Bailey Gets Fooled

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Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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Tonight's hunt had gone smoothly.

The returns had also been better than expected.

Corvin knew when to stop. After shaking off the many gazes behind him, he left the main street and slipped into the tangled alleys.

He deliberately circled around once or twice to confirm no one was following, then returned to the weapons shop under cover of darkness.

As he passed the shelves, he hesitated for a few seconds.

Following his survival instinct, he put Dark Crow back on the shelf before heading into the back of the shop.

In the hallway, Bailey was woken by the sound. He lifted his head and looked at Corvin.

His nose twitched, catching the scent of blood coming from him.

Corvin glanced at Bailey lying beside the wall and smiled.

"Since you're awake, come eat a late-night snack with me."

"What are we eating?"

Bailey's sleepiness vanished at once. He shot upright, eyes shining.

"Keep it down. Don't wake Sunny."

"Mm!"

Bailey nodded hard, drool gleaming between his teeth.

When he had first arrived at Sol's weapons shop, Bailey had thought Corvin and Sunny were the most terrifying demons in the world.

He had assumed his life from then on would be hell.

What Bailey never expected was that life had not become hell at all. It had become surprisingly comfortable.

Most importantly, every meal filled him up, and every meal tasted good.

For him, the happiest part of living here was eating.

Bailey's food-obsessed nature had surprised Corvin and Sunny at first, but they had gotten used to it.

"Go to the kitchen first. I'll be there in a bit."

After saying that, Corvin went upstairs and returned to his room with quiet steps.

He closed the door behind him and took out the Berries he had searched from Harvey and the others.

One thick stack.

Corvin counted it. A little over one million Berries.

Mad Hatter Town was chaotic and dangerous, but if you had strength, money came easily.

If Corvin wanted, making a few million in one night would not be hard.

But if he was only robbing criminals for money, he might as well stay in the shop and practice reload speed.

After putting the money away, Corvin went downstairs. He washed the blood off in the bathroom, then went to the kitchen to make the late-night snack.

There was not much variety in the ingredients. Most of it was meat.

That was one of the weapons shop's old traditions.

According to Sol, people had to eat to live. If they were going to eat, they might as well eat well.

So Sol could collect one fewer named blade if he had to, but the meals in the shop had to be good.

Corvin took a pile of meat from the icebox and cooked it simply. Before long, half the table was covered in a meat feast.

Bailey had been waiting impatiently. The moment the meat hit the table, he began devouring it.

Corvin sat down, eating while he looked at Bailey, who had grown much rounder.

"At this point, even a pig could outrun you."

"Mmph, mmph..."

With his mouth stuffed full of meat, Bailey looked up at Corvin and made a muffled protest.

Corvin could not make out the words, but he could guess the meaning from Bailey's eyes.

Something along the lines of, No way.

Corvin glanced at the ring of fat around Bailey's body and said, "Haven't you noticed you're eating less lately?"

"Hm?"

Bailey froze, then struggled to swallow the meat in his mouth and fell into thought.

Compared with a month ago, his appetite really had gone down.

Watching realization begin to dawn on Bailey, Corvin narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a serious face, "Do you know why?"

"No!"

Bailey shook his head.

Corvin swallowed a piece of steak and said calmly, "Because you're fat."

Bailey looked deeply confused. "Doesn't getting fatter mean you can eat more?"

"Who told you that?"

Corvin kept his expression firm. "You lie around every day. How are you supposed to speed up digestion? Once digestion slows down, your appetite naturally shrinks."

"I don't lie around all day... And that's because you made me do the cleaning..."

Bailey muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

Corvin looked at him with a faint smile.

"N-nothing. I was saying this meat smells great."

Bailey hurriedly lifted a steaming piece of meat as proof of innocence.

Corvin gave a quiet scoff and returned to the topic.

"Put it this way. Do I usually eat a lot?"

"A lot!"

"Jealous?"

"Yes!"

"Want to become like me?"

"Yes!"

"Then train."

"?"

The next day.

Sunny removed the bar from the weapons shop's front door, opened a narrow gap, then returned to the counter and prepared to read the day's newspaper.

She had just picked it up when she saw Bailey, now round as a ball, lying on his back on the floor. In his small paws, he held two little pieces of black metal and was actually doing bench presses.

Sunny's expression changed slightly.

She put down the newspaper, walked quickly over to Bailey, and snatched the pieces of black metal away.

Bailey froze and looked at her in confusion.

Sunny frowned. "What's wrong with you? Do you have a fever?"

As she spoke, she set the black metal on the floor and pressed a hand against Bailey's forehead.

Bailey thought Sunny was mocking him, but very quickly, he realized he was wrong.

Sunny was serious.

'That's absurd, Boss Lady...'

Bailey carefully pushed her hand away and said, "I don't have a fever. I'm just exercising a little."

"Exercising?"

Sunny's frown deepened. She suddenly reached out with both hands and squeezed Bailey's chubby cheeks.

"Bailey, you don't need to exercise. Just eat. If you're not getting enough, tell me and I'll add more food for you."

"Boss Lady...!"

Bailey was instantly moved. Then he said earnestly, "Listen, I can explain. I'm exercising so I can become like Boss and eat a lot every meal!"

"So that's it."

Sunny understood.

Bailey looked toward the two little pieces of black metal and hesitated.

"Boss Lady, um... could you hand me the weights? I can't reach them."

"Mm."

Sunny picked up the metal pieces and put them back in Bailey's paws.

"Then train properly. Try to eat a little more every meal."

"Yes, Boss Lady!"

With Sunny caring about him like that, Bailey felt strength surge through him.

Sunny stopped disturbing his exercise and returned to sit behind the counter.

Above her head, an imagined formula concerning Bailey seemed to take shape: exercise = bigger appetite = more weight = higher resale value.

Bailey, who had started bench pressing again, glanced at Sunny as she sat behind the counter in thought and felt deeply moved.

'Boss Lady and Boss are both good humans, really.'

'Why did I ever think they were demons?'

'I was way too rash.'

With that thought, Bailey could only train hard. He could not disappoint Boss Lady's expectations.

Corvin entered the shop wearing his training weights and saw Bailey exercising.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Then he began his own daily training.

By afternoon, Corvin had finished the day's exercises ahead of schedule.

After removing his weights and resting for a while, he gathered his gear and went out to look for prey.

Time passed quickly.

Five days later, Sol returned to the weapons shop with a large haul of liquor.

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