♣Me at Age Five

 

 

 

♣Me at Age Five

 

“IT’S ready!”

I mixed in all sorts of herbs useful for alchemy that I’d gathered from the garden, like Milson grass and Buus flowers. I’d found a recipe for manure in my alchemy recipe book and tried making it. And the result was…hehehe…a resounding success! It was simpler than I thought.

“All right, let’s check if it works!”

Five years had passed since I was adopted by the Rofola Lodge. Five years since I began my life as Tinaris. In other words, I was five years old. I was sure I’d die when I’d floated down that river and was found by bandits and beasts. But five years later, I was alive and well. I owed it all to the man who saved me…but I still couldn’t bring myself to trust men that easily, which may not be the nicest thing to say, given that I still lived with my dad.

To that end, I was working on my alchemy so someday, I could live independently. Alchemy certainly was useful for everyday life. One month had passed since my family became just my one-armed dad and me. We both had to run the inn by ourselves now, so I strove to make more advanced items. That way, with my help…Dad wouldn’t have to work as hard.

“Hi Dad, how were the crops?”

“Huh? Tina, what’s that black soil you’re carrying there? Where did you get it? It looks heavy.”

Dad went from one question to another without taking so much as a breath.

Listen and be amazed, I thought to myself smugly. It’s nowhere near as heavy as it looks!

Honestly, it was, though.

“This is manure I made with alchemy! Using it on your crops should increase the quality and yield of your harvest! And it’ll even make the crops grow faster!”

“Manure? Alchemy can make manure?”

“Yes…! Oh, but this is my first time making it… It might not do anything if I messed up…”

“Well, hand it over. I’ll use Appraisal on it.”

“Ah, right!”

Appraisal! Dad can use magic to assess the quality of items!

Work your magic, daddy-o!

“Hmm…”

“H-How does it look?”

“Produce Manure Puepue… Good quality. Impressive work. All right, I’ll put it to use.”

“Yay!”

He’s putting it to use already?!

“Th-Thank you!”

“Mm…I should be the one thanking you. What are you thanking me for, Tina?” Dad asked, patting my head.

“…Oh…”

Was thanking him that weird? But he looks happy.

“Thank you, Tina. A good harvest means we can have more stored up in the pantry sooner. Can you come help me spread the manure?”

“Yes!”

Taking a pair of gloves, I went with Dad to spread the manure in our field. It was just after a harvest, so there were a lot of spots with nothing planted. Dad used his wooden arm for support as he plowed the fertilized soil. Forming ridges in the field, he planted poteito seeds.

“Mm, this looks about right,” he said as he concluded his work.

“Ah! Dad, I think guests are coming!” I said, spotting silhouettes in the distance.

“What?” Dad asked, straining his eyes. “Oh, you’re right. Looks like there are two of them… Tina, go get a room for two ready.”

“On it!”

My body grew stronger with age, and I could move a lot better…though I still wasn’t very good at running. But being a kid, it felt like I had endless stamina! And, well, my body was definitely light. Compared to how I was in my past life, I felt as light as a feather. But, just like in my past life, running was not my strong suit.

So, I simply broke into a light jog and checked one of our cottages for two. There was no trash, the sheets were clean and ironed, nothing was left in the closet, and the bathroom was clean.

“Ah…!”

I entered the first floor of our house, which doubled as the inn’s reception area, just as a young couple was checking in.

Wow… They’re so pretty.

It was a man and a woman, and they were both gorgeous. The woman was dressed in a rather revealing outfit, while the man had emerald hair and eyes. He wore a purple cloak and carried an instrument that reminded me of a ukulele. The woman had long, light-pink hair and violet eyes. She had heavy makeup on, which gave her something of a gaudy impression. And her breasts were quite large.

The oddest part about them, though, was that they were traveling too lightly. Most travelers usually had at least an overcoat, so their things wouldn’t be stolen so easily. Bandits had been going around the roads for some time now, so not having a weapon to defend yourself would invite them to attack.

The country of Fei Lu sent knights every now and then to deal with the bandits, but they always seemed to crop up time and again. To that end, merchants often hired bodyguards.

Did they only travel a short distance? They didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons, so they didn’t look like adventurers, but…

“Oh? Who’s this girl?” the woman asked upon seeing me.

“Oh, that’s my daughter, Tinaris. Tina, is the room ready?”

“Yes, everything’s set.”

“Right. Thanks. Here’s the key to your cottage, then.”

“Thank you kindly.” The man accepted the key. “Do the other guests eat here too?”

“Yes, but…you’re the only guests we have today, so you have the place all to yourselves.”

“Oh, that’s a pity.” The man gave a forced smile. “We thought we could liven the place up with our song and dance.”

“Song and dance…?” I accidentally said aloud.

The lady squatted down in front of me, looking at me at eye level. “Yes, that’s right. Roin and I are performers. He’s supposed to be a troubadour and I’m a dancer.”

“Traveling performers…”

So, there are people like that in this world too, huh? I guess that’s why they’re traveling light…

But the man looked pretty weak, so I had to wonder how they weren’t attacked by bandits. And people as pretty as them traveling unprotected felt like a recipe for trouble.

“Traveling performers, eh…? Isn’t traveling on your own dangerous, though?” Dad said, apparently thinking the same thing as me.

I mean, isn’t it?

“Y-Yes, well, we’re actually part of a troupe, but…”

“He wanted to propose to me, so we snuck away from the troupe!” the lady exclaimed, beaming. “The troupe is staying in De Lulua right now, so once we’re done here, we’ll be going back.”

“E-Enofa!” Roin cried.

“P-Propose?!” Dad and I said in unison.

H-He’s proposing to her?! W-Wow! Wooow! But, wait… He wanted to propose to her, so they broke off on their own…? And once he’s proposed, they’re going back? Or am I missing something here?

“I-I didn’t say that!” Roin insisted.

“Oh? Then why did you say we’ll be traveling just the two of us for a while?” Enofa asked teasingly.

“Well, that’s…er… A-Anyway, I’ll go check out our room! I need to, uhh, make preparations… I mean, no, r-right! I need to check on something that shopkeeper said… I mean, no! There’s something I need to ask the innkeeper!”

“Yeah, yeah… See? You can read him like an open book,” she whispered into my ear and winked.

“I-I see…” I nodded vaguely.

Roin really was pretty obvious with his intentions. His limbs were shaking nonstop, and his eyes darted in all directions. And when he was like this, nothing he said was convincing. In fact, it felt like the more he talked, the deeper the hole he’d dig for himself. But the lady seemed to like it, so I assumed it worked for them.

“O-Oh, come on…! Why do you have to be so perceptive?!”

Dad regarded him with a pitying look.

Dad, he’s a guest. You’re being rude…

I did understand how Dad felt thought. Though Roin was probably serious about going through with this act…

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant…I talked to this one shopkeeper. He told me you can see the Twin Moons here in Rofola…” Roin said.

“Oh, the Twin Moons.” Dad nodded in understanding. “Now would be the time, wouldn’t it?”

“Twin Moons?” I asked, approaching the counter.

This was the first I’d heard of it.

“Yeah. You know how there are two moons in the sky?”

“Yes.”

Wisty Air had two suns and two moons. The temperature was always pleasant, though, and unlike Japan, there was no noticeable change in the seasons. Those suns were probably smaller and closer and radiated less heat than the sun I knew from my past life… Or so I assumed. I didn’t really know for sure, obviously.

As for the moons, I wasn’t sure what role they played in this world. There might be someone researching them out there, but…I supposed that’s just how other worlds worked.

But then again, if there are two moons, doesn’t that mean there are always “twin moons?”

“Every few years, there’s a day when the Ril Moon and the Roal Moon intersect. The intersecting moons shine down on Lake Rhiode, creating twin moons. One on the water’s surface and the other in the sky. It’s said that couples who see this moon are blessed with twins.”

“Woow…”

So, it’s like an astronomical show! And it’s going to happen soon? I wanna see it!

“Well, the part about twins being born is just a legend,” Dad finished.

“It still sounds lovely!” I said excitedly.

