Volume 2 - CH 57

After a prototype meeting at the café, the partnership for the collaborative menu was formalized.

After dropping Alme off at home, Falk walked alone in the alley in a daze.

On the way home from the café, Alme incidentally bought some black bug repellent herbs. She said that for every one black bug, there are a hundred, so she is going to install them all over the house.

“If there’s one…there’s a hundred of them…”

The thought that was going round and round in his head just spilled out of his mouth.

Thinking back on their chat at the café, he let out another deep sigh.

The story that Alme was looking for a match was news to him. She is a young girl at a marriageable age, so there’s nothing wrong with it…

…But for some reason, the inside of his heart was burning.

When he heard that the person she had dinner with had a flirtatious vibe, the haze deepened further. He can’t help but worry about whether she’ll be okay.

Alme laughed, though the interviewer’s offer was not made in jest, but in earnest. Unfortunately, it was turned down.

(The one with a flirtatious vibe…I remember Mr. Kyle saying the same thing when I sent him on an errand to the festival. Next to Alme’s shaved ice stall, I believe, was the shop of a flirtatious owner…)

As he traced his memory, the haze in his chest became even darker.

Could it be that the person with whom Alme had dinner and the owner of the stall next to her at the festival were the same person? Kyle said, ‘They seemed to get along well.”

A friendly relationship… If that’s the case, will Alme bring that person into her house as well? Like she invited him today.

Falk had a feeling that if she let a flirtatious man into her house alone like that, an incident would occur…

“I have to get rid of the bugs…”

With a low grunt, Falk walked to the main street. He walked out to the busy main street and walked for a while without using a carriage.

His destination is a jewelry shop.

For the time being, he decided to rely on jewels to get rid of insects.

Insects of ill-fitting rank tend to back away from women who wear expensive jewelry.

He knew how to get rid of those bugs himself, but the problem was that Alme might refuse an expensive gift.

He was sure she wouldn’t accept the jewelry as they have had several occasions like that in the past.

So he decided to use a method he learned from Lou the other day. The method is to hand it over with a blank stare saying “It’s just glass beads.”

With a great deal of urgency, he walked with long strides and reached the jewelry shop.

The stone shop has gleaming carved decorations on the exterior walls. Two security guards and a doorman stand in front of the large entrance door. The ground floor has only a narrow, vertical window.

The inside of the building cannot be seen from the front. This is not only for security purposes, but also to sift out customers. Customers who find it difficult to enter this shop are not customers.

Fortunately, the high priests have easy access to this shop. As Falk advanced to the door, the doorman opened the heavy door and invited him into the shop.

Upon entering, Falk was greeted by bright lighting from magic stones and a polished glass showcase.

A clerk immediately approached him. He was a very elegant looking man, dressed in a three-piece suit of subdued colors.

“Welcome. If there is anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask…”

The male clerk looked at Falk from top to bottom before saying the line he had decided to use for a potential customer. However, he still seemed to be sizing him up.

When Falk saw the situation, he came to the realization that his appearance right now is quite ordinary.

It is hot in this city, so he always dresses comfortably on his days off. A shirt and appropriate slacks. Something moderately loose that he won’t care if it gets damaged by sweat.

Incidentally, the priest and military priest uniforms worn in the temple are made with special tailoring, so they are cooler than civilian clothes. The fabric is said to be woven with threads coated with ice magic stone and wind magic stone powder.

…It’s hard to find clothes like that on the market, so he usually wears something suitable.

It seemed that he had been judged not to be a customer. The elegant customer service smile turned into a bland one, and the tone of his voice dropped a notch.

The shop clerk let out a sigh of relief, but was polite for the time being.

“…if you need anything at all, please let me know.”

“Thank you. Now, may I see some of the items?”

“Yes, this way please.”

Passing through to the counter at the back of the shop, he sat down. The clerk in charge was sending a glance at the other clerk in the shop and signaling something.

The other clerks were laughing at that, but Falk was fine with just buying the jewelry he’s looking for. He’s not particularly looking for excessive service, so it doesn’t matter.

