NOVEL NEXT Chapter 68: Books or Bricks?
Arthur replied to her with a deadplain expression on his face.
"Yeah, I believe you, Fira."
Fira, seeing the way he had answered, knew he definitely didn't believe a word she said, and he wasn't even trying to hide it from her.
She would have tried to tell him what she was thinking about, but she knew now that whatever she would say, wouldn't change anything, so she chose to keep herself quiet.
The atmosphere around them had become awkward now, and Arthur had done this intentionally. He knew the words he had used could be easily misunderstood, but he still said them specifically, knowing it could make the atmosphere awkward.
'It's better to be awkward than give her any chance to even go crazy.'
Arthur quickly opened the door and led her inside.
Fira noticed how simple the room was, but she didn't say anything to him, as her mind was still in disbelief about what he was thinking of her. Does he think I am some kind of pervert after that incident in the dining hall?
She didn't have much chit-chat like she had thought. She imagined them talking for some time like friends and sharing something with each other, but the atmosphere and denial she was having in her mind had stopped her.
'I am going to prove I am not a pervert to him.'
She had imagined a day when she would embarrass him so much that he wouldn't be able to look straight into her eyes for days. She doesn't know how, but she is going to do it. She had lost so much dignity, she had to do this to regain it.
'I will have my reputation back sooner or later. The score would be settled.'
As the proud daughter of the Guild Master of the Gourmet, she couldn't let it go like this. After giving him the four books including three mother had made her learn everything inside when she first started her journey of magic, she gave those to Arthur.
But that was not the only thing she had given him. After handing him the books, she took out a small pouch from her bag. It was a simple jet-black pouch with simple designs on it. Nothing seemed fancy, but it was actually a rank 3 spatial pouch, which had 100 cubic meters worth of space. She knew he wouldn't have much mana, but it didn't matter.
Since the spatial pouch doesn't need mana to work like her special ring—only mental energy, which had her mana signature on it— the spatial pouch would be a good gift for a newbie like him.
She only told him once how to use it and said it was a gift of apology from her for asking him the stupid question earlier. With fire burning in her eyes, she said it to him one last time:
"I really wasn't thinking something weird before."
She lost emotional control at the end, which made fire form at the corners of her eyes. She controlled her emotions quickly, but since Arthur had seen it—yet knowing how clueless he actually was—she didn't think her secrets were out.
She left after that. She received quite a bit of gratitude from him—he was very grateful to her—but it didn't make her feel better as she left accepting his thanks, because the only thing that would have made her calm would be him saying he believed her—that she was innocent earlier.
But he didn't do something like that, which made her believe that in his mind she really was a pervert.
After Fira finally left the room, Arthur felt relieved, as being alone in the same room with such a strong person who could kill him at any moment did feel scary to him.
He had developed a bond with her and was very grateful to her for helping him so many times. He still couldn't help being cautious after what had happened to him with Ivy.
He looked at the small pouch Fira had given him as an apology gift, but he knew it was just a gift from her. He had already accepted her previous apology when he had to explain about his periods, so she didn't really have to gift him this black pouch.
He knew it must be expensive.
She had told him it doesn't need any mana to operate and he only needed to use his mental energy to use it. More importantly, she mentioned—as if it wasn't a big deal—that it had 100 cubic meters worth of space. It is about the size of three shipping containers, which could be considered a lot to him.
'Damn! I just realized that the space inside is even more than the condo I lived in on previous earth'
He knew it was a precious treasure that would be very useful in his journey. It didn't even look that expensive, which he felt was really a good thing, as he didn't want to attract attention to himself.
Arthur could see there was an attached string on it. Since its size was very small, he could easily carry the pouch around his neck inside his baggy white clothes, which he thinks is the perfect place to hide the thing.
He swiftly wore the small black pouch around his neck and now focused on the more important things—which were the books she had given him.
There are four books on this table: three of which are completely black, simple-looking books, and the last one looks luxurious. Even though they are stacked on each other and the luxurious one is at the bottom, he can still see it from the side.
Arthur decided to check the fancy-looking book first, which had a colorful cover, as it stood out the most. He casually tried to pick up the three black books at once, but he couldn't do so as they were too heavy for him to lift at once, even without considering he couldn't get a proper grip on them and his posture was bad too.
'What the hell are these? Are these books or bricks?'
He knocked on top of the first book, and hearing the ring of a metallic sound, he had a thought.
'Am I supposed to use these as weapons? They are incredibly tough.'
'Bricks would be an understatement. They are like blocks of metal, which just have the appearance of books.'