“Doesn’t it?!” Roin beamed at me. “That’s why I want to…p-propose to Enofa while looking…at the Twin Moons…”

“So that’s why!” Dad and I said in unison.

I couldn’t help but nod and smile. Roin was blushing profusely and shivering like a leaf though…

Can he really pull this off…?

“Hmm, but there is a little problem.” Dad frowned. “I think it’s almost the right time… But I only recently inherited the inn, so I don’t know the exact date. I only saw the Twin Moons once when I was a lad…”

“Huh?! B-But…it should be soon, right?”

“Well, yeah, I think… But I dunno if it’ll be today or tomorrow or the day after… I don’t think it’ll be as long as a month, but I don’t know the exact date, see…”

“Huuuh?! So we might have to stay here for days…?”

“W-Well, yes. Ah, don’t worry about the lodging fees building up, though. We’ll cut them down if you’re willing to help around the inn.”

“Um… You mention helping out with your inn, but can outsiders like us really do that…?”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll only ask you to do simple tasks! Probably…”

…I’m getting a bad feeling about this…

“D-Dad, weren’t there some books about astrology in your study?” I asked, pulling on his sleeve.

“Hm? There were?”

“I can look for them…”

“You sure you wanna do that? Will you be able to tell even if you do find them?”

“I-It’s worth a shot!”

Honestly, I didn’t know much about astronomy or constellations—especially given how different this world was from Earth.

“If Pops was still alive, we could have asked him for the exact date…” Dad uttered bitterly.

Dad…

I couldn’t blame him. Grandpa passed away just last month, and his death was still fresh in Dad’s memory. I couldn’t quite believe it yet either. But right now, we had the customers to worry about. Their future depended on this affair.

I went up to the second floor and began scanning through the study’s shelves. I couldn’t reach the really tall ones, but…

Huh, that’s weird…

I was bad with heights, but somehow, I was okay with climbing up a bookshelf. Maybe it was because it had proper footing. I knew climbing it was wrong because it damaged the shelf, but I had to get up there somehow.

That’s not important now. Astrology books. Right… Wait, that book over there looks like it might be it.

“Yes!” I exclaimed as I reached for the book with my fingertips.

The book was titled On the Two Suns, Moons, and the Stars. It didn’t look like a romance novel, so I assumed it was what I was looking for. I opened the book, and as soon as I flipped past the table of contents, I found myself looking at a two-page illustration of constellations.

This is it!

“So this is what they look like…”

Apparently, this world had constellations too. It was kind of exciting to discover that. It was another world altogether, but between this and how similar vegetables were, I had to wonder if this world and Earth were somehow distantly related.

That said, the constellations weren’t even remotely similar to the ones I knew.

What are these names…? The Horolinz Berz Constellation? Ugh…

Apparently, its name could be traced back to the Kingdom of Beti-Zena, a country that existed long ago… Whatever that meant. I supposed the simple explanation was that the constellations were named after great historical figures. I didn’t know what these people actually did, but it seemed important people were inclined to leave their names down in history no matter the world.

This wasn’t what I was looking for, though!

“Oh, there it is!”

At least, it looked right. One line in the table contents was titled “Twin Lunar Eclipse.” Flipping over to the page it listed, I started reading.

Apparently, there were two moons because someone called “The Elf of the Sun” deflected a falling meteor back into the sky. The meteor became the second moon, and the fire magic the elf used to fling it back became the second sun…or so the legend went.

“Huh.”

I checked the book’s front cover and the tables of contents again.

Is this a romance novel, after all…? All it’s got is illustrations and commentary… Is this seriously an astrology book? Because if it is, I’m in trouble here. Maybe astrology just isn’t as developed here. Well…I just need to figure out when the Twin Lunar Eclipse takes place.

“Hmm. ‘The Twin Lunar Eclipse happens in eighteen-year cycles. It takes place at night, during the Dodon migration period… It’s preceded by the distance between the two moons beginning to shrink during daytime…’ Daytime?!”

So there was no real way of finding out!

I knew it…

Dodons were essentially buffaloes. They were as large as Rucks (cows), as fat as pigs, let out bird-like squeaks, and were as strong as a boar. A strange animal, all told. Some animals out there were pretty savage, but Dodons were especially ferocious. They had sharp horns and, when faced with vivid colors, would break into an enraged sprint to ram it. Every year, I heard rumors of travelers being attacked or killed during their migration periods…

Their meat was very soft and supple, though.

Makes sense, I guess. They’re like cows…

Since they were wild animals, their meat was pungent, but male Dodon horns were used as an alchemical ingredient and sold for high prices. To that end, adventurers actively hunted them… And as one might expect, each year, there were stories of adventurers killed while trying to do so.

“…I guess we’ll know it’s time when the moons grow closer during the day. I guess it’s better than knowing nothing at all. Yeah, better than nothing…”

I picked up the book and walked down the stairs. Dad and Roin were sitting at the coffee corner, discussing work that needed doing around the inn. It was probably necessary, since they didn’t know exactly how many days it would take. I carried the book over to them and read out the explanation.

“So we’ll know it’s time when we see the moons getting closer during the day, huh?” Dad said, sipping his tea. “That’s clear enough!”

“But it doesn’t say the exact date…” Roin dropped his shoulders in disappointment.

Yeeep. What are you gonna do, though? Just give it up~

“Oh, no use complaining about it,” Dad said with a shrug. “Why not rest for today? I’m sure you’re tired from your trip. Why not take the missis out fishing?”

“Fishing?”

“Yes, there’s Lake Rhiode behind us. We can rent you a fishing rod for two hundred colts. And we’ll cook any fish you catch for free.”

“But renting the fishing rod costs money…”

“Well, we are running a business here.”

I thought I saw sparks flying between Dad and Roin!

“How about this, owner? I make my living as a minstrel. If any guests show up, I’ll entertain them with my songs for free.”

This was his attempt at haggling for a discount. But didn’t Dad say he’ll cut down on their fees if they help around the inn…?

“C’mon now, Roin… Put yourself in my shoes, will ya?” Dad regarded him with exasperated eyes. “I dunno how long you’re gonna be staying here. Just give up and help me out with cleaning and working the fields. Keep complaining, and I’ll have to ask your fiancée for help.”

“Ugh!”

Dad easily took the upper hand! But I didn’t like the idea of Roin working the fields.

“Dad, if you let someone who isn’t used to farming work the fields, it could drop the crops’ quality,” I told Dad. “And that could affect how our meals taste. Maybe you could just let him handle cleaning, laundry, and chopping wood?”

“Guh! Chopping wood?!” Roin exclaimed in clear displeasure.

“Hm, chopping wood…” Dad considered my suggestion. “Yeah, I guess that’s probably the safest option.”

Chopping wood was the most taxing task for Dad. He was missing an arm, so he had to do it almost entirely with his left hand. And when he had to do the laundry, handling some of the big sheets made his wooden prosthetic wet, and it took a long time for it to dry out.

Soap wasn’t common in this world, so one had to rub things by hand to wash them. It was so hard for Dad that he often offered guests discounts for handling the laundry on their own. He also provided a wood chopping discount and offered to cook any game guests brought back from fishing or hunting for free.

Can our inn really grow with all these discounts…? And instead of relaxing here, it feels like Dad’s working the guests to the bone instead… I’m not sure if this is something an inn should do. It’s not like we’re advertising outdoor camping as a part of the stay package or anything…

“Chopping wood and handling the laundry’s already part of your lodging fee discount.”

“Right… Are you that short on hands here?” Roin asked seriously.

“Ugh…” Dad frowned and then sighed before explaining. “See, the former owner passed away last month. My daughter’s turning five, and I only have one arm. Can’t handle all the work, so I have to ask the guests for help.”

“Ah! That’s a prosthetic arm…” Roin’s eyes widened in realization. “Right, that does sound rough… I’m no good at manual labor, but I’ll try to help out…for a discount, yes?”

“Right.”

This was how our inn was operating right now—by relying on the goodwill of our guests. I looked forward to getting older and shouldering half that burden, especially when it came to the laundry. Those big sheets will be no match for me…

…Wait. Can’t I just use alchemy to make soap?

“Dad!”

“You startled me, Tina. What is it?”

