On one day, when Ms. Whole Body Armor went outside to clean the eaves of the store, there was a person crouching outside.
There was an Entrance Hall to the Dungeon right nearby the store, so it wasn’t abnormal to find pa.s.sed out or injured adventurers outside or on the storefront.
But, this time, it didn’t seem like that sort of situation.
“Are you OK?”
“Yes. I think, my dizziness… is improved, a little bit.”
It was a lady, crouched with a parasol.
Anemone began to recognize her as she stood up and looked about slowly.
“Oh, oh, it’s Ms. Anemone… Long time no see.” (tl: let the aras begin)
“Hmm?”
“How do you do?”
The woman smiled and gave a curtsey, nodding.
She was an acquaintance of Anemone’s old days.
◆
While Fujiwara was wiping the store goods down with a cloth, humming, he heard the door’s bell chime.
Anemone, who had left to clean, had apparently returned.
“Store Manager, it’s a customer.”
With her trademark ‘gasha gasha’, Anemone entered. Behind her ringing armor was a girl.
They looked to be in the middle of their twenties, and somewhat modest. It was Fujiwara’s first time seeing her, and she was carrying a sunshade and a small basket.
They looked somewhat like a magician, but more importantly like a window-shopper, just curious of his wares.
“h.e.l.lo,” Fujiwara greeted her with his hands clasped and a polite bow.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Deneb R. Fay.”
“I see.”
“My sister has been taken care of by you for a while. I’ve come to say thank you.”
“Oh?”
Her words left Fujiwara puzzled, with no idea her intention (tl: ?)
“She’s Linne’s older sister”, Anemone announced.
“Ooh, no worries, it was no problem.”
This was because Linne was a regular customer of the “Good Old Magician’s Shop”. She’s a fledgeling Seeker, who came to the store looking for a companion. After that, Fujiwara introduced her to Soarer, another customer. Apparently, her sister just came to say h.e.l.lo.
“I’m grateful for it, so…”
While Deneb said as much, she took her basket off of the counter and popped open its lid. The fragrant smell of an apple pie came out, which it removed from the backpack on a large plate.
◆
“You should thank Soarer for Linne’s sake as well.”
“Yes. That shy sister of mine going as far as to go into the dungeon, it’s only thanks to Soarer she’s even begun to talk.”
Deneb is the eldest daughter of the Morgan family who was slated to take care of Linne, the youngest. It was no surprise she was happy over her growth, almost to the extent of the excitement over one’s own child. (tl: Morgan le Fay?)
While listening to Deneb’s joyful voice cross the room, Anemone went and prepared for tea and coffee. Two cups of coffee for her and Fujiwara, and one cup of tea.
Deneb began putting chamomile in her own drink, her stomach couldn’t handle Café Au Lait. While Fujiwara insisted she ought to drink the Coffee, they had a wide range of tea.
Of course, in exchange for the tea, they got apple pie.
It was cut with the sharp nice she had prepared, the dough burnt to a shiny gold. It wasn’t out of shape or crushed in any way, and after the careful carving was finished, the pieces were put on small plates.
“This looks really good.”
“This pie is indeed really good.”
“No need to exaggerate, now.”
Even while saying so, Deneb knew it was a decent cake.
Even though it was cooling down, served with some fresh cream and chocolate Anemone had heated up, the pie became so delicious that it was melting in her mouth. She decided to secretly snag leftovers.
“I’ll take one.”
Fujiwara clasped his hands as usual before snagging an apple pie with the tips of his fingers.
A smile came over his face while he devoured it quickly, chewing, before his mouth slowly stopped chewing, eventually stopping altogether, not even swallowing.
His expression was one that clearly signified being speechless.
“……”
“How was it, manager?” Anemone asked, seeing his reaction. He tilted his head and started at the small plate.
She wondered if there was any issue with the homemade pie. Her friend had made it for her many times before.
Deneb carried a piece from the plate to her mouth.
No objections to its cooking or chewiness. Casual vanilla fragrance, peculiar taste of cinnamon.
“…Mu.”
But, she noticed something oddly damp spreading in her mouth.
Suddenly she became dizzy, lowering her eyebrows, before her head became a deep blue. She threw away the rest of her slice with teary eyes.
“Please throw it away! Just in case, please throw it away!”
“…Mugu.”
Anemone swallowed hers with the help of the latte, her throat only hurting a little. No one had the courage to eat more.