He turned to the clerk and quickly told him what he wanted to buy. He had already decided on it.

“Can you show me the white diamond necklace, earrings, and bracelet? It is a gift for a woman. It should not be too big, and should be of a high grade of cut and color. Anything in the shop will do. Oh, and the stone base and chain should be gold. Please keep the design as delicate as possible.”

“Uh, sir, excuse me, but what is your budget…?”

“I haven’t decided yet. If there is something good, I’ll take it.”

The shop clerk had a complicated expression on his face, and used familiar movements to check the items and spread them out on the table. The breakdown of the expression is suspicion, confusion, and a little curiosity.

The accessories glittered on the black cloth spread on the table.

Necklaces, earrings, bracelets – several were laid out, all elegantly designed, showing good taste.

Each is set with a single white diamond on a gold setting.

Falk chose white diamond because the flower hair ornament he gave her before was white, so he just tried to match the color. There is no other intention.

…The reason is definitely not an ulterior motive of wanting his friend to wear the same color as him.

From the items lined up by the clerk, he chose the one that seemed to suit Alme the most and asked for the bill.

He took out his ID card from his wallet and handed it over.

This Mithril ID card is convenient, and even if you don’t have money in your wallet, you can pay for it later.

Those who are guaranteed a certain level of status generally all have one. Although the scope of their use is limited by their status, they are widely used by government officials, upper class aristocrats, and merchants.

However, there are many shops where it can’t be used, so cash on hand is required.

A jewelry shop that sells big-ticket items, probably sees this card on a daily basis. Falk thought so, but the clerk’s eyes widened as he looked at the card.

“Mr…Falkert Raltoze?”

His reaction was similar to the clerk at a bank the other day.

The clerk glanced back and forth between his ID card and him, and checked it several times.

“Oh, I’ll take care of it. Will you pay it all at once?”

“Yes, please.”

The clerk started writing the slip with an indescribably funny expression on his face. Sweat is dripping down his neck.

The name and amount of the item to be purchased, the date, and the name of the shop are written on three slips of paper. After completing the forms, the slips are passed through a special processing machine along with the ID card.

With a clank of the lever on the processor, the information on the card was transferred to the paper.

Three sets of papers were laid out on the table.

“Please sign all three papers…”

When Falk signed it as he was told, the clerk was sweating and staring intently at his signature.

Falk received one of the slips as a copy and waited for the product to be wrapped.

Before he knew it, several other staff members had gathered around the table, and he was served tea just as he was about to leave.

Politely refusing the calls of the clerks, he took the paper bag containing the merchandise and left the shop.

When he left the shop, he received a big send-off. All the clerks had a puzzled look on their faces, and Falk even made a funny face.

He felt sorry for confusing them… he should have unlocked the metamorphosis spell at the same time as entering the shop.

He left the jewelry shop and stopped when he was about to start walking down the street. He looked at the bag of jewelry he had just acquired and sighed.

He bought it on the spur of the moment, but when he thought about it calmly, isn’t this bug repellent item too heavy? A feeling gradually welled up.

As he stumbled along, he pondered.

(I wanted to protect Miss Alme-san from bad bugs, but… is it an unnecessary intervention?)

Hopefully, he would rise to the rank of Alme’s best friend and protect her. He would like to protect her… but this feeling is nothing but arrogant self-indulgence.

……To tell the truth, he didn’t want to hand her over to those bugs.

If Alme gets married and has a family, the time spent hanging out with friends will decrease. Thinking about it, he just couldn’t support her search for a relationship.

With such a hopeless childlike possessiveness, he is trying to get rid of the bugs that come on to her…he’s trying to get in the way of her life.

(…I’m more than enough of a harmful bug, aren’t I?)

The more Falk thought about it, the more depressed he felt. He thought he was going to get rid of the bugs, but in actuality he was on the side of the bugs that needed to be wiped out…

He was sure that eventually all the bugs will be driven away by Alme herself or by the partner that she chose.