Here is a translation of the text:
—
This is a theme park in Aires.
And there, a walking ‘Magic Kitty’ doll could be seen.
How could a doll be walking? What on earth is going on?
Is an employee perhaps wearing a doll costume?
Those who had such questions couldn’t help but chuckle once they realized the truth behind the phenomenon.
In reality, Luke was walking while cradling the doll he had received from Yerna.
From a distance, Luke’s figure holding the doll roughly the size of himself made it look like the Magic Kitty was walking on its own.
However, Luke was unaware that his appearance was giving others a small laugh.
It was because the oversized doll was blocking his view completely, making even just walking straight ahead quite a challenge.
Luke grumbled to himself.
“I can’t tell if this is a bear or a cat.”
What kind of cat is this big?
It was an unnecessarily oversized doll.
Since it was a doll, it wasn’t particularly heavy, but its size was too much.
“Luke, if it’s heavy, just give it to me. You don’t have to strain yourself carrying it around.”
Seeing Luke’s uncomfortable expression, Dayton reached out, but Luke shook his head firmly in response.
“No way, this is a gift from Yerna, ‘Mother.’ I have to hold it out of courtesy.”
“Is that so?”
Luke’s demeanor was resolute.
Because it would be disrespectful otherwise.
It was certainly not polite to hand over a gift received directly from a parent to someone else before even a day had passed.
Especially since it wasn’t a consumable meant to be used once, nor was it an immovable asset like a house or land, but rather a tangible ‘doll’ that one could carry on their person, it was proper etiquette among nobles to keep such a gift for at least a day without handing it over to others.
The reason for this is to showcase what one received from their parents, preventing theft by making it visible to others, and also to express gratitude for the gift from their parents by carrying it around.
For nobles, etiquette is absolute, akin to an indispensable ‘law.’
Therefore, for trivial items that don’t require such decorum, it is customary among nobles to use a servant or slave to deliver it rather than handing it over directly.
However, since Yerna had handed it to him personally, and since he had not refused it, according to etiquette, he must carry it himself.
Although he had long since shed the honor of being a noble, Luke still desired to uphold etiquette, especially in regards to his parents, and that way of thinking remained with him even in this new body, instilling in him an instinctive aversion to breaking such etiquette.
Moreover, adhering to etiquette ultimately enhances one’s value, and value equates to compensation and trust regarding oneself.
To a mage, who values their own worth and trust more than anyone, such factors hold great importance.
So, Luke had no choice but to cling to such etiquette.
Even if it was a bit uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassing…
And Yerna, though merely nominal, was still a being who would become his mother, wasn’t she?
Having received a gift from Yerna, he had to show at least a day’s worth of sincerity.
However, to hand such a gift over to someone other than his father (Luke shuddered at this thought; he still hadn’t adjusted to the fact that Dayton had become his father) was simply out of the question.
“Still, it looks a bit heavy…”
“I’m fine, really, it’s not heavy at all, and I don’t want to burden you more.”
“Aren’t you embarrassed? Everyone is looking at you.”
“What?”
Luke shifted his stance while holding the doll to better observe his surroundings.
Immediately, he felt several gazes and heard some laughter.
Realizing that those were directed at him, Luke began to feel embarrassed and slightly lowered his head.
But still, it was okay.
Their laughter was not mocking him; it was merely a genuine expression of joy from their hearts.
Moreover, objectively speaking, with his current body resembling that of a young child, it was perfectly normal for a girl to carry around a doll without it being a laughing matter.
After finishing his thoughts, Luke raised his head again with a firmer expression.
“Still, I’ll be carrying this. That’s the courteous thing to do for ‘Mother.'”
“Uh… is that so?”
Dayton felt a bit flustered upon seeing Luke’s firm expression.
Did Luke really like dolls that much?
He thought Luke didn’t care much for such things…
While watching this from behind with the children in hand, Yerna approached Dayton and whispered in his ear.
“Dayton, just let Luke hold it. He says it’s a gift from Mother, and he wants to carry it himself.”
Suddenly feeling Yerna’s breath by his ear, Dayton found clarity.
“Ah, is that so?”
A gift from Mother, so he didn’t want to let it go?
Luke lost both his parents long ago while living as a subject, so it would make sense for a gift from his current mother to feel very precious and special to him.
It wasn’t that he loved the doll so much, but rather that he wanted to keep something given by ‘Mother’…
Dayton nodded, as if he finally understood.
