After finishing my fourth world journey, I returned to my hometown, Meiyu Village. It was my triumphant return after two months away.
After returning home, I began telling Nana-san stories from my travels.
At the same time, I handed her a few souvenirs.
「…Bread?」
「Kirk Bread」
「Kirk Bread…?」
Nana-san looked at the Kirk Bread I had given her with a puzzled expression.
「It looks like completely ordinary bread」
「Hmm…」
Well, it actually is completely ordinary bread.
「Maybe you will notice the difference once you eat it」
「I see. Then I shall try it at dinner. Thank you very much, Master」
「No problem, Nana-san. I am just glad you are happy」
It would be amusing if Nana-san suddenly said something like, 『I see. It is indeed different from bread in the elf realm』.
Though, since she has the 『Cooking』 skill, I feel like she might genuinely be able to identify subtle differences between elf bread and Kirk Bread.
「So, you bought a large amount of this Kirk Bread?」
「Yeah. I thought I would hand it out to everyone」
After retreating from Raft Town, Jisrare-san and I spent around four days relaxing at Kirk-ojisan’s house, and during that time, we stocked up on a huge amount of Kirk Bread.
Just as I had discussed with Kirk-ojisan during the trip, I planned to distribute it as souvenirs to acquaintances in Meiyu Village and Lukmine Village.
…Though honestly, I do wonder about this.
It really is just ordinary bread. Will people actually be happy to receive it…?
Of course, for people who have never left the elf realm, hearing 『bread from the human world』 might at least make it feel novel.
But for people who have been to the human world before――people who know it is just ordinary bread, they might think, 『Why is he giving us normal bread as a souvenir…?』
「Is something wrong?」
「Ah, it is nothing」
Still, I already bought a huge amount of it. No point worrying about it now…
「Anyway, starting tomorrow, I will go around the village handing out Kirk Bread」
「I hope everyone likes it」
「Yeah. I hope so too…」
I hope everyone doesn’t end up thinking I’m weird…
「By the way, I have one more souvenir for you, Nana-san」
「Hmm? For me? The way you said that makes it sound like I’m getting something special」
「Well, I guess that’s true」
「Ohh. That’s nice to hear. Should I get my hopes up?」
「…………」
「……Master?」
Honestly, I felt like she probably shouldn’t.
「Just take a look first」
「Good grief……」
Rather than answering Nana-san directly, I decided to simply show her.
I rummaged through my magic bag and pulled out several small flags. Four pennants in total.
「When it comes to souvenirs, this is the classic choice, right?」
「Ugh……」
That reaction from just seeing them.
Well, pennants were always near the top of the rankings for unwanted souvenirs.
「Pennants……? Why pennants of all things……? What happened here exactly?」
「I had them specially made」
「You actually commissioned them……? And there are four of them too」
「I had one made in every village we visited」
「Goodness……」
Kirk Village, Yom Village, Rona Village, and Suripofalua Village.
All four village pennants were gifts for Nana-san.
She didn’t look especially happy about it, but a gift was a gift.
「Are these only for me?」
「Yeah. I only had those four made. …Actually, there might only be four in the entire world right now」
「When you put it that way, they suddenly sound rather valuable……」
The Kirk Village pennant might technically be the world’s very first pennant.
The first and oldest pennant in existence.
If that was true, then it was honestly pretty valuable.
「They do seem fairly well made at least」
「I paid close attention to the details」
「……Wouldn’t other people perhaps appreciate these more than I would?」
「Hmm…… maybe. Honestly, maybe they would」
They had apparently been popular in my previous life too, so there was a chance people here would genuinely like them as well.
「To tell the truth, I originally planned to give them to Jered-kun」
「Oh? Really?」
「That was the idea, but if people actually end up liking them like you said…… then it feels a little weird, doesn’t it? Having someone sincerely enjoy something I made as a joke」
「If they like them, then isn’t that perfectly fine……?」
「Hmm……」
Well, I guess that’s true enough.
But if that’s the case, then it means I gave something everyone wanted only to Jered-kun. That feels a little awkward too, doesn’t it?
So I figured maybe I should give them to Nana-san instead, since she probably wouldn’t like them anyway.
…Though now that I think about it again, that conclusion was pretty terrible too.
It just made everyone unhappy.
「Anyway, I’ll give these pennants to you for now, Nana-san, but I should probably ask Father and Mother what they think too. If their reaction is good, then next time I’ll stock up on pennants in bulk」
「For the record, I don’t particularly want them either……」
Come on now, don’t say that.
「……Is there nothing else?」
「Nothing else?」
「Not pennants. Don’t you have some other human-world souvenir that I might actually enjoy?」
「Eh? Even if you say that, I don’t really have anything else……」
That said, I still rummaged through the magic bag I used during the journey, just in case.
「Ah, what about this?」
「Is that…… a wooden sword?」
「This isn’t some school trip souvenir shop, you know……」
「Then what is it? It looks more like a staff」
「Correct. It’s a staff」
「A staff?」
It was the staff I made during the trip.
A magic staff.
While digging through the bag, I remembered I had made something like this too.
「Remember when we talked before about making a magic staff from a World Tree branch, Nana-san?」
「Ah yes, I remember. …Though in the end, magic staffs didn’t actually exist」
「Right, magic staffs didn’t exist. They simply didn’t. Nobody ever thought a staff could increase the power of magic, so magic staffs never existed in the first place, and nobody ever tried making one」
「Hmm?」
「But just because nobody tried it before, I thought maybe there was still a chance it might work. So, while we were traveling, I decided to actually make one and test it」
「I see. And after actually trying it…… that is a little interesting. So, what happened? Perhaps maybe――」
「Well, in the end it didn’t do anything at all」
「I am disappointed in you, Master」
Huh?
Wait, I’m the one getting blamed here?
Maybe the way I built up the story raised her expectations too much.
I’d lost Nana-san’s trust as a Master.
But come on, it’s not my fault.
It just genuinely didn’t work…….
next chapter: Recap 6
Leave a Reply