I leave it to Ojou-sama who is familiar with the area to lead me through the crowd and we advance toward the inside.
As the crowd thins, the number of wealthy-looking people wearing well-tailored clothes increases.
[This is it. It’s a store where I used to shop at with everyone in the past.]
This place, huh…
A shop with white walls made of stone.
Even compared to Ginza, Japan from my previous life, the products and atmosphere are good.
Indeed, an atmosphere that seems to only want to deal with wealthy people drifts furiously.
While I was still hesitating, Ojou-sama casually steps over the entrance as if just entering a convenience store.
Just by taking a single step into the store, I feel like I was in a totally different dimension.
First off, the air smells different.
Citrus aroma with a faint sweetness could be smelled drifting and it is so refreshing.
To one side of the floor, where red carpet is laid out, a glass showcase is lined up.
The number of items available seem few, when compared to the spaciousness of the store.
There is a chandelier on the ceiling.
Its light source was probably magic.
Items such as paintings and well-arranged vases of flowers are on display alongside the walls.
Inside the store, apart from ourselves, there is a young married couple walking arm-in-arm as they are looking around the store led by a clerk.
We, who entered the store, were staring at the heartwarming sight of the couple.
From a third-person perspective, we, who were holding hands, definitely look like a young couple.
The young married couple both had blue skin and had horns growing out of their foreheads; they were of the demon race.
An idle clerk notices us and approaches with a smile.
“Welcome… … ! Oh, Vlad-sama, it has been a while.”
[Indeed it has.]
A well-proportioned, tall, elderly, and gentlemanlike clerk.
His height is around 180 cm and wears a butler-like suit as well as white gloves. Though he looks like he is of the human race, a black tilde-shaped tail extends from his pants.
Without even batting an eye towards Ojou-sama who uses a mini blackboard to talk, he continues conversing and not with a business smile, but with a welcoming smile that came from the heart.
“And so, to what do we owe this pleasure?”
[I am thinking of giving Karen-chan an accessory for her birthday. Do you have something that may suit her?]
“I see, alright. Well then, please wait a moment.”
Said the clerk and he went into the back of the store.
[It seems that just by saying the name “Karen-chan”, he is able to understand who the gift is meant for.]
Even if they are former regulars, to remember their names and faces… a pro truly is different.
“What a cute girlfriend…”
While waiting for the elderly clerk, we happen to start talking with the young couple who have made a purchase and are heading out.
Hearing the words “cute girlfriend”, Ojou-sama’s face becomes 10 times redder than usual.
Add her shyness on top of that and she ends up hiding behind my back.
“Thank you very much for your praise. At any rate, my Mistress has extreme anxiety of strangers. Please forgive us for our discourteous attitude.”
“Eh? A servant? I thought for sure… …”
“Hey! You’re being rude.”
The man scolds the woman.
“Not at all, please pay it no heed. Rather, it is a great honor for me to be mistaken as Ojou-sama’s lover.”
As for Ojou-sama, a related party, she is red up to her ears after hearing my words as she grinds her forehead against me.
Ouch… It’s painful, Ojou-sama.
We made conversation like so and before long, several accessories are brought out from inside.
On the glass showcase, 5 accessories are lined up.
From the right, they are earrings, a necklace, a ring, a ring and a bracelet.
Each one implements a piece of large red gem.
Ojou-sama shows herself from my back and picks up each of the 5 accessories one by one to look at.
“For Bishop-sama who is a mix of gallantry and cuteness, I thought that rubies would suit her well and prepared these.”
[Now that you mention it, red does suit Karen-chan well, doesn’t it?]
”The necklace over here makes use of a large piece of ruby and is a new product from an up-and-coming artisan, a top highlight from next month’s releases. It’s only for Vlad-sama that I would present it on this day.”
What’s with this VIP treatment?
[Though it is beautiful, it feels like it would be disproportionate on Karen-chan’s neck… … What are Onii-chan’s thoughts on it?]
“Ah, err…. Certainly it’s a little too showy, I think… “
“Well then, how about these earrings? The gem is small, but that sort of design is the current trend.”
[These earrings are so pretty…]
Ojou-sama takes the bait.
Ojou-sama narrows down on giving earrings for the present, and even checked over a dozen different delicate designs.
Among those, she picked ruby earrings with a simple design.
Its price was 1 gold coin.
That would be approximately 100,000 Japanese Yen.
As a present to a friend, it seemed a bit excessive, but Ojou-sama wholly paid it no heed.
Well… even a slave like myself was bought as a gift, so it’s probably not a huge amount of money for her family.
Since we wanted the earrings to be nicely wrapped, it would be picked up at a later date.
We then left the shop with the elderly clerk seeing us off.
[Because of Onii-chan, I was able to pick Karen-chan’s present with no qualms. Thank you.]
“I am honored to have been of use to Ojou-sama. Well then, what should we do now? We still have some time ‘till the evening.”
If we’re going home, then we should return to the carriage.
Most likely, Gigi-san is still, from somewhere, monitoring us… or not. He’s just doing his job as a bodyguard.
If we return to the rendezvous point at this time right now, there should be time left over.
But Ojou-sama showed positiveness unexpected from a former shut-in.
[If it’s not too much trouble, I wanted to look around town since it’s been a while.]
An outing after a long time.
Coming to the town where she often spent her off days with her friends must’ve made her recall all the fun times she had in the past.
I suppose the nostalgia made her want to take a walk.
Needless to say, there is no reason to object.
“Then let’s go look around various places until dusk. However, please do not push yourself too hard and tell me if you get tired. After all, we could always visit the town again any number of times.”
[All right!]
With a smile, Ojou-sama cheerfully writes on her mini blackboard.
Once again, hand in hand, we go back into the crowd.
Thanks for reading thus far!
Impressions, typos, opinions and the like are welcome!
Next update is scheduled for tomorrow, 21 December, 21:00.
I wrote an activity report.
If you’d like, please confirm it.