Dawn Architect

Chapter 52: I am a normal person

I was thinking when would be the best time to go to the labyrinth after the invasion and finish all my unfinished business in the city, when Chris started talking to me.

"Big brother, what are you going to do these days?" asked Chris to me.

Honestly, I had already made all the preparations before I came, so I would just wander around looking for rumors or something to eat. I had no specific goal, just wasting time.

"I'll just wander around town and do a little sightseeing, why?"

"Can I join you?" Since I rescued him the second time, Chris had grown more attached to me and followed me around like a true little brother. He had woken up and now had two stars thanks to my rigorous training, from which even Christian was not spared.

The stronger they were, the more high-level potions they could make, so when business stabilized enough, I had them join the hunts. And as I remembered, Chris is of the plant element, the second best element to be an alchemist, after fire.

"Lucien, me too," Eirlys said, raising her hand with a calm face. Ever since I introduced Chris, Eirlys had had a silent rivalry with him. I thought they would get along because of their personalities, but it turned out that way. Well, at least it's just a little kid rivalry for my attention. I asked if anyone else wanted to come. Clayton and Miyuki also wanted to, so I accepted them.

As for Miyuki, despite being the youngest of the group, she turned out to have quite a bit of potential as an awakened one. Not to mention that ice is a strong element and she was able to catch up, even though she got a late start. She is closer to reaching three stars than Chris, who started at the same time. And that Chris is also someone outstanding.

But I'm not too surprised, since she's that person's twin sister. Even though the elements are different and I never heard of her in my past life, her sister was someone who made a name for herself and stood out from the crowd, although not in a good way. So, if I look at it that way, her rapid growth is not so crazy.

The next morning, we set off to explore the city, starting with the market that had the best stuff. We went from store to store, whether it was food, weapons or toys. In one of them, I saw Eirlys looking intently at a huge stuffed rabbit that was twice her size. I couldn't help but laugh internally, so I took it, paid for it and gave it to her.

She seemed to want to reject it, but her hands were already holding the stuffed animal. After she stroked it to her heart's content, I told her I would hold it for her until we got back. While I had given each of the children a storage bag, since it was the most basic, I could only store things in a four square foot space, and storing that stuffed animal would be a waste of space.

Also, since I was in a good mood, I wanted to give the other children who accompanied me whatever they wanted from this toy store. It's rare for them to act like kids normally, since they've had a hard time all their lives just surviving, so it's okay for them to express their wishes like any kid sometimes.

They each bought something of their choice: Miyuki bought a fox stuffed animal, though not as big as Eirlys', it was her size. Clayton, on the other hand, bought a knight toy that transformed into a car, and surprisingly, Chris also wanted a stuffed animal. Apparently, he had a side that I didn't get to see in my past life, considering he was my friend for a long time I found it interesting.

We continued to tour various places and arrived at clothing stores. Still feeling generous, I bought clothes for everyone. Everyone was happy to buy things they wanted, except Chris, who didn't want to buy clothes and stood nervously in a corner.

This guy seems to have always been like this; in my past life he used to be very shy and easily embarrassed even by silly things. It took hours to shop and it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon. 

I saw a bakery with an open buffet and went in with them. It looked very expensive, but money is something I have plenty of at the moment. I went in and grabbed everything I wanted. I liked sweet things and opportunities to eat to my heart's content are rare.

When I finished collecting everything I wanted, I sat down at the table with the children. Lili, who hadn't been out today, suddenly materialized next to me and made some signs pointing to the cakes. I didn't want to give her my cakes, but I didn't want to argue with Lili, so I just gave them to her.

Lili is a being of mana, she doesn't need to eat to live, but she does eat from time to time. Once, curious in my past life, I asked her where the food was going and only got a scolding for asking things I shouldn't, so I just ignored her and continued to savor the delicious cakes and sweets, but the children for some reason kept looking at me. I tried to ignore them , but after a while I couldn't help but question them.

"What's wrong?" .

"Hum... boss, you seem to like candy," Clayton said dubiously, with a hesitation I didn't understand.

"Yeah, what's so strange about it?" he didn't understand the reason for the question.

['That no one in their right mind would eat the amount of candy you're ingesting'] replied Lili next to me, but I ignored her.

"It's not just that it's rare to see the boss happy and liking something."

"Oh," that was why they were looking at me weird.

"What's wrong guys? I'm a normal person, of course I have likes and dislikes," I said.

I don't know why, but Chris seemed to be taking notes on something. Maybe something in the candy inspired him?

['Yeah, what normal person is a middle-aged man with an excessive sweet tooth?]

"..."

Lili has been more aggressive with her retorts lately.

"Ha-ha, you're right, boss, "agreeing With that conclusion to the conversation with Clayton, I continued eating sweets. I repeated twice more, everything was delicious.

['Monster'] I think I heard Lili mutter something, but it must be my imagination. We continued to visit tourist places or places we found interesting until nightfall. The next day we did the same, and as I said, on the third day we started our preparations for the hunt.