His expression became somewhat complicated.
Having grown up without parents, he was well aware of the feeling.
And thinking about it that way, he could see how precious that large doll might feel to Luke.
Well, he pretended to be mature, but in the end, he was still just a child.
He had always known that, but seeing this made him want to take better care of him.
Dayton approached Luke and said, “Luke, how about we check out over there next?”
“Where to?”
—
No matter where they go, there are always things to commemorate.
If it was possible to recall the memories made here later, then anything could serve as a souvenir.
At this point, it was clear that Luke’s party had entered a souvenir shop.
Luke remembered when Shirud bought a brooch made of Dinexis at a souvenir shop in the botanical garden.
Well-preserved Dinexis could fend off bugs and could be used for protective magic for a limited time, making it a good source of magic.
And such souvenirs would certainly be welcome for Luke, so if he could find a nice flower there, he would be inclined to buy one himself.
‘Now that I think about it, I had planned to check out the souvenir shop if there was time after wandering through the entire botanical garden, but I ended up not going because things went wrong at that time.’
In the end, after seeing the Eye of God and losing consciousness from the emotional surge that hit him at the circle, he couldn’t even get a glimpse of the souvenir shop.
However, since the eruption of the Eye of God was worth it, let’s set that story aside.
“‘Ere’…”
Luke muttered that name softly.
After seeing the Eye of God, that name had struck him hard.
“Ere? Did you just say something!”
The one who reacted to that name was Pyris.
The girl that looked like a girl began to stare at him fervently, her turquoise eyes sparkling.
She had been referring to him from the beginning, though he could not recall what it meant.
As a spirit, being sensitive to names, Pyris reacted very quickly even though Luke had muttered it very softly, making it quite burdensome.
“No, I was just talking to myself. Go play.”
“…Just talking to yourself? Hmm…”
Then Pyris reacted as if she had become dejected.
What in the world is Ere that would make her react like that?
Luke let out a deep sigh.
He would probably have to contact Gerard Collson later to see if he could find some clues.
He had said he would look into what Ere was and contact him, but he hadn’t received any updates.
‘Oh, wait, did he even have my new number?’
It was possible that he had tried to contact him during the gap where he couldn’t be reached.
When traveling abroad or when his mobile phone broke down, etc…
If timing doesn’t match, that could certainly be the case.
After all, for a phone call, the other party has to check it too.
“Hmm…”
For now, when he returned home, he would stop by the power plant again and redirect the conversation back.
Anyway, compared to the things sold at the botanical garden as souvenirs, this souvenir shop was filled with pretty useless items.
They were truly made purely for ‘commemoration’ with no practicality to speak of.
Well, technically, if all one needed was something to commemorate, then even the shells that were materials for the sand castle picked up at the beach could be souvenirs, so anything could serve as a souvenir, but…
They were just a bit more useless than that.
-Pok!
Hearing a strange noise from behind, Luke turned around to see Diana, striking Pyris on the forehead with some bizarre cane-like object.
“Yap! Gotcha! Spirit Hammer!”
It seemed that the strange-looking stick was a type of toy called a hammer.
-Pok!
“Puhihit, the sound is so funny!”
Pyris laughed like a child, seeming to enjoy the hammer sound.
From a spirit’s perspective, that sound made a ticklish sensation somewhere, giving a joyful feeling.
What exactly that meant was probably something only spirits could understand, but…
“Why the heck was such a thing made?”
Using no mana, it seemed it wouldn’t draw extra magic power even if kept at home, but it had no real purpose.
Unlike an actual hammer, it didn’t seem capable of delivering a strong impact, so there was even less reason to keep it around.
“And what on earth is this supposed to be used for?”
Luke momentarily set down the doll and picked up a human ear-shaped headband and an elf ear-shaped headband, looking puzzled.
A headband with quite thick edges bearing human-shaped ears and elf-shaped ears? He had no idea what these were for.
As he stared at them in disbelief, Dayton explained.
“Oh, that? It’s for kids like you who are Hyun.”
“You mean kids like me would wear these?”
“Most Hyun are ‘top ear’ like dogs and cats, so they wear the headband to press down those ears,”
To put it simply, ‘top ear’ refers to a classification of Hyun shaped with ears protruding from the top of the head.
Conversely, naturally, ‘bottom ear’ refers to types like goats or sheep, where the ears are located at the sides of the face.
