The Nymph Oinoi # 4
Brrr, brrr—.
Even wearing the padding I'd given her, Oinoi was shivering something fierce.
From what I'd heard, she was terribly sensitive to the cold.
"This Oinoi... actually has a hobby of hibernating like a squirrel or a raccoon dog when winter comes...! You see, Oinoi is a nymph born in the blazing summer, just like her honey-colored hair...!"
I had no idea what being born in summer had to do with hibernating.
But piecing it together, I gathered it went something like this: born in the heat of summer, she was built for warmth and helpless against the cold, so she simply slept the whole winter away.
"As expected, the master of this house understands quickly...!"
Quick to understand, huh.
That used to be the compliment I heard most often. Whatever I tried my hand at, I picked it up in no time. Of course, these days I didn't really try my hand at anything anymore.
Brrr, brrr—.
Anyway, Oinoi was trembling violently.
Had I known, maybe I should have left her on top of a heated electric blanket?
No.
Who knew what kind of mischief she'd get up to left alone in the house? She might very well shout, "This Oinoi declares wet-cleaning to be excellent!" and douse my computer with water.
Her culture was different in all sorts of ways, after all.
"Culture, huh..."
It struck me anew that she was the only nymph ever to have fallen into the twenty-first century. A rare species, alone in the whole world.
Perhaps because it was the Christmas weekend, downtown was packed with people who looked like they'd come out for a family outing. Seeing all those families made me think of my own mom and dad — and wonder how Oinoi felt about it.
Wouldn't she be lonely, or melancholy, suddenly dropped into the twenty-first century? From what I'd heard, elves coped with homesickness by holding little "gatherings" among themselves.
But Oinoi was the only nymph, so there was no way she could hold any gathering at all.
"Oinoi, do you have a family too? Like a mom or a dad?"
"This Oinoi does not know...! Nymphs, generally speaking, have no mothers or fathers...! But this Oinoi once had friends in plenty...! The forest where Oinoi lived was rich with ditch water and brook water...!"
I see.
It was only my impression, but even adrift in this world alone, she didn't seem particularly lonely.
If anything, she was scattered-brained.
Oinoi was too busy gawking at the cars passing through the streets, the glittering signs, the shop windows full of merchandise, and the faces of passersby, this way and that.
She looked exactly like a child on a school field trip.
Speaking of which — how old was she, anyway?
She looked to be about a fifth or sixth grader.
"Oinoi, how old are you?"
I asked.
Whereupon Oinoi, her eyes still glued to the people sipping something at a café, called out cheerfully.
"This Oinoi has lived as long as a small ditch water...! And so, being a nymph of ditch water...! When Oinoi grows as old as brook water...! she shall become a nymph of brook water...!"
The more of the story I heard, the less I understood. Elves were long-lived — I'd heard some lived to a full three hundred.
Nymphs were fairies too, so it was probably similar.
With that thought, I stepped into the café.
I couldn't afford to buy her winter clothes, but I could at least buy her a hot coffee or tea.
"Anything you want to drink?"
I asked without much expectation.
It was probably her first time in a café. How would she know what was what?
Soon enough, Oinoi was peering all over the menu board.
Could she even read the letters? Elves apparently used "translation magic."
"This Oinoi cannot understand a single word of what is written...!"
"Really? Then, starting from the top — Americano. Café latte. Caramel macchiato—"
I read the menu out to her, top to bottom.
Then Oinoi shouted, as if she'd made up her mind about something.
"This Oinoi wishes to drink the thing called a mint chocolate latte...!"
"Oh yeah?"
Why that one, though.
I'd drink just about anything, but... mint was one of those divisive flavors, wasn't it?
Just as I was wondering, Oinoi gave me the reason right away.
"This Oinoi once had a friend named Menthenoi...! Menthenoi grew up and was killed by the fearsome goddess Persephone, but... she still lives on in this Oinoi's heart...!"
So it was a drink that brought back the memory of a dead friend.
I finished placing the order without fuss.
But first, I showed Oinoi what it looked like to buy something and pay for it.
"When you buy something, you have to pay money equal to its price. If you don't pay, the police will come."
"This Oinoi dislikes the police...! In the land where Oinoi lived, there were nymph hunters who preyed upon nymphs, and the police resemble them...!"
Nymph hunters — what on earth was that about?
Anyway, whether because nymphs as a species were fairly clever, Oinoi grasped the concept of commerce in no time. She also seemed to have realized that trying to eat fruit straight off a display shelf had been wrong.
She'd adapt to the twenty-first century quickly enough.
At last, the drinks came out.
Oinoi slurped her hot drink — sluuurp — and her face lit up with astonishment.
"Ahh! This chocolate is very sweet and delicious...! This Oinoi is tasting something so sweet and delicious for the very first time since being born into this world...!"
"Is that so?"
"This Oinoi and her nymph sisters... always believed the nectar of lily flowers to be the sweetest and most delicious of all things, but no longer...! Surely no nymph anywhere has ever tasted something this wonderful...!"
That much, huh?
