The Quartermaster’s
Attempt
A while
after I had gotten out of the clinic and back on my feet, I took the chance to
get everything back in order. We were missing a chicken, which I could probably
blame on Yankaka (I was correct.) and I had to help Bang finish up the barn
repairs. Everything was fine, though. It was spring, everything was calm… and
then I answered the door and Fia was standing there Celestian holding onto her
shoulder. “Good afternoon, Mr. Pezrin. I apologize for any inconvenience, but Fia
wanted to ask you something that you may find of interest.”
The
quartermaster, who went about wearing a simple dress ever since we got here,
stood there with her hands crossed in front of her dress. “Uh… Tadek… Would you
like to, well… Would you like to go get some lunch?” Celestian gave her a
little tap as if to remind her of something, her cheeks carrying an extra shade
of red. What was this? A cliché anime? “Right. I heard about the competition
between the girls… a-and I wanted to… to… go on a date.”
I glanced
up toward Celestian, then back down to Fia, then back to Celestian, and
eventually tilted my head off to the side. “There’s a competition? Why the fuck
is there a competition?” I could almost hear the needle scratching across the
record in the background as everyone went still. Come to find out, after
chatting with the both of them for a while, Lina had come up with this
‘amazing’ idea to give everyone a single chance at impressing me and affect my
view of them in the romantic sense.
With a heavy
sigh, I slammed my palm against my forehead before reaching over to grab my
coat and pull it on. “Come along, Fia. We’re going to get something to eat. Not
for the competition, though… I rarely get to talk to you properly, so I would
like to get to know the person behind those books you read.” As I spoke, I
stepped up, set my hand on her shoulder, and brought her along while Celestian
was left behind to hold off a complaining Yankaka.
Fia was
smiling to herself as we went to the teahouse, which Cierra was off today, and
went ahead and sat down for a decent meal. While the waitress was off, we both
spoke about the current situation with her work. Which, of course, she did find
the merchant work extremely satisfying as it was something that she was quite
used to. In her words “It was the task that the God Emperor had given me back
home and it suits my organizational mindset”. I did have to agree with her
there as, from what I could tell, she was very single-minded in her focus. If
she was ever given a job, she would put all of her attention and time into it
before anything else. Multi-tasking was never her strong suit.
It was at
least a calm afternoon. For me there was no keeping track of chores, no taking
care of the animals, or working around the farm in general. For Fia, it was the
fact that she got a break… Seriously, I never saw her take a break from her
work except when I forcefully dragged her away… One time that was much more
literal than I would like to admit, considering her employers asked me to do so
one day. It took both me and Cierra to pull her off of the shelf that she had
latched onto.
“So, Fia.
How are you enjoying it here, hmm? In general, I mean… Everyone, except for
Celestian, seems to be enjoying the calm atmosphere. Granted, I think she just
wants to run a town… I remember the mayor getting a little uppity when she
tried to institute military service.” As I spoke, the waitress finally returned
and set down our food and, of course, our drinks. I had ordered some water and
some sake with mine… Trying to at least drink less. Fia simply let out a little
sigh at the sight, her head shaking from one side to the other disapprovingly.
“Still
drinking, I see. You do realize that you drinking habits account for the
majority of the profits at the store, right?” She commented, her eyes giving me
a once-over before she simply reached out to take my hand and pull it a hint
closer. “You need to stop drinking. Please.” The normally shy woman seemed
quite serious, just as my free hand was taking a hold of the glass that had
sake. “Hmm… Why is everyone getting onto me about that? Fine… I won’t drink
today.”
She did
have a point, though. That is quite a bit of profit for the store… No wonder
they tended to listen when I wanted a specific drink. They knew I would buy it
in mass. Pushing the glass aside brought a little smile to Fia’s lips, but she
did pull her hands back with a small squeak once she realized that she had been
holding onto my hand for a good half-minute after she finished speaking, her
cheeks quickly turning red from the realization. I personally paid no mind,
considering one could honestly call this a pseudo-date in some regards.
“Heh, no
need to freak out. We’ve known each other for how long now? You’re free to
touch my hand, if you so desire… As long as it isn’t for too long, of course.”
I commented, reaching out to give her hands a little pat to show that it was
alright. I… had no idea what I was doing here. That was quite obvious,
considering Fia gave me a little look that was a mixture of ‘are you serious’
and honest amusement. She seemed to take it in stride as she simply took my
hand and gave it a small, reassuring squeeze.
We did go
ahead and eat, though, taking the chance to eat before it got cold. Everything
was calm after that for the most part. After we ate, we headed back to the farm
and sat down by the pond. It was… pleasant, as we simply enjoyed the night, up
until she actually said something of immediate importance. “Tadek, may I be
honest?”
I set down
my fishing rod… yes, I had been fishing at the time… and glanced over to her,
making sure to set one hand down on the rod, just in case something happened to
bite this late at night. “Eh, sure… Would rather you be honest than lying at
any point. Like that time you said you were installing a new HUD for my eyes
and next thing I knew I had an AI in my head telling me to buy you things.” I
squinted my eyes, earning a nervous chuckle from the scribe.
“Right, uh…
Sorry about that. The machine ghost wasn’t my idea. But, still… To be serious,
I really like you. I don’t care who you choose, but know that I will be around
in the end to make sure you don’t get yourself killed. It’s better than back
home and I think that the Emperor of Mankind would approve.” She commented,
actually managing to get me to smile for just a moment.
“You could
actually say that I might… Well… I might l-“ Before she could finish, all that
I heard was a loud, shrill “KIND GUY! HELP YANKAKA! NYA!” before I was tackled by an
estranged Yankaka who barreled over me and sent both me and herself straight
into the pond with a Celestian running behind her. By the time that I actually
settled the situation with Celestian trying to teach Yankaka how to, and I
quote, “Act like a disciplined, young woman who does not wear that undignified
hoodie and animalistic, cybernetic tail”, which lead me to having to explain
that the tail was actually part of her body, which opened another can of worms…
but, by the time that it was finished, Celestian and Fia had to get back too
Bluebell before it got to late.
Hmm…
Interesting. She never answered my question on how she liked it.
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