「Lad, I heard you are going to leave this town soon」
Ridge came to the corner of the bar in the inn where Dirkhert was studying and immediately said.
「Un, they said we are going to the capital~」
「Capital, huh. That place is a lot more fun than here, overflowing with various things」
「Waa, I’m looking forward to it~ But, you see……」
A complete turn in mood from before. Sadness appears on Dirkhert’s face.
「What’s wrong?」
「Anone, Ridge Ojisan, Aron, Paula, skewers Ojisan, the florist Oneesan, Neko-sans, Dirk will be said parting ways with everyone」
Leaving this town means to inevitably part ways from the people of this town.
Because of that, he’s half excited and half sad.
「It’s all right. As far as you continue being an adventurer, you will frequently come to this town to complete requests. You will meet then」
「Un……」
「…… Look, I will give you this, so cheer up」
Saying such, Ridge presents something in a cloth bag to Dirkhert.
When Dirkhert receives it in both hands, he could hear the sound of something hard inside hitting against each other. The touch over the cloth bag also feels solid.
「What is this?」
「It’s fine to open it」
He puts the bag on top of his study table, unfastens the string and pours the contents of the bag out while holding it upside down.
Startled by his wild actions, wry smiles float on Ridge’s, Meluerina’s, and Volsung’s faces who were sure Dirkhert would take it out one by one.
「Dirk-sama, you have to check the contents carefully beforehand, what would you do if it were dangerous?」
「Ridge Ojisan wouldn’t give me anything dangerous, so it’s fine!」
Dirkhert plainly retorts Meluerina’s caution. It was apparently an action of trust.
「Triangle, square, circle…… there are many shapes」
These are the so-called buildings blocks, but Dirkhert who has never received toys like that didn’t know what that is.
「F…… firewood……?」
「Does lad not know about building blocks?」
「Building blocks?」
To think he would think it was firewood, a wry smile unconsciously floated on Ridge’s face. He chose such toy because small children prefer toys like that, but he never thought that Dirkhert never heard of building blocks before.
「Dirk-sama has never been given a toy before, after all」
「Except Chocola and others」
That being the case, Chocola and others are Dirkhert’s friends, he doesn’t recognize them as toys.
「This, how do you play with this?」
「They are called building blocks. You can try to placing them on top of each other as high as possible or combine the shapes to make various things. If it’s you lad, what would you make using these blocks?」
「N~…… Neko-san!」
Saying such, he tried combining various blocks to form a cat, but it didn’t go smoothly.
「Place this here~ bring that over there……」
He tilts his head puzzledly, not understanding why he can’t succeed.
「Building blocks are difficult, aren’t they~ but, it’s fun!」
He must have thought that cat was too hard for now. He tried to see what he could build for now. He apparently likes the building blocks, so Ridge let out a sigh of relief.
「With this, he can kill time even in the carriage, right?」
Meluerina says to Volsung with a smile.
Indeed, both Meluerina and Volsung were racking their brains on how to help Dirkhert kill time while traveling in the carriage. Ridge’s building blocks can certainly be used even in the carriage.
「Thank you very much, Ridge-san」
「It will also help him train his imagination. Thanks」
Having received grat.i.tude from the two guardians, Ridge smiles in satisfaction and gently strokes the hair of Dirkhert who’s absorbedly playing.
「I will be leaving the town for a while tomorrow because of work…… stay healthy even in the capital, okay?」
In other words, this is the last time he will see Ridge for a while. It’s a common thing for adventurers and those traveling a lot, but Dirkhert who never experienced something like this, found those words very sad.
「Ridge Ojisan too, stay healthy, okay? Dirk would dislike you getting injured」
Ridge patted Dirkhert who said so while looking up again and left from the inn for his business.
Dirkhert continued staring at Ridge’s back until he couldn’t see it anymore.