“I want to try making soap with alchemy, so can I have some time off from the chores?”

“Soap?” Dad repeated the word.

“Isn’t that what nobles and royalty use to wash themselves…?” Roin asked.

“Yes!” I nodded. “With soap, laundry and washing the dishes will be easy! And I could probably make it with alchemy!”

“O-Oh…” the two of them uttered at once.

Back to the study it is, then!

Like I suspected, the alchemy recipe book did have instructions for making soap. If I recalled correctly, it required chemicals…like sodium hydroxide and glycerin. Back when I was unemployed, I was overcome by this odd sense of having to do something with myself and ordered a “Make-Your-Own Soap Kit” online, so I remembered the ingredients.

But in this world…or rather, when it came to making soap with alchemy, apparently it required two transmutations. The first one was to create the ingredients for the soap and the second was to mix them together.

It was considered a medium-difficulty item to create. I was already used to making tonics, so I wanted to branch out to more difficult creations next! Let’s get to it!

“But gathering the ingredients is the real problem…”

But if I did collect them all, I’d be good. I checked the ingredients. It listed a spider web… Apparently, any spider’s threads would work, so that was easily obtainable. Oil…again, any kind of oil would do, so that was fine too. Nunuja Ivy extract… There are Nunujas growing in the mountains. Caseopus digestive fluid…that was a type of carnivorous plant.

Spring water… Water from Lake Rhiode should be good enough. And moderately powdered Amans bark… Creating the powder was a bit difficult. The wording was strange too. What did “moderately powdered” mean? Was it like “according to your preference?”

“Anyway, I should get started on gathering the ingredients!”

Let’s get going!

“Gathering ingredients? That sounds interesting. I’ll join in.” Enofa, who seemed bored, decided to join me.

“Thank you!”

So with that settled, up the mountain we went!

Dad didn’t let me hike the mountain on my own. His exact words were, “Going there without an adult is dangerous. What if you get lost?!” I felt he was a bit overprotective… But then again, I was five years old. A five-year-old girl going up a mountain on her own seemed like a bad idea if there ever was one.

But that said, most of the ingredients could be found near the foot of the mountain.

If the ingredients are easy to find, I could mass-produce and sell them alongside my medicine! I could put one in the bathroom as a sample and have guests try it. And if they like how it feels, they could buy some for their journeys!

But that said, the question of if they’d like it remained to be seen. Still, even without selling it, having soap handy would mean we wouldn’t have to spend hours washing sheets by hand. One issue, though, was that soap meant Dad was even less reliable when it came to laundry. He wouldn’t be able to use it with his wooden hand. And this world had nothing in the way of rubber gloves…

“There are a lot of plants here. What do we take?” Enofa asked me.

“This and this,” I pointed at the ingredients I’d need. “The vine on this tree is a Nunuja Ivy. We squeeze it and collect the extract. And then we need the Caseopus digestive fluid. They grow in the underbrush here and have a unique scent that draws in insects. Then they eat them.”

“Huh? This plant eats bugs?”

“Yes, it does.”

This world had carnivorous plants too. I was surprised the first time I saw it. Enofa didn’t think a plant could eat bugs, either, and was apparently quite disgusted.

“Ugh… That’s nasty…”

“We need to collect its digestive juices.”

“What?! You’re taking this stuff?!”

“Yes.”

It was for the sake of making soap, after all. But I had to wonder whether it would wilt without its digestive juices or if it’d just produce more. I decided to check the next time I came. It’d be nice if it was the latter. I wouldn’t want the plants to wilt because of me, and it’d be a waste if I couldn’t use them repeatedly too… Hehehehe.

“That’s all the things we need from the mountain… We need to get spider webs next.”

“I-Is there any other gross stuff we’re going to collect that I need to know about?” Enofa asked with a grimace.

“We don’t need much. Two or three webs should do.”

“You call that ‘not much’…?”

I was sure I’d find a spider web somewhere. After looking around for a while, I heard Enofa chuckle. I looked up at her, and she waved her hands in a flustered manner.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just that Roin’s bad with spiders. A spider got on his shoulder during a performance and I found it. I didn’t know he was afraid of spiders at the time, so I just told him. What do you think happened next?”

“…I think it’s, um, easy to imagine…”

“That’s right!”

Well, for how bad he was at hiding things, and considering he was in the middle of a performance where he couldn’t start screaming or running… His expression must have been priceless.

I couldn’t blame Enofa for laughing so hard she had to hold onto her sides. I kind of wished I could have seen his reaction myself… Though it probably was no laughing matter for Roin!

“He went pale and red at the same time! It was hilarious!”

“Hehehe…” I giggled.

“But he didn’t stop playing. He’s a pro that way. And he managed to introduce himself to the audience too… See, until then, I always thought he was this unreliable, suspicious-looking, creepy narcissist. That all he was really good for was his facial expressions…”

You’re basically insulting him there…

“But ever since that incident, I realized he was kind of cute.”

It was his reaction that made her see his charm!

“And once that happened, well, you know how transparent he is! Hehehehe…!”

“So that’s how you fell in love…?”

“Yep. I was the one who asked him out.”

“Really?! That’s surprising!”

“He’s transparent but slow. He just wouldn’t move things along.”

“O-Oh.”

His idea for the marriage proposal was transparent too, given that he came all the way to Rofola to do it. But looking at Enofa made me feel like she’d just say, “That’s what’s cute about him!”

“But, um…Tinaris, was it?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you want to go visit a large country too? I can’t imagine you’ll meet anyone at an inn that hardly has any guests.”

“Huh? Ah, no, I-I’m still too little, so I don’t really…”

“That’s a waste. You’re better off experiencing love as much as you can. Otherwise, you might end up being a late bloomer who can’t bring herself to do anything, like Roin.”

“…I-I’ll, uh, I’ll try not to be like that…”

I definitely didn’t want to end up like Roin. But given my age, love felt like the furthest thing imaginable to me… Or, well, mentally speaking, I was in my mid-twenties now, but my five-year-old body wasn’t exactly wired for infatuation yet.

But that aside, Enofa’s story struck a chord with me. When I’m her age, will I fall in love like that too…?

“Ah, there’s a spider web,” Enofa said.

“Where?! Can I reach it?”

“It’s a bit high up. I’ll get it for you.”

“Thank you!”

And with that, I had everything I needed from here! Next, I needed to get Amans bark, so I went to the lumber pile. A bit north of the guests’ cottages, near the forest, was our lumber pile, and near it was a post for splitting lumber. There was also a shed nearby that contained work tools like hoes and axes, as well as Judie’s stable.

Right now, I needed some Amans bark, so I looked for some wood from an Amans tree in the lumber pile. It was a white, birch-like tree that gave off a pleasant aroma that was a bit like a cypress tree. Now wasn’t the time to focus on the scent, though.

I looked around for a moment for wood with white bark… And soon, I found some! Like I thought, there were some pieces of Amans wood in the lumber pile.

“All that’s left is water from the lake…” I said after collecting some bark.

“That’s a lot of different ingredients,” Enofa commented.

“Yes. But I can make soap with this!”

“Soap made with spider webs and bug-eating plants, huh… I know royalty and nobles use it for bathing, but I’m not sure I’d want to use something like that…”

“Aw… Don’t say that… Once I transmute all these things together, the soap will only have the best parts of each ingredient!”

“Reaaaaaally?”

“O-Once it’s done, I’ll have Dad Appraise it!”

The transmutation I’d be performing this time was supposed to extract all the good traits from the ingredients and expel the negative ones. I didn’t know enough to guess what good traits spider webs had, but I think the person who wrote this recipe put a lot of work into researching the right ingredients.

I mean, if he went as far as spider webs and a carnivorous plant’s digestive fluids, he had to have been thorough! Alchemists who come up with recipes must be amazing. You probably have to be really smart!

That just left the spring water and oil. I could take some oil from the kitchen and water from the lake. I’d gathered the ingredients pretty quickly!

“Say, can I watch you do it?” Enofa asked me.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” I replied. “But I don’t think it’ll be all that interesting.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. It’s not often you get to see an alchemist at work. It’s pretty incredible you can do it when you’re so young.”

