Half an hour later. The staff dormitory area at the back of the tavern.
"Bang!" A thin wooden door was shoved open roughly.
"Ryu! Great news, nya!" Before Anya had even stepped into the room, that piercingly loud voice of hers came crashing in first.
The cat ears atop her head stood bolt upright with excitement; she shot into the room in a single bound, her whole face wearing a smug, credit-seeking look.
"Today I did you a huge favor, nya!"
At the same time, Chloe and Lunor, who'd followed behind Anya, squeezed in through the doorframe too.
Lunor casually pushed the door shut and bolted it.
Chloe, meanwhile, leaned against the door panel with her knees slightly bent, striking a pose as if ready to bolt out the window at any moment. And at that moment—in the room—Ryu had her back to the door, crouched beside her single bed.
Hearing Anya's voice, Ryu's body stiffened; she turned her head, and in those sky-blue eyes of hers there was a flicker of guilty, panicked fluster—yet she'd also keenly caught the key words in Anya's speech.
"Anya... what... did you all do?"
Ryu rose to her feet as she spoke, clasping both hands behind her back, as if hiding something behind her.
"Heh heh, why, of course we solved that dilly-dallying, dragging-it-out problem of yours, nya!"
Without the slightest awareness, Anya stepped forward, her tail swishing back and forth behind her, her whole face screaming 'praise me, quick.'
"We really couldn't stand to watch you being such a coward, so tonight, when Kami-sama came over for dinner with everyone, we spilled the whole thing, nya!"
"The... whole thing?" "Kami-sama came to the tavern tonight?!!"
Hearing this from Anya, Ryu's eyes went wide and her breathing suddenly stalled.
The elf's sharp ears twitched, and an extremely ominous premonition shot straight up the back of her skull along with her heartbeat, leaving her scalp prickling and numb in waves.
"What do you mean by... the... whole... thing?"
"Oh, you know—how last night you wandered the streets for two hours picking out a gift, then came home and rolled around in bed clutching the box, unable to sleep, and this morning you didn't dare hand it over because you were scared Lady Hestia would find out..."
Anya counted them off on her fingers, reciting them one by one like a familiar inventory.
"I told Lord Haimer every single bit of it, word for word, nya!" "But don't you worry!"
Anya thumped her own chest.
"Thanks to some clever wording on my part, after Kami-sama heard it all, he was really quite looking forward to it—he even said that once he receives your gift, he'll give us a long vacation, nya!"
"How about it! Aren't I amazing, doing you such a big favor, nya!"
Anya lifted her chin triumphantly. And yet. The air. In that very instant, fell into a deathly silence.
A silence like the grave.
There were no tears of gratitude as Anya had anticipated.
No bashful, coy fidgeting.
Ryu, standing at the bedside, looked as though all the life had been drained out of her in an instant.
On that normally cool, dignified elven face, every trace of color had drained away completely.
Her usually clear sky-blue eyes, in this moment—after hearing Anya's words—instantly went unfocused, losing their focal point.
Chloe and Lunor stood by the door.
At this moment, the two of them plainly saw a visible black resentment, like a malevolent aura made manifest, spreading and rising frantically up from the soles of Ryu's feet.
"Uh... um, Ryu?"
Lunor swallowed a mouthful of saliva, her calves beginning to cramp, her back already pressed flat against the door panel.
Chloe's cat tail instantly puffed up, every muscle in her body taut to the limit, both claws braced against the wall.
Only the dim-witted Anya hadn't caught on yet; she even stepped closer, reaching out a hand to grab Ryu's arm.
"Ryu, why aren't you saying anything, nya? Did you go dumb from happiness, nya..." "Whoosh!" And then. Before Anya's hand could even touch the hem of Ryu's clothes—
Ryu moved, both hands shooting out at once.
She didn't even have time to bother with the thing she'd been hiding behind her back!
Her two hands, like iron pincers, clamped around Anya's throat. "Gck—!"
"Aaah, nya!!"
Anya let out a shriek that cracked mid-pitch, her whole body hauled clean off the ground by Ryu's monstrous strength, dangling with both feet in the air! And there—
the expression on Ryu's face had now utterly, completely shattered. Her eyes were unfathomably hollow. "Anya!! You blabbermouth cat!!"
"Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
The veins on the backs of Ryu's hands bulged one by one, her fingers tightening relentlessly, as if to crush Anya's neck bones to powder.
"Nnya! Let go, let go, nya! I'm dying, dying, dying, nya!"
Anya, throttled by the grip on her throat, kicked her legs wildly in midair, both hands beating uselessly against Ryu's arms, her tongue lolling out, the whites of her eyes rolling back.
