Chapter 11:
Gifts and a Goodbye
AFTER THE EVENING’S BALL, Lord Valgas sent me back to the inn via carriage. When I got back to the inn, Noela told me to hurry up and take a bath. Her sensitive nose found unfamiliar female scents extremely unpleasant, and apparently I emanated all kinds of off-putting aromas.
“Master close to women?” Noela demanded.
“No,” I lied.
That said, she asked the same question the next day too.
Anyway, all we had left was to do was buy souvenirs and head home. We really are just here as tourists, I reflected as Noela and I headed to the shopping district for presents. I held her hand, since there was a lot of foot traffic here today. “I wonder what Mina would like.”
“Mina like anything.”
“I hope so.”
“She easy.”
“Hey! You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”
We planned to buy souvenirs for Mina, Ejil, Vivi, Annabelle, and Paula—pretty much all the friends I remembered off the top of my head.
In a weapons store sat a scythe that the Grim Reaper himself might’ve carried. Noela pointed at it excitedly. “Want, Master!” Her eyes practically sparkled.
“We aren’t shopping for you, Noela.”
“Groo?” She didn’t seem to grasp the concept of “souvenirs.”
Among the shop’s short blades was a pair of kitchen knives. “Whoa! Those could be good for Mina.”
“You’ve got keen eyes to look at those, young man!” The old shopkeeper praised me.
The knives had apparently been forged from some specific type of steel during a particular historical period. I wasn’t too interested in that, however, so the details went in one ear and out the other, including the names.
“Can I try them?” I asked.
“Aye.”
I used one knife to slice some scrap paper the shopkeeper passed me. Its blade slipped in smoothly. I pulled it back, and it did a clean job. “Wow. Feels great. These are the real deal.”
“Mm-hmm.” The shopkeeper seemed as happy as if I complimented him instead of the merchandise. “I’m glad I had ’em in stock, lad. Praise from a sharp-eyed young man like yourself means the world to me.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I tried cutting a few other things too, like meat and fruit. Slicing them with the blades felt amazing—way better than our current kitchen knives.
“I think we’ll get these for Mina,” I told Noela—except she wasn’t there. Where’d that little fluffball get off to?
Looking around, I spotted her trying on a small suit of armor at another nearby shop.
“What do you think, young lady?”
“Groo. No good. Squeezes tail.” She shook her head vigorously.
“Well, of course. That there armor weren’t made for beastlings.”
Whoops. He stepped on a land mine.
“Not beastling! Werewolf!”
“Come on. Don’t get so mad,” the shopkeeper continued. “They’re similar, ain’t they?”
“Garrooooo!” Noela stomped angrily.
I stepped between her and the vendor. “Sorry about my little fluffball here.”
“She with you, pal? I’m beggin’ you, look after her. She drove me nuts demandin’ to try on that armor.”
“I’m really sorry.” I bowed my head repeatedly. “Noela, take that off. I’m not buying you that. What were you thinking, trying it on?”
“Decided, Master. Buy,” she insisted.
“Didn’t you say it squeezed your tail?”
“Look strong with this! Awesome!” She was apparently choosing aesthetics over comfort.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m still not buying it.”
“Arrooooo! Master cheapskate!”
“We’re buying everyone else souvenirs right now!” I said.
Noela was like this whenever she found something she admired at a shop. She even had to examine each new item Paula stocked at her tool shop. Frankly, I was sure there was nothing in the place she hadn’t touched.
I grabbed Noela and helped the shopkeeper get the armor off her. At that point, it was covered in her fur, so I paid a small fee for cleaning and left politely.
Noela was still mad that the shopkeeper had called her a beastling and that he said werewolves weren’t different from beastlings. She was also angry that I didn’t buy the armor. “When get stronger?” she demanded.
“You don’t have to get stronger.” She was like a little boy focused on becoming the Red Ranger or something.
Since Noela was in a snippy mood, I wound up picking the souvenirs myself. I also bought two big bags, since mine was full already. At this point, our luggage was half presents, half herbs and rare materials. Finally, as an olive branch, I bought Noela two more of the kebabs she liked so much on the first day of the trip.
