The sound of construction echoed through the garden as usual.
It had been a few days since the impromptu drinking party and I could tell that the Dwarves had been working even more enthusiastically since then.
[1] The drinking party got a bit rowdy after the twins and the High Elves got into the whisky and I decided to leave them to it. Fer still wanted to eat and Grandpa Gon wanted to drink, so I got out a few extra cases of alcohol and meat as well as a few bags of charcoal so that things wouldn’t run out.
The next day, I was only half surprised to find that Grandpa Gon had, under the influence of copious amounts of whisky probably, promised the drunkards at the party to have another drinking session once construction was done.
“You…” I began, feeling a little annoyed at this development. “What if they do a sloppy job of it?”
“I said the same to the female Dwarf, but she immediately screamed back something about ‘A Dwarf’s pride’ and I said ‘Hah! Dwarves only know how to talk big’ and then she-”
[2] I stopped listening at that point, too shocked by the realisation that Grandpa Gon is such a gossip…
[2] “… and then she said ‘You just watch, we will construct a shockingly amazing building!’ and I said, ‘No way’…”
Frankly speaking, I don’t know about a ‘shockingly amazing’ building, please just follow the proper building plan. For the next few days, I looked over the construction nervously, afraid to see something shocking, but aside from the great speed with which the frames go up, nothing too weird happened.
Meanwhile, my nervousness about the Dwarves putting too much ‘creative effort’ into their construction became nervousness about the drinking party. I wonder just what these alcoholics would demand…
Because of this, I could not calm down. Especially not when Fer and the rest started clamouring about ‘hunting’ once more.
“No way! There is no way we are going anywhere so long as the construction is ongoing!!”
I refuse to budge on this no matter what.
Hence why we have to hang around this place where the noise of construction clanged through the garden. It was a little noisy, but not too bad. Since I was pretty happy about having secured an excuse to not go hunting, I thought I would go make my offerings a little earlier.
“Other Worlder!”
“You’re early!”
“Ou! Rejoice!”
I was greeted with great enthusiasm last night. I was only a couple of days early, but everyone made such a big fuss. Heh.
Still, I was slightly perturbed y Agni-sama and Ruka-sama’s request.
“Give us BLT sandwiches.”
“… hey, don’t tell me you’ve been watching me all this time?”
“… …”
“I want it because it looks delicious,” said Ruka-san firmly. I noticed that she did not answer my initial question.
“It looks like it would be great with beer,” said Agni-sama enthusiastically.
Oi, I don’t have any problem putting a BLT sandwich together, but could you guys please stop observing me so closely all the time? Or at least make it less obvious that you’re engaging in such criminal activities?
“Wh-who’s engaging in criminal activities?”
Gee, I wonder…
Anyway, the complaints eventually quieted down and we ended up focussing more of the talk on their order with significantly fewer comments about my personal life. Honestly, since I have so few of the Easy Bacon-Style Pork Belly left, I felt rather protective of it. However, because the request came from two of the more reasonable goddesses, I did not think it was a good idea to ignore them.
It’s fine. I can just make more later.
For now, let’s prepare a nice mug, a packet of one of my latest drip coffee purchases, pour the hot water in…
Inhale the warm fragrant aroma…
“Ahh, that’s nice~”
And get ready to make my purchases.
“Hmm, what should I get…”
I opened the Fujiya tenant shop section out first of habit. Ninril-sama’s request was pretty much the same as usual. Cakes, sweets, dorayaki and some sweet stuff.
Technically, it was not difficult to fulfil her request, but the issue was that Ninril-sama would always want the new Limited Edition cakes and desserts no matter what. However, she also wanted whole cakes.
“We must have at least three or four, no, five whole cakes!!”
This meant if I had a limited budget after getting the the Limited Edition stuff, the maximum number of whole cakes I could get was two at most. Especially when Ninril-sama suddenly started going ‘That one! That one too! Oh, you must get that one no matter what!!’
Let’s not forget the Dorayaki either.
“I want at least 10 of the smooth red bean type, 10 chunky red bean and 10 of the chestnuts! Also-”
Just hearing her lift of request was enough to give me diabetes…
Is it really alright for Ninril-sama to eat so many sweet things even as a goddess? I have only ever seen her depicted as a statue at the Wind Goddess church, but…
“She’s a plump one, pupupu.”
Kishar-sama’s way of laughing was rather creepy.
“Wh-wh-who are you calling girthy?! don’t you dare think such disrespectful thoughts! Just get me my sweets!!”
Oh my, look who’s monitoring my thoughts closely. Anyway, I shall leave the whole cakes first and get the other stuff into the cart…
First, the Limited Edition line-up included Chestnut Mont Blanc, Fuji Apple Pie, Muscat Grape Tart as well as a new variety of a Mocha Coffee Cake. This was followed by a bunch of standard cut cakes (slightly cheaper than usual), five whole cakes (also the cheaper ones) as well as the requested dorayaki sets.
Looking at the three dessert-filled boxes, I nodded to myself. Yes, even Ninril-sama should be satisfied with this much, right?”
“Umu, I look forward to tomorrow!”
I rolled my eyes at the condescending remark.
Well, next up is Kishar-sama’s offerings.
It was all beauty products, as usual. Oh, and there’s that ST-III lotion again.
Kishar had once said, “The first step to beauty is to use plenty of good lotion and to never skimp on it.”
So… I’m not exactly sure what ‘never skimp on it’ means under this context, but since I know just how expensive this lotion is, how the heck could anyone not try to conserve it?
There’s also the ST-III serum.
“That one has become an indispensable product for my skin.”
Her latest obsession was eye cream. She specifically wanted something with ‘retinol’. I can only assume that she must have gotten the information from beauty magazines.
“It’s not so bad now since I don’t have actual fine lines around the eyes, but prevention is of utmost importance. That is why I wish to try it.”
Kishar-sama mentioned ‘prevention’ quite a few times.
“I can see the fine lines on your eyes, even with your so-called prevention,” said Ninril-sama snidely.
“Enough with your nonsense, Ninril-chan!”
“What nonsense? Just ask Agni and Ruka!”
“Aughh… Hmph, oh my, Ninril-chan has grown so much in such a short time!”
“Wh-what?!”
“Now, now, now, whether it’s flab or wrinkles, it can all be solved by moving your body! Just look at me, I work out and sweat every day. That’s how I maintain this svelte figure and blemish-free skin~”
“F-flab…?”
“W-wrinkles…?”
“AGNI!!!”
“W-what the heck? Why are you two so angry?”
This Agni-sama… even I, a man, could tell why those two were angry.
“Haah… there are certain truths that should not be said…” sighed Ruka-sama.
