“Oh, now there’s a surprise,” he said. “I did wonder what you’d called me for, Salamander, but I see now that the dragon has awakened.”
Alk snorted. “And I suppose you’ve amassed countless accomplishments during my slumber, Gnome?”
“As argumentative as ever, aren’t we? Have you grasped the concept of getting up at a reasonable time yet? You are an ancient dragon. Must I remind you again of the standards that you—”
“I knew this would be an utter waste of time!” Alk yelled.
I had never seen a hermit before, but this man certainly seemed to fit the part. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his eloquent speech! Excited, Teiren compared him to an “Edo-period landlord.” I wondered what in particular it was about him that had struck a chord with her.
Moreover, if Alk was to be believed, this was a gnome—an earth spirit. If that was the case, I could understand why he’d spoken to the dragon in the way that he had. Speaking of Alk, he was shaking his head beside me, looking most put out and fed up. Clearly, he resented being told off by Gnome.
At last, the hermit noticed my presence. “My, what have we here? Are you a human, young lady?” Gnome’s eyes softened as he smiled at me.
It was only then that I realized that I’d been frozen in place, overwhelmed by what was going on in front of me. I hurriedly grabbed my skirt and bowed my head. “Oh, please excuse me! It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Francheska, and I am most fortunate to have been offered a place to stay at this shrine.”
“No need for the formalities. It makes me feel awkward.” There was a chuckle rumbling in his throat, and I didn’t feel like he was scolding me as he had Alk. Perhaps, at the root of it all, he was as genial as his appearance suggested.
Meanwhile, Salamander had made his way over to the altar and jumped up onto it. “Long time no see, hermit! We were hopin’ we could bend your ear for a spell.”
“Well, isn’t this a bolt from the blue? Speaking of which, Salamander, I must have told you of the importance of pacing yourself until I was blue in the face. You cannot just assume someone will be happy to do you a favor.” Gnome’s hands were on his hips and he was giving the lizard a hard stare from behind his monocle. He really did give off the impression of one who was fed up with more worldly beings, especially when he began to wag a haughty finger in the spirit’s direction.
“Yeesh! Ya can lecture me all ya like later!”
As for Salamander, he had a strong will of his own. I could hardly believe that he was waving a dismissive front foot at Gnome and cutting him off before he had finished speaking! Gnome heaved an exasperated sigh, which the fire spirit responded to with little more than a glance. Instead, he started rolling the empty tea bottles over the altar.
Oh, right.
I had almost forgotten that the question of what to do about the bottles had been what started all this in the first place. Why had Salamander summoned Gnome for those? I wondered. I watched the bottles roll around, and that was when the hermit seemed to notice them too. And just like that, all the sharpness in his eyes vanished! Instead, they began to sparkle with curiosity!
“Goodness, goodness, goodness me!” he cried. “Now that is some exquisite glasswork! It has been some time since I have come to the surface. How long have they been producing such gems for?”
“Uh... Um...” I stammered, which was all I could manage.
“Come, young lady, and feast your eyes on this! See how the smooth surface has not a single imperfection? The thickness is so uniform. And these have color and transparency! Isn’t progress just wonderful?”
“Um, excuse me, but—”
“They are just so beautiful! I remember how rough and warped the glassworks that humans first produced were, but these... Identical bottles! And so many of them!”
Word vomit. Was that the phrase I was looking for? It was impossible for me to get a word in edgewise...
I had the sense that Gnome liked objects that had been crafted by hand. He was picking up each bottle and gazing at it, poring over it and sharing his thoughts with me as he went. The only snag was that they likely weren’t made by human hands, but by automated machinery... Although I supposed you could make an argument to the contrary, given that the machines would have been made by humans and that humans had to control the process to a certain degree... While I felt like I normally should’ve pointed this out to Gnome, wiping that joyful smile from his face would have made me feel awful. It was perhaps more pertinent that those bottles weren’t even made in this world!
“Did you bring these articles here, young lady?” he asked.
“Oh, er...yes. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I ordered them using my skill.”
A curious light flashed in the eye behind Gnome’s monocle, and he scuttled up to me with a bottle in his hand.
I immediately began to panic. I wasn’t sure how to begin explaining everything! My mind whirred as I faced the overbearing gnome, who seemed as if he became blind to everything else once an obsession struck him.
