In the early afternoon, a special "customer" arrived at our booth.
"Ulum, my friend! It's good to see you!"
She was wearing a long dress of high quality, her face impassive as she stared at me.
"Tila. Long time no see."
"Really! Did you receive my message from the library?"
"I did."
"So, how did your exams go?"
"I aced everything, of course."
"That goes without saying. I taught you, after all."
She ignored my remark and turned toward Suuru.
"She is?"
"Oh, where's my mind? She's Suuru, my partner in this business venture. Suuru, this is Ulum, a girl who doesn't like physical contact."
The girl in question scowled at me.
"Is that how you're introducing me?"
"She also becomes hysterical if you touch her. I'm saying that from personal experience."
Suuru put a hand in front of her mouth, failing to hide her smile completely.
"Nice to meet you, Ulum. I'll… I'll be careful."
Ulum looked fed up with me but still answered her.
"Yes. Nice to meet you too."
I wasn't one to stop when the vibe was so good.
"I'm glad you got my message and came to see me. You must have missed me dearly."
"I didn't come here because of you."
"Oh, now you're going to say you're here in official business or something. No need to be shy, I know how much you like me."
"Be quiet, Tila. I am here on official business."
"Really? How so?"
"I started working in the city's trading department after graduation. I'm here on an inspection."
"Oh my sel!"
"What now?"
"You received my message saying I would start working as a merchant and you directly chose to work for the trading department to be able to meet me whenever you want. I'm touched!"
"Stop it with your delusions. Let's get to business. I'm here to inspect your stall today."
"Wow… I don't know if I can handle such heavy love, you know? But don't worry, I also like you, my friend. Maybe about 20% of how much you love me?"
She sent me a dark glare.
"What did you say?"
"Okay, 25%! That's my best offer. I can't go any higher than that!"
Her gaze pierced me for a few long seconds before she sighed helplessly.
"I'm here to inspect your stall because we received complaints that your business is unfair competition."
Suuru gasped while I remained completely unmoved. The merchants around us started paying closer attention to what was happening.
"Interesting. Inspect anything you want, Ulum, my friend. We have nothing to hide."
"I'm not your friend right now."
"Of course."
She sent me one last glance before looking at our food offer. Truthfully, there was nothing to see. Our vegetables and fruits looked fine and there was no problem with them whatsoever. Our prices were indicated clearly, too. Our setup couldn't have been simpler and more explicit.
"I need to try some of your food. Give me an apple."
"That'll be 6 lods…"
Her frown intensified as she glared at me again.
"…But I'll give it to you for free since we're friends."
"Hmph."
She took the apple from me, cleaned it thoroughly, and bit into it. She appreciated the taste for a few moments before nodding.
"It's good. No problem. Your prices are lower than average but there's nothing wrong with that. I'll report that the complaints are unfounded."
"You did great for justice today, inspector."
She didn't care about my words and looked at the traders around us.
"And I hope there won't be any other random complaints like this in the future or the people who complain will be the ones to be inspected next."
The merchants looked away unhappily but there was nothing they could do.
"How professional, even though you just started working. You have a great career in front of you!"
"Whatever. I'm done here. I'm leaving."
"Already? Stay a bit more. Let's chat."
"Talk about what?"
"Anything. How you've been doing, how were the exams, why you chose to work in the trading department. Let's share the news."
"I'm busy."
"Booo. You're no fun. Ulum is boring, boooring."
"I remember now why I didn't miss talking with you…"
She stayed silent for a moment, an expression of reprobation on her face. Eventually, she asked.
"How's your business going?"
"Haha. See? You can do it if you want!"
"I'm leaving."
"Come on, don't act like a kid."
"I can't believe you're the one saying this."
"Come here, I'll tell you everything. It all started when I had this brilliant idea of…"
For the next few tens of minutes, I chatted with Ulum, getting up to speed on what had happened since the last time we saw each other. It was mostly only me blabbering about stuff but I still managed to get some news from her from time to time. While this happened, Suuru handled any customer who came to buy our products, listening to our talk from the side. I included her in the discussion whenever she was free so that she didn't feel excluded and the three of us had a good time.
Eventually, Ulum had to go.
"How can I find you, my friend?"
"I have a desk in the city hall, in the trading department. I'm there most of the time."
"Got it. It was nice seeing you today."
"Hm. Good luck with your stall. Goodbye, Suuru."
Once she was gone, Suuru immediately questioned me.
"How did you get to know her, Tila?"
"We met when I was learning the language in the library. She's a good person, as long as you don't physically touch her."
"I see. It's great that you made such a good friend."
I wasn't lying when I said she was a nice girl. It was clear she valued her relationships. No matter how one looked at it, what she did today could barely be called an inspection at all. Plus, she was the one who came and not any other colleague of hers, even though she only started her job a few days prior. The evidence was aplenty.
I would need to tease her about it the next time we met.