The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

Adrian laughed. He literally had thousands of mana crystals sitting in his dungeon. Two crystals meant absolutely nothing to him.

"Okay, fine," Adrian smiled. "Get dressed and we’ll go buy you a ring."

Aria threw her hands up and cheered.

An hour later, Adrian, Aria, Claire, the three ex-bandits walked down the busy city streets. They found a high end magic artifact shop and went inside.

Claire just stared at Adrian. She couldn’t comprehend how a noble could trade priceless mana crystals just for toy storage. It made zero logic to her.

Adrian walked up to the counter and asked to see their spatial rings. The merchant politely pulled out a wooden display box. A few plain silver rings sat on velvet cushions. These weren’t blood bound like the earring. They were simple open access rings. Anyone with basic mana control could use them, which meant that as long as one was a mage, they could open it.

"How much for one of these?" Adrian asked.

"The smallest ring has half a cubic meter of space," the merchant said. "It costs exactly one hundred gold coins."

Adrian completely ignored the price tag. He dropped the two mana crystals right on the glass counter.

"I’m not paying with gold. Trade."

The merchant stared at the glowing stones that just sat there. The guy started sweating buckets. Mana crystals were practically myths to normal people. Extremely high demand and zero supply. A single one could fetch a hundred gold minimum. Crazy nobles threw twice that at private auctions.

This guy just flipped artifacts. He had never even been in the same room as a raw mana crystal. He grabbed a rag and wiped his face.

"My lord," the merchant stuttered. "I can’t buy these with pure gold. I don’t have the funds, but I have an offer."

He scrambled under the counter. He pulled out a thick gold ring topped with a blue gem and slid it over.

"This ring is worth five hundred gold coins. It has the largest spatial capacity available in this entire county. I’m willing to trade this ring for your two crystals. It also has an enchantment that makes the ring perfectly fit any finger."

Adrian grinned. Two hundred gold worth of crystals for a five hundred gold artifact was an absolute steal.

"Deal," Adrian said.

He pushed the crystals over, took the gold ring, and slipped it onto Aria’s thumb. It magically shrank to fit her tiny finger.

Adrian used his dungeon link to pull out two bags filled with silver coins as he touched his earring, acting like he pulled it out of it instead of the dungeon and handed one to Claire.

"Take Aria shopping and buy her whatever toys she wants. I have personal business to attend to and I need to move quietly. A whole group following me will attract too much attention."

Claire nodded. "Understood, my lord."

Aria stared at Adrian in pure shock.

She had been completely neglected for weeks while he locked himself in the basement building his secret item. She finally got him out of the house and now he was ditching her again.

’I’m not gonna let that happen!’ she flared.

Aria inhaled. She shoved her adult dignity out the window.

It was time to abuse her child privileges.

She dropped flat on her back right on the shop floor before she kicked and thrashed her arms around.

"No!" Aria shrieked. Her cheeks burned hot from embarrassment. "I want to shop with Papa! I want to shop with Papaaaa! Papaaaa!"

Claire froze. A screaming five year old was something she never thought she’d have to deal with. The merchant just stared at the ceiling like the floor was cursed.

Aria kept screaming and rolling on the floor. Her adult mind was dying of shame. But throwing a public tantrum was the ultimate weapon of a five year old child and it totally worked.

Adrian just stood there and looked down at his daughter with a completely defeated expression.

He looked at Claire. She was still holding the heavy leather bag of silver coins.

"You know what, Claire?" Adrian said. "You’ve worked really hard lately. You deserve a treat, so go have fun for the rest of the day and buy whatever you want. The money in that bag is a gift from me. Consider it a bonus."

Claire blinked. She looked at the bag and then back at him. She didn’t look happy in the slightest. She walked right to him, grabbed his wrist and dropped the bag straight onto his palm.

"I appreciate the offer, Lord Adrian," Claire said seriously. "But I must decline."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Why? It’s free money."

"You provide me with free living quarters," Claire said, crossing her arms over her chest plate. "You give me three massive meals a day. You gave me premium armor and top tier weapons. Because I don’t pay for any survival needs, I’ve saved up almost my entire salary over the past few weeks."

Adrian just stared at her. A rant on saving money was the last thing he expected.

"I have my own money," Claire said. "Taking extra from you just to shop makes me feel indebted. I refuse to owe you more than I already do. Sorry."

Adrian laughed. She was a stubborn girl, but he respected it.

"Fine, suit yourself. Have fun anyway."

Claire nodded and walked straight out. The new recruits scrambled after her.

Adrian waited for the door to click shut. He looked down and Aria was still sprawled on the floor, waiting.

"Alright Aria," Adrian crouched. "We’re going on a secret mission tonight."

Aria gasped and the tears vanished like they never existed, "A secret mission?"

"Yeah. Super serious stuff," Adrian said. "But you gotta promise me a few things first."

She nodded extremely fast.

"I didn’t even say the rules yet." Adrian grinned. "Okay, listen. No acting out, no tantrums and no crying."

Aria sat up and saluted. "I’ll be a good girl."