“Aah… I-I guess…”

She was pretty sincere.

“I read that alchemy was developed by people a long time ago to make life easier,” I said. “So a lot of the simpler recipes use things that are easy to come by.”

“Really?”

“Healing tonics, antidotes, and fever potions use water and herbs that grow everywhere, like Lilith, Duana, and Solan flowers.”

“They do?!”

People didn’t seem to know that. Medium and high-grade medicine required all sorts of ingredients, so their prices and effects were that much higher. I hoped I could make them someday. That way, I’d make a whole lot of money!

“I’ll get started, then!”

“Good luck, Tinaris!”

“Thank you!”

The tools I needed were a pot and an alchemy spoon. I’d need to prepare the ingredients first. Some of them were fine as is, but since I’d be breaking them down into their components, the order I did things was important.

I started refining the ingredients per the book’s instructions. I mixed them together while pouring in mana… And soon enough, the materials began breaking down. They dissolved into an oddly colored fluid. This was likely fine, since I did everything by the book.

“All right.” I nodded before proceeding.

“Wow…” Enofa exclaimed as she watched me.

I placed the prepared ingredients into the pot then applied more mana. The book did say that once I started adding in mana, a small amount would do…

I mixed the ingredients together. Stir, stir, stir… I poured in a small amount of mana. Stir, stir, stir…

The pot then lit up, and I poured in more mana until the result hardened. The soap would have to solidify next. It was a good thing I had that wooden box ready.

“What’s that?”

“A box I use to store the dried leaves I always use as ingredients. I’ll cover it with a cloth and close the gaps, then put the raw soap inside so it can solidify.”

“But it looks like you’ve got a little too much…”

“Yes, when you transmute things, sometimes you get a little more than you expect…”

“Huh.”

I figured I’d just make a small bar of soap, just for testing purposes, so despite preparing a relatively big box, it ended up a bit flabby. I was surprised to see how much soap the transmutation produced.

Did it expand or something…?

But it wasn’t really a problem. I could just cut it into smaller chunks later.

“How long are you gonna have to wait?”

“I don’t know. It’s my first time making soap…”

“Oh yeah. But for how weird the ingredients were, the fluid’s milky-white and pretty.”

“It really is.”

For now, I could leave the soap to harden. I used another box in place of a lid.

“So that’s it?”

“Yes. Thank you for helping.”

“Don’t mention it. It was interesting to watch.”

After leaving the undiluted soap near the house, we noticed Roin approach us from the direction of the lake, carrying a wooden bucket.

“Oh?”

“Oh my.”

He probably went fishing.

He was supposed to start helping Dad with the inn tomorrow, so it wasn’t as if he was hiding from work.

“You went fishing, Roin?” Enofa asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it.”

“Let’s see what you got… Ah, aaaaah, a snake!”

“Huh?!” Roin exclaimed.

“Nnnf?!” I squeaked as Enofa clung to me.

B-Boobs…squeezing me…!

“N-No, Enofa, listen! The owner said this is a fish! It’s called an Unan fish!”

Unans were eel-like fish. They were really big though, like the ones you see in places like New Zealand. I wondered whether I could have some broiled eel by cooking an Unan, but it was far too big for me to cut at the moment, so I had to shelve that plan for now.

But how do I make the soy sauce for it…?

I was pretty sure I’d need soy sauce for broiled eel. I’d have to check if I could make it with alchemy. Unans exuded a pungent stench, so the custom in this world was to cook it in fragrant herbs that soaked up the smell and added to the flavor. Apparently, the clash between the Unan’s scent and the herbs’ aroma made it surprisingly tasty!

“That thing’s edible?! But it’s a snake…!” Enofa cried, still disgusted.

“Apparently, it’s very tasty if you roast it with herbs,” I told her. “You could ask Dad to cook it for you.”

“Roasted with herbs…? Really?” She still seemed suspicious.

I decided to prove it to her. I called Dad, and we decided to have a campfire that night. Dad cut the Unan into multiple slices, which he filled with herbs, salt, and pepper. He then covered them in pieces of paper smeared with Ruck oil.

We surrounded the campfire with rocks and let it cook slowly in the residual heat.

“Mmmm! It’s delicious!” Enofa exclaimed upon biting into her serving.

“It’s really tasty!” Roin agreed.

“It’s good, isn’t it? Pops taught me how to make it.”

“It’s great, Dad!”

“Good to hear.”

The sky above us was full of twinkling stars, and the moons floated side by side as if nestling against each other. Having a campfire by the lake like this, having dinner with the guests, eating the fish they caught…

This inn is such a lovely place…

Dad wasn’t a great cook, but this fish really was tasty. Maybe it’s because Grandpa taught him how to make it. No…the credit goes to Dad for learning well. And someday, he’ll teach me how to make it too!

“By the way, how did the soap turn out, Tina?” Dad asked me.

“Oh, right! It should have hardened by now.”

“We can check on it after we eat.”

After we finished our dinner, Enofa carried over the box I filled with the undiluted soap solution. She set it near the campfire and opened the lid. We all peered inside.

“This is soap? Isn’t it kind of big?” Roin asked.

“Yeah, I think you made a pretty big piece,” Dad said.

“Well, I’ll be cutting it into smaller pieces.”

It was hard to use such a large lump of soap for anything.

Where did I put the knife… Ah.

“Hey, Dad… Do you have a knife I can use to cut the soap?”

“A knife that’s good for cutting food won’t do?”

“No, I don’t want to use one of those for this…”

I preferred not to use one of the knives meant for food. I mean, soap isn’t something you put in your mouth… I remembered seeing all sorts of really cute soaps that had labels warning they were not to be eaten.

“Well, you can use my knives,” Enofa offered.

“What knives?” I asked.

“I use throwing knives in some of my shows. No need to worry about anyone accidentally trying to eat with those.”

“Great! Then, um…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, Dad said I can’t use knives or blades until I’m older, so…” I said, fidgeting a little.

I did think he was being overprotective… But letting five-year-old handle knives is dangerous. Dad wasn’t wrong. But if Enofa could do it for me, that wouldn’t be a concern.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

“Thanks, Enofa,” Dad said, bowing his head.

“Why not just let Tinaris handle knives?” Roin asked.

“What are you, stupid? It’s dangerous,” Dad snapped him.

Calling a guest stupid struck me as a bad decision, but I was grateful that he cared about me. Enofa sunk the knife into the wooden box and cut into the soap. She turned the box over, and once a bit of air entered the cut, the soap slipped out.

“Ooh, it looks better than I thought,” Dad said, impressed.

“Now I just need to add in some scent… I guess I should mix some flowers with strong aromas? I wonder if there are recipes for essential oils. I could apply some scent if I had those…”

“What’s that?” Enofa asked.

“Ah, nothing, never mind. Could you cut it into smaller pieces?”

“I don’t mind. How small?”

“Eight pieces that are this size.”

“Like this?”

About two inches vertically, three inches horizontally. The pieces weren’t too big. And with this, my soap was ready! I handed two pieces to Enofa and Roin, who looked at them with amazement.

“Please use them; they’re samples. You helped me make the soap, Enofa, so please have some.”

“Oh, can I? Thank you! I know what you used to make it, so I’m a bit torn about it… But looking at it now, it’s pretty. I’d love to have it!”

“Wh-What is this made out of…?” Roin asked anxiously.

“You’re better off not knowing,” Enofa replied coolly.

“What?!”

Yeah, I think it’s for the best if Roin doesn’t know how this sausage is made…

“Hehehe.”

“Ahahaha.”

Enofa and I exchanged a meaningful look and giggled as we thought back to her story from earlier. We could imagine how he’d react even now and it was pretty funny.

“Aww, come on, what do you mean?!” he insisted, frustrated.

“What about the rest of it?” Dad asked.

“We’ll use it. We can use it for laundry or to wash the dishes!”

“Can we use it on utensils?”

“Well, not directly. You rinse it with water until the soap foams. But only when you need to get really pesky oil stains off!”

“I see.”

“And then you wash it off with water!”

“A-All right. You gotta follow a lot of instructions to use soap, huh…?”

