Days of Silence and Homecoming Gifts
“What are you planning to do during the Days of Silence?”
“I have to attend a ball with my parents, and I’ll probably need to manage the villa as well.”
“Don’t you hate balls? You have to keep your back straight the whole time.”
“What choice do I have? It’s the most efficient place to build connections, whether I like it or not.”
The next day, students at the Academy were busy discussing their vacation plans. The Academy’s official term for vacation was Days of Silence. I had no idea why they’d chosen such a refined word, but it wasn’t my concern. What mattered was that I wouldn’t have to attend classes. That single fact alone made everything feel lighter.
My lips kept curling upward. Humming a tune only I could hear, I spent lunch as usual in the library, browsing books, when a voice drifted over from the shelves behind me.
“What are your plans for the Days of Silence?”
“Huh?”
The question came casually, as if we were simply chatting about everyday matters. I turned to Arian, who had suddenly asked what I intended to do during the break. I did have plans, but why was she asking?
Then a calm voice added from behind me, “Since we’ll finally be free of restrictions, I was hoping you could help me procure some herbs.”
“Ah, that… probably won’t work.”
“What…?!”
When I hesitated but clearly refused, Arian’s voice rose sharply. Her eyes widened in genuine surprise, her expression blank with disbelief.
What? I have plans for my own break too.
More importantly, she was getting loud. I raised a finger to my lips. Arian flinched, then quickly covered her mouth and nose with both hands. A moment later her usual expressionless face returned, and she shamelessly asked again as if nothing had happened.
“What plans do you have?”
“For starters, I won’t be staying in Karsion.”
Rather than mention our obscure village, I dodged the question by saying I wouldn’t remain in the capital. My plans were still vague anyway, like clouds drifting by, and I wasn’t even planning to stay in one city. Explaining that I wouldn’t be in Karsion seemed the simplest answer.
“You’re not going to tell me where you’re going?”
Apparently that didn’t sit well with her. Arian narrowed her eyes and glared at me. I couldn’t figure out which part had offended her. Listing every possible city would drag the conversation out too long, so I found myself wondering why she even wanted to know.
After a brief silence, I muttered, “…Do you really need to know?”
After another short silence, Arian replied, “…No, now that I think about it, I suppose not.”
She turned away, still holding a book upside down, and walked off toward an empty seat. I had no idea which part had annoyed her or which part had satisfied her. …Actually, I wasn’t even sure she was satisfied.
With that same awkward feeling, I thought the same thing I always did.
Women really are difficult.
“Starting tomorrow, the Academy will be on Days of Silence. Facilities will remain open, but entry is restricted to staff only. Please take all personal belongings and return home. That is all.”
After lunch came the final schedule, close to dismissal. With the teacher’s brief announcement, summer term at the Academy officially ended.
I wasn’t particularly interested in what the protagonist planned to do during the Days of Silence. Even without me hovering, he seemed to head straight to the training grounds every day. He was handling anything that could raise his stats on his own. The first Mock Battle still bothered me, but he’d gone four-for-four in the summer tournament. Since there wasn’t much I could do for him during the break anyway, that relentless drive of his would probably keep him busy.
So I decided to focus on my own plans without worry. The moment I returned from the Academy, the first thing I had to do was…
“We’re leaving right away, right?”
It was the gift selection for my parents that Reina had announced the day before without giving me any say.
The first thing I saw upon entering the house was Reina sitting on the sofa in casual clothes. The moment she noticed me, she stood up and began preparing to leave.
“Uh, I just need to change clothes…”
I tried to protest weakly, wanting to switch into something more comfortable, but…
“You can go like that. It’s not like you have anything to hide.”
“W-wait…!”
Reina walked to the entrance and pushed me forward with her palm. I stumbled helplessly outside, letting out flustered noises, but there was no contest in terms of strength. In the end, I left the house without even changing, only setting my bag down before being dragged back out onto the street.
Once again, I had no idea where we were going. I simply followed Reina’s footsteps. Looking at her light steps ahead of me, I asked, “Where are we going?”
