Chapter 5 : Chloe’s Dream

Chloe has a job selecting and picking good quality lavender.

It would then be processed into jam, and sold in the town governed by Baron Hansen.

Lavender was a product with a high profit margin among the products that the Atwood Family sold.

Selecting only good quality lavender was very important because no one would buy poor quality lavender jam.

Chloe silently roamed the lavender field.

She selected and picked only the highest quality ones.

Chloe could distinguish the quality of the lavender, but for Mylia, they all look the same.

（Chloe onee-chan… She's really talented for a ten-year-old child. I remember when I was ten, I always made meals for my good-for-nothing father in my previous life. At that time, he always told me to do everything. I always worked hard for him, but he didn't even buy me a notebook for school. I gathered newspaper pages with lots of white areas, and made a notebook with that… Ahh, let's forget those awful memories. More importantly, I'm glad that someone like Chloe onee-chan is my older sister. She's still ten years old, but she's so thoughtful and mature. Also, she's a genius. Perhaps this complicated family environment might have accelerated Chloe onee-chan's maturity.）

Watching Chloe working hard picking lavender made Mylia want to help.

However, all she could do was just hold a basket while following Chloe around.

Still, it made Chloe happy.

「Mylia, you know? If I'm able to enroll in the school, I want to study business.」

「Business?」

「Yes. I will make as many connections as I can at school, and I will open shops all over the kingdom so I can sell things anywhere. Finally, I'll make sure people, even the ones who live in remote areas like this, can buy goods at a fair price. Isn't it wonderful?」

「Un! That's a wonderful dream!」

Mylia was impressed by Chloe's big dream.

At the same time, she realized that Chloe would never have had such a dream if she didn't live in a remote village like this.

The only store in the village was a small store selling daily necessities, and it was difficult to obtain goods from another place because the village was located in the westernmost part of the Kingdom of Adrashelm, and it took a month to reach the nearby town, Hamanulle, to exchange goods.

Moreover, to make it to Hamanulle, you have to pass through a road which was in the monster habitat.

You could only pass through the road during the day when the monsters were weakened.

Therefore, people who were not used to traveling would become monsters' snacks for sure.

Baron Hansen, who governed Hamanulle, sent a caravan guarded by knights to sell supplies to the Atwood Family twice a year.

Still, the supplies they provided were not enough because they only came twice a year.

If Baron Hansen wasn't ordered by the kingdom, he would have never bothered to come to the Atwood Family, because actually, he didn't want to risk his knights to go through the road where there were a lot of monsters wandering around.

Ironically, in aristocratic society, "Go to Atwood territory" means "I might lose money and my men, but I have no choice since it's an order."

「Ahaha… I never thought our house is in a suuuper remote area…」

Mylia couldn't help but laugh bitterly after hearing Chloe's explanation about the situation of the Atwood Family.

（Hmm… Escaping this territory by myself seems to be almost impossible. I don't wanna be a monster's snack before I could enjoy my second life in this world…）

「A forest full of monsters covers the area all the way from the south to the west. The east is full of precipitous cliffs, and the north is an isolated area that no one has ever visited… Haha… It's like we are living in an isolated island…」

Saying that, Chloe stared at the lavender field with empty eyes.

Compared to Mylia's house in her previous life, the situation was way harsher.

She only had to walk a few minutes to a convenience store near her house in Japan, but now, it took a month to just go shopping in the nearby town.

Moreover, it would be a dangerous trip that could be life threatening.

Chloe carefully picked the lavender in front of her, held it in front of Mylia and saidー

「There are many children in remote territories who are in trouble like us. Without things, their hearts will become poor. They can't read books and won't be able to know anything about the outside world. They will have neither hopes nor dreams… I want to save those children, but I need a lot of money to do that. That's why I need to learn about business at school first… Umm. Mylia, do you understand what I mean?」

「Un. I can understand somehow.」

「Please keep it a secret, okay? Don't tell our other sisters about my ambition. Especially Robin onee-sama… You know why, don't you?」

Mylia looked at Chloe's eyes and nodded.

Remembering how bad Robin's personality was, Mylia could only imagine the future where Robin would cause nothing but trouble to them if she knew their secret.

「This is a secret between the two of us~」

Chloe smiled happily and dropped the lavender in her hand into the basket Mylia held.

At that momentー

Kanー Kanー Kanー Kanー

A high-pitched sound was heard from the direction of the house.

It was a signal that work was over for the day.

Chloe took the basket from Mylia and smiled at her.

「Let's go home, Mylia. It looks like dinner is early today.」

「Un!」

'Going home with someone.'

Mylia was excited over such a little thing.

When Mylia timidly held Chloe's free hand, Chloe made a surprised face and looked at Mylia's hand.

「…..fufu… a small hand that I want to protect…」

「Hm? Onee-chan, you said something?」

「Nothing. Hold my hand tightly. If you fall and get hurt, I'll be sad.」

「Un!」

Mylia squeezed Chloe's hand.

For some reason, it made Chloe really happy.

「Ufufu~」

「Ehehe~」

They smiled at each other while walking, heading back to their house.

But then Mylia realized something.

She stopped and made a stiff expression.

（Wait… We're going to have dinner, right? That means… the whole family will be gathering in the dining room? So I'll be eating together with the muscle-brained father, the villainess-like divorced older sister, and the… lolicon older brother in law…? OH・MY・GOD! What kind of face should I make!? I have no idea…! No, more importantly, I won't be able to enjoy my meal with those people around!）

Mylia has memories of eating together with her family many times, but it would be the first time since she recalled her previous life's memories.

「What's wrong, Mylia? Let's hurry. If we're late, Father will be mad.」

「U, Un…」

Mylia managed to reply with a smile.

Chloe tilted her head for a second and pulled Mylia's hand, leaving the lavender field.