Another world, Celeste

Chapter Five, pt 2

It's the third day of the festival.

Maya left a note this morning, telling me that she won't be back for a few days without an explanation. Bane too disappears before dawn. My best guess would be he's scouting near the river. When he first went away, Auntie El told me Bane has been entrusted with the duty to protect the deeper parts of Kana Forest where the spirits reside. Even though he's my familiar now, he would not neglect his duty to serve the spirits. It's normal for Maya and Bane to disappear but never on the same day. I wonder if something happened.

Since it's rare to have the day all to myself, I plan to enjoy myself to the fullest. Instead of the training uniform and running shoes, I'm wearing a long summer dress with sleeves up to my elbow and pair it with a lace-up flats given to me by Selene and braid my hair into a low bun. While walking around the plaza, I run into a travelling merchant, Mister Duce, who delivers miscellaneous things to Maya whether it be flowers than can be found in the mountains or old medicine books. He's a well-knows merchant because he has good eyes in getting good-quality stuff and very well-connected as well. His wife complains at him to stop going around now that he's getting older but he never listens, claiming that business must be done in good faith with the people who put their trust in him. Maya has been his family's customer since the time of his great grandfather. Naturally, he wouldn't let anyone else do it in his stead.

"Iris, I was about to go see you and the healer." Mister Dice says.

"Maya is out right now, Mister Duce."

"That's unfortunate. Seeing that you are here, wait a moment."

Mister Duce carefully rummages through the wooden crates behind him.

"Here is the sugar crystals you asked for." He says.

Mister Duce hands me a bag full of them. It's heavy.

"Oh, thank you. This is a lot. Are you sure this totalled up with the money I gave you?" I suspiciously ask.

"Of course. I put in a little more as thank you for the fruit hams you gave me. It was delicious. My family finished two whole jars in a week. If you have some more..." He eagerly asks while smacking his lips.

I laugh at his reaction and take out two jars of berry jam from the sling bag I use to conceal my storage. Everyone else assumes it's an item bag. Mister Duce gleefully receives the jars. If anyone's wondering why I have jars of jams in the dimensional storage, that's because I had to reserve some of my own after the ones I put out in the kitchen are always getting low due to certain people, cough Lord Sol cough Auntie El cough, becoming addicted to the jams, even more after the first time I made bread for sandwiches and toast. Lord Sol even go as far as adding sandwiches to the menu in the administrative's dining hall.

"Are you going to be making more jam with that sugar crystal?" Mister Duce ask after placing the jars in a safe place.

I shake my head. "Not this time. I'm making syrup."