I was currently sitting in The Steambird’s interview room. According to today’s newspaper, I had passed the final stage. The Steambird had lured me in by offering to pay me if I agreed to an interview request, and since I was short on money, I readily accepted. Since Euphrasie had been the first to approach me, the newspaper company had apparently promised to promote her no matter what. The other newspapers would be shedding tears of blood, but what could they do? Speed was everything.
The Steambird Interview Room
This place had become familiar to me by now. Besides Euphrasie, another male reporter was sitting in on the interview. He was a reporter from the Fontaine Legal Newspaper. It seemed reporters had their own network, because after hearing I would be coming to The Steambird, he had contacted a colleague and begged to be allowed to sit in.
"Wow~ I never dreamed you were thirteen! I did think you looked young for a fifteen-year-old, but I can’t believe it was true!"
"Exactly. A child like this ranked first on the bar exam? The people at the Sumeru Akademiya must be losing their minds."
"I have no desire to go to a rotten place like the Akademiya..."
I didn’t know whether Sumeru was currently under Azar’s rule, but it was a fact that Nahida had been imprisoned. Why would I want to go to a filthy place like that?
"You’re quite forceful with your words. Is that what it takes to rank first?"
"Avrora! Then shall we begin the questions? Hmm... You passed the bar exam despite coming from an orphanage. Is there anything you’d like to say?"
"I don’t want to see orphans like me being dragged off to places like the one I was in. That’s why I want to become a lawyer. There may be situations where children have to be given away because of debt, so I want to stop that from happening too."
Freminet had said he was sent to the House of the Hearth because of his parents’ debts, hadn’t he? I couldn’t allow something like that to happen.
"You’re overflowing with justice, aren’t you? Then, second question. You’ve left that orphanage now, right? How are you living?"
"The reason I accepted Euphrasie’s request was because of money, wasn’t it? I’ve been short on money lately..."
"Short on money... What happened?"
"I have three younger siblings depending on me, and I have to feed them all. I have no choice but to make money."
"Don’t you have a guardian?"
"I did... I did have one..."
When I grew gloomy, Euphrasie caught on and chose her words carefully.
"Then... are you going to look for other work as well? Wouldn’t working at thirteen violate child labor laws?"
"For official work, probably. But if you’ve studied the law, you should be able to make use of it. Only then can you say you learned it properly."
When I gave a sly grin, Euphrasie was startled.
"Don’t tell me you’re planning to do something illegal?"
"Of course not. Do you really think I would do anything illegal? I’ll earn money through entirely ‘legal’ routes."
"I have a strange feeling about this... Well, anyway, I’ll think of more questions. Sir Reporter? Why don’t you ask some questions too?"
"Ah... yes! I’m Tom from the Fontaine Legal Newspaper! It’s a pleasure to meet you!"
"Likewise. What are you curious about?"
"About the ‘legal comics for children’ our newspaper is planning..."
The instant comics came up, I began firing off words like a machine gun.
"Who came up with that ridiculous idea? Even if you turn legal matters into comics, does it make any sense to publish them in a one-time newspaper issue? The math comics I read as a child were more entertaining! Stop it immediately and publish it as a proper volume instead. Hire a story writer too. Make the illustrations pretty. If you try to save money by drawing weird comics, people will only criticize you more. Fragmentary comics will never draw attention. At this rate, you should bring in an Inazuman light novel author and..."
Faced with my machine-gun barrage of criticism, the legal reporter stammered helplessly. Euphrasie was quietly snickering as she enjoyed the scene.
The Steambird handed me 500,000 Mora. That was enough to solve our meal problem for a while. I immediately returned to the Bouf d’ete Residence.
"I’m back... Clorinde? You’re here?"
"Yes. I arrived a little while ago and was preparing dinner."
After hearing about my situation from Furina, Clorinde would sometimes stop by the Bouf d’ete Residence after finishing work at the Palais Mermonia and cook for us. The taste was... admittedly not as good as Auntie’s, but it was better than having nothing.
"How did things go with The Steambird? Was the pay decent?"
"I think we won’t have to worry about meals for a while."
"That is a relief. I’m sorry I cannot look after you every day."
"Not at all. I’m grateful enough that you look after us at all."
We had to manage breakfast and lunch ourselves while Clorinde was at the Palais Mermonia. Since I was still the oldest, I cooked for everyone, but with four mouths to feed, there was no preventing the ingredients from disappearing quickly.
"Clorinde, after dinner, could I give you some money and ask you to buy groceries?"
"Yes, certainly."
A wonderful smell drifted out of the kitchen. Let’s see what it was... ratatouille? I had only seen it in cartoons before. This would be my first time actually trying it.
"You’re a good cook too, Clorinde?"
"You flatter me. I simply became used to it from living alone."
"You were an orphan too, weren’t you, Clorinde? Weren’t you lonely?"
"I do miss my master... but I’m all right. I have my colleagues now."
Perhaps the smell had reached the second floor, because the children came downstairs.
"Big Sis! What are you making this time?"
"A vegetable dish. We’ll eat it together later."
"Wow! You’re the best, Big Sis!"
It seemed Citra had found her smile again. She had cried so much only a few days ago, so that was a relief.
I went into Cravie’s room and asked if she had finished what I asked her to make.
"Cravie, are you done drawing it?"
"Yep! This should be good enough!"
Looking at the crayon drawing and lettering, I thought that, well, there was only so much one could expect from an elementary schooler. Still, Cravie had done her best in her own way.
"I just need to put this up on the bulletin board, right? Want me to go?"
"No. You guys eat first. I’ll go put it up."
"No. Families are supposed to eat together!"
"Sigh... All right, all right... We’ll eat first, then go together."
"Okay!"
Cravie answered with a bright smile. And what was this drawing, you ask?
[Law Tutoring from the Top Scorer of the Bar Exam!]
[100,000 Mora per Week!]
[Every Thursday, I’ll be waiting at Fontaine Square between 2 and 4 PM!]
[Once someone applies, I’ll take it down from the bulletin board!]
It was a poster that genuinely looked as though an elementary schooler had drawn it. I didn’t know whether anyone would actually come, though. Teaching at an academy violated the law, but private tutoring didn’t, apparently? That was how I came up with this idea.
"Avrora, dinner is ready. Please come downstairs."
"Cravie, let’s go down. From the look of it, today’s meal seems delicious."
"Yep! Let’s go!"
And so, for the first time in a while, we had a warm family meal together.
"Hot, so hot... Sitting by the fountain makes it a little better, but it’s still hot..."
It was currently mid-July, one week after the bar exam results had been announced.
Yesterday, after eating ratatouille, the four of us—including Clorinde and me—left the house together and pinned that elementary-school-looking flyer to the bulletin board. The kids seemed rather proud of it, but Clorinde and I both had the same doubt: Would this actually attract anyone?
But it had already been done, so what else could I do? After my piano lesson with Furina, I waited for someone to show up at the fountain in Fontaine Square under the blazing midsummer sun.
"Who would come after seeing a flyer that looks like it was drawn by an elementary schooler...?"
Just as I was halfway to giving up, I heard a young girl’s voice.
"Oh? He really is here? What’s this? I thought it was a joke, you know?"
I recognized the familiar voice and turned toward it.
"You look quite young, don’t you? Though I suppose that’s only natural~"
I knew this person. The woman in exotic red clothes, with horns on her head and a legal code constantly at her side.
"Hello? Are you the top scorer of Fontaine’s bar exam? I came to talk law with you~"
It was Yanfei.
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