Side Story: Christmas Magic
“Hey, Sinel.”
“Yes.”
Just the two of them remained in the Dark Merchant’s office.
Sinel had been carefully watching the snow falling outside the window when she turned her head at the voice of the Sword Saint calling her name.
The Sword Saint—the mage who always carried a massive sword—was placing a wrapped gift on the table.
As Sinel stared blankly at him, the Sword Saint began unwrapping the package and asked her,
“Do you know what day tomorrow is?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow is Christmas.”
“Crispy-mas……”
Christmas.
Hearing the word for the first time, Sinel blankly repeated it.
The Sword Saint made a face as if he’d just heard some auditory hallucination, then started explaining again.
“……No. Christmas.”
“Christmas.”
“That’s the kind of day it is.”
“What kind of day is Christmas?”
“Uh… it’s the birthday of someone really amazing.”
“Who is that?”
Whose birthday was Christmas, exactly?
Hmm. The sound of the Sword Saint pondering echoed through the office.
In the end he seemed unable to reach a conclusion, and simply returned to standing in front of Sinel.
“Dunno.”
“Is that so.”
The birthday of a really amazing person.
Sinel quietly turned the words over in her mind.
An amazing person.
Who around her fit that description?
Only one name came to mind first.
Percival Smith. Her employer, the man known as the Dark Merchant.
“I understand.”
Christmas was the birthday of an amazing person.
Ah. So Christmas was the boss’s birthday.
Sinel quickly reached her conclusion and nodded.
“So we have to prepare a gift.”
“A gift is definitely necessary.”
“That’s how it is.”
“Yes.”
If it was a birthday, of course a birthday present was required.
She would have to prepare a birthday gift for the boss.
Plans for Percival’s present began forming one after another inside Sinel’s head.
But the Sword Saint’s explanation of Christmas was not finished yet.
Looking at her, he launched into additional details about Christmas traditions.
“And Christmas gifts are given by Santa.”
“Santa?”
“Santa is… hmm. Yeah, like a fairy of gifts.”
“……A gift fairy.”
So the boss’s birthday gift had to be given by Santa.
One more obvious fact was filed away in Sinel’s mind.
She had never even considered that gift fairies might have existed in the past.
Unfortunately, modern society had no fairies left.
“Anyway, make sure you remember all this properly, and let’s have a fun Christmas.”
“Yes.”
The Sword Saint left the Christmas gift meant for Percival neatly on the table, then stepped out of the office toward his next destination.
After he was gone, Sinel blankly stared at the present sitting there.
A fairy. She could hardly go catch a fairy that did not even exist.
Unfortunately, it seemed she would have to become Santa herself today.
First… it would be best to get the outfit ready.
Sinel Cloverbloom. It was the moment she decided to spend the hamburger money she had been carefully saving for so long.
Christmas Eve. Or Christmas Eve, if one preferred the fuller name.
Walking the snowy streets always brought back thoughts from before I had come to War City.
Decorating Christmas trees. Exchanging gifts with one another.
And on those snowy streets, Christmas carols had always been playing.
“Christmas, huh. There won’t be any of that here.”
Even if I went straight back to the office, no one would know.
Christmas. The original event that gave rise to the holiday did not exist in this world, after all.
Yet the reason I had prepared a cake was simple.
I just wanted everyone to enjoy it together.
Greeting a holiday they did not even understand, smiling at one another.
“……”
Perhaps because I had been thinking that way, when I finally neared the office after passing through the long alley I could not help but feel a little surprised.
There was a Christmas tree. Sparkling lights everywhere.
The inside of the office was filled with special things meant to commemorate Christmas.
“You’ve arrived.”
Creak.
I opened the office door and stepped inside to find Sinel, dressed in a full Santa Claus outfit, waiting to greet me.
I could not understand what was going on.
There should have been no Christmas here, yet Sinel was wearing a Santa suit.
A thought crossed my mind.
Like those ridiculously delicious dishes I had eaten at the restaurant before, maybe the author had pulled another prank.
If that was the case, then Sinel celebrating Christmas suddenly made sense.
“Looking at your outfit, it seems you already know what day it is.”
When I asked her that, Sinel—who had been holding a gift—held it out toward me.
It was a gift box carefully wrapped with a ribbon.
“Today……”
“Today?”
“I’m the boss’s Santa.”
“……Is that so.”
“Happy birthday.”
Did people actually greet each other that way on Christmas?
Certainly, if one looked at it from the “holy birth” angle, it was close to a birthday, but still.
As I stood there looking thoughtful over a greeting I rarely heard, Sinel held the gift box out again.
The box she offered was definitely a Christmas present.
I accepted Sinel’s gift while doing my best to keep the corners of my mouth from rising.
“Thank you, Sinel.”
“It’s a birthday gift.”
“Uh… umm.”
If it was a Christmas gift, did that make it a birthday gift?
Come to think of it, maybe it did.
For today, it would be best to play along with Sinel’s rhythm.
With a light heart I took the present, tore open the wrapping paper, and checked the contents.
And—surprisingly—there was a gun inside.
“……A pistol?”
“Try shooting it once.”
“Indoors?”
“Yes.”
Since the person who had bought the gun was insisting, I had no real choice.
I aimed the muzzle carefully at the ceiling so as not to damage any of the office furniture.
The moment I pulled the trigger, bracing for the gunshot that should have filled my ears—
Bang!
With the sound of a firecracker popping, confetti scattered in every direction.
No bullet ever left the pistol.
Sinel, as if she had expected exactly that, pointed at the confetti gun with a little “ta-da” and said,
“It’s the magic of Christmas.”
“……Magic.”
“Yes.”
“Is that so.”
Confetti instead of bullets made it magic, did it?
A quiet chuckle escaped me before I could stop it, and a smile formed on my lips.
Magic. I certainly thought so.
Here I was, receiving a gift like this at a moment I had never expected.
It was, without a doubt, a magical day.