“No, as you requested, I didn’t mark these with my brand. Why don’t you like it, anyway?”
Daisy replied with another question.
“Out of curiosity, what exactly did you name these knives and this frying pan?”
Oscar puffed his chest out proudly.
“Glad you asked. The knives are called Meat Shredder Mk. III, while the frying pan’s named Slide Master Alpha. What do you think? Cool, right? If you want, I can still engrave the names—”
“No thanks.” Daisy shot him down before he could finish.
“Why...?” Oscar muttered quietly.
“O-kun... You’ve got a terrible naming sense.”
“What do you mean, terrible!? Shouldn’t you have my back here!?” Oscar cried out. Daisy nodded in agreement with Miledi’s statement, leaving him with no one to turn to.
Though Oscar was beloved by the citizens, they all unanimously thought the names he engraved into his goods were terrible.
Though it had pained him to do it, he’d begun complying with his customers’ requests to stop engraving them. He was careful to keep them plain in the workshop’s ledger as well. All craftsmen of the Orcus Workshop were required to record their transactions.
That way, he didn’t have to listen to people telling him how his naming sense was terrible.
Oscar took his money from Daisy, then quickly moved on to the next customer. He was still a little sulky about the names.
The rest of his deliveries went by smoothly enough, but each conversation left him a little more mentally drained. At every delivery, Miledi would hit it off with the customers and cause some sort of misunderstanding that Oscar would desperately try and rectify.
By the time they finished the last one, Oscar was exhausted.
“O-kun, O-kun. You look reeeaaally tired.”
“And who’s fault do you think that is?”
“Wow, it’s already past noon. What’s a good place to eat around here? I’m starving.”
“Listen when people are talking to— Oh, I give up! I need some food myself or I’ll collapse.” Grumbling to himself, Oscar led Miledi to a nearby restaurant. It was run by an acquaintance of his.
Since it was still lunchtime, there were quite a few people inside. Though it was in a seedier part of the city, the restaurant itself was impeccably clean. There were pictures of its menu stationed outside, too.
Fortunately, there was still one empty table left in the corner, so Oscar claimed it. Miledi sat down next to him.
“Hm? Is it just me or are people staring at us?” Miledi looked around the room.
Oscar looked around and saw some residents, a few adventurers, and even a table full of local girls sitting at the nearby tables. The restaurant attracted all manner of customers, so that wasn’t too unusual. What was unusual was that each and every one of them were staring at him.
Oscar knew Miledi was probably the reason, so he ignored them and called for a waiter.
“Hello~ Ah, Oscar-san, wel...come?” A bright teenage girl came over to take their order. The clean white apron she was wearing suited her nicely.
“Good afternoon, Aisha-san. Could we get two of the daily special?” Oscar ordered for Miledi as well. He didn’t want to ask her what she wanted, since that would’ve given her an excuse to say something.
However, the way he so casually ordered for Miledi seemed to crush Aisha. She glanced from Oscar to Miledi before suddenly bursting into tears.
Oscar was completely taken aback. Miledi smiled wryly, realizing what was going on. The diners watched on with interest, wondering how Oscar had made her cry.
“O-Oscar-san. I-I-I-I didn’t realize you had a lover...”
“Huh? Oh, no, I don’t. This girl’s just—”
“This girl!? You’re always so polite to everyone, but you’re so close to her that you refer to her so casually... I-I can’t believe it.” Aisha stumbled backward, one hand over her mouth. Miledi didn’t chime in with her usual teasing this time. Even she didn’t want to crush a pure little girl’s heart.
“Umm, I think you’re misunderstanding something here. O-kun and I—”
“O-kun!? You call him O-kun!? Even I’ve never used such a casual nickname with him!”
“Err, well, umm...” Before Miledi could say anything else, Aisha turned and ran.
“Waaaaaaaaah, I thought I had a chaaaaaance! Daaaaaaaaad, two daily specials!” She disappeared into the restaurant’s kitchen. An elderly man’s voice rang out through from the back.
“Two dailies, coming right up! Thanks for coming!”
Even when her heart was broken, Aisha still did her job properly. And it said something about her dad’s dedication to his own job that he took the order without batting an eyelid. Like father like daughter.
Wails of lamentation could be heard in another corner of the room.
Oscar turned and saw a group of local girls slumped over at their table. The cause of their despair was evident if you thought about what had just happened.
“You’re pretty popular, O-kun.”
“No comment.”
Objectively speaking, it made sense. Oscar was well-respected, came from a distinguished workshop, was rather handsome, and even had an amiable personality to boot. And because everyone knew he was a bachelor, the girls all thought they had a chance.
Oscar adjusted his glasses to cover his expression.
Two of the adventurers stood up and walked over to him. They were grinning.
“Yo, Oscar. Looks like you’ve finally found yourself a girl.”
“Nice going, kid. You always turned us down when we offered to introduce you to someone. We were so scared you might be into men that we stopped putting in orders for a while. Thank Ehit we don’t have to worry about that.”
The two adventurers patted Oscar on the back. They hadn’t ordered weapons and armor from Oscar before, but rather miscellaneous traveling equipment.
Things like lanterns, cookware, tents, and other things that every adventurer needed. Oscar’s items were always sturdier and easier to use than those of other craftsmen, so he was popular with adventurers too. Most of the adventurers who made this city their base carried around items made by Oscar.
“Umm, guys. She’s not actually—”
“Hey Missy, how’d you get this stubborn fool to fall for you?”
Oscar tried to fix the misunderstanding, but before he could they turned to Miledi.
It dawned on Miledi that basically all of the diners here knew Oscar, and they all loved him.
She thought back to poor Aisha and the girls despairing a few tables over, then decided to answer honestly.
“The truth is, I haven’t yet. I’m still trying to make him mine.”
The girls jolted upright. They stared at Oscar, a fierce determination burning in their eyes. Aisha, too, came running out of the kitchen. She hid behind a pillar and stared at Oscar.
“Miledi... Why do you keep adding fuel to the fire? First you had to go and make my workplace hell, now you’re destroying all the places I visit... How much do you have to ruin before you’re satisfied?” Oscar massaged his temples.
Seeing his reaction, the two adventurers realized what kind of relationship Oscar and Miledi really had. They smiled sadly and patted Oscar kindly on the back.
Though they looked scary, the two of them were actually quite soft-hearted.
They cast about for a different topic, hoping to distract themselves and Oscar from the girls now staring at him like he was a choice cut of meat.
“Oh yeah, speaking of your workplace. You know that shitty noble brat that’s always getting in your way?”
“Err, you mean Ping-san?”
“Yeah, that fool. I’ve seen him and his cronies skulking around here recently. It’s always at night, too.”
“Ping-san comes here at night?”
Ping was basically a walking bundle of pride.
He held as much contempt for the residential areas of the city as he did for Oscar himself.