SIDE:
Druid and Captain Tableau
I poured more wine into Captain Tableau’s empty cup.
“Thank you.”
“Those words of wisdom came from Ivy, not me.”
“Miss Ivy?” Captain Tableau looked surprised by what I said. Didn’t Priya tell him that Ivy was the one giving the advice?
“Yes. It was Ivy who told the story of the power of a smile.”
“Oh, did she? Priya didn’t specifically say she told it, so I just assumed it was you, Mr. Druid. Forgive me.”
“It’s all right, don’t worry about it. Ivy is already asleep, but I’ll tell her you came by to thank her when she wakes up tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Also, um…”
“Something wrong?”
“Well…how exactly are you related to her? I heard she saved your life, but that can’t be right. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, though.”
“No, Ivy really did save my life. She’s my savior.”
“Huh? Your savior?”
The word probably struck Captain Tableau as odd. His eyes were wide open. Well, I don’t blame him. It is hard to believe Ivy saved my life. The opposite would make more sense.
“I was ambushed by monsters during a quest. She found me with my arm torn off, bleeding to death, and she healed me.”
“Oh, wow… Wait a minute, isn’t Miss Ivy a tamer? How did she heal you, then?”
“With potions, of course.”
Captain Tableau raised an eyebrow. He must have been wondering what kind of potion could possibly bring a maimed and gored man back from the brink of death. He probably thought it was impossible.
“She used every potion she could find on me at once.”
“Every potion at once?”
“Yes. There were other guards with me on the quest who were already dead by the time she got there, so she took all their potions and used them on me.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry! So what kind of potions were they?”
“She was too panicked to remember, but there was a huge pile of empty bottles afterward. Well, it’s still a mystery how they all worked to heal me, but as you can see, I’m alive.”
“You know, I have heard that potions can do remarkable things when they’re combined together in certain ways. Maybe that was what happened?”
“Most likely, yes. I was knocked out at the time, so I don’t know for sure.”
Did that convince him? Well…if he looks into Oll’s records, he’ll find nothing different from what I just said, so we should be in the clear.
“Miss Ivy sure is a mystery. The creatures she tamed are quite peculiar, too.”
“Sorry, but can I turn on a magic item?”
I was starting to panic. There was no telling how or where information might get leaked. With Captain Tableau’s permission, I activated my noise-canceling magic item. Now nobody would overhear our conversation.
“Sorry I’ve been so tactless,” the watchman apologized.
“We just like to be extra careful, since they’re such rare slimes.”
“As you should be. I’ve never heard of a slime that regenerates magic stones before.”
Have you heard of slimes that make rare potions, dissolve swords in seconds, or bring people back from the brink of death? Yeah, just thinking about the things those little guys have done makes me realize how unique they are. They’re so rare, they’re in a whole other league from everything else that’s rare.
“I’m very grateful to you both for providing Hatow with so many magic stones—and such high-level ones, at that. Many lives will be saved because of you. But a part of me is almost frightened by you… You’ve given us all of these magic stones, yet you’ve asked for nothing special in return.”
He has a point. We happily sold them a pile of precious magic stones at a low price without batting an eye. We didn’t ask for anything more, either… Ack, you know, I really didn’t think of it before. This would be a rather scary situation for someone who didn’t know the full story.
“Don’t worry, we won’t demand anything special from you later, either. Ivy said she felt bad for selling things she hadn’t paid for herself.”
And there wasn’t a selfish fiber in her soul that longed to use those magic stones for her own profit. In fact, when I told her she could accomplish all sorts of incredible things with just one stone, she got a solemn look in her eyes and thought for a while before finally shaking her head no.
“You say she didn’t pay for them?”
“Yes, all she had to do was pick up spent magic stones at the dump and use the ones Rose had later on.”
“That’s true and all, but most of us don’t even have the time to look for spent magic stones in the first place. It’s a nuisance.”
Braving the cold to find and deliver spent magic stones… The tamers I’ve known wanted to be paid for things like that, but the thought had never crossed Ivy’s mind once.
“But for Ivy, collecting spent stones isn’t a nuisance.”
To Ivy, trips to the dump were special opportunities to get food for her loved ones. She never thought that was a nuisance.
“She really is a kind person.”
“Yes, very kind.”
Captain Tableau’s praise brought a smile to my lips. I’d been catching myself smiling a lot now, whenever anyone praised my precious little girl. A few years ago, I never would have dreamed I could experience emotions like this.
“Mr. Druid, I notice you’re always smiling, too.”
Am I? You know…I do smile a lot these days. In the past, I’d been…surly. Nothing needed to jog my memory in that department.
“Pfft!”
“Huh?”
I had laughed at the idea of what Past Druid would think of me now. He would probably look at me with utter disbelief. Before I met Ivy, I hadn’t even trusted myself, let alone anyone else.
“Sorry, I was just laughing about how much I’ve changed.”
“You’ve changed?”
“Yes, completely and utterly. If she hadn’t come into my life, my heart would have stayed dead.”
“Your heart was dead?”
Yes, my heart had been dead. I’d never let myself open up to anybody because I was terrified that I would steal their stars. I felt so sorry for my family. And even though I did resent my brothers, there were other feelings mixed in. As for Gotos and my old mentor, there was always one barrier I never let them cross with me.
“I went through a lot of stuff.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah.”
It felt surreal remembering everything now. Life-saving aside, it was a wonder that I’d never built a wall between myself and Ivy. But I was sure that if anyone else had been in Ivy’s place, things would not have ended up as they did.
“Oh. I’m sorry…”
We had been talking for a while, but now I sensed something strange in Captain Tableau’s behavior for some reason. What was it? I studied him across the table as he sipped his wine. Was he sweating? I saw faint beads of perspiration on his brow, but it was so cold. Could it be that he’s…wait, but why?
“Pardon me for asking, but…are you nervous?”
“Bfft!” Captain Tableau spat out his drink.
“Agh!”
Bad timing. I fumbled to pull a tiny towel out of my pocket and wiped the wine off the table.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to react like that.”
“It’s all right, Mr. Druid. You were right, anyway. I am nervous.”
“Aha…”
But he didn’t seem nervous when he first got here…
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