“I’d actually like to see how it affects the skin when you try to clean your body with it… But first, I’ll want to try it on cloth and utensils and see if it doesn’t hurt your hands.”

“O-Okay…”

I assumed it’d be fine so long as it foamed properly, but I’d see how it went tomorrow. If this went well, I could mix in ingredients that were good for the skin and make body soap. Or materials that were good for hair to make shampoo. If I could store it in glass containers and sell it, I could double our female customers!

“Hehehe… Soap… There’s still plenty of room for improvement with soap… Heheheheheheh…” I cackled to myself.

“T-Tina?” Dad asked with a hint of concern.

♣♣♣

THE next morning, I went to water the fields after I finished sweeping the entrance to our inn.

“Oh…!”

The seeds were already budding!

But we only planted them yesterday! The manure’s amazing!

It seems the harvests really come sooner than I thought.

“Good morning, Tinaris,” Enofa greeted me.

“Good morning, Enofa! You’re up early. Out on a walk?”

“Just practicing for a bit. If I don’t dance every so often, my body gets out of practice.”

“I see.”

Enofa walked to the other side of the fence and started dancing. She was a dancer, after all. She raised her arms, extended her limber legs, and began gently rotating in place. But then, she suddenly squatted down and bent her upper half backward.

She’s so flexible…! And pretty…

Every movement she made, from the tips of her fingertips to her toes, was calculated. It was the very picture of feminine form… It made me realize that women really were pretty. I was a woman myself, of course, and that was exactly why Enofa’s beauty was so striking to me. So much so that it didn’t even incur a sense of envy.

“It’s beautiful!” I cheered.

“Thank you. Well, I do this for a living, after all,” Enofa said with a light smile.

“It really feels, well, professional! I wish I could be like you when I grow up.”

At least in terms of that figure…and those proportions.

“How come? I think if anything, you’re a lot more impressive than I am,” Enofa said.

“How?”

“I mean, aren’t you? Despite being so little, you learned alchemy and you’re helping your father.”

Leaning on the fence, she placed her chin on her hands. The rising sun made her smile seem that much more dazzling.

“You’re an amazing girl, Tinaris. I think most girls your age wouldn’t learn alchemy, no matter how bad things got.”

“U-Um…”

I couldn’t tell her I was an adult on the inside. Learning alchemy at this age really was strange, wasn’t it?

Maybe I should stop using it in front of strangers… But she did help me gather ingredients. That was a big help. Maybe it won’t be as strange once I get a little older.

“I’m positive you’re talented. Believe in yourself and let it push you to new heights.”

“…I will!”

My…talent.

I had no talents to speak of in my past life, so hearing her say that made me happy. I was all too plain back then. A girl without charm or any redeeming qualities, and the only thing I could do was work myself to the bone to compensate for those faults.

But having become Tinaris, I had a talent for alchemy. Doing it was fun, and I could create all sorts of things that delighted Dad and the guests. Seeing their happy faces made me feel fulfilled.

I liked alchemy, and I wanted to learn how to make more useful things. No…I knew I’d do it!

“Thank you so much, Enofa… Ah!”

“Hm?”

My hands, which I held up, went limp. Through the sunny sky, I could see the outlines of the two moons, and they were closer than last night.

This is…!

“What’s wrong?” Enofa followed my gaze. “Huh..? The moons… Were they that close before?”

“Enofa! I think this is it!” I said excitedly.

“Oh…! R-Right…” Enofa stuttered, her cheeks turning rosy.

We almost forgot! The two of them came to Rofola so Roin could propose to her!

“I’ll go tell Roin!” I said.

“Ah, um, sure…”

I’d finished watering the fields, so I dashed toward the guest cottage… But I soon ran out of breath.

Haa, haa… I forgot…I still have a little girl’s body… Haa, haa… My legs are too short… But do kids really get this tired from running…?! Oof…!

Just as the cottage was coming into view, I tripped and planted my face right into the ground.

“Mmnf!?”

O-Ooooow…

“Oh no! Are you all right?!”

Roin, who happened to come out of the cottage just then, helped me to my feet. He looked shocked to see me trip.

“Ah, Roin… The moons… They’re coming closer…” I murmured, rubbing my aching nose.

“Huh?!” Roin looked even more surprised.

I was happy I managed to tell him, but…

“Eep…”

Looking up, he saw the moons were indeed growing closer. His face stiffened in suspense. I couldn’t blame him. Proposing to the person you love is a once-in-a-lifetime event…

“Good luck!” I told him cheerily.

“…Th-Thanks!”

I was confident it’d work out! But him being nervous had little to do with how likely he was to succeed… All I could do was cheer for them. And if that’s all I could do, I’d do it with gusto!

Go, go, Roin! You can do it!

“I’ll go help make breakfast!”

“Y-Yeah… Then, I’ll, uhh, I’ll keep chopping the firewood left over from yesterday…”

“All right.”

That meant we’d have plenty of firewood today… And he was going at it pretty mindlessly, so he’d probably do it until nightfall. And while having more wood was by no means a bad thing…I felt kind of sorry for him.

“Dad, the moons are coming closer!” I said as I entered the inn. “The Twin Moons are probably tonight!”

“Oh, I see. Then it’s time for Roin to pay the piper, is it?”

“Don’t you think we should make tonight extra special?!”

“Cook up a feast, eh? All right, what should we make?”

“How about roast bird?”

“Oh, that sounds good. All right, I’ll handle it. I’m almost done cleaning out the blood from a wild bird I hunted the other day… Oh, and, could ya wipe the tables? Breakfast’s almost ready.”

“Okay!”

Yeah, it was probably too soon for me to see him dismember a bird. I was still five and I didn’t really want to see that either. I indulged in Dad’s consideration and went to clean off the tables.

And so, dinner for today was decided. Roasted bird. A staple Christmas food from my past life. To do that, one would need to dismember the bird…pluck off its feathers, cut off its head, remove its organs…

Ugh, that’s pretty gross… But I’ll have to get used to it someday…

I decided to leave the gore to Dad and wiped off the tables, and then started lining up the ingredients for the roasted bird. Normally, you’d want to keep the bird submerged in alcohol for a day to soften it up, but this celebration was done on short notice, so I figured we’d cut it down to half a day.

I sliced ciarorots, oniuns, poteitos, timates, punpkons (pumpkins), and pompoteitos (sweet potatoes), which we’d roast up with herbs. One could add garlic or mushrooms for flavor, but this was a matter of preference. I hoped Dad would let me help with the roasting.

Once we cooked the vegetables, we’d stuff them into the bird’s belly, smear butter over its skin, and then roast it in the oven until it took on the right color. Also, normally you could roast apples with the bird to further soften the meat, but apples were hard to come by. All the fruit growing on the mountain were berries.

The result wouldn’t be as pretty as it could be. But considering we could only buy butter when a peddler passed by, and we’d have to use a whole bird when they weren’t that easy to hunt, it was a pretty luxurious meal… It was a roasted bird!

“Okay, tables wiped and vegetables cut! Next up…”

It occurred to me that having the coffee corner stay as is was a bit dull, given the occasion.

Maybe I could decorate it? No… It’s too soon. Maybe I could just get a nice tablecloth ready without them seeing it?

“Tiiiiinariiiis!” I heard someone woefully cry my name.

“Aaaaah!” I yelped as the door opened with a thud.

Roin stumbled into the house.

Wh-What?! I didn’t call for them yet! Breakfast and the feast aren’t ready… Dad’s cooking in the kitchen; when did he have time to call for them?

Roin looked really flustered… Did something happen?

“Th-The ring! The ring’s gone!” He told me, half in tears.

“…Uh?”

Huh? What? What did he… The ring’s…gone?

“Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?!”

It’s gone?! Did he just say the ring is gone?! But aren’t you supposed to give a ring when you propose?! Okay, now’s not the time to be daydreaming!

“What happened?!” I rounded on him.

“I know I put it in my bag after buying it! But I checked for it just now, and it was gone!”

“Did you turn your bag over when you looked?! Maybe you dropped it under your bed?!”

“I looked everywhere!”

What’s with this guy?! How do you lose your engagement ring on the day you’re gonna propose?!

