TPCF 24

 Chapter 24

Riche casually slung an arm around Anita’s shoulders and led her toward the shooting range. Anita let herself be dragged along without protest—it was too much of a bother to turn back now that they’d already come inside, and there was a good chance that strange man was still lurking somewhere nearby.

As expected, the shooting range was quite large. There was a fence between the range and the university grounds, but on the opposite side, there was nothing but an endless forest.

Now that she looked more closely, it seemed the range used the entire forest next to the university.

“Is she a prospective member?”

“Probably.”

The woman lounging under the large awning looked oddly familiar. While Anita was observing the woman’s curly hair, the woman turned around. Their eyes met at once.

“Anita?”

“…”

It felt like they’d been running into each other a lot lately.

Anita already felt tired just seeing Liliana, but the latter didn’t seem to share that sentiment. For reasons unknown, Liliana looked genuinely delighted to see her.

“Wow, meeting you here again! You’re going to join, right?”

“It’s not decided yet—”

“I believe you will.”

Liliana cut her off cheerfully and extended her hand. Since the handshake was so sudden, Anita had no choice but to take her right hand.

“Good choice. This place runs perfectly under my management.”

“Sorry, but last I checked, I’m the president here,” Riche interjected playfully.

Liliana pulled Anita’s arm, distancing her from Riche.

“You could call her a figurehead. I’m the one really in charge.”

As often happened in crowded or noisy places, a headache began to press in on Anita, and she blinked slowly.

“You’re lucky, Anita. Just now, three applicants came and went. Of course, all three were rejected.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, each had their reasons. One had a terrible reputation—their family was on the verge of bankruptcy because of a gambling-addict father. Another one… just didn’t look good.”

“That’s a valid reason?”

“Of course.”

If the applicant had a truly fatal flaw, Anita could at least pretend to understand. But having a gambling father or lacking good looks wasn’t the applicant’s own fault, was it?

“And the last one… why was that again?”

When Liliana tilted her head, the man standing next to her answered instead.

“They were from a miner’s family.”

“Oh, right. That was it.”

“…”

“Anyway, those kinds of people should just go somewhere that welcomes them. I don’t know why they insist on coming here just to get humiliated.”

Nodding along, Liliana suddenly frowned and released Anita’s arm.

“Wait a sec. Why would a miner be poor? They can keep all the gems they dig up from the mine, can’t they?”

“By that logic, everyone who works at a mint or a bank should be the richest person in the world.”

Liliana scratched her cheek with a strangely serious expression.

“In this forest, whatever animal I hunt belongs to me, right?”

“That’s because you have permission from Count Aberdeen. But for fashion purposes, hunting is forbidden if it’s not for food.”

“…What kind of nonsense is that? I’m planning to make a fox fur scarf!”

“Then wear factory-made faux fur.”

“Oh, come on. If I can’t even hunt, then why bother learning to shoot?”

When Liliana rested her chin on her hand and asked that in a bored tone, Riche’s eyes narrowed.

“No one said you have to shoot only animals.”

“Then what?”

“What’s with you? Doesn’t everyone have at least one person they’d love to just shoot?”

No one responded to that. Anita was more of a pacifist and non-violent type, but just for today, she could think of exactly one person she’d like to pin to a target board.

Before she realized it, Anita unconsciously nodded.

“See? Anita has someone.”

In an instant, every gaze in the shooting range turned toward Anita. Before she could even try to explain herself, Liliana sprang to her feet.

“That’s not me, is it?”

Her tone was deadly serious.

“…Pardon?”

Why on earth would Anita want to shoot Liliana? Yet somehow misinterpreting Anita’s puzzled look, Liliana’s eyebrows drooped in mock sorrow.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow as a grace period.”

“…What?”

What did “grace period” have to do with anything right now?

While Anita was still standing there in a daze, Liliana pulled off her brown leather gloves and headed toward the entrance. Before leaving the range, she turned back to Riche and declared solemnly:

“Don’t let Anita touch a gun until tomorrow.”

“…”

“Absolutely not.”

With that, Liliana marched out of the shooting range. For a while, only silence remained. Eventually, after wiping down the barrel of her gun with a leather cloth, Riche spoke.

“She’s always been a little strange. Don’t let it get to you.”

“Alright.”