"Spent two... hours... picking a gift... tossing and turning in bed... scared of being misunderstood..."
Ryu, as if possessed, repeated these few phrases over and over like an incantation.
"Something like this! Something this utterly humiliating and embarrassing!"
"And you actually went and told Kami-sama?!"
"Then tomorrow I..." "Then what kind of face am I supposed to put on tomorrow morning when I see Kami-sama, geez!!!"
Ryu's trembling voice had already taken on a sobbing note.
"Ryu! Let Anya go! She's about to stop breathing!"
Noticing that Anya's struggles were growing weaker and weaker, Lunor finally snapped back to her senses, let out a loud shout, and rushed forward, grabbing Ryu's arm and yanking outward.
Chloe, too, pounced like a starving tiger, latching firmly onto Ryu's waist from behind.
"Sorry, sorry! We talked too much, nya! But Ryu, calm down a little! If you get caught murdering a colleague, Mama Mia will break your arms and legs, nya!" "And we'll become accomplices too, nya!"
And so. Under the combined pulling of the two of them, Ryu's fingers finally loosened by the tiniest crack.
"Clang!" "Cough, cough, cough... Ryu! You actually meant it, nya! Anya was doing it for your own good, nya!"
Anya plopped down hard on the floor on her bottom, clutching her neck and coughing frantically, tears and snot streaming everywhere.
But at this moment, Ryu could no longer hear any sound at all.
She stood rooted in place, as if she'd used up the very last shred of strength in this shell of a body.
Gasping for breath in great heaves, her legs went weak, and she slid down along the edge of the bed to sit on the floor.
She covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling helplessly.
"It's over... everything's over..."
"It was just an ordinary apology gift, and yet I had to make it all sticky and complicated..."
"Kami-sama is definitely going to think I'm an extremely troublesome, frivolous, tactless elf with something wrong in her head..."
"And to think I even dared to fantasize..." "to fantasize..." Ryu's voice came out muffled from between her fingers, brimming with despair; the more she spoke, the lower she buried her head, until she'd very nearly buried her face in her knees, curling her whole self into a tight ball.
Watching this clumsy elf who'd sunk into extreme social death and shut herself off completely.
Chloe, Lunor, and Anya exchanged blank looks too.
They had honestly only wanted to give this oblivious blockhead a little push.
But who could have guessed that the fool Ryu's threshold of shame for this sort of thing was so abysmally low that she'd detonated right there on the spot.
And it was right about then.
Chloe's gaze swept over Ryu, and only then did she notice—
The area around Ryu's single bed was an absolute mess, as if it had just been ransacked.
The floor was strewn with wrapping paper of every color, cut into a haphazard jumble.
Several rolls of colored ribbon were tangled together, knotted up, and had rolled into the corner.
On the ground there was also a heap of crumpled scrap paper, scattered all over the place.
And where the thing had dropped from behind Ryu's back just now lay a small, square little box.
The ribbon on the box was tied in an ugly, crooked dead knot, like a hopelessly tangled snarl of thread.
"Ryu... what exactly were you doing just now, nya?"
Chloe pointed at the wreckage on the floor, her face full of speechlessness.
"Are you copying how Anya fought with the wrapping paper that one time, nya?"
Struck right on a sore spot. Ryu's body visibly stiffened.
She slowly lifted her head and followed Chloe's gaze.
When her line of sight reached that supremely ugly dead knot on the floor—
Ryu's voice carried thick grievance.
"Be... because Syr had something to do tonight and wasn't around, so there was no one to teach me."
"I... I just wanted to try to wrap the gift a little prettier myself..."
"But... no matter how I folded it or tied it, the knot just wouldn't come out as a pretty bow like the ones Syr makes." "Either it's tied too loose, or it's a dead knot..."
At this point, Ryu's voice was filled with overwhelming frustration.
The dignified "Gale Lion," who could cut down even a Lv.5 powerhouse with her blade.
The wooden sword in her hand had once mercilessly crushed the flesh and bone of countless evildoers.
And yet here, in this cramped little dorm room, she'd been routed and utterly defeated by a few flimsy sheets of wrapping paper and some ribbon.
At the thought that all those deeply hidden, unspeakable feelings of hers had been laid bare to Kami-sama.
Ryu felt she'd already lost the right to breathe in this world. "You all, just leave." Ryu clutched the hideously wrapped box, leaned her back against the bed frame, and slid down to sit on the floor.
"Tomorrow I... no, from now on I'll never go to Kami-sama's place to clean again."
