“Mister Acer! Let’s! Go! Treasure hunting!!!”
As I was sitting after breakfast, wondering how I was going to spend my weekly day off, my worries were blown away by Aina practically jumping...okay, actually quite literally jumping into the room. Learning much of anything from Aina was going to be a challenge while she was this excited, but in short order she was followed in by Sheyne, who gave me an apologetic look after seeing what was happening.
I see, I see. I had no idea what was going on yet, but it appeared something Sheyne said had gotten Aina quite excited, and so she had raced off to find me. She had said something about hunting for treasure...yeah, I could see Aina being excited about something like that. It was the kind of romantic notion I was pretty fond of too.
“I’m sorry, Acer. When I mentioned my grandmother had hidden some treasure, she got quite excited...”
I shook my head at Sheyne’s apology with a smile. I’d never be upset with a child asking me to play with them. Rather, I was quite happy if they liked me enough to ask. And besides, if it was a treasure hidden by Nonna, I couldn’t help but be curious myself.
Of course, letting Aina be rude with guests like this wasn’t good for her sake. Sheyne would no doubt scold her for this, and I had no intention of getting in the way.
“I’ll probably go out hunting with her for it later, then. Would you mind telling me what you know about it?” However, I was still happy to be invited, and wanted her to understand that I fully intended to accept it.
Sheyne seemed relieved at my words, but nevertheless grabbed Aina by the scruff of her neck and dragged her out of the room. While I waited for the lecture to be over, I decided to take a walk and enjoy the morning air.
“They were friends of mine a long time ago, but I’m sure they haven’t changed one bit. I hid my most precious treasure under their favorite food. So Sheyne, whether it’s you or your children or even your grandchildren, if you find it you can keep it for yourselves. Feel free to search for it.”
That was the message Nonna had left for Sheyne while she was still alive, back before Aina had been born. Although Sheyne had searched for the treasure herself once, she had failed to find it and eventually forgot.
However, when thinking back on the friends from long ago that “haven’t changed one bit,” the thought occurred to her that Nonna might have been talking about me and Win. She had murmured her discovery out loud without thinking, triggering the excitement that followed.
As Aina pulled me rather forcibly by the arm through the streets of Janpemon, I thought over the problem. If I were to hide a precious treasure, where would I put it? Maybe some place where the complicated network of streets rarely brought anyone, or a mountain some distance away?
No, those were both quite unlikely. If she had left it somewhere like that, anyone could have come across it and taken it. Yes, if I were in her position, I’d want to be able to confirm no one else had taken it, and put it somewhere no one would find it by accident. So I would probably hide it under the floor or in the attic of my own house.
If I needed somewhere huge to store a vast treasure, or if it were something shady that would cause problems if it were traced back to me, I would consider caves deep in the mountains or uninhabited islands. I highly doubted Nonna’s treasure was anything of that scale, though. And with the inn being rebuilt in her lifetime, she would have any number of places to hide her treasure inside it.
However, an inn received countless guests over time. There were only so many private places for her inside it. She would have had to hide it somewhere like that. So unfortunately for Aina, who was quite passionate about searching around town, the chance of us finding it by walking randomly like this were next to zero.
“I think the cake shop is suspicious! I remember Great-Grandma really liked tarts!”
But her proud way of showing her deductions was so adorable, I couldn’t help but want to tag along with her escapades. Today was my day off, so going out for tarts wasn’t a bad idea either.
Though, now that I thought about it, the idea of checking the tart shop wasn’t all that bad. Win and I both loved fruit tarts. And if I recall, the shop that made the tarts we liked using fruit from Ardeno had been recommended by Nonna herself. But as much as we liked them, I didn’t think it had anything to do with—well, actually, maybe it did.
Quite a long time ago, I had talked with Nonna about our favorite foods. Nonna had recommended this place, so we had brought Win along. Back then, I hadn’t really shared what my favorite food was, but I’d mentioned that elves liked apples in general.
At that time, she had seemed to sink deep into thought.
“Oh, so elves like apples. If we start making more dishes with apples, will we get more elves as customers?”
I remembered her saying something like that. I was probably the only one left who remembered that story...and so I could start to guess at what the treasure was.
It was the kind of thing you’d never find unless you had Win or I to look for it with you. Even if Win didn’t remember the conversation, if he could guess at the nature of the treasure, he could use the spirits to help him find it. In other words, without Win or I to acknowledge them, no one would be able to find it. There was only one thing I could think of that would fit.
“Hey, Aina. If I remember, you guys have an apple tree in your backyard, don’t you?” I asked, mostly to confirm what I already knew. Behind the new, larger inn, the backyard had a single apple tree.
“Yeah, but the apples it grows are really sour. They don’t taste good at all. Oh, but Mom cooks them sometimes, and then they’re really good!” Aina’s expression lit up as she recalled the apple syrup her mother would make from the fruit. I had no doubt her head was entirely dominated by the thought of sweets, and she had almost entirely forgotten about the treasure. I guess we’d have to knock out the tarts first.
I wouldn’t be letting this treasure go, though. I could check the answers for myself later if I had to.
With the help of the spirits, I managed to dig up a tiny, tiny box buried among the roots of the apple tree behind the inn without harming it. The contents were exactly what I had expected: a pendant made from gold and silver, inlaid with a raw garnet. Win had found the stone, and I had made the pendant to fit around it, making it a present to her from both of us.
With her eyes shining at the discovery of quite a real treasure, I put the pendant around Aina’s neck. Nonna had said that whoever found the treasure could keep it for themselves. She didn’t want to take it to her grave, but for someone to carry it forward for her. But even then, only if Win or I gave them permission. In that case, I was more than happy to accede to my late friend’s wishes.
I didn’t know what Aina would do with the pendant. She might end up letting go of it at some point, but I didn’t mind. Of course, I would be happier if she treasured it, but as long as she understood how precious it had been to Nonna, that would be enough. I didn’t know how Win would feel about the whole thing, but that would be a question for when he returned from his journey.
“Does it look good on me, Mister Acer?” Aina’s face lit with a huge smile as she puffed out her chest to show off her new treasure, but of course it didn’t suit a young child like her.