Her attitude changed in literally seconds. “Master know how buy souvenirs!”
We ran out of Super Invisiblize and giant minimizer last night, so Griffy had been waiting outside the city walls since then.
“The capital sure was a lot of fun,” I said as we left.
“Groo.” Noela nodded. She had sauce at the corners of her mouth.
All she really did the entire trip was eat, huh?
As we followed the path out of the city, we passed a hooded local girl carrying a basket in her hands. She had a hood over her head as well. “I promise I’ll come see you,” she said.
Hmm? I stopped and instinctively turned around. Was she talking to herself?
Cocking my head, I saw the girl shift her arm that was holding the basket. As she did so, her hand became visible, and I could tell that her nails were a beautiful reddish beige.
Aha! The Shiny Nails I made yesterday! The color hadn’t faded at all.
The way I suddenly stopped confused Noela. “What, Master?”
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head and continuing to walk ahead.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once we got home, I gave Mina her souvenirs immediately.
“Ooh! Kitchen knives! Thanks so much, Mr. Reiji!”
“Seeing how excited you are, it was worth getting them. I think they’ll cut things more easily than the ones you have now.”
“I’m so happy!” Mina hugged the knife boxes, jumping up and down with delight.
Ejil and Vivi both had shifts at the drugstore today too. They loitered awkwardly, stealing glances at me.
Ha! They’re totally waiting for their souvenirs. They honestly reminded me of teenage boys on Valentine’s Day—both hopeful that a present was coming and fearful that I hadn’t gotten them anything.
“Ejil—”
“Yes! Yes, yes?!”
Quick reply. It was like he was waiting on pins and needles for me to say his name. “This is for you.”
I handed him a small piece of art. At first glance, it seemed to depict the tail of some foxlike beast. Ejil’s sharp senses immediately figured out what I’d passed him. “D-Doctor… I can’t believe it!”
“Noela held on to it the whole trip back.”
“I could live on this alone for three months!”
Ejil rubbed the painting against his cheek immediately, making disgusting sounds. He would sniff it occasionally, then heave a sigh into the air. He seemed healed and revitalized.
Vivi, meanwhile, was so concerned that she asked for her present outright. “Wh-what about me, Reiji? I’ll be happy with anything, I swear. No one’s ever bought a souvenir for me before…” She was like a schoolboy begging his closest female friend for any old candy, having given up all hope of getting Valentine’s Day chocolate.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you.”
“You d-didn’t?”
“Nope. I know this seems kind of tacky, but…” I handed her a wooden carving that read “Fairy Charm.” “Man, that was heavy as heck,” I informed her. “Carrying it was seriously a pain.”
“Uh…yeah. Thanks.” Vivi didn’t seem remotely pleased, though. In fact, her eyes were dead.
“It’s magical, Vivi,” I chuckled.
“But wh-why does it say fairy? You should at least have gotten one that said spirit!”
“I forgot which you were.”
“Aw, jeez! Knowing you don’t do it on purpose hurts!” she whined, but she hugged the charm nonetheless. “I’ll put it near the entrance to my house.”
“I bet fairies will protect you.”
“Should you really say that to a spirit?”
Vivi had looked miffed at first, but in the end, she was all smiles. I guessed she decided she was happier to have something than nothing at all.
I gave Paula and Annabelle their souvenirs when they dropped by the shop later.
I also thought back on meeting Stella—the dancer, young noblewoman, and city girl. She was charming, intelligent, and friendly, not to mention stunning. There was a character like that in an anime I used to watch.
I wanted to believe Stella was a good person, but who could really tell? She was probably a spy or something. After all, she knew the mansion’s layout, and she said she “accomplished her goal” when we slipped out of the ball.
Stella did say she’d visit the drugstore, so I figured I’d ask her then. I highly doubted she’d ever reveal the truth, but I couldn’t help but look forward to her running out of Shiny Nails.