“Hey, what’s with all the racket?” Dad asked, walking into the coffee corner.

“Dad! This good-for-nothing said he lost his ring!”

“You lost your ring…? Wh-What?! Are you serious?! The Twin Moons are tonight!”

“So, I, er… I’ve been wondering if you can use alchemy to transmute me a new ring, Tinaris…” Roin mumbled awkwardly.

“A ring? With alchemy?!” I asked him, my eyes round with shock.

You can make rings with alchemy? I-I’ve never done that!

“You’re trying to sponge off Tina?!” Dad snapped at him.

“I mean, I don’t have any other real way out of this! I’ll keep looking! But what if I don’t find it…?”

“I’m, uh, not sure if I can transmute a ring…”

“I think you can, but…” Dad answered with a frown. “Tina, you’re more of an alchemical apothecary. Transmuting metals is a different field.”

“N-Noo…”

There are different alchemy fields…? But he’s in really big trouble. Maybe I can pull it off, anyway…?

“I’ll go look up metal transmutation in the study…”

“I don’t mind you trying, but keep in mind that there are more prohibitions on transmuting metal compared to transmuting potions,” Dad warned me. “If anything’s too complicated, check with me, all right?”

“Roger that.” I nodded.

“Roin, you go look through your room again.” Dad turned to Roin. “Calm down and be thorough. Check your pockets and inside your bed.”

“I-I’ll try…”

And be more careful this time, you ditz! I thought to myself.

I hurried over to the study and scanned the books from the bookshelf’s alchemy corner.

I think a book about transmuting metal was around here…

I took a book with a gray binding and opened it. It looked to be the right one.

Alchemy: Metal Transmutation Edition

“Geh.”

What is this…? This is nothing like the alchemy I know!

“You will need a circuit for transmutation,” the book said.

What’s a circuit?! I thought all you needed for alchemy is a pot and an alchemy staff or spoon!

“This is the process of mixing metals to create new, different kinds of metal. However, the transmutation and production of gold, silver, and platinum follow the following rules…”

No, this is nothing like what I know! I don’t want to do something annoying like this; I just want to refine and fashion metal! And this is supposed to be a beginner’s book too…

And I couldn’t obtain a pot capable of containing hot metal. Or an alchemy staff for mixing molten metals either!

I couldn’t see how I could do it. Roin was finished. He’d have to propose without a ring. Case closed. I’m no good with this kind of alchemy. This morning, Enofa said I had a talent for alchemy, but transmuting metal was way out of my league.

Maybe we could just make a handmade substitute without alchemy? Maybe Enofa would like a ring made of beads? If it’s a ring her lover made her with all his heart…then even a handmade one from cheap beads would work!

“I gotta find a book for making handmade jewelry and stuff!”

There!

It must have been one of Grandma’s books. I pulled it off the shelf and checked the table of contents. Knitting patchworks, embroidery, pressed flowers…

“Pressed flowers…?”

My eyes stopped there for some reason. I flipped over to the right page and indeed found a pressed flower between the pages.

A lily of the valley?

I saw them growing around a tree planted in an isolated house in my neighborhood in my past life. It really lingered in my memory, because I remembered seeing a lot of them sitting in potted plants, but the owner of the house warned, “They’re pretty but venomous. Be careful.”

It was stuck against the faint pink paper, and behind it was a written date and the words “Pieris Flower.” Right next to it was apparently a description of its symbolism in flower language…

“The two of us, together forever, on this journey called life.”

“This is it…!”

Doesn’t this sound like something you’d say when proposing to someone?!

It was only flower language, but it was pretty romantic. I didn’t know Grandma was into this sort of thing.

That thought saddened me. She passed away when I was only three. If she was still around, and I knew she had these kinds of hobbies, we could talk about it so much more…

“Flowers, huh…? I remember back in elementary school, we’d make floral wreaths with shepherd’s purses. And necklaces and rings… Rings…”

It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, but I stumbled over that word. Rings.

“…Wouldn’t that be really pretty?”

The only problem was if Roin could make it.

I’m sure even a good-for-nothing like him could make something that simple! I mean, he’s a minstrel; he’s used to handling instruments.

I hurried downstairs, where I found Roin having breakfast. I excitedly told him my idea.

“You can make a ring with flowers?” he asked me.

“Well, you take flowers with long stems and twist them, so they’re as thick as a finger… But I think I have a good idea.”

“A good idea?” Roin and Dad repeated.

Yep. A good idea. The kind a man would never come up with. Looking at Grandma’s book helped me come up with it.

“We can use pressed flowers. I found a book about flower language in the study, so we can use it to see what meanings flowers growing around here have, and have Roin propose that way! And then, once you give her the flower ring, we could preserve it by making it into a pressed flower.”

“Oh…!” Roin’s eyes widened.

“That’s a pretty romantic idea,” Dad said, rubbing his chin. “And it’s pretty economical too.”

“You don’t have to spend money if all you want to do is make a woman happy,” I said cheerily.

“R-Really?” Dad asked.

“Really,” I maintained.

Dad just didn’t get women.

Roin opened the book and started picking flowers. It occurred to me we wouldn’t actually have that extra firewood he was supposed to chop though…

“I think he’ll be worrying over which flowers to pick all day long,” Dad said with a wry smile.

“What about Enofa?”

“She had her breakfast and then went fishing at Rhiode. I guess she figured he’d need some alone time.” Dad jerked his chin in Roin’s direction.

Yeah, figures. He looked paler than a corpse when I came downstairs…

“Enofa’s such a sweet lady,” I said.

“She’s probably too good for a guy like him.” Dad shook his head.

I had to solemnly agree.

♣♣♣

TO my surprise, Roin kept agonizing over which flower to choose for half the day. His expression was full of tension and urgency, making it hard for me to approach him.

I’m kinda scared. Is this actually going to turn out well…?

With Roin being…well, like that, Dad decided to go look through their cottage and see if he could find the ring. Enofa ate her lunch next to the lake, too, out of consideration for Roin. I spotted her looking up and mumbling, “They really are moving closer…” to herself, with flushed cheeks.

And that only made me feel like she was getting her hopes up extra high…

“T-Tinaris…” Roin approached me.

“Yes?”

“Th-This flower right here. Does it, uhh, bloom around here?” he asked, pointing at a picture in the book.

“Hmm…”

A flower would be ideal for the proposal, but if it didn’t grow around Rofola, we wouldn’t be able to get it. To that end, I went out with Roin to look for flowers, which was also a convenient excuse for me to gather spare ingredients for alchemy. From Roin’s perspective, my job was to look at what flowers grew around Rofola and tell him what they symbolized in flower language.

“That’s a Lemone flower. It means, ‘I’m your slave’…”

A-Are you sure that’s the kind of message you want to send here…?

“But yes, it grows around here. You can find some halfway up the mountain.”

“A-All right, then let’s go with that.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

Consider what this flower means!

“Yes. Since the moment I met her, I…I’ve been a slave to her love…”

“Er, all right. Then let’s go look for it.”

“Y-You were supposed to be moved by that…” Roin told me desperately.

“Well, I wasn’t. Not even a bit,” I told him curtly.

“Aww…”

And he’s supposed to be a minstrel. I thought he’d have more of a poetic way with words.

Anyway, let’s just hike the mountain. If it gets too dark, we might run into a bigbear. Those things are nocturnal creatures, so we’d be better off going there before nightfall.

“Can you fight if you have to, Roin?”

“N-No, not at all.”

“We should have Dad come with us. It’d be dangerous if we ran into a boar or a bear.”

“Huh? There are boars and bears on the mountain?!”

I was a bit anxious, since this was later than we usually went to the mountain. I decided to stop by the cottage and call for Dad. When I explained the situation, he grimaced. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t find the ring or because of the symbolism behind the flower Roin picked.

“You can fight, owner?”

“More or less. I lost my dominant arm, but I can manage with my left. I should be able to fight off a bear, no problem.”

“Really…?”

“Maybe we can have bear stew to celebrate your proposal, eh? Though drawing out all the blood might take a while, so it won’t be today. Ahaha!”

“Ugh… No thank you…” Roin muttered.

