Since Bernard didn’t seem to do anything but watch us, there wasn’t much I could do but keep a track of him. That was what I thought, but the next morning when I checked my Map, the mark on him was gone. He had figured out some way to remove it. I made an annoyed sound. This was going to be a pain in the butt. I just wish I knew what he wanted.

“Master, we should get up.” Miki lifted her head from my shoulder.

“Hmm? The store doesn’t open for another day or two.”

“The next match for Carmine is occurring today.” She explained.

I sat up in a rush. “Ah, crap, I forgot to train her!”

Although she was able to deal with her opponents as long as I was giving her boosts, there was still the problem of her not having any fighting talent. She was completely defensive. I had planned to take her out and train her, getting some job like Swordsman for her to fall back on. Not only did she not have a job, but I also hadn’t increased her level at all.

I had been busy the entire week worrying about which targets to hit as well as keeping the store running. As a result, I had completely forgotten about my plans to level Carmine up so that she could be strong enough to battle that undefeated champion when the time came.

I could just allow her to win the same way we let her win last time, but it was super embarrassing, especially now that we had come out as merchants. This wasn’t just a gladiatorial reputation, but our reputation as merchants that was on the line here.

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I jumped out of my bed and hastily started dressing. “What time? What time does her match happen?”

“It’ll be in the evening,” Miki explained worriedly.

“Good! There is still time.” I announced, shoving my way out the door and calling for everyone.

“You want me to go level now?” Carmine asked worriedly after I told everyone the plan. “Shouldn’t I be taking my time and going easy today in preparation for the fight?”

“No time! We need to get you in a fighting position. Maybe, if I have you do all the hard-hitting, you’ll get some kind of job. I just can’t believe that in your entire life, the only job you ever unlocked was Paladin. I just wish there was another job we could give you instantly that could increase your strength.”

“Ah… isn’t there?” Shao asked.

“What do you… oh! Of course!” I felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a token. It was one of ten such tokens, my Knight’s token. Of course, Raissa had already taken one of these tokens, but I decided not to hand them out lightly. I also wasn’t going to give Carmine one of the counterfeit ones, although they seemed to work just as well.

This token was much more important though since it signified the trust the King had put in me, and I was putting into whoever I selected. Once they became a Knight, they would be my retainer, and also collect a salary from me. Of course, if that person happened to be my slave, I could forgo those things.

“Carmine, will you be my Knight?” I asked, pulling out my token.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!” Carmine jumped up and threw her arms around me, her big chest pushing against my own.

Suddenly, we were kissing. I was very confused. Did I ask her something else by accident? The girls were crying through smiles, and Salicia said something like “about time.” I seriously didn’t get it, could someone explain it to me?