The next morning, as Lia came through, she said, "You are adorable, Lichee. Just adorable! Let's go and finish every bakery in the nation!"
Liebe said, "Good to see you are getting along."
Lia said, "Of course we are! I'm simply great with children," as she patted Lichee.
Lichee said, "I can get used to this."
Lia said, "Don't mind what our Captain said. She may be an idiot, but she isn't an asshole, okay?"
Liebe said, "About that—Alysa and I finally decided on a punishment for you."
Lia said, "What?" as Liebe pulled her ear.
Liebe said, "Stop being an idiot, dumbass!"
As Alysa pulled her cheeks, she said, "This is for your own good. You will probably thank us for this someday. Maybe."
Lia said, "You two aren't punishing my goddaughter now, are you?"
Liebe said, "Seriously?"
Lia said, "It seems so much fun," as she also started to pull Lichee's cheeks.
Lichee said, "This hurts!"
Liebe said, "Good. You aren't getting off the hook just yet. And God damn—respect your elders!"
Licht said, "Wow, you two are actually being serious?"
Liebe said, "Yes, we are. And that's why, instead of giving her 150 gold coins to enjoy and have fun today with, we are going to do what's necessary."
Licht said, "Now that's the spirit! A little tough love is required. I'm so glad you understand."
Alysa said, "There, there, Liebe. We talked about this."
Liebe said, "Yeah, and after we talked about it, we decided that she is far too immature to be trusted with 150 gold coins, since it is literally the monthly salary of a Deputy Divisional Commander."
Alysa said, "Exactly! So instead of 150 gold coins, she is getting 145 gold and 50 silver coins."
Licht said, "Are you serious?"
Liebe said, "Of course we are!"
Licht said, "You literally just deducted 4 gold and 50 silvers. The difference is almost nothing!"
Liebe said, "Remember, baby steps. She made a mistake. We can't take away everything for a simple mistake."
Alysa said, "Exactly!"
Licht said, "You know what? I'm sorry. At this point, I give up. I'm sorry. I actually thought you were serious."
Liebe said, "We take these things very seriously."
Alysa said, "Of course we do. And that's why we are punishing her by teaching her financial responsibility."
Licht said, "Now I'm confused. Are you actually serious? You think deducting 4 gold and 50 silvers will make that much of a difference?"
Liebe said, "And say I make bad financial decisions?"
Alysa said, "For someone who claims we are bad at it, you sure are underestimating the value of 4 gold and 50 silvers."
Liebe said, "Also, stop trying to fight Mother. She could have killed you."
Lichee said, "No, she couldn't have. She couldn't kill me, no matter what she did."
Liebe said, "Why are you so overconfident?"
Lichee said, "Lilith Faust killing me is simply against the very laws of nature itself."
Liebe sighed and said, "Where does she get all that confidence from?"
Licht said, "Have you ever heard the term 'mirror'? Or would you like me to demonstrate?"
Liebe said, "Haha, very funny."
Lia said, "Well then, time to head off. No point in keeping the desserts waiting."
Liebe said, "Don't eat too much. The bakeries also have other people waiting."
Lia said, "Sure. We will leave, like, one or two in total for the customers."
Liebe said, "That isn't close to what I meant, but sure."
Licht said, "Well, now that that's taken care of, want to train for a bit?"
Liebe said, "Yeah, I think seven hours should be enough, since our match is tomorrow."
Alysa said, "Great. I'll join you two with Isurugi and the others in a minute."
After a whole day of training and clashing, Alysa said, "Well, today was productive."
Liebe said, "Yeah."
Licht said, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. I just realized something. Why did you do it?"
Liebe said, "Do what?"
Licht said, "Take Lichee to HQ first when you could have just taken her to the Vale Estate? Since there, you are the owner and all."
Liebe said, "Because I hate it. It's like home back when I was a kid—a home that was taken from me. So I don't go there much."
Licht said, "Okay, then. By the way, do you mind if I sometimes swim in your pool and keep Titan there, since it's three acres big and all?"
Liebe said, "Sure, I guess. Just don't mess anything up, and make sure Titan doesn't eat any Ulsarius. And yeah, that's about it."
Licht said, "How much did it cost, anyway?"
Liebe said, "About 50,000 gold."
Licht said, "Wow. An average 1st Class Knight of Fire makes 450 gold coins a day, and you wasted their entire life savings at once for an estate you hate. I really do hate your financial decisions sometimes. But again, you are a millionaire, so who am I to judge?"
Liebe said, "Yeah, I know."
Then, Lia and Lichee returned. Liebe said, "Well, did you guys have fun?"
Lia said, "Yeah, the cakes were delicious, and that tart was something else."
Lichee said, "It was fun."
Liebe said, "Well, good. Tomorrow is the big day. Isurugi and Alysa, get ready."
Lia said, "Listen, most importantly, if you see fire in the stands, just remember I will be cheering you on."
Liebe said, "Sure, sis."
Later, as they were heading back to their room, Liebe said, "Nothing beats a warm towel and being shirtless after a good training session."
Licht said, "Honestly, yeah. But for me, nothing beats a nice, long 30-hour nap after a training session."
Liebe said, "Yeah, that's a bit much."
As they were walking down the hall, Iris and Olivia said, "Hello."
Iris said, "Where are you going?"
Liebe said, "Well, back to our room. We just had a training session, and since tomorrow is the big day, I'm going to prepare mentally."
Olivia said, "But why are you shirtless?"
Liebe said, "Oh, that? I usually am after training. Feels good to feel the air, I guess."
Olivia said, "But Licht, why are you shirtless? Are you trying to show off your abs or something?"
Licht said, "I'm not."
Olivia said, "Wait, don't tell me it's a fetish."
Licht said, "It's not."
Iris said, "Olivia, please stop blushing."
Olivia said, "Come on, Iris."
Liebe said, "Trust me, your fetish is somehow worse. And why the hell is it that when you are doing it with Hedin, you don't close the God damn door?"
Iris said, "Wait, so it wasn't just me on them doing it?"
Liebe said, "Nope."
Olivia said, "I have a perfectly good reason."
Licht said, "Yeah, we know. It's called a kink."
Iris said, "Olivia, now it's getting embarrassing."
Licht said, "Yeah, I know."
Liebe said, "Same."
Iris said, "So, what are you guys doing?"
Liebe said, "Just finished a seven-hour training session. Now we are going for dinner, and then we will have a final briefing before tomorrow's match at 9 AM, and then hit the bed. And that's about it."
Iris said, "Wait, then what are we supposed to do?"
Liebe said, "I guess cheer us on."
Licht said, "Sadly, you guys are all secondary. Even we, the team members, aren't fully fighting till the next round."
Iris said, "I see."
Licht said, "Unfortunate. I don't get to fight Hwang."
Liebe said, "Yeah."