I preferred boar stew, personally. The first time I ate it, I had my reservations, but it tasted similar to pork. It was juicier and its flavor was a bit odd, but it was still tasty. In terms of personal taste, I was of the opinion that either of them would probably work if we had some soup made from kelp from the lake.

If we could cook it with soy sauce and miso, it’d definitely taste better than just adding salt and pepper! Guaranteed! I need to get my hands on some soy sauce and miso! If I can find something like soybeans, I think I could manage the rest with alchemy!

“Tina, where on the mountain is that flower?” Dad asked, snapping me out of my culinary delusions.

“Halfway up,” I answered.

Right, we have to hurry, or it’ll be dark by the time we come back. We can’t leave Enofa anxious for long… Though Roin is so nervous, it probably looks suspicious.

We started walking the unpaved trail up the mountain. My short child legs made it even harder to walk. I hoped that someday, when I struck gold, I could have this road paved. But right now, that was a pipe dream…

Aaaah, I wish I could learn how to make all sorts of tonics already…!

“Hey, Roin?” Dad said.

“Y-Yes?”

“You’re a minstrel, right? Are you gonna sing when you propose?”

“Oh, um, yes, that was my idea at first… But I decided against it.”

“How come?” I asked.

“I use my music to make money… So rather than that, I want her to hear my true feelings. And I feel like my music would just be noise that drowns it out.”

Noise… Really? But well, if he feels that way… Ah!

“There it is! That’s the Lemone flower!

“Is that it?”

Just as we reached the halfway point, I spotted small, yellow flowers blooming on the side of the trail. They had moderately long stems, and despite being small, their color was vivid. As an aside, transmuting Lemone flowers with water created an antidiarrheal medicine.

“Let’s try making one right now,” I said.

“Right here?!”

“It could wither, so we could put a few of them in this bottle.”

“Oh, ah, er, r-right.”

The bottle I brought had some water on the bottom. I put five flowers in it. I didn’t want Roin to screw up, so I thought having him practice making a flower ring might be a good idea.

I mean, he can’t be that clumsy, but better safe than sorry.

“Like this?” he asked after a short while, showing me the result.

“I didn’t think you’d do it this quickly… Huh, it looks fine.”

Apparently, my concerns were unfounded. He did a pretty good job.

“Ooh… It’s pretty cute…” I continued. “If you have a daughter, you could play with her and teach her how to make these.”

“You said you two travel with a troupe, right…?” Dad asked. “If you start a family, wouldn’t you be better off settling down somewhere?

“Oh, well…I was thinking the same thing and asked our troupe leader about it. They told me they knew someone in a small country to the east who could help us build a house…”

“A small country to the east?”

“Yeah, a new country that’s been established in recent years. I think they’re building up a few towns… Ah, but yesterday when I was eating outside, I thought that maybe living in an inn like this one might be nice. Dinner under the starry sky, with your family and guests… It’s great.”

I felt the same way. This really was a lovely way to live…and I was glad Roin thought so too. This inn was a bigger blessing than we deserved.

“Really? That’s good to hear,” Dad said with a lukewarm grin. “But running an inn isn’t something you can do without devotion. You see, we’re lucky to have food from the mountain and the lake, but living away from the countries means consumables are hard to come by. Roadside inns need approval from the countries running the highways, and sometimes you gotta drive away bandits. Not to mention that you need to be pretty much self-sufficient…”

“U-Ugh… Yeah, it makes sense. Well, I still need to talk it over with Enofa too…”

“Yeah, you should… But I do understand how you feel. Running an inn with your family is a leisurely way of life.”

“Yes!” I wholeheartedly agreed.

I loved my life right now. When Grandpa died, and it was just Dad and me, I was worried about how things would turn out. But even on days where we had no guests, I could practice alchemy and gather ingredients. There was plenty to do even with all the work at the inn! And I got to meet all sorts of nice, interesting guests. Like now!

These were all things I could never imagine in my past life, where I was a shy, gloomy girl. It was strange. There was so much to do, but every day was fun and fulfilling. Back then, I would work and work, only for nothing to go right. I hated how sad and pathetic I was. Maybe it was all because of how young I’d become?

“Oh, we should be getting off the mountain. The sun’s setting.”

“L-Let’s hurry back!” I said.

But Roin was silent.

“You all right, Roin?” Dad asked him. “You ready for this? The moons should eclipse soon.”

“Y-Yeah…”

I looked up at the sky, and Dad was right. The two moons were beginning to intersect. Once the two moons intersected, the unified moon would reflect on the surface of the lake…forming the Twin Moons. An astrological event that occurs once every eighteen years, where there are two moons—one in the sky and one on the ground.

Dad and I hurried down the mountain so we could make dinner. I was anxious to see how Roin’s marriage proposal would go!

“Looking at the moon, it’ll be a few hours until it happens, so we can take our time and cook,” Dad said.

“Right!” I agreed excitedly.

“Oh, Tinaris, could you tell me more about pressing the flower?” Roin asked me.

“Oh, right.”

Thinking about dinner made me forget about it…

“Don’t worry, we can still make it,” I told him.

“Thank you!”

“Pressed flowers are very easy to make.”

“They are?”

“You put two sheets of paper between a book’s pages, and then you put the flower you want to press between them. If you just press it between the book’s pages, the flower’s juices might dirty the book, so you should use thick paper. That’s all you need to know.”

“Huh? That’s it?!”

“You just have to wait until the flower loses all its moisture and leave it until it becomes a nice pressed flower… You can leave it pressed to the paper and use it as a bookmark… Do you have a book you can use, Roin?”

“…I don’t think so, actually. Would a notebook do?”

“I think anything that’d press the flower would… But make sure there’s weight applied to it.”

“Oh, that should be fine. I keep it closed with a string.”

“Then you should be fine. So long as you don’t lose this one too.”

“I-I’ll be careful.”

Please do.

“I’ll go help Dad make dinner then… What are you going to do, Roin?”

“C-Calm my nerves.”

“Okay…?”

♣♣♣

AND finally, the moons intersected. Dad, Roin, and I joined Enofa on the banks of the Rhiode to watch this unusual phenomenon. And, well…

“You sure hooked a whole lot of fish,” Dad commented.

“Well, I spent the whole day fishing…”

It looked like we’d be having fish for breakfast tomorrow. And we’d be able to dry them for later too. We’d kept the celebratory meal for after the proposal, so I was pretty hungry.

“Let’s eat outside today too,” Dad suggested.

“Oh, then let’s get everything ready.” I nodded.

And so, the two of us left, leaving the couple alone. The preparations looked just about perfect!

“How is it going?”

We reached the front door and then turned around. The moons almost completely overlapped each other in the sky. The eclipsed moons were then reflected on the lake surface.

I saw Roin get on one knee and present the flower ring. He said something, but I couldn’t hear what it was from this distance. But that was fine. His proposal was for Enofa’s ears only. She spread out her arms and wrapped them around Roin in an embrace…

“Looks like it went well,” Dad said.

“Let’s carry out the food!”

“Yeah.”

This was a happy night, albeit in a different way from yesterday. It was a mysterious sort of feeling! I carried the roast bird Dad made this morning, along with salad and a pot of soup. I placed the pot over the campfire, and Dad brought a few glasses and a bottle of liquor.

“Now then!” Dad chirped. “A feast and some drinks to celebrate! And I’ll cut the fish you caught, Enofa!”

“For the small fish, you can just pick out their insides and roast them as is,” I added.

“Th-Thank you!”

“Huh?! Th-Thanks, you two!”

Roin and Enofa thanked us, their expressions full of emotion. Roin probably assumed we didn’t prepare anything for the occasion… We prepared a table near the campfire and set it up so a few tree stumps could serve as chairs. The table was pretty simple, done by setting a plank between a couple of stumps, but it was good enough to place the plates and cut the fish.

Dad used a knife to prepare the fish Enofa caught, and I poured some liquor into their glasses. As I did, I noticed the Lemone flower ring sitting on Enofa’s ring finger.

“Enofa, Roin! Congratulations on your engagement!”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, Tinaris. For all your advice…”

“This flower ring was your idea, wasn’t it, Tinaris?”

