Chapter 35- Fun Talks

[Luna POV]

After some time, we made it to Dragon’s Hoard, and I managed to purchase a pair of rings.  Velvet was right about them being affordable too.  If people in my previous world knew about this, they’d be jealous.  I mean wedding rings that cost what a commoner would earn in a day of slow work is surprising.

When I told Velvet about my surprise, I got a strange look from her.

“Is it really that surprising, marriage in this world is really significant.  You are literally tying the fate of two people together, so it would only make sense that a symbol of that fact should be affordable for anyone.”

“I get that, Velvet, consider what I’m feeling like a bit of culture shock.  Though I have lived the same amount of time in this world as I have in my previous one, I haven’t learned as much as I would like about everything.  Most of this life has been training in the place I grew up in while learning enough common sense to passably enter society.  I never had the chance to learn something like the price of wedding rings and other such things.”

“I guess that’s fair.  Out of curiosity, how much did it cost to buy something like this in your previous world?”

“There was a rule that said a ring to signify engagement should cost three months salary for someone with decent income, not that I know if anyone actually followed that rule.”

“And that’s just for an engagement ring?”

“Yep.”

“How dumb.”

“I agree.”

After that we continued to chat about other dumb thing in my previous world that were better here like the quality of air in the city and how you could actually see the sky at night even if there weren’t any stars there yet.

“What are stars?”

“Hmm.  I can explain this two ways for you.  There is a detailed explanation that follows science, or I could go more mystical.  Which would you prefer?”

“While the scientific sounds interesting, I probably wouldn’t understand it, so go with the mystical version.”

“They are celestial bodies in the sky like the moon and sun.  Some people believed that they could use them for magic though anyone who claimed they could were frauds.  That world has no magic that I was aware of, though I have started to doubt that a bit considering some small tidbits Tamamo has dropped here and there.  Apparently, you can’t summon people from worlds without magic, so there must have been at least some there, but I never encountered it until I was summoned here.”

“Sounds difficult to live there.”

“It could be, but people managed.  Anyway, when you think of stars, think of the night sky filled with countless sparkling jewels both small and big.  In some mythologies there, gods would choose heroes, monsters, and other gods and put them into the stars and called them constellations.  People could use these to tell the season as well as navigate both land and sea.”

“Sounds like you really like them, Luna.”

“I do, one of my favorite pastimes was to sneak out at night, find a good spot, and watch the stars until I got sleepy.  I enjoyed making my own constellations and stories on how they came to be there.  When I came to this world and found out that it doesn’t have stars, I felt depressed for a bit, then when I died and met Tamamo and learned I could stand by her side one day, I promised myself that I would fill the night sky with stars to accompany her moon.”

“I think that’s a lovely goal, and as your friend, I’ll help you achieve it.”

“Thanks.”

“On another note, what do you want to do tomorrow, go to the north or south of the city?”

“What’s there?”

“In the north is places like the branch of the merchant’s guild in this city and other official offices for the government.  Not really amusing, but still important if you ever take a delivery quest from the guild and need to go there for the item to be delivered.  The south is like an entertainment district,  it has theatres, parks, and other similar things.  Though it is also quite different at night.”

“I’d say south, but let’s go north first.  Save fun stuff for last and all that.”

“Got it.  What about after that though?  You’ll still have a few days of off time.”

“We can use that time for me to get used to teleporting, it slipped my mind for a while, but it still needs to be done.”

“Got it.”

It was then that I thought I heard a click in my head.

{I’m back Luna, I hope you didn’t run into any trouble.}

‘Hey Tamamo.’ I said, my heart racing faster when I thought about what I just bought to give to her.

Velvet noticed my change in mood and asked if I was feeling alright.  I used my telepathy, hoping Tamamo wouldn’t listen in.

“Tamamo is back, don’t mention anything about what we talked about earlier, OK.”

She nodded in response.

‘So, where did you go, Tamamo?  You hardly ever leave like that.’

{I was visiting the God of Coffee, Java.  I can’t let you be the only one doing anything for our date.}

‘There’s a god of coffee!?’

{Yep.  He’s one of the most important gods that hold one Authority.}

‘I guess I’ll be a regular customer of his then.’

{I told him to expect that in the future.}

‘Thanks, even if coffee has no effect on me, I can still enjoy it.’

{You knew it has no effect on you?}

‘Yeah, though I only figured that out the other day.  Who would have guessed that effects of caffeine would be treated as a status effect, though now that I think about it, it was quite addicting in my previous life as well, so I could see it as a negative thing, I guess?”

{I also ran into Atmos again.}

‘She has been popping up a lot lately, doesn’t she have anything else to do?’

{She has always been like that, but I don’t blame her, it’s not easy being the Goddess of Fate.  She sees the fate of everything she looks at and can decide how to shape it at her will.  It’s no fun knowing everything that can possibly happen to something, so when special things or people pop up from time to time, she has a hard time holding back.}

‘I guess she deserves more respect than I gave her.’

{Not necessarily, if you do that, it’ll go to her head, and she’ll pester and prank you to no end.  You should have seen her when she met her husband, it was chaos.}

“She’s married!?”

“Who?” Velvet asked.

“The Goddess of Fate.”

“Yeah, though only kings of countries know to who.”

‘Who is it, Tamamo?’

{The last person to receive a divine protection, who went on to found the Adventurer’s Guild.  He is also the person you’re going to meet when you head to the Celestia Kingdom.}

‘I thought gods couldn’t live in the mortal world?’

{Normally we can’t.  He is an exception due to his Authority as God of Adventure.}

‘That seems like a kind of abstract Authority to have.’

{It is, but nothing any of us can complain about.  It helps that he keeps Atmos entertained with people who can go against her Authority somewhat.}

‘Who are these people?’

{S-rank adventurers.  They receive his blessing, which allows them to go against fate a bit which, in turn, keeps Atmos entertained enough to keep from pranking other gods and goddesses like she used to.  Though now with you in the mix, Luna, she has another outlet.}

‘As long as she gives the two of us space, and doesn’t interrupt us like last time, I can live with that.  I’ll consider her like a troublesome yet fun older sister-in-law.’

{That’s good, anyway, it seems Velvet is tired of being left out, so I’ll keep quiet for now.}

“Sorry about that, Velvet.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like I can do anything about how you forget the world around you when you talk to the Goddess or anything, or how you get this ecstatic expression on you face that make me jealous for various reasons.”

“I’m really sorry.  How about I treat you to something as an apology?”

“It’s not like I can be bought with food, though I’ll still take you up on the offer.”

We continued on like this for the rest of the day until it came time to head back to the inn.  When we got there, we went our separate ways and turned in for the night.

Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoy some minor worldbuilding because that is what I needed to breakup these chapters.  I might make a small timeskip to when Luna can go to the guild again in the next chapter, but I haven't decided yet.  I really want to write Luna and Tamamo's date, but that will come in due time since I can't just write the fluffy parts all the time.  That's enough rambling from me though.  Thanks for reading.