I walked out of the store with Karen. It was still before noon outside, so we headed toward the Adventurers' Guild while chatting along the way.
"Lina, wasn't it boring just now? "
In the shop, I had only said one or two sentences, but listening to their conversation was interesting enough. More importantly—if I'm with Kallen, I never feel bored no matter where we are.
"No. As long as you're by my side, I'll never be bored."
The moment I said that, embarrassment shot through me, and Kallen's cheeks tinted red as well. He gave me a soft smile.
"Really? Me too."
"...Mm."
Kallen meant the same thing as I did—he liked staying by my side. Just realizing that made my heart flutter wildly. It meant he liked me too. We were mutually in love!
But Kallen is too sneaky. He never reacts dramatically, leaving only me blushing again and again. Every time… every single time… he makes me like him even more!!!
Just like yesterday, when he changed his hairstyle.
After I stepped out of the bath and saw him, my heart practically stopped. I couldn't take my eyes off him—he looked so fresh, clean, and much more handsome. The new hairstyle suited him perfectly.
I wanted to praise him on the spot, but the boss lady was sitting at the counter watching us. I was too embarrassed, so I grabbed Karen's hand and pulled him back to our room.
When I did finally compliment him, he didn't show any big reaction. He simply thanked me and then praised my hair in return—making my entire body heat up, even my fingertips turning red.
I tried to cover my face with my hands to cool down, forgetting that I was still holding his towel. So I ended up burying my face into his towel instead… which only made it harder to calm down.
After quite a while, I finally managed to regain my composure. Karen even helped brush my hair. It felt… really nice.
We later arrived at the Guild. There were no Blue-rank quest available, so we took a Violet-rank one.
Guild master Wiley was at the counter too. When he saw us, he brought up his beloved sword that had gone missing years ago. He pulled out the large blade from his storage hole.
"Karen, while I was polishing this yesterday, I found a crack here. Do you know why?"
Guild master Wiley pointed at the fracture. Karen's lips twitched ever so slightly—only someone close to him would notice—but he replied with a confused expression.
"I don't know."
That was a lie. The crack was caused by his ancient magic, which had to be kept secret. In ancient magic, one year equaled ten in power.
Karen once told me that if any nation learned ancient magic first, it would break the balance of the world. Nations might start invading each other, and the world would be ruined by endless wars.
As for why the crack wasn't caused by my magic—it was because my "years" weren't enough to harm the sword. The sword had far more years accumulated than me.
But Karen's was different. Counting both his past life and current one, Karen had lived 29 years. That meant his ancient magic had the strength of 290 years—more than enough to damage the sword.
We then went to complete the quest: slaying five Big Boars in the western forest.
Big Boar were huge and strong, but they only charged in straight lines, making them easy to read.
We completed the task without trouble. Ms. Sylvie told us that Big Boar meat was delicious and strongly recommended we try it.
Since we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we went straight to a restaurant. The dish came with a huge bone in the middle, and when I bit into the meat, the overflowing juices filled my mouth—it was incredibly satisfying.
We took another quest afterward and completed it smoothly as well. When night came, I fell asleep happily, hugging Karen's towel like always.
The next morning, we returned to Mr. Gajeel's workshop to pick up our new bicycles. Karen and I each received our own.
Mine was spotless white, completely flawless—just as Mr. Gajeez had said, Mr. Gajeel truly had skilled hands.
At that moment, Karen seemed to remember something and called out to him.
"By the way, store owner, I have something to say."
"What is it?"
"Please don't tell anyone that we're the ones who invented the bicycle. If someone asks, please keep it secret."
"Why?"
I had the same question—why would Karen hide the fact that he invented such a useful thing?
"Because it feels like it would cause trouble," he said. "So please say you invented it instead. I'll help spread the word."
"...All right then. Oh, I'm running low on sulfur. Do you still have some?"
"I've still got lots left."
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't understand why Karen wanted to keep it a secret. After leaving the shop, I asked him:
"Karen, why do you want to hide it?"
"There's no big reason. I just don't want to draw attention. And saying the store owner invented it will reduce a lot of potential problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"The store owner will probably offer one bicycle to the most important figure in this town. If bicycles turn out to be extremely convenient in this world, someone might come looking for us… or maybe not. But if he's known as the inventor, then even that possibility disappears."
The most important figure in this town was a noble. Karen hated places where there were too many rules to follow. He preferred relaxed, carefree environments.
"Ah, I see. You'd have to follow a lot of etiquette."
"Yeah, and watch your words carefully."
I knew all the proper etiquette, but I also enjoyed places where I could talk freely, joke around, and laugh with everyone.
We took more quests afterward. Riding the new bicycles felt much better than before—no fear of breaking them, and most importantly, our butts didn't hurt anymore.
That night, Kallen decided we would stay in Bakiko until Mr. Gajeel's bicycle shop officially opened. He handed the inn's landlady one silver coin in advance.