Another world, Celeste

Thirty Two

I wake up feeling ticklish at the sole of my feet. No need to guess that Archie is wiggling and moving around under the blanket again. I carefully get out of bed and look out of the window of the same inn I stayed in before. The first light of dawn hasn't come yet. So, I pour myself a cup of tea and sit quietly in the living area of the suite room Polina reserved in advance for us. Polina and her group are staying in the suite room next to us.

The suite room has three bedrooms; two rooms with twin beds and one master bedroom with a private bathroom. Since Jilko is put in the same room as us, naturally she is rooming with me and Archie so we take the one room with the twin beds. Last night, the ranger trio play a simple game of rock, paper, scissor to decide who gets to sleep in the master bedroom. After an intense round, Erissa wins the master bedroom.

"Blissful morning, Iris."

I turn my gaze away from the window and see Erissa walking out of the master bedroom holding a hairbrush and joins me on the fancy, comfortable sofa.

"Blissful morning, do you want tea?"

"I'll have tea later."

Erissa brushes her long, silky blonde hair. When she's done brushing her hair, she brushes mine next.

"The light brown shade of your hair is darker than yesterday," Erissa notes the subtle change of my hair colour as she brushes.

"Really? I haven't noticed," I answer nonchalantly while slowly sipping my tea.My hair is completely brown now and the pink hue is still there, just a bit faded.

"I think it's best to not let your hair loose while we're here," Erissa suggests.

"I'm going to cover my head with the hood anyway."

"What if some loose strands suddenly change colour when you're outside and someone notices? There are a lot of high-ranking adventurers in this town."

I pause for a second before agreeing with her.

"You have a point. I'll keep my hair in a bun."

The reason why we're talking about my hair this early is that before leaving Kana Forest, the spirits relay their concerns to the elves about the abrupt mana fluctuation happening somewhere around mining town recently and since my hair reacts sensitively to the changes of mana in the air, Lord Sol had the hooded dark purple robe hastily made to fit me. The edges of the inner layer of the robe are embroidered with enchantments other than the mana suppression effect, like the silver bracelet I received from the head elf.

Erissa finishes braiding my hair into a bun and I start doing some light stretches while waiting for everyone else to wake up.

Precisely half an hour before the first-morning bell which is eight-thirty in the morning, there's a knock on the door and an employee of the inn eloquently announces from the other side of the closed door, "Good morning, this is room service."