Due to this difference, modern equipment, clothing, and accessories for heads and ears are largely created in two forms.
When Luke placed it slightly on his head, the large, heavy edge of this headband, made to hide ‘top ear,’ covered a third of his head, making it appear as though his cat-like ears had vanished.
If only the ears would fit back into place, he would look like a human or elf, but…
It was difficult to position them correctly as they were caught on the remains of broken horns.
In the end, it was a useless item.
As Luke put the headband back in place, he asked, “Why the heck would anyone create these?”
“Well, probably to make you look like a human or elf and play around? There’s not really a big reason.”
Hearing Dayton’s words, Luke looked around.
In one corner, he saw strange items like cat ear and dog ear headbands.
Upon further searching, there were also ones with horns.
He couldn’t tell how many types they had made.
Were they trying to create an entire race with headbands?
Seeing this brought back memories of how, in the past, it was customary to cut off the ears or horns of targets and trophies for the hunt, using them as a symbol of vanquishing.
However, viewed through a modern lens, such actions would certainly be seen as barbaric…
“It’s a confusing world, that’s for sure.”
Luke sighed.
In this place, if he was told to pick anything he wanted, he truly had no idea what Dayton wanted to gift him.
He couldn’t figure it out at all.
—–
So while Luke was lifting the doll again and wandering through the souvenir shop in search of something a bit more practical, Dayton was also trying to pick out something noteworthy.
Originally, he had thought about buying a matching T-shirt with Yerna for the couple style that was commonly done, but he couldn’t find his size.
Even hats didn’t seem to be something he’d actually wear, and as usual for a theme park souvenir shop, there didn’t seem to be anything really useful.
Just then, he suddenly felt something on his head, probably a headband, and realized it must have been Yerna’s doing.
There was no one else who would do such a thing, and the little ones were too small to do so.
“What is this?”
Turning around slightly, as expected, Yerna was grinning at him.
“It’s a wolf ear headband. I thought it’d suit you if you looked at it from the outside. But you’re just a total gentle lamb inside.”
Ha, calling himself a lamb!
He absolutely couldn’t accept that, and just to respond back, he turned away abruptly, but upon seeing Yerna, Dayton held his breath.
“Uh….”
Yerna had placed a cat ear headband atop her head.
Just from putting on a single headband, the mood had changed drastically.
This was what it meant for appearances to change due to differing races?
She seemed far cuter than usual.
Though why that was, he wasn’t sure.
She looked up at him and asked,
“How about it? Do I look good?”
“Uh, uh…”
Was his response okay? Did it get a good reaction? Yerna nodded her head momentarily, seeming satisfied.
But she didn’t stop there; she pointed at her ears, specifically her elongated elf ears, and asked again.
“Does this make me look similar to Luke? What do you think? Do I resemble him?”
“Uh… um?”
She even tilted her head slightly.
Dayton found himself completely mesmerized by Yerna’s appearance.
Perhaps the intent behind her question and action was to see if she looked like Luke’s mother…
In reflex, Dayton placed his hand over Yerna’s and seriously replied.
“We should get that immediately.”
Yerna was slightly taken aback by Dayton’s reaction and asked.
“Hmm? Do I look that much alike? Really like that…?”
“I think so. Anyway, let’s buy it quickly.”
“Uh, okay. Let’s do that.”
But did she look alike?
No, not at all.
Honestly, I don’t think anyone would see even a passing resemblance.
For one, their features were so different that the only common trait between Luke and Yerna was the single descriptor of ‘cuteness.’
But what did that matter? This was just outright seductive behavior.
I should get both the one Yerna directly placed on my head and another to keep wearing.
Just thinking about it was enough to bring joy, and his steps felt lighter.
As Dayton, satisfied with Yerna’s response, took his hand away to bring the headband to the cashier, Yerna gazed at his back with a slightly dazed feeling.
She touched her face, but could only feel the texture of slightly cold leather gloves and couldn’t gauge her own face’s temperature.
But with her heart racing like this, it was only natural that her cheeks were turning bright red.
Looking in the mirror confirmed it; her cheeks had indeed turned as red as apples.
Yerna took a deep breath, calming her racing heart.
‘I thought, I thought I was getting kissed.’
With his hand holding hers and their faces close together, she thought she was trapped in that moment, but apparently that hadn’t been the case.
Or maybe she had just been overly sensitive?
Alternatively, it could also be that she somewhat resembled Luke in a way that others could see…?
—