“Huh?!”

She figured it out already?!

I was so surprised my voice lapped over Roin’s.

“I mean, making a flower ring and preserving it by making it into a pressed flower? Roin could never come up with that!” Enofa said with a smile.

“Ugh…” Roin hung his head.

“E-Erm…” I stuttered.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Knowing Roin, he probably lost his ring at the last minute and came crying to you, didn’t he? He’s such a troublesome little boy.”

“Huh?!” Our voices overlapped again.

How did you figure out that much?! Enofa, you’re amazing! Roin could never cheat on you like this!

“Mm?” I heard Dad’s voice.

“Dad, is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just, I found something in the fish’s stomach… Mm? Wait, is this…?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“What, what?”

“Did something happen?”

The three of us approached Dad, who raised his voice in shock. His eyes were wide in surprise as his fingers rummaged through a large fish’s open stomach. As we looked on, Dad pulled something out of the fish’s gut.

What’s this…? A fish egg?

“…It’s a ring,” Dad finally said.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Roin cried. “That’s the ring I got! Why was it inside that fish…? Aaaaah!”

“Huuuh?!” I raised my voice in surprise too.

“What? Roin, is this the ring you were going to give me…?” Enofa asked, her eyes round with apprehension.

“Y-Yeah! I got it, thinking I’d propose with it. What is it doing inside a fish!?”

Huuuuuh?! The thing Dad found in the fish’s stomach is the ring Roin got for Enofa…?! Why?! How does this make sense?!

“…Didn’t you spend all of yesterday fishing at the lake?” Dad asked, eyeing Roin dubiously. “Maybe that’s when you dropped the ring…”

“Huh…? Ah.” Roin’s eyes widened in realization. “Now that you mention it, while I was fishing, I was practicing how I’d propose… And just then, I hooked a big fish…”

“So you’re saying that fish swallowed the ring? And then Enofa hooked the same fish today? How do coincidences like that even happen? But…”

“That’s the only way it makes sense,” I said, agreeing with Dad’s theory.

We all saw him take the ring from the fish’s stomach. Nothing else could explain it. The only other possibility was that Dad found the ring in the room and pretended to find it in the fish… Which would be a rude assumption to make about Dad. He wouldn’t do anything that gross.

“Hehehe… Ahahaha!” Enofa burst into giggles. “What kind of story is that?! I can’t believe it!”

“Ahaha, ahahaha… Seriously? That’s what happened…?” Roin cracked a wry smile.

“Well, see…” Dad said, cracking a sardonic grin of his own. “It looks like, one way or another, this ring was fated to find its way to Enofa.”

“Ah…” Roin let out a shocked gasp. “Y-You’re right…”

“Yes, when you put it like that, it sounds lovely,” Enofa smiled. “I don’t think you can call this anything but a miracle.”

Dad gave Roin the ring. Realizing we had a bucket handy, I scooped up some water and washed the ring clean. Using the soap I made! I returned the ring to Roin and sat back down.

And then, Roin placed the ring on Enofa’s finger. They brought their foreheads together and shed tears of joy as they smiled at each other. It was a sweet, wonderful sight… I felt my heart warm up with emotion.

“Talk about a surprise, eh..?” Dad smirked, scratching his cheek. “All right, let’s get to eating. The food’s gonna get cold. I’ll have you two know a roasted bird’s hard to come by this time of the year.”

“Right! This is a feast!” I affirmed Dad’s words.

“Wh-What about the fee for all this…?”

“Well, normally it’d be ten thousand colts… But today, the Rofola Lodge is gonna cover all expenses!” Dad said with a magnanimous smile.

“Thank you!”

You’re so generous, Dad! Let’s give Enofa and Roin all of our blessings!

“All right, raise your glasses. Tina, you get juice,” Dad said, calling for a toast.

“Right!”

“Cheers!!!”

♣♣♣

“WE owe you two a lot,” Roin said.

“Thank you for everything, Tinaris,” Enofa squatted down and told me.

“Oh, not at all! I got to enjoy your music and dancing for free,” I said modestly.

“Oh, that much is nothing.” Enofa shook her head.

“It really isn’t,” Roin agreed. “And I had to show you my skill as a minstrel.”

The next day, the newly betrothed couple announced they’d be returning to their troupe to break the news to their friends. Each country in this world managed its own census. When it came to travelers like them or an inn like ours, which wasn’t part of any country in particular, there were no specific rules or processes when it came to marriage. That said, each country worshipped its own gods, so people tended to marry according to whatever faith they followed.

“Oh, and uh, this is a gift… Use it if you’d like,” I said, handing them a few pieces of soap.

“Oh, soap!” Enofa said.

“Thank you. You really gave us so much…” Roin said gratefully.

And you weren’t reserved about taking any of it! But it’s fine; you’re celebrating.

I warned Roin, telling him not to accidentally eat the soap, to which he insisted with a smile that he wouldn’t. It did little to curb my concerns that he would end up doing it anyway.

“I hope you two find happiness!” I waved goodbye to them.

“Yeah. Take care,” Dad said, waving beside me. “Oh, and uh, you might want to decide on a name for your kids early. Coming up with Tina’s name was really hard.”

Dad was acting like he was some kind of experienced parent compared to them. And my name was…if I recalled right, based on his favorite dancer in De Marl…?

Wait. Enofa’s a dancer too… Aaah, now I feel even closer to her for some reason…

“I-It’s still too soon for that!” Roin said, his cheeks turning rosy.

“Is it, though?” Enofa asked, a teasing smile on her lips. “We can think of it while we’re on the road. Goodbye, you two! We’ll drop in to visit next time we’re in the area!”

“You’re always welcome here!” I said.

The Rofola Lodge always welcomes its customers!

♣♣♣

“THAT was a lovely inn.”

“It really was. We definitely have to come visit here again someday.”

The young couple left the inn, walking with their arms linked on the way to De Lulua, where their troupe awaited their return. The afterglow of last night was still on their minds. A marriage proposal, followed by food and drink. A night of joy, tenderness, and love.

On Enofa’s finger was the ring. They didn’t expect to find the ring Roin lost in the belly of the fish she hooked up, but it ended up being a pleasant surprise.

“By the way, the owner told us to come up with a name for a child. What do you think might be good?” Enofa asked.

“Actually, I’ve had a couple of names in mind ever since I heard about the Twin Moons…” Roin muttered.

“Oh? What names?”

“Remember when we traveled to the east, to the demi-human continent? We ran into a tribe that called the moons René and Moné. So, if it’s a boy, we can call him René, and if it’s a girl, we can call her Moné.”

“Borrowing the moon’s names, huh? Hehe… That might be nice. A minstrel’s choice. I like it; it’s romantic!”

“Oh, and…”

Roin paused for thought. The inn’s owner said it was hard work and wasn’t “something you can do without devotion,” but he couldn’t get the last two evenings they spent out of his mind. He was raised by the troupe, so to him, the feelings he experienced in these few days were so poignant and pleasant, he couldn’t find the words to describe them. But he was sure Enofa, who had been there with him, felt the same way.

“Do you think, maybe, we could run an inn ourselves? The owner said it’s really hard, but… Yesterday and the day before… I had so much fun here.”

“I know how you feel! I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“Really?!”

He had a feeling she felt the same way. Their faces drew closer and they smiled. They would spend those happy moments together, this time as hosts. They would stand beside others, bringing joy and smiles to them.

“We might not be as good at it as Tina and the owner were, but… Yes, I like that idea! We should talk to the troupe leader. Living on our own, leading self-sufficient lives… It sounds lovely! It won’t really be all that different from now. We’ll host and entertain people from all over the land. Managing everything will be hard, but I’m sure the two of us can do it!”

“Enofa…”

“And besides, just clinging to life was the most we could do until now. So now that we have something we both aspire to…I think we should do it. We can make our place in the world, with our own hands! Between the two of us, there’s nothing we can’t do!”

“Yeah… You’re right!”

The path the two of them chose could very well be a harsh, tumultuous one. But they’d walked down hard roads together before. So they’d be fine.

The trek to De Lulua would take them two weeks, but their stride felt lighter and quicker than ever before.