Published: January 22, 2026
“Hmmm, what would be good, I wonder…”
The thanksgiving festival is already on its third day.
Since I have the whole day free today, Carole, who is also free, and I are strolling around the town, thinking about a present to give to Mr. Orun.
Log has some help to do this morning, so first the two of us will come up with a few candidates, then we’ll meet up at noon to decide together as a trio.
Apparently, in other countries, there’s a custom to give presents on one’s birthday.
Here, there isn’t such a custom, but to express our gratitude to Mr. Orun, the three of us agreed to give him a gift on his birth month.
However, we hadn’t had the chance to ask about Mr. Orun’s birth month, and when we finally did two days ago, he said it was June, which made me panic.
I regret not asking sooner, even if I had to force myself…
But, since his birth month had not yet arrived, that’s still somewhat better, right?
Besides, during this time, there are many rare items sold that don’t usually appear in stores!
I really want to give something that he’ll be happy with…
“Yeah, I wonder what would make Mr. Orun happy… When we think about him like this, we don’t actually know much about him, do we…”
“Yeah, Master doesn’t really talk about himself much. We should have asked about his hobbies and stuff more carefully…!”
Neither Carole nor I could come up with anything that Mr. Orun might like.
“There sure are a lot of people here. As expected of a festival!”
“Yeah. I’d rather not stay here for too long.”
Just as Carole said, this place, with its rows of food stalls, has the highest population density in town.
If we stay here too long, I’ll probably get dizzy, so I want to move somewhere else soon.
“Hmmm, maybe instead of something sold at a food stall, it’d be better to get something made by a craftsman! How about we go over to Artisan Street once?”
After I said that, Carole immediately suggested we move to another place.
I think she’s trying to be considerate of me.
Carole often gives off the impression of being carefree. But in reality, and this might sound rude, she’s actually very thoughtful.
That’s one of her virtues, but in her case, she tends to suppress herself to respect others’ wishes.
I find that really unfortunate.
Carole and I have known each other for about a year now.
Having interacted with her for so long, I can sense that she carries some kind of trauma.
That probably connects to her excessive thoughtfulness…
I wish I could help her overcome that trauma, but I can’t think of any good ideas.
There’s not much I can do right now, but someday I hope Carole can express her selfishness to me without any hesitation.
“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s go to Artisan Street.”
Agreeing to Carole’s proposal, we left the crowded food stall street and moved towards Artisan Street.
◇
“Hmmm, maybe something useful for exploring would be good.”
Arriving at Artisan Street, Carole started speaking while looking at some items displayed at a nearby weapon shop.
“I think he probably already has everything he needs for exploring. The sword Mr. Orun carries is a fine one. Even if there is something he wants, it might be too expensive for us to buy…”
“That’s true. In that case, maybe something for everyday use?”
“That sounds good. Like, maybe some accessories…?”
“Right, that might work! Okay, let's look around for things in that direction! — hmm?”
Just as we finally decided on a direction and were about to look around the shops again, Carole seemed to notice something and briskly walked off somewhere.
I hurriedly followed her. What’s going on?
“Miss, are you feeling unwell? Are you okay?”
Where Carole went, a woman with indigo-colored hair was sitting on a bench, looking down.
“…Me?”
The woman looked up in response to Carole’s voice.
…She’s really beautiful.
If my older sister is a cool kind of beauty, then this woman is a cute kind of beauty.
I think she’s younger than my sister.