081: Souvenirs for Thor

I’m getting up!

I wake up when I hear the voice of Eleanora shouting at me. I raise up my upper body, stretch, then get up and push the shutters open. I spot Eleanora shaking her auburn ponytail below me. She’s wearing the polka-dotted scrunchie I gave her yesterday.

I was worried she would say ‘I don’t need such a thing’, but she seemed to like it quite a bit. She picked a few from the selection I brought back, I guess the rest were the ones that didn’t suit her. I thought it would be difficult to tell if the accessories would be well-received, even if some of the guys I asked thought it would be fine.

Point being, I’m glad that Eleanora wanted to put it on immediately. I’m also happy that Eleanora is leaving for something today. I’d usually just go to the dining room as I’m currently dressed, but I’m heading to Thor’s house, so I’ll change into some different clothes. As I changed into a green shirt and brown trousers, I hear voices from the hallway…

“Uhh, what are you doing?” Mel

“Haha, this is the hairpin I bought in the royal capital. It looks good, right?” Mina

“Huh? It doesn’t look good. It looks like a simpleton’s hairpin.” Mel

“That’s terrible Mel! You’re saying the same things as Alfred! Nord and Elna praised me and said I was cute?” Mina

“They were laughing, weren’t they? Try and bring your face closer to Mrs. Elna, so they can’t look away when talking.” Mel

“Why can’t you compliment me normally? You must be joking!” Mina

“Let’s check with Mrs. Elna now” Mel

“Yes, it won’t matter though” Mina

Mel walks off as if she thinks Mina is crazy, while Mina walks aggressively. I leave my room and follow at a reasonable distance.

“Today’s breakfast will be noisy” Al

When I entered the dining room after Mina and Mel, Sarah greeted me while carrying some plates.

“Good morning” Sarah

“Good morning, Sarah” Al

After greeting me, Sarah moves to set down the plates.

“Mrs. Elna, why aren’t you looking at me today?” Mina

Mina was trying out what Mel suggested earlier.

“You’re imagining things, perish the thought.” Elna

“No! Elna has not looked at my face since I entered the room!” Mina

Mina tries to bring her face closer, but Elna drinks from a teacup while smiling demurely. I know what’s happening, Elna is stifling her laughter. Her face is tenser than you would expect, plus the corner of her mouth is raised a bit. She’s drinking from the teacup to hide it.

“Oh, Al is up. Good morning” Elna

“Good morning mother” Al

It’s obviously an attempt to divert the topic.

“Don’t change the topic!” Mina

“You said you were going to Thor’s house today, are you going to give him a souvenir?” Elna

Mina tries to interrupt, but Elna ignores her and continues our conversation.

“Yeah, that’s correct. I’m going after I eat breakfast.” Al

“Yes, speaking of souvenirs, Eleanora was very happy with the scrunchie. It seems she got up early to make sure it would look good.” Elna

Elna puts the tea back to her mouth with a small smile. If I got up early, would I have been able to see an odd Eleanora?

“Speaking of souvenirs, what about the pin I’m wearing? Mrs. Elna!” Mina

“Yes, it looks like a child’s hairpin and you look more stupid than normal, Mina” Al

I’m tired of this silliness, so I’ll just say it. At that point, Elna started coughing, she must have started laughing while drinking tea. She seems to be suffering, but her shoulders are moving like she’s laughing.

“Mrs. Elna, here’s a towel!” Mina

“Thank you Mina, fufu” Elna

Elna can’t keep it together when she gets the towel from Mina, she must have seen Mina’s face.

“Oh, wah wah! Alfred and Elna are awful!” Mina

Mina runs out of the dining room. At this point, Bartolo was the only one who didn’t laugh at Mina. Silvio smiled tensely and Nord left to work in his office soon after Mina entered.

After that noisy breakfast, I headed to Thor’s house with a packed lunch from Bartolo and a goblin sword wrapped in cloth. I head to the village walking down the path, I take a breath of the warm spring air. I can smell the grenners and the rich soil, it’s like eating nature. I follow the path listening to a symphony of bird chirps.

As I get close to the village, I can see the fields. There’s villagers in the fields using hoes to cultivate the soil. I think I can see Roland wiping his sweat away between hoe swings. I’m far enough away that it would be difficult to call out, so I’ll skip it this time. I wonder when we’ll start seeing wheat sprouting?

When I made it Thor’s house, a small house with a red roof, I heard the sound of someone chopping firewood. I was curious, so I went to where the sound was and found Thor using an axe to chop firewood. When Thor notice me he waved with a happy expression.

“Oh! Al! I’ve been waiting!” Thor

“Can I just give you the souvenir and return home?” Al

I have a bad feeling based on Thor’s smile.

“Don’t say things like that. Help me out a bit, just put the firewood on the stump for me?” Thor

Thor holds his axe over his shoulder with one hand, don’t accidentally hit me with the axe. Is this a threat if you think about it? I’m not sure what to do with this guy.

“Well, maybe. If you’re careful with the axe?” Al

“Yah!” Thor

I find a stone on of a good size and sit down. I grab a piece of log and put it on the stump.

“Good!” Thor

Thor slams the axe into the firewood, letting the axe wedge itself into the firewood. He then picks the entire thing up and swings it down, splitting the firewood into two pieces.

“Why don’t you break it in one blow?” Al

“It’s easier for me to do it this way. It’s dangerous to hit it that hard.” Thor

Thor asks me to move away to see a demonstration, so I move away a safe distance. Thor places another log onto the stump and slams his axe into the log. The split pieces fly off in each direction, making a loud noise. Thor then had to pull the axe blade out of the stump.

“See?” Thor

“That’s definitely dangerous” Al

Thor and I set to breaking the firewood without talking much.

“You don’t even know how to chop firewood, have you ever chopped firewood?” Thor

“No, I’m an aristocrat, we let Bartolo do it” Al

“Put in a little work, firewood is used every day, so why not do it some?” Thor

“Well, we got a new Fire Magic tool, so we’re using a lot less firewood now.” Al

“What?” Thor

“Watch it! You have an axe in your hand!” Al

What a klutz, he swung the axe while I was still placing the firewood.

“What did you just say?” Thor

“Hey, be more careful, you could have cut off my right arm. We bought a Fire Magic tool, so we don’t need firewood to cook, you just use magic.” Al

“Oh? You think you’re clever? Just put another log on!” Thor

“I think I’m done with firewood. I brought you a souvenir, that.” Al

I point Thor at the sword I had brought.

“What is this? A stick?” Thor

It seems Thor has not seen a sword covered in cloth, so I pick it up and unravel the cloth. When the silver blade was exposed, Thor made an excited sound.

“See, it’s a sword.” Al

From a goblin…

When I take off the cloth off the sword and hand it to Thor, he looks really happy. I polished it to a shiny finish yesterday, it’s restored to a beautiful state.

Thor traces the blade with his finger, then turns it over and looks at the reflection from the sun.

“It’s a real sword! Not a wooden sword!” Thor

Since the sword is goblin-sized, even Thor can hold it in one hand. Well, Thor has trained up his body by chopping wood. I thought it was a big heavy for me.

“I thought it would just be a toy since it’s Al, but I didn’t expect you would get me a sword. Thank you!” Thor

Thor looks really happy. I feel a little guilty when I think of how I ended up getting him the sword. Well, if it breaks, I’ll help him get a better one or pay Logan to make him one.

Translation

Good Job!

Do Better!

Chapter

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