kscans

Chapter 683 - Under the Same Roof

"—It's a bit late to say this, but maybe it would have been a good idea to bring her along?"

"No, not a chance. Non-combatants don't need the Great Spirit's blessing."

In one of the rooms under the same roof as a 'neighbor.'

After leaving Kanata, who had entered into discussions with the now-motivated Kagura-san about his request, I had moved to the other exclusive artisan's place a while ago.

It wasn't so much a belated idea as it was just random chatter to fill the silence. The master of the atelier responded to my words with a sigh, as if to say, "What are you talking about?"

"If anything, it would have been more of a demerit than anything else. No, thank you."

Her technical skills were as impressive as ever. Nia's words, as she effortlessly conversed while working on her magic craft, seemed to be her true feelings, judging by her expression.

Since we both have Water Magic Aptitude, she would have benefited from joining the Great Spirit hunt the other day… but I see.

The blessing skill in question not only increases output but also comes with the negative side effect of worsening fuel efficiency. While the benefits far outweigh the MP consumption increase, it would be useless for someone who only uses it for convenient, non-combat purposes.

It could also cause control issues until she got used to it, making it even more unnecessary.

"More importantly, I haven't heard your thoughts on that yet."

And so the topic shifted abruptly, and Nia pointed to my left shoulder as I sat on the sofa.

My transformed body's formal wear, the [Sakura Hanaori], had a quirky asymmetrical design, a result of a sense of style that was not kind to me. The left arm, which was short-sleeved in contrast to the long-sleeved right, was covered by a single-sided cape (peris)… and as a clasp, a single jewel shone.

Until a little while ago, a yellow jewel (Golden Sapphire) had been embedded there, just like on Sora's [Dress of El-Clelia]. But the color now emanating from the current occupant was not the red of passion—but,

"…Everything but the color is perfect."

"Why? It's cute, isn't it? It's perfect!"

The color of love, kindness, and compassion—pink. In my opinion, and generally speaking, it's not a color a man would wear.

Well, there were cherry blossom decorations scattered all over it from the beginning, but those cherry blossoms have a connection to the Japanese spirit, so they feel cool and are in a different category…

The 'work of art' that was tossed at me on a whim the other day. In terms of performance, it's perfect, as I said, with no complaints whatsoever, but the appearance is just too cute, and wearing it makes my skin crawl.

The name of the work—or rather, its name as a gemstone is [Rampagelight Tourmaline]. Despite its rather dangerous name, it has a very gentle color, but its inherent nature is a born problem child that could never be described as 'gentle.'

It was one of the spoils of war we brought back from the [Mole's Bed], along with the special unique material, the [Novemheart Diamond], which became the new rings for me and Sora.

By the way, this was the No. 2 of the three we brought back.

The third one had some tricky properties, so it's currently sealed away pending Nia's ideas, but the best one is already set in Sora-san's [Dress of El-Clelia].

And so, on our expedition, we each completed our test runs.

In other words, my main reason for sliding from Kagura-san's workshop to Nia's atelier was to convey the feedback Nia had mentioned from the start.

She's online, so I'll just pop in, my feet had naturally moved, or maybe I was worried she'd complain later, asking, "Why didn't you come see me when you were so close?"

As for those thoughts and feelings, I'll keep them to myself as an afterthought.

"Anyway, both mine and Sora's are working perfectly. I'll be sure to use this as a new surprise first-time killer at the Tri-Duo. Want me to advertise the maker (Milmarinus) while I'm at it?"

"I'll slap you if you do."

Just as I received her glare, the multiple magic circles that had been shining in Nia's hands subsided and vanished. The jewel she placed on the desk… was probably a commission from someone I didn't know.

Though Kagura-san and I both call ourselves 'exclusive,' it's not like we have a rigid contract that says 'we won't work with anyone else.'

It's more of a verbal agreement to 'prioritize each other above all else,' and I think both Nia and I were just swept along by Kagura-san, who probably used the term because it sounded cool.

Besides, the top artisans in Arcadia aren't people who should be monopolized by individuals. Please, feel free to showcase your skills widely and help with the game's progress.

…That's what I said to Nia once, and she sulked magnificently.

I'm not going to play dumb and ask why or what's wrong, but I'm not the type of person to get possessive over something like that, so she'll just have to forgive me.

—Now then, with that said.

"If you're done with work, shall we go?"

"Yup!"

As we chatted, the real-world time hit 7:00 PM on the dot. Just in time for dinner, and thus, time for those of us living in the same dormitory to head to our usual restaurant.

Today is Sunday, the weekend. Normally, I would go to the Yotsuya residence, but today is an exception for various reasons.

And I could just log out quickly, but for some reason… well, I won't go into that either, but I accepted the body that had launched itself at the sofa without dodging, partly because of a promise from the other day.

While my other hand was busy preparing for a forced logout, I endured, thinking, 'Ten more seconds, hold on, my reason,' and patted the cheerful indigo head rather casually.

"Huh, by the way, Sora-chan's here. That's rare."

Whether it was a habit right after logging in and right before logging out, Nia, who seemed to have glanced at her friend list, let out a curious voice.

Then she gave me a mysterious look. She was probably asking why we were acting separately when we were both logged in, which was extremely rare.

"Ah… well, it's like this. There's a little event after dinner, so she's making an appointment and having a meeting beforehand, sort of."

The shock of having the assumption that it was natural for us to always be together thrown at me by this person of all people made up about 80% of my reaction. I ended up giving a roundabout answer in my distraction, but it wasn't something I needed to keep secret from my inner circle.

Therefore,

"If you're free after this, Nia, would you like to witness it too? —The very moment our partner evolves into something even more broken."

"…Huh?"

I decided to invite her on the spot, and naturally, the indigo-haired girl tilted her head again as if to say, 'What are you talking about?' I just let out a rough laugh.

I could accurately foresee a future where everyone who would witness the event, including us, would have the same expression—a wry smile composed mainly of awe and resignation.