Soon, Oinoi added a few peculiar exclamations.
"And the fragrance of Menthenoi, who was also Oinoi's friend, rises richly from it...! It occurs to Oinoi that perhaps Menthenoi may exist in this world...! This could be the very proof...!"
Mint chocolate as evidence that her friend existed in this world? The flow of her logic was faster and grander than anything I could have imagined.
Were all nymphs like this? Or was Oinoi just unusual? Wondering that, I asked.
"This Menthenoi you speak of — didn't she die to a fearsome goddess?"
"Perhaps she did not truly die...! Perhaps, though everyone believed her dead, she is in fact alive in this strange world, just as Oinoi is...!"
I doubted it.
After all, when I'd searched for "nymph" on the hunters' social media, nothing had come up. As far as I could tell, Oinoi was the first nymph to ever arrive in this world.
"This Oinoi, too, shall place her face upon the 'advertising board,' just like those long-eared fairies...! Then the nymphs who may exist in this world will be certain to see Oinoi's face and come find her...!"
Oinoi's expression was remarkably encouraged, her eyes shining.
Could the mere possibility of a friend existing in the world really make her that happy?
I'd assumed on my own that she didn't look lonely, but in truth, she might have been terribly lonely all along.
That was why I couldn't bring myself to tell her, "As far as I know, you're the only nymph there is."
Well... I'd find out the details soon enough, once the holiday ended tomorrow and the official in charge was dispatched over from the government office.
The house was as chilly as ever.
With the boiler broken, the indoor temperature sat at a brisk fifteen degrees.
Being broke was a sad thing in all sorts of ways.
"But if this one thing works out..."
Swishhh—.
I turned on the kitchen sink.
It was to wash the Hyacinth flowers I'd paid a full fifty thousand won for.
The moment I twisted the faucet, Oinoi — who had been watching the whole thing — reacted with a loud "Oooooh!" What on earth was so astonishing this time?
"The water simply pours forth...! This Oinoi, too, wishes to try turning the water on and off...!"
Was a kitchen faucet really that fascinating?
When I stepped aside, Oinoi turned the sink water on and off, on and off, making an absolute circus of it. She seemed to love water beyond all reason.
If I ever took her to a swimming pool or a bathhouse, her eyes would pop clean out of her head.
Swishhhh—.
Soon, Oinoi was washing the hyacinth flowers at the sink with remarkably practiced hands.
Then she scooped up the water she'd washed them in, sprinkled it over the red leather shoes, and scrubbed with her palms — and lo and behold, the crust of dried yellow residue that had been stuck on began to melt gently away.
"Oh!"
I was genuinely stunned.
So the sap of the Bashkir Queen Bees really could be wiped clean that easily! And without any elaborate chemical treatment, too?
"Why did nobody ever know about something this simple?"
It was honestly baffling.
Well, I suppose — what twenty-first-century person with time on their hands would think to wash a hyacinth flower, a flower said to have bloomed from the love between two men, and sprinkle the water onto a sap-stained spot?
But I did.
I suppose that's how every "discovery" has ever worked.
In any case, it was just as Oinoi had said.
A strange creature, sure — but Oinoi, it seemed, was someone you could trust in her own way.
Which meant...
...which meant, could the "curse" Oinoi had spoken of actually be real too?
According to her, I was under a curse.
A curse.
Me, afflicted by something like that?
Since when, exactly?
Was it the curse that had kept me from raising my skills or my rank, ever since the day I'd reached D-Rank faster than anyone? Was that why my skills had been frozen in place ever since?
And was that maybe why I lost at the lottery numbers every single week?
Was my computer's sudden stuttering also the fault of this curse?
The moment I entertained the thought, every misfortune that had ever befallen me seemed like it could be laid at the curse's door. So I asked.
"So this hyacinth flower oil can break the curse that's on me?"
I asked with my heart quietly steeped in hope. Whereupon Oinoi, still mid-ritual of turning the sink water on and off for the hundredth time, nodded.
"That is so...! Though it takes not only the oil of the flower, but also the tail fur of a dog-squirrel, the eyebrows of a cat, and the hair of a witch...!"
The cat's eyebrows I could just about accept — but what on earth was dog-squirrel tail fur?
Some kind of squirrel?
As I stood there flustered, Oinoi spoke up.
"Heh heh, the tail fur of dog-squirrels is something this Oinoi can obtain with ease...! What truly matters are the eyebrows of a cat and the 'hair of a witch'...!"
They sounded like ingredients straight out of a fairy tale.
Then Oinoi went on.
"But the hair of a witch is especially difficult to obtain...! Witches are cruel like the terrifying Medusa or Medea, and they make nymphs tremble in fear...!"
Oinoi, shivering as though genuinely terrified, pointed a finger at the shoes displayed in the shoe cabinet.
And then she shouted.
"Now that Oinoi has wiped away the sap of the Bashkir Queen Bees, it is plain to see...! Those shoes are without doubt the shoes of a fearsome witch...! If we obtain that witch's hair, the curse can be broken...!"