"Kronos, are you being lazy?"
On the second floor of the tavern, in a small bedroom, a little girl about twelve or thirteen years old, with her hands on her hips, angrily said to Kronos in the room.
In response to the little girl's scolding, Kronos didn't take it to heart. Instead, he answered calmly.
"I'll be down in a minute."
Hearing Kronos' gentle voice, the little girl was momentarily stunned.
Originally, she had planned to scold Kronos and suppress his 'arrogant attitude.' But now, with Kronos' calm response, she found herself at a loss for words.
After hesitating for a moment, the girl stubbornly snorted.
"Humph! You better hurry up!"
With that, the girl turned and left the room, ignoring Kronos.
Watching her leave, Kronos didn't say anything.
After a brief pause, Kronos muttered to himself.
"System, open the properties panel."
[Ding! Panel is open.]
[Host]: Kronos
[Prestige]: 80
[Members Gathered]: None
[Possessions]: Devil Fruit *1
[Access to Prize Pool]""]
Looking at his own panel, with only a prestige value of 80, Kronos felt a bit conflicted.
"Is there no change today?"
"More than a week..."
He murmured to himself, then stood up, left the room, and went downstairs.
Just around the corner of the stairs, Kronos saw the tavern counter.
The little girl, who had gone upstairs to find him earlier, had been hit on the head with a knife by her mother.
"Boom!"
"Oops!"
The little girl hugged her head and cried out, complaining with tears in her eyes.
"Mother, why are you hitting me?"
The tavern owner, Erica, glared at the little girl.
"Be honest, did you just bully Kronos again?"
The little girl turned her head guiltily and mumbled.
"I... I didn't wake him up..."
Erica frowned, clearly displeased.
"Did you wake someone from their sleep like that? I heard everything."
Saying that, Erica raised her hand to hit the little girl's head again.
At that moment, Kronos' voice interrupted.
"Good morning, Auntie."
Hearing the sudden voice, Erica and the little girl both turned their heads instinctively.
Kronos had come downstairs and was walking toward them with a smile on his face.
As soon as the little girl saw Kronos, she snorted unhappily.
"Humph!"
It was bad enough that she snorted, but when she did, Erica immediately became angry again.
The knife, which had originally stopped, hit the little girl's head once more.
"Boom!"
"Ouch!" The little girl cried out again.
Following this, Erica's displeased voice rang out.
"Just play."
The little girl muttered under her breath but didn't dare to resist. She left the counter in embarrassment.
Kronos, watching this scene, said nothing.
He could have said something nice to the little girl, but he didn't.
He understood that doing so would only backfire.
Saying kind words to the little girl would make Erica feel good and increase her favorability toward him.
However, it would also make Erica accuse the little girl of her wrongdoings again, causing the little girl to dislike him even more.
That was something Kronos didn't want to happen.
It was still morning, and there were no customers yet, so the tavern was a bit quiet.
Kronos came to the front desk, silently wiped the glass, and helped Erica with some chores.
At that moment, Erica sighed and spoke to Kronos.
"Hina is still young and doesn't understand. Don't take her words to heart."
Hearing this, Kronos smiled.
"No, don't worry, Auntie."
After hearing this, Erica fell into silence for a while.
She wanted to console Kronos, but she felt unsure of how to express herself.
After a long pause, she spoke up.
"Just treat this place as your own home."
Hearing this, Kronos simply smiled and responded.
"Um."
More than a month ago, Kronos had crossed into this world. At that time, he had been on the verge of starving to death.
The owner of the tavern, Erica, had given him a bowl of rice and kindly taken him in.
So, when Hina had scolded him earlier, Kronos didn't take it to heart. Even if Hina went too far, Kronos didn't get angry.
The reason for this was twofold. First, he was relying on others, and he wasn't in a position to be upset.
Second, Kronos had long considered Hina to be like a sister to him.
Of course, he hadn't mentioned this to Erica. Because doing so would only increase Erica's goodwill toward him.
There was no point in saying it; his actions were enough to show it.
Therefore, there was no need to bring it up to Erica.
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