"From now on I absolutely, absolutely won't have the face to see him again."
Ryu's whole body gave off a thick aura of deathly gloom that warned all strangers to keep away, as if she meant to pass into nirvana right where she sat.
Seeing that Ryu was about to throw in the towel and give up entirely. Anya, who'd only just caught her breath, immediately grew anxious too.
"No good, nya! Absolutely no good, nya!"
Anya scrambled over on all fours, grabbing Ryu's shoulders and shaking them frantically.
"If you don't go, Ryu, then won't the long vacation Kami-sama promised us go down the drain, nya!"
"And just think about it, nya!"
Anya racked her brains and began spouting her twisted logic.
"You made a promise with Kami-sama! Where's the sense in skipping work for no reason, nya! If you run away like this, doesn't that just make you look even more guilty!"
"That's right, that's right!" Lunor leaned in close to Ryu's face too.
"If you don't go tomorrow, Lord Haimer is bound to assume that you can't face anyone out of shame because your little secret got exposed."
"Doesn't that just confirm even more that your intentions aren't pure!"
"If you go, and hand the thing over to him openly and proudly, and say it's an apology gift, with your head held high—channel that same fierce spirit you have when you're cutting people down—who would dare say anything about you?" "But..." Faced with these extremely beguiling arguments, the line of defense called stubbornness in the foolish elf began to crack.
Ryu's eyes clearly showed wavering. "But... but Kami-sama already knows that I rolled around in bed over this..."
"I don't know... how to face him..."
"Oh come on, that was just Anya's exaggerated way of putting it! There's no way Kami-sama would take it seriously, nya!"
Seeing that Ryu was hung up on this, Chloe gave Anya a slap on the head, then leaned in close to Ryu again, gently coaxing her along.
"And besides, just think about it—Kami-sama is a magnanimous deity who can even gently embrace the monsters in the Dungeon."
"Kami-sama is that kind to everyone—how could he possibly mock you over a little thing like this, nya?"
"He'll definitely think you're really cute instead, nya!"
"And besides, you spent so long picking out that gift."
Off to the side, Lunor also pointed at the box Ryu was hugging tightly to her chest.
"If you can't manage to hand it over, then those two hours you agonized over last night with dark circles under your eyes, plus all this wrapping paper on the floor—won't it all just go to waste?"
True enough. This was the pendant she'd chosen after enduring an intense feeling of social death, wandering the shops for a full two hours.
At the thought of how gently Haimer had wiped the soot off her face.
Ryu's heart couldn't help but start to race embarrassingly fast.
If she really... ...
would she truly never again have the chance to give him the gift?
"But... I can't tie a bow."
Ryu lowered her head, looking at the ugly dead knot in her hands; though her tone was still dry, her attitude had clearly softened.
"Oh come on! A little thing like that—just leave it to us, nya!"
"Behold Anya's invincible wrapping technique, nya!"
Seeing this, Anya immediately perked up and snatched the box right out of Ryu's hands. And so. Ten minutes later.
"Aaah, the paper tore."
"Anya!! You idiot cat!" "Ryu! Ryu!! Stay your blade!! It can still be salvaged!!"
Finally. After all that chaotic, chicken-and-dog commotion.
Under a warning from Mama Mia, who'd heard the racket.
The scrap paper on the floor was swept into a pile.
That box, which had originally been a ghastly sight, was at last re-wrapped in a sheet of pale green wrapping paper, with a pure white bow tied neatly on top.
Fresh and elegantly understated.
It suited Ryu's temperament as an elf perfectly. "Here! Done, nya!"
Anya shoved the box back into Ryu's hands and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.
Ryu cradled that exquisite box, her fingertips lightly stroking the smooth ribbon on top, and fell into a long silence.
"All right." Ryu gritted her teeth and lifted her head; the hollowness in her eyes had dispersed, replaced by a resolve like someone about to march to the execution ground.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll go!" "But..." "If something truly irreparable happens..."
Ryu's gaze swept over the three before her.
"I will definitely chop the three of you into eight pieces..."
Hearing this sudden, utterly flat statement from Ryu, Lunor, Chloe, and Anya all shuddered at once.
And so it came to this. The next morning. The upscale residential district of Orario, inside the estate.
Day had only just broken; a thin mist still drifted over the streets.
A faint stirring came from within the hall.
When Haimer woke on the broad, soft bed of the second-floor master bedroom.
He glanced at Hestia, who'd clung to his side yesterday interrogating him about Syr only to fall fast asleep, sprawled out completely defenseless not long after; he let out a helpless sigh, got up and pulled on a loose set of loungewear, and walked out of the room.
