LUCEM
XLV Chapter

"Hi, what are you doing, Mars? A note?" Marbella asked with a brighter face.

"It... Just a small note," I replied.

"Ah. It doesn't help, then, ' said Marbella.

"This is a fellowship of brothers?" I asked, pretending to be enthusiastic. Little drama.

"Our world is so big, it's a pretty big place. I won't be able to set it up alone" Marbella pretended.

"Oooyeah, but we're just two kids, either, stranded orphans" I said.

"The abandoned orphan is good,— said Marbella. After all, a prince could only grow up to be a king but a mysterious orphan like us could be anyone. Are we beaten and starved and locked up in the basement?"

"I don't think so, I said, giving him a funny look. Everyone on the streets is very nice. They are mostly good people. They teach us a lot."

" Yes... We learned a lot from them, look at me." said Marbella with her hands on her waist.

"Well, pretty girl is kind," I said with an enchanted face.

"The good guys on the street taught me music,—me again. I'm a musician. I'm good too. I've been making a living since I was four."

"Aah! Mysterious orphans, strange talents, pathetic upbringing are all formed" Marbella said in a street-corner hand-swing.

"Grain bread with chocolate or peanut butter may not be important. Would our lives be different if given a banana taste? Who can say? What kind of music do we play?" Reciprocity.

"type? There's no kind of thing. There's only music" I replied with a little thought. "There's always music, if we listen." I looked at Marbella, then we laughed together.

*******

"Has he always been like this?" Maria asked.

"This. I'm not sure, because I'm a newcomer just like you. The story of their lives began long before I was here" Moonflower replied.

"I hope you really want to know all about me" Moonflower said. "I was expecting that."

"Jeez, yes," said Maria.

"Well, you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that I have two horrible half-siblings, ' Moonflower said. "And I have to do all the work!"

"Gosh, really?" sahut Maria, wondering if the girl's life in the past year has the same values.

"Well, most of the tasks," Moonflower said, as if revealing an unfortunate fact. "I have to clean my own room, you know! And it's so untidy!"

"Gosh, really?"

"And my bedroom is the smallest. There's practically no closet and I'm running out of bookcase space!"

"Gosh, really?"

"My life is better than yours or not. I'm the mayor's daughter. Should the daughter of a mayor be expected to shower at least once a week? I think not!" Mary complained about her fate.

"Gosh, really!?" Moonflower surprised.

"Will you see these ripped and muddy clothes that I have to wear?" Maria lifted the end of her dress.

Moonflower looked at the dress closely. As far as she knew, Maria's dress was very similar to the other dresses. It seems that everything is there. There are no holes, except where the arms and head are poking.

"Here, here," said Maria, pointing to a place at the end that, to Moonflower, looked no different from the rest of the dress. "I have to sew it myself, you know?"

"Jeez, reset—" Moonflower stopped.

James came to interrupt the conversation of the two complaining girls. He has a backpack on his back. Walk back and forth three times, then just leave.

"And the worst part, I was the one who had to queue for bread and sausages every day - Mary continued, but Moonflower listened less than before. He looked at James. 'That must be sweet bread, ' he thought. Be fat! He always precedes the trap squad! Of all the kitchens in the city he could go to, he appeared here. Bad rat.

"Did James remind you of the rat plague?" Ask Mary who is surprised .

"Rat plague?" moonflower replied.

"Yes, we have repeatedly found," said Mary.

James stop. Marbella would probably applaud hearing this story, he thought. Marbella lives life as if it were a show. The rat plague show. The rat troop just needs to run around squeaking and messing things up, and it's good enough to convince humans that there's a plague. But James and Jiso always have to go further. Marbella and Martian music, and the rats took everything, wage money and money as well as things that could be money. And all kinds of money.

What they didn't take, they broke. It's horrible! James grimaced over the story of his past with the cat girl.

"Councils have bought food from other cities, but none have much in reserve. We had to buy corn and goods from the merchants who waded through the river. That's why bread is so expensive." Maria's voice, still talking about the plague.

"Easy, huh?" Moonflower.

"We've tried traps, dogs, cats, and poisons, and rats keep coming" the girl said.

"Then?" Ask Moonflower.

"Then we heard about the famous rat controller, he.... Marbella and Mars," Maria grimaced.

Moonflower laughs. Idiotically. "Then you know they're sneaky?"

"Yaaa.... About like that," Maria scratched her suddenly itchy head.

Mr. Jhonatan has learned to be very cunning as well. James grumbled in his heart.

They almost never end up in a mousetrap. Huh! Marbella once received an offer of five hundred sickles for one tail. What's the point of offering us five hundred sickle-tails if the rats are so cunning? As rat catchers we have to use all kinds of tricks to get more, Marbella said. And we get two thousand sickles for every mouse in the end. And Marbella created as if a thousand rats were wandering around to be conquered.