Right before the graduation party tomorrow, I, along with my sister and Rin, went out into the city.
“……Why are you here?” I asked with a baffled expression as I saw Rin casually linked arm-in-arm with my sister, Diana. But Rin just replied, “Isn’t it obvious?”
“We used to go out to play outside the village like this all the time.”
Diana, who was next to us, laughed and remembered, “That’s right! You called me when you were scared of the cave and the deep forest. Haha, what a memory!”
Ah, I remember too.
Mixing my past life memories with those of the Priestess of Time makes things a bit complicated, but I struggled to pull out the memories from my memory box.
“Ares wet his pants back then, didn’t he?”
“Wow! When we entered the cave? He ran straight to the riverbank so the other girls wouldn’t find out!”
“Ugh, that fool. I swear, this sister over here made a human out of him, you know?”
That wasn’t incorrect, so both Rin and I nodded. I heard that during last summer vacation, Ares had a terrible time after returning home alone.
Thanks to that, I heard he planned to go to Arni’s family home this time instead of back to his hometown.
‘Of course, first I’ll deal with the Len family.’
I didn’t know how long it would take, but I intended to sort it out as quickly as possible.
After all, with no Priestess of Time around, handling someone like Heaven Len should be easy enough.
“First, let’s buy some clothes. We need to get a suit for Daniel.”
“Buy some clothes for sister too.”
And so, the shopping began.
Since Elgrid was the center of trade, its commercial development was noticeably ahead of other places, so there was a certain charm to shopping here.
I never knew there would be so many exotic antiques and unique street foods lying around.
Even though I attended the Academy, I hadn’t explored every nook and cranny of Elgrid. It turned out to be a much more fascinating city than I had expected.
Holding a hotdog in one hand, we continued shopping. In the bag dangling from my other hand was the suit I was going to wear, but our shopping didn’t stop.
When the other two suggested we take a break for lunch, I had no choice but to trudge along like a cow with a rope on its nose.
‘Ah, why did I come here?’
The reason for my attendance was somewhat complicated. First, I wanted to buy some clothes and other necessities for my sister.
The second reason was what Belin Mayas had said about my sister’s taste. Not just for Belin, but I felt embarrassed not knowing what my sister liked, so I wanted to learn a bit about that.
Of course, I never expected it would entail this much wandering.
Sitting by the restaurant window, after ordering food, we began chatting about the old days that we hadn’t finished earlier.
“Speaking of which, eventually we started to be cautious even about going outside the village, right?”
As Rin mentioned that, I sipped my drink through a straw and replied, “Yeah, I think it started after that wild dog bit me?”
Oh no.
I had said it carelessly, but Rin’s expression darkened instantly as it reminded her of her own trauma.
The wild dog that Rin and Ares had wanted to raise. I had noticed it was sick and tried to kill it, but they stopped me, and I ended up getting bitten by it.
Not to mention that crazy creature had also hurt Ares and Rin.
“Well, it was childhood. And because of that, Rin got her dream of becoming a doctor.”
“……”
Back then, after I got a high fever and couldn’t regain consciousness, Rin had set her sights on becoming a doctor.
“Enough already, let’s change the topic. Daniel, what’s that on your arm?”
Because that memory wasn’t a pleasant one for Diana either, she waved her hand and switched to another topic.
She pointed to the bracelet on my wrist. Rin seemed curious and focused on the conversation.
“I’ve been wondering about that since earlier. Daniel doesn’t usually wear stuff like this.”
It’s not that I don’t usually wear them; I never wear them at all.
I lightly twirled the loosely worn bracelet with my finger and explained to Hayun about it.
“Ooh, a love bracelet? That’s pretty cute.”
Diana gave a strange smile.
“……Should I ask for one too?”
Rin stared intensely at the bracelet and me, licking her lips.
“Well, I don’t really believe in this. I’m just wearing it because it was given to me. Out of courtesy.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I quickly cut off the conversation, fearing it might awkwardly lead over to Eris as well.
