"You people again?" Estelle frowned. "I already told you I'll repay the money I borrowed from the Confrerie of Cabriere next month. Why are you still hounding me over it?"
Truand crossed his arms and sneered. "And who knows whether you'll just run off before the end of the month? Today, I'm taking back at least half... no, seventy percent!"
"You..." Estelle's expression darkened.
"You owe them money? What happened?" Lora asked in confusion.
Estelle sighed and explained, "Some of the machines broke down a while ago, and the Beaumont Workshop started struggling financially. So I borrowed some money from the Confrerie of Cabriere to stay afloat."
"How long has it been?" Lora asked.
"Only a month! And they've already come here to harass me several times!" Estelle said angrily. "We clearly agreed on two months. I'll be able to repay it next month..."
"Like hell I believe that!" Truand shouted.
Just then, another cheerful voice drifted over from the side.
"Hey, hey. Before you rush off to collect debts, shouldn't you settle your own accounts first? Competing with Northland Bank for business is one thing, but leaving unpaid debts with Northland Bank too... Mind if I cut in line and settle that first?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Lora, Lumine, and Paimon all turned to look.
There stood Childe—Tartaglia, if he was trying to sound respectable—striking a fairly handsome pose. After noticing Lora and Lumine, he smiled and waved.
"Long time no see, Lumine, Paimon... and this one over here."
"Eh? Why are you here, Tartaglia?" Paimon asked in surprise.
"Just handling a little business for Northland Bank. Though I didn't expect to run into you here. Well... actually, I guess it does make sense you'd be here. After all, the person beside you is—"
Before Tartaglia could finish speaking, Lora suddenly closed the distance in a few quick steps and planted her foot directly on the tip of his shoe.
Then she smiled sweetly at him.
"Long time no see, Tartaglia."
As she spoke, she slowly ground her heel against his foot.
Tartaglia's mouth twitched. After some effort, he finally managed to yank his foot free.
"Tartaglia, what's wrong?" From Paimon's angle, she could not see Lora stepping on his foot, so she had no idea why his expression had suddenly changed.
"N-Nothing..." Tartaglia caught the threatening look in Lora's eyes and quickly shook his head with a smile. "Nothing at all."
"It's fine. He and I just haven't seen each other in a while, so we've got a few things to catch up on..." Lora said with a smile before dragging Tartaglia off to the side.
Lowering her voice, she warned him, "If you dare expose my identity, I'll beat you to death!"
"Uh..." Tartaglia looked at Lora waving her fist in front of him and sighed helplessly. "Can we be reasonable here, Miss Lora? Watching you act like this, I honestly can't tell who the real gangster is anymore..."
"At least you're self-aware, kid." Lora glanced at Tartaglia and patted him on the shoulder. "Relax. As long as you help cover up my identity, there'll be something in it for you."
"Then I'm honored." Tartaglia laughed.
After reaching an agreement, the two returned to the still-confused crowd together.
Lora waved her hand. "All right, show's over. Stop crowding around."
"It's time for the Confrerie of Cabriere to repay what they owe," Tartaglia said slowly as he looked toward Truand.
"And put Estelle's debt on Northland Bank's tab," Lora added.
Tartaglia slowly turned to look at her with utter disbelief, but after thinking it over, he realized he was the one who had allowed Lora to freely charge things to Northland Bank in the first place. In the end, he said nothing.
"Then we'll use that to offset part of the Confrerie of Cabriere's debt."
"Really? Thank you so much, Miss Lora!" Estelle looked at Lora in surprise and repeatedly bowed in gratitude.
Lora simply waved it off with a smile, as though it were nothing worth mentioning. After all, she was just securing a little benefit for her own child.
Truand, meanwhile, widened his eyes in shock. "What? Didn't we agree we'd repay it next month? Why is Northland Bank suddenly coming after us now?"
"Eh? I feel like we just heard that exact line somewhere," Paimon said, spreading her hands.
"So you really don't intend to repay the money?" Tartaglia looked at Truand and the others calmly. "Northland Bank does not tolerate unpaid debts. Yours has already been overdue for quite some time."
"Our Guild Master already said the money will definitely be repaid! Just not right now!" Truand shouted.
"Your Guild Master? Mr. Marcel?" Tartaglia chuckled softly. "To be honest, it sounds like he hasn't been doing too well lately himself. So there's a good chance you won't be able to repay it next month either..."
"Marcel? Your Guild Master is Marcel?" Lora, who had been listening quietly from the side, suddenly interrupted.
Truand nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"
Lora cracked her knuckles.
"Nothing. In that case..."
Before she even finished speaking, she was already walking toward Truand and the others.
Truand kept backing away and shouted, "What are you doing?! Back off! Back off! You two, what are you standing around for? Stop her!"
The two thugs behind him rushed forward to block Lora, but how could two ordinary men possibly stand against her?
Lora rewarded each of them with a punch, instantly knocking both of them flat onto the ground.
Then she walked up to Truand and smiled at him.
"Go back and pass a message to your Guild Master for me. Everything he's done in the past will be repaid one by one, whether he's Marcel... or something else."
"Now get lost."
The moment those words left her mouth, even Truand could feel the killing intent radiating from Lora. He immediately scrambled away in terror.
Tartaglia watched the entire scene unfold. Although he had failed to collect the debt, seeing Lora react like this made it obvious there was something much deeper going on, so he wisely chose not to ask questions.
Estelle looked at Lora worriedly. "Um... Miss Lora, private fighting in the Court of Fontaine is supposed to get you put on trial, isn't it...?"
"It's fine. If I break a law, I'll just rewrite it," Lora replied with a casual wave, utterly unconcerned.
At worst, she could just add a clause stating that the Hydro Archon was always innocent.
Tartaglia then said, "Looks like there's nothing left for me to do here, so I'll be going..."
"Wait." Lora suddenly called out to Tartaglia.