“The first place that comes to mind is probably ‘Memories of Karsion.’”
At my question, she immediately named a souvenir shop, as if she’d already decided. Karsion was the capital, after all, so tourists visited often. Naturally, there were shops catering to them in the commercial district, and one of them was a souvenir store. Would there be anything suitable as a gift for my parents?
Right after hearing Reina’s suggestion, I tilted my head without realizing it.
Stuff from there doesn’t seem very appealing…
Still, I felt a strange confidence that I knew my parents’ tastes better.
“Hmm…”
Hearing the unappealing destination, I crossed my arms and let out a long, troubled hum. Reina turned around and looked at me.
“What, you don’t like it?”
She asked as if wondering whether I had a better idea. The thought “there might not be a right answer, but there are definitely wrong ones” suddenly came to mind regarding her choice. Buying toy swords or quill-and-ink sets… or scented candles… would just turn into useless clutter they’d never use. Even so, as their child, I wanted to give them something actually helpful. My head knew that, but nothing useful came to mind, so I walked alongside Reina and asked for advice on the spot.
“Is there anything that might actually help our village…?”
“Practical stuff? Well, in that case, should we try going there for once…?”
“There?”
The word “there” changed meaning depending on the situation and the person. When Kair said “there” at school, it obviously meant the training grounds, but… the place Reina meant in this context was impossible to guess.
When I repeated the word with a confused expression, Reina looked at me and chuckled.
“The Magician’s Chest of Drawers.”
The Magician’s Chest of Drawers. As the name suggested, it was a high-end shop that only dealt in enchanted items. There were even rumors that it didn’t accept any currency other than gold coins—a famous magic tool shop, for better or worse. It was the kind of place I’d always treated as nonexistent…
“Haven’t been here in a while.”
With those words, Reina walked steadily toward the clean-looking shop entrance. I grabbed her arm before she could enter a building that looked like it had a dress code and asked, just in case, “W-wait… Can we just walk in like this?!”
“What are you talking about? It’s a place that exists for customers to come in.”
She raised an eyebrow as if I’d said something ridiculous. Without meaning to, I’d made myself look like a complete country bumpkin. Somehow I managed to step inside, but I felt restless no matter where I stood.
A sound quill that wrote down whatever was spoken. A bundle of ink and quills for five gold coins. Memory recording paper that copied scenes from your mind onto the sheet. Three gold coins for a thick stack. Every item I saw had prices in gold coins or higher, exactly as the rumors had described, and I felt strangely intimidated.
Expensive. All of it…
Even a single gold coin wasn’t a small amount, yet a bundle of ink and quills cost five. The memory recording paper I’d seen once at the guild was three gold coins for roughly a hundred sheets. None of them were amounts I could casually offer as gifts.
“If you see something good, pick it out. I’ll buy it as a present. You’ll probably find something decent if you look around.”
According to my sense of money, that made sense, but Reina spoke so casually, without setting any price limit, as if she were telling me to pick out potions at a general store. My brain froze for a moment. With dozens of gold coins, you could probably buy a house in the civilian district…
“Uh…”
Really? Isn’t that too expensive? Are you sure it’s okay to pick something? Several questions swirled in my head, but before I could voice any of them, Reina was already walking away toward another display.
“I need to look around too.”
She said that before I could even ask and headed off toward the distant shelves. Left flustered and blinking, I had no choice but to start examining the nearest displays.
I wandered around looking for something as cheap as possible yet still practical for a rural village. Fifteen gold coins, eight, twelve—price tags jumped wildly with every display I passed. After drifting aimlessly for several dozen seconds…
Oh.
I finally stopped when I found an item priced at the minimum possible—one gold coin.
“You’re really okay with just that?”
When the long-awaited moment of payment arrived, Reina made a displeased face and asked again. It was clearly the cheapest item in the store by anyone’s standards. Even after buying three items in total, it only came to three gold coins, and one of them I paid for myself.
“Yes, this is enough.”
Holding the neatly wrapped gifts the clerk handed over, our preparations for returning home during the break slowly came to an end.