Somehow, Salamander and I managed to convince him to calm down, and after that, I was able to explain the events of the past few days.
“I see, so these sacrificial rituals still persist in human culture... How utterly heartrending.” Gnome took a moment to reposition his monocle as it had been starting to slip. He looked sorrowful indeed.
Apparently, he had spent the past few hundred years underground and had been under the assumption that the barbaric Flower Offering was no longer in practice. This was his first time on the surface in centuries, and he had found himself face-to-face with one of the sacrifices. It was no wonder that he was shocked. Incidentally, I did ask why he had become a hermit, and he answered with nothing more than a meaningful smile. Admittedly, when I pictured a hermit, I had imagined someone much older.
Still holding one of the tea bottles in his hand, Gnome frowned. “However, had the custom truly fallen out of practice, I would never have cast my eyes on such artifacts, so overall, I am rather conflicted. In any case, I am simply glad to know that you are alive.”
I nodded at him quietly. “Thank you. I share the same sentiment very keenly. I have been incredibly fortunate.”
He’d had a point. Had I not been chosen as the flower of my generation, this world would have never experienced the items that existed in the other. Meanwhile, Gnome seemed to be struggling to weigh his emotions on the scales. On the one hand, humans were still following a detestable custom that took life needlessly. On the other, he seemed genuinely pleased to be encountering such rare objects. The fact remained, though, that the “flowers” sent before me had been killed by those goblin-like monsters before they had even reached Alk. If I hadn’t been capable of using magic, I would have likely met the same end.
It was all rather solemn.
Then, I heard a heavy sigh—Alk’s. “There is nothing to be done about the past,” he said. “The souls in question have passed on and may return to the cycle of death and rebirth.”
“I suppose you have a point there. I shall pray that they have found peace.”
Whatever the case, I had no doubt that Alk knew more about such things than I did. I would have liked to think that the souls lost before me had found salvation. Gnome had closed his eyes quietly, and I found myself putting my hands together in preparation for prayer.
Salamander, however, practically ruined the solemn mood in an instant. “By the by, hermit, d’ya think ya could take them bottles home with ya?”
This had come from the distinguished spirit whose duty it was to maintain the flames in the shrine belonging to the King of the Underworld. I was rather shocked that he would dare to pull off something like that.
Salamander’s question had Alk narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Gnome—Gnome, who was still holding a bottle in his hand.
“I wouldn’t dream of leaving them here!” he replied. “Glasswork of this caliber has yet to be found anywhere in this world!”
“You are as eccentric as they come. Most gnomes’ interests lie in items crafted with gold.”
“You are mistaken, dragon. Metal, sand, and limestone are all minerals. I am of the opinion that crafting with glass is just as legitimate as crafting with gold as they both stem from said minerals,” Gnome explained. There was a delighted smile on his face as he snapped his fingers, and all at once, the bottle in his hand as well as those lined up on the altar vanished.
Was that what Salamander had in mind when he decided to call upon the hermit? I wondered. Now that I thought of it, I had read—or perhaps had heard—that earth spirits such as gnomes were knowledgeable about ores and all things that came from the ground. They also excelled at handiwork to boot. It seemed that Gnome had recognized the glass bottles as something to be cherished. And it was indeed true that glass was originally made from minerals, so it was very apt that it would therefore be returned to an earth spirit.
“To think that I would be presented with such fine works... Truly, longevity is a blessing. Incidentally, young lady, would you happen to have anything in a slightly different shape?” There was a teasing glimmer in Gnome’s eye as he looked in my direction.
“Differently shaped glass bottles, you mean? Well, not on hand, but my skill means I potentially have access to countless bottles!” I said, and I had summoned the tablet before I knew it.
Alk was giving me a look as if warning me not to spoil Gnome. However, the hermit’s eyes were so full of anticipation and curiosity that I couldn’t resist! Besides, we didn’t have any drinks left, so I’d been about to order some more anyway.
Feeling three pairs of eyes on me, I tapped and swiped on the tablet’s screen and navigated to the drinks section. Everyone was immediately drawn in by the sight. Alk was behind me, Salamander was on my shoulder, and Gnome stood in front of me, but they were all peering at the screen.
Now, what to order?
As I continued to swipe through the offerings, I felt very much like I was flipping through the pages of a book. My goal was to find something in an interestingly shaped bottle!