The moment he reached the second floor, Haimer heard the crisp clatter of pots and pans coming from the direction of the kitchen, along with a fierce, hushed-voiced argument.
"Anya, slow down! Don't go dropping the plates again, nya!"
"Hurry, hurry, Kami-sama's probably about to wake up—get ready, get ready!"
Haimer went downstairs and came into the hall.
There in the spacious kitchen—
Chloe and Lunor were frantically frying eggs and slicing the long loaves of bread. And then.
Ryu, who'd been cleaning, turned her head too and saw Haimer, who'd just come down the stairs.
In that instant. Ryu's mental line of defense collapsed across the board and crashed outright.
The words about "spilling the whole thing" that Anya had described last night churned wildly through her mind. As a result. She didn't dare meet Haimer's eyes, instead staring straight at the toes of her own brown boots, the temperature of her cheeks soaring at an astonishing rate, flushing so red it seemed about to drip blood.
"M-morning... Ka-Kami-sama."
Ryu's voice, overly tense, cracked off-pitch as she stammered out the words. "Mm, good morning, Miss Elf."
Haimer stood before Ryu.
Hearing Haimer's voice.
The sound of the chopping knife in the kitchen also came to an abrupt halt.
"Kami-sama."
The hand Ryu held behind her back gripped that pale green little box, and she opened her mouth.
Last night her head had been full of Anya's line, "hold your head high."
But now that she was actually facing him in this moment, that sense of shame still drowned out Ryu's courage. But. If she shrank back yet again at this point, then what had all the day-and-night agonizing of these past few days been for?
At this thought, Ryu bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, using the faint pain to force herself to raise her head.
"Kami-sama." And then. Ryu stretched out the hands she'd kept hidden behind her back.
In a stiff posture, almost as if surrendering a letter of capitulation, she shut both eyes and held the pale green little box out before Haimer.
"This—it's for you!"
Ryu kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"About before—when I drew my sword on you in the back alley... and when I wrecked the stove, and the matter with the clothing shop."
"I... I've been feeling terribly sorry about it all this time!" "This is a small token of my feelings as an apology..." "Please! You absolutely must accept it!"
After saying all this, Ryu looked as though she'd exhausted every bit of oxygen in her body; even her breathing had stalled, and she froze in place, holding out the box in that same posture.
"Thank you."
At this point, Haimer's voice sounded from above Ryu's head.
"This gift looks very thoughtfully wrapped."
So it seemed Kami-sama liked this not-very-expensive gift?
Hearing these words. In this moment. The boulder that had hung over Ryu's heart for an entire night seemed at last to drop fully to the ground. And yet.
When Ryu lifted her head and watched Haimer use his slender fingers to pick out that sword-belt pendant set with a finely polished Magic Stone, examining it closely in the morning light—
"I've been needing a good sword-belt pendant for ages; this is a real help. I like it very much, Miss Elf."
Like it very much... like... Like what very much!!!
Kami-sama, is this... a confession to me?!!
Since something in Ryu's head seemed to have completely exploded, dissolving into countless surging globs of mush.
As a result, Ryu's brain skipped right over the context of what Haimer had said; her language faculties had clearly broken down entirely, and the words spilling from her mouth were strung together in a way even she didn't understand.
"Ka-Kami-sama..."
"The elf race... although there's no rule saying we can't accept a deity's... affection..."
"But... but..."
"I... I'm still not pure..."
"No! I mean I have no experience!!"
"But... but..." "Please give me a little time to think it over!!!"
As if to burn up all the courage of her entire life in this one moment, Ryu finished speaking and bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle!
Before Haimer could even respond to this rambling, head-and-tail-less speech.
Ryu, like an overly startled little rabbit, didn't even bother to pick up the rag she'd dropped on the floor; she immediately spun around.
And at a terrifying speed that even a Lv.5 adventurer couldn't hope to match, with a "whoosh" she turned into a blur of afterimages and dashed into the storeroom next door.
"Bang!"
The storeroom door was slammed shut with tremendous force, letting out a deafening crash.
Leaving behind only a few faint wisps of that fragrance unique to elves drifting in the air of the hall.
As for the kitchen at this moment.
Listening to the commotion outside.
Ryu seemed to have misunderstood something.
At this thought, Anya, Lunor, and Chloe couldn't help putting their palms to their foreheads in helplessness.
"What an idiot, nya."
Anya in particular wore a face full of resignation.
Which made Lunor and Chloe can't help rolling their eyes at her.
____
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