pina was sitting side by side with Aris, whispering about something.
“Pina.”
I spoke to Pina, who raised her head.
“I asked a friend of mine to prepare a place for you to stay. The morning after tomorrow, you can take a carriage to Waterhorn.”
Pina did not answer.
She glanced at Aris, then looked back at me.
“A place… for me to stay?”
“You can’t keep living here forever. You need to find your own life too.”
She seemed hesitant.
Aris, who had been listening beside her, spoke to me.
“Eh, Boss~! Are you really going to send Pina away? Can’t she just stay here? She can work here as an employee like me!”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t.
I was even using a ghost as an employee, so there was no reason I couldn’t use a cat beastfolk.
But that was only if this were a bustling restaurant full of people.
In my restaurant as it was now, there was absolutely no need for two employees.
As a ghost without a real body, Aris’s wages were basically replaced by me feeding her,
but if I hired Pina, a living beastfolk, I would have to pay her properly.
Hiring Pina as a restaurant employee would essentially be one-sided charity.
On top of that, only a few days ago, bear beastfolk had come all the way to the restaurant looking for Pina.
In this situation, there was even less reason to keep Pina at this restaurant.
This was a restaurant, not a shelter for vagrants.
I had treated the injured Pina and fed her for free.
On top of that, considering that she had nowhere to go, I had made a place for her.
Doing any more than this would not be good for Pina’s life either.
“Your situation is different from hers. Pina still has a lot of life left to live. She needs to get settled so she can live her own life again. You know it too. The most useless position in this restaurant is employee.”
I said it to Aris, who was looking at Pina with eyes dripping with regret.
“Uu… Then are you saying I’m useless too?”
“You’re cost-effective.”
“Huh? What does cost-effective mean, Boss?”
“Anyway.”
Lightly ignoring Aris, who kept chattering on,
I spoke to Pina again.
“He’s a friend named Boris, and he’s a good guy you met not long ago too. Since he’s a sailor, he’s a bit rough, but that also means he doesn’t have much prejudice. If you go there and work hard at whatever you do, you’ll be able to settle down well enough.”
Pina slowly nodded.
I raised one hand and carefully stroked Pina’s head.
Her fluffy ears flattened in the direction I brushed them.
It felt like petting a big golden retriever.
“Maybe it was fate that you collapsed in front of my restaurant, of all places. This is as far as I can help you. From here on, you need to stand back up with your own strength. You can come visit again later.”
Nod, nod.
Pina nodded again.
Her long cat tail was gently sweeping the floor.
Beside Pina, Aris fidgeted with her fingers before asking.
“Th-then… we can at least say goodbye before she goes, right? You said it was in two days? Can I share a bed with Pina until then?”
“Starting today, both of you sleep on the first floor. I’ll lay out blankets for you. Pina, you’ve recovered to some extent too.”
“Ah.”
“Why are you trying to use my bed like it’s a given?”
Pina and Aris looked at each other.
The two silently met each other’s eyes for a moment,
then, as if by promise, laughed softly at the same time.
Like best friends who had known each other for a long time.
* * *
Two days later.
Today was the day the carriage to Waterhorn would come to the crossroads near the restaurant.
Before it was time for the carriage,
I quietly made a bundle.
I packed things she could eat easily on the road.
Hard-baked bread.
Dried fruit.
A few pieces of fish that had been salted and grilled.
I wrapped the snacks carefully in a cloth,
and separately put coins into a leather pouch.
Ten thousand lira.
Enough to eat and drink at an inn for about two or three days.
When Pina came down to the first floor, I handed them to her.
Pina took the bundles and looked up at me.
“What… is this?”
“Take it with you just in case. You’ll get hungry on the way too.”
Pina opened the leather pouch slightly.
After confirming there were coins inside,
she was silent for a moment.
“Um… I should give this back…”
“Use it when you need it. In human society, you can’t do anything without money.”
“But…”
“Come back later and pay me double.”
Pina pressed her lips shut.
After a beat, she bowed her head.
“…Thank you.”
It was about time for the carriage to arrive.
If she walked about twenty minutes from here, she would reach the road where she could board the carriage.
At the door, Aris stood facing Pina.
Aris took one of Pina’s hands in both of hers.
“Pina.”
“Yes.”
“Make sure you eat properly. Okay?”
“I will.”
“Contact us if things get hard.”
“…I will.”
“Once you get settled, you have to come visit again.”
“…I will.”
Aris looked like she still had more to say.
But she closed her mouth.
Pina looked at Aris like that, then took one step forward.
And quietly hugged Aris.
Aris froze on the spot.
Her arms slowly rose.
“…See you again, Aris.”
“…Yeah. See you again.”
Pina pulled away from Aris and turned her gaze to me.
“Boss.”
“Yeah.”
Pina opened her mouth for a moment, closed it, then opened it again.
“Thank you so much.”
“I meant it when I said to pay me back double.”
“Yes, I’ll really come back to repay you.”
Pina picked up the bundle I had given her and left the restaurant.
Aris waved from the doorway.
I stood behind her, watching Pina grow distant.
At the corner of the crossroads, Pina looked back once.
Her golden eyes turned toward us.
Then her ears fluttered once.
Aris waved even harder.
I nodded once.
Pina faced forward again.
Then she turned the corner and disappeared.
Aris stood there for a while.
“…Boss.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll be able to meet her again, right?”
I looked at Aris.
Tears had gathered in Aris’s eyes, though I couldn’t tell whether they were tears or just there because she was a drowned ghost.
“Yeah. We’ll be able to see her again.”
Aris quietly nodded and went inside.
I closed the door.
The inside of the restaurant grew quiet again.