CH 16

“Big things- ♪ Big things- ♪ Shopping together with Ed- ♪”

“……………………”

It was strange. How could this have happened? As Tia took my arm firmly and sang cheerfully, I tried to talk to her while hiding my inner confusion.

“… just now, the hero called for something, was it okay?”

“It’s okay. I was just trying to be mean Ed anyway! Ed is one of us now, so you don’t have to suffer through more hardships.” (T/N: Mean as in tagging along forcefully)

“Ha~ …”

Indeed, my usefulness was unquestionable as I showed off my skill with a sword and the storage capacity of the [Stranger Box]. But Alexis wasn’t satisfied with that and tried to test me further. …. That plan had been destroyed in seconds by the cheerful elf here.

I mean, what the hell was this? The fact that the achievement of seeing Alexis’ barking face was achieved in an instant was okay, but the problem was Tia’s attitude.

“Um, Tia-san?”

“Mou~.”

When I called her name, Tia, who should have been in a good mood, instantly puffed out her cheeks and pouted.

“Eh!? W-What is it!?”

""

“Name! Why are you calling me like a stranger when you called me “Tia” earlier? You can just call me Tia like normal. And the way you talk!”

“Eh? But we’ve only just met. …!?”

As I said this, Tia’s fingers squeezed my mouth.

“Who are you to talk about such things? Why don’t you call my name?”

“Ouch! This hurts like hell! I understand. … Okay, Tia. Is that okay?

“Umu! Passed!”

Tia took her fingers away from my mouth and nodded with a big smile on her face. I knew Tia very well, and that was…why I couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort.

“Hey, Tia? I’m going to ask you one more time, why are you being so nice to me when we’ve just met?”

“Eh, what’s that? Did you think I was cold?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that you’re much more friendly than I expected. …”

It was true that Tia was sociable and shy, but that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to trust someone she had just met unconditionally. The first Tia I knew would have said, “Have a good day! Good luck!” and waved and cheered me on, but she would not have come with me.

The discomfort was such that I suspected that even Tia had inherited her memories of the future. … The memory of it gave me a burning sensation of frustration in my chest.

“Really? If you ask me, sure, … hmm, Why?”

In spite of my concern, Tia tilted her head and started to wonder. Although we’d only known each other for a year and a half, if she was still acting like this, she wouldn’t have inherited any memories. But then there was no explanation for her attitude. … What?

“You know, we elves live a lot longer than you humans, right?”

“O-Oh?”

Suddenly, Tia started to talk to me about something that didn’t seem to have anything to do with me, which made me confused.

“The longer you live, the more things you experience and … the more things you forget. In fact, I’ve been alive for over 100 years, and I don’t know how much I’ve forgotten. But it’s only natural that I’ve forgotten. Fufu~”

The small smile on Tia’s face was as adorable as a young girl’s. However, deep in her eyes, I could see the depth of a person who had undoubtedly lived a long life. I understood, having experienced it myself, that 100 years was a long time to live.

“But you know, there are some memories that you never want to forget, right? We elves carve those memories into our souls.”

“Soul …?”

“Yeah,of course. It’s not like I’m doing anything really special, you know? I just hold it gently in my heart and burn it strongly into my mind. Like a slice of time that is cut out and preserved so that it will never fade even after hundreds of years. When I do that, strangely enough, I never forget. But if the feelings are too strong, they will remain burned into your soul even after you die and are reborn,.. That’s why, sometimes, I feel nostalgic for sights I’ve never seen before or people I’ve never met before. When I saw Ed’s face when he suddenly started crying earlier, it reminded me of a story I heard somewhere.”

Are the dead really reborn? I didn’t have the answer to that question, but I couldn’t deny it because I was a being who had memories and experiences of the far future burned into my soul.

However, I had indeed met a few people who had experienced what Tia had just described. It wasn’t limited to elves, but it would be foolish to point that out.

“I see, soul memory …, I’ve certainly heard that story before.”

“Right? So maybe, just maybe, before I became me, I met and was friends with someone when Ed wasn’t Ed, right? I don’t really know myself, but … hehehe.” 

“Yes, … that’s quite an honor.”

I couldn’t find anything more to say to Tia’s shy face. There was nothing more to say.

The future that awaited us was marked with a predictive line. It had already been proven that it was possible to change that line at will.

Then, there was nothing to worry about. I should do everything in my power to impose the future I wanted on this world!

“Come on, Ed! Forget that. Let’s go shopping. I don’t care how short tempered Alexis is, but we can’t keep him waiting too long, okay?”

“Hey, hey, hey! Can you really call a hero short tempered?”

“It’s okay! We’re the only ones who can say that. If you want, Ed, why don’t you try calling Alexis by his name? I think he’s going to look really funny, don’t you think?”

“I think… I’ll refrain from doing that for a while longer”

Tia’s attitude could be mistaken, but we had only just met. Old man Gonzo probably won’t mind, but I think Alexis would seriously frown.

That would certainly be interesting, but I would rather not be disliked by the hero himself since I have only joined the party.

“Well, eventually, I’ll get them to acknowledge me so I can call them by their names. I’m going to have to work hard on shopping for that.”

“Right. So, what are you going to buy, Ed? Well, if you got a gold coin, I think you can buy most things. …”

“Fufufu~,I’ve thought about that. I know exactly where the stores are that sell supplies.”

“Oh!”

I said with a smug look on my face, and Tia gave me a small round of applause. I hadn’t planned to end up being just a porter from the start, so I had a plan drawn up in my head to be able to take charge of all the supplies.

Well, I didn’t think I would have to carry that out on the first try, but if I had gold coins in my pocket, I could handle it.

“So, first, we’ll turn down the street by the dried fish shop on the side of the main street, then take the third corner to the left, and it’s the third store from the back, on a back street!”

“Dried fish, on the side …. huh? What’s that store? I don’t know anything about it.”

“It’s a little known place on the road. I don’t know if it is because people don’t know about it, or if it is because no one knows about it that there are good products lying around for cheap prices. … I don’t know how they manage their business but they are somehow managing it.”

“Wow, that sounds kind of interesting! I was going to show you around, but if that’s the case, maybe I can get Ed to show me around?”

“Leave it to me, Ojou-sama. I’ll take you to a nice, weird and smelly store.

“Nice and weird and stinky …?”

I took Tia’s hand, her long ears twitching with curiosity, like a kitten, and pulled her along. The hands I held were just as warm as they were on that day,…, but this time, the warmth never went away.