The apple pie was nearly impeccable.
However, the most disappointing point, is that the ingredients weren’t just apples and sugar.
It was undeniably salt.
Because there were still a few of the biscuits left, Anemone decided to take a few in exchange for the tea.
When she glanced up from her plate ever so often, she spotted Deneb sitting on the chair by the counter, completely unmoved.
“Maybe… I was conceited, and… Possibly I should have taste tested…”
It’s likely because Deneb was good at cooking that this failure crushed her more than usual. Anemone herself knew why she was depressed.
Deneb is a member of the Morgan family, who are descended from a famous Witch. The family, as a whole, is good at ch.o.r.es and cooking. It wasn’t boasting to say she had never committed this bad of a mistake.
Her muttering continued. “this’ll shame me until I’m marriageable… no, a lifetime… Umu…”
She exuded quite the scary, black aura.
It’d good to understand that in her family of ladies, they had a bad habit to overly self-examine themselves.
“…Uum…”
Anemone growled quietly in her helmet.
She wanted to cheer up the depressed lady, but she couldn’t figure out what to say and didn’t want to irritate her.
Someone tough like her was no good at this.
She turned her eyes to Fujiwara, hoping for help, but he was silently staring at her. When she looked down his line of sight and at his unusually serious face, she gave a silent nod.
“…”
‘I see’, Anemone thought.
Fujiwara’s reasoning was one no one else could apply. Rather than what he could be gawking at, she knew he was only earnestly interested in a good old-fashioned Granting Tool. ‘At times like these he’s quite dependable.’
“Mrs. Deneb.”
Fujiwara took action.
Anemone approached the lady with an ‘Excuse me’, and clasped her thin, white hand slowly.
Deneb was, naturally, perplexed.
“Yes, Mr. Fujiwara?”
“Pardon me, but,”
“Yes……?”
Her mouth twitched, and she was visibly confused, tilting her head.
“I’ve been interested in this since you entered the store, but it’s quite fascinating. Based on the degradation, it’s a middle aged one, old enough for the ‘Time of Superior Mages’.”
Deneb’s face turned troubled.
Anemone had noticed.
Fujiwara hadn’t noticed.
The cause of his serious look, rather than the depressed Deneb, it was the thing on her finger.
His curiosity was caused by an item he rarely saw.
“May I look at the ring?”
‘No, he’s not rude.
This should be expected of him, because he’s stupid.’
The man who can’t read the climate only had that to say, even with Deneb being troubled or depressed.
Anemone gently put the tray on the counter and prepared for the Appraisal.
◆
“First off…”
Fujiwara was wearing his monocle, looking at the ring.
Although it looked normal, along with its casting process, the material’s coloration was near skin color. On the outside was a lightly painted maiden and finely crafted rubies that looked matched her rosy hair. In it, ‘For the beauty that was so pretty I could not breathe’.
“…Hmm.”
At first glance, this looked like a Ring of Charm.
That’s the name of a granting tool that could give the wearer a beautiful appearance. The effect also worked for men, so the demand for such an item was extremely high in both genders, looking for marriage partners.
But, most of the time, the beauty only increased in simple ways.
“Uh…”
Fujiwara concentrated desperately with his ‘Spell of Remove Concealment’. The ring immediately reacted, eventually forming a pattern, almost like blue muscles on the surface of it. No doubt, this was a Magic Circuit.
“Indeed… This is definitely a Granting Tool.”
His intuition told him this wasn’t a ‘Ring of Charm’.
Many people misunderstood its effects in that it doesn’t truly increase beauty, it simply made those nearby feel more positive about the wearer, due to generating pheromone traces from the user.
But the smells from Deneb were only perfume, and there were no signs of any bodily changes, anyway. Therefore, Fujiwara felt it was another kind.
“Deneb, have you felt tired lately?”
“Oh… Yes, I’ve been dizzy until a while ago. Lately it’s been all the time… At my age, cough… I’m already getting tired from just standing…”
“I see.
“Is this a,” Deneb approached, seemingly embarra.s.sed, and whispered “Ring of Charm”?
“I’ll appraise it a bit.”
Fujiwara answered with a pleasant smile.
She had been wearing this ring without appraising it.
This ‘Ring of Charm’ had been harming her, so most would think to take it to an appraiser, instead of wearing it around.
Fujiwara tied back his hair, and decided to begin appraisal right away