As we ate, the conversation flowed non-stop.
Having been together since childhood, I wondered how we had so much to talk about, but given the long time we spent together, there were plenty of incidents and stories that kept pouring out.
“Oh! It’s Ares.”
Diana, who was tearing off her bread, suddenly opened her eyes wide and pointed out the window. Rin and I gazed out to see Ares walking with Arni Duratan, smiling and linking arms.
Diana crossed her legs, smiling contentedly as she looked at Ares.
“If that kid would just drop his habit of chasing girls, he’d be just fine. I feel like I’ve made someone.”
Seeing him, I confessed my honest feelings too.
“Ever since he came to the Academy, I didn’t really like him, but I didn’t think he was a completely awful guy either.”
I had said it before: in the realm of villains, he was third-rate at best, just like some local thug.
So I hoped that once he got a grip on himself, he’d live well. I wasn’t overly concerned; it could just be empty words.
“I didn’t wish for him to be this happy, though.”
Glug I glanced down, noticing my drink was almost empty.
Sitting across from me, Rin looked at Ares, who had confessed his feelings to her but had completely forgotten her and moved on to someone else. She seemed awed by that.
After finishing our meal, we started shopping again.
To be honest, I had reached my limit.
I just wanted to go back to the dorm, take a nap, or maybe get some exercise.
“Let’s go into that store.”
So I pointed toward a shop, surprising both of them.
“That place has expensive brands.”
“Only the really rich nobles go there.”
The two looked bewildered, but I was already striding towards it.
“Hello and welcome.”
Sure enough, it was high-end; as soon as I walked in, the staff bobbed their heads and greeted us politely. The interior was spacious and warm, which I liked.
“Please suggest something that would suit the two behind me.”
“Daniel!”
“Hey, you……”
Rin and Diana hurriedly followed me, and the saleswoman’s eyes sparkled as she looked at them and nodded.
“Understood, I’ll prepare it right away.”
And then she started gathering things.
“Choose something for yourselves too. I’ll pay for it.”
“Daniel, where are you getting the money from……”
“Hey, don’t overdo it.”
“I’m not overdoing it, just choose.”
I had just robbed a pirate officer’s underground gambling den.
It was, of course, a place where people’s lives were drawn into a single gamble, and I had to use some of the money the pirate officer, Jesant, had worked so hard to collect.
Eventually, the two were cornered by my momentum, whispering to each other, looking at the price tags in a frenzy, slowly trying to check their surroundings.
Meanwhile, I sat back in a chair, sipping the drink the staff had handed me, crossing my legs.
The stylist brought a few outfits for them before they could finish.
“You both are so beautiful, so I…”
“No.”
I shook my head as she started to explain something. It wouldn’t matter; I wouldn’t understand it anyway.
“Just give it to me. And bring more things, please.”
I didn’t even listen to the price and paid right away, asking for other items as well. The saleswoman’s body trembled as if she felt a shock, her smile beaming as she nodded eagerly.
“Understood!”
What followed was a veritable display of financial indulgence.
I wondered if I could possibly spend all the money gathered by the pirate officer, but spending it this way wasn’t bad at all.
Starting with clothes, then shoes, necklaces, and earrings.
I bought everything I could find.
“D-Daniel! Can you slow down a bit?!”
“Hey! We don’t need to buy anything else! I already bought enough!”
Rin and Diana, who had been shopping in the morning, were now trailing me, pleading for me to stop, but once I was revved up, they couldn’t slow me down.
At first, it was mainly out of annoyance to finish shopping quickly, but later, my mindset began to shift a bit.
I had never given a present to either Rin or my sister until now.
As a graduation gift to my sister, and for Rin… well, just because she was my childhood friend, I splurged all the pirate money like it was a blank check.
In the end, we ended up with a handful of shopping bags, and Diana grumbled if I wasn’t spending a bit too recklessly.
But honestly, my heart lightened in accordance with the weight in my hands. It somehow felt good doing what I should do.
After all, people should live kindly.
Thanks, Jesant!
