Chapter 103: 103. Gifts
The lunch ends without any trouble and they continue their agenda. Ben, Mira, and Bella go around the town to visit the stores that they've marked before.
Ben buys some souvenirs for Wendy, Carla, and the villagers. They also visit some book stores, but Ben is disappointed because he can only find 2 new magic books of low grades.
"Well, at least you found new books, and doesn't return empty-handed," says Mira to cheer Ben up.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I've returned empty-handed many times before. So this is good enough," says Ben.
They continue to walk around the market and look at the items that are sold there. Mira enjoys it very much because it really feels like a date. It gets even more real when Ben suddenly takes her to a small jewelry stall.
"You can choose what you want, I will buy it for you," says Ben.
"Eh? N-No, you don't need to," says Mira while blushing.
"It's fine, you don't need to worry about my pocket. I am not that poor to the state that I can't buy some of these," says Ben.
"T-That's not what I mean," says Mira.
The stall owner suddenly chimed in, "Hais, you should just take your boyfriend's offer. It will be a good gift that will remind you of this day. From the looks of it, this must be your first date. Don't you want to memorate this day, Miss?"
"B-B-Bo-Boyfriend?!" says Mira in panic as steams come out of her head.
The stall owner smirks seeing Mira's reaction and he blinks his left eye at Ben. It's as if he is helping Ben and Ben can only sigh at this. Well, now Mira finally wants to choose something, so it's really helpful.
Mira looks around at the pieces of jewelry while trying to hide her smile. She is very happy, but she tries to hide it from Ben. But Ben can see that she is very happy right now and it makes him happy too.
Ben is not stupid. He knows that Mira likes him after they spent time together for 2 days. But he can't take that feeling yet, not for now.
They've just known each other for a short time. Mira's feeling might be just puppy love, a normal thing for teenagers. Such love is superficial and he doesn't want something like that.
Ben doesn't want to just play around with Mira by accepting her feeling. He wants to make sure that she is ready for a serious relationship when the time comes.
Besides, he still hasn't grown such feelings for Mira. He has never even thought about love since he arrived in this world. Ben always thinks about magic, his Guild, his sisters, and his dream.
But he won't close that door for Mira and will consider it. Mira is beautiful and she has a good personality. It will be a lie to say that he is not interested in Mira. That's why he will get closer to her first to know her better before deciding what to do.
While Mira chooses the jewelry, Bella also chooses what she likes. Ben's money is her money, that's Bella's principle. That is true though because Ben will spend all his money if it's for his sisters' needs.
Ben also looks at the pieces of jewelry while the girls are getting confused. Bella & Mira are asking for each other's opinions while choosing the jewelry. It takes an hour for the girls to choose what they want.
The stall owner & Ben have gotten tired of waiting for the girls to choose. Both of them even have the time to talk and eat some snacks. They're very relieved when the girls finally finished.
Both Mira and Bella choose necklaces, but with different designs. Mira's necklace has a gold color even though it's not made of gold and it has a star ornament. Bella's necklace has a silver color with a heart ornament.
Ben pays the necklaces and gives the stall owner some money as an apology for taking his time. Then they return to Mira's home without stopping anywhere. They rest in the house because it's been a long day.
"Phew, I guess it's the time for us to leave. Thanks for your hospitality, Mira," says Ben after resting for 20 minutes.
"You want to return already?" asks Mira with a rather disappointed tone.
"Of course, we've finished the job yesterday and should've returned last night too. It will make everyone worried if we don't return now. We will visit you when we have time," says Ben.
"Alright then," says Mira.
Ben & Bella take their luggage and go to the front door with Mira. But before they get out, Ben stops and turns around to look at Mira. He suddenly takes a small red box from his pants pocket and gives it to Mira.
"What is this?" asks Mira.
"A gift," says Ben while smiling.
Mira opens the box and sees the content. It is a Golden Rose hair clip that looks simple but pretty.
"It's pretty," says Mira happily.
"I'm glad that you like it," says Ben.
Mira immediately put the hair clip on her hair. She put it above her right ear and it looks really good on her white hair.
"It really suits you," says Ben.
"Pretty~," says Bella with sparkling eyes.
"Thank you," says Mira happily.
"Then, we will take our leave now. Give my regard to Elfman and Master Makarov. Tell him that I'm sorry for not being able to meet him even though I've came to Magnolia," says Ben.
"Alright, I will tell Master about it. I'm sure he won't mind it," says Mira.
Ben & Bella then leaves the house while waving their hands at Mira. They go to their car that is parked near the town gate. Then, they immediately leave Magnolia Town and return to their village.
On the way back, Bella keeps looking back in Magnolia's direction. She has gotten very attached to Mira and has missed her already. Ben can only sigh and tell her that they will meet with Mira again in the future, so she needs to be patient.
They arrive in the village in 3 hours and everyone rushes at them like usual. Bella immediately goes to Wendy & Carla while carrying the souvenirs. The girls then go to their 'Base', which is Wendy's house to open the souvenirs.
Ben smiles as he goes to the Guild building to report his job to Roubaul. He reports everything that happened in the job to its detail. As for the event in Magnolia, Ben just says that they are having fun.
"Ah, that's right. Gramps, do you know anything about this?" asks Ben while showing Roubaul the map that he found in the Mansion ruins.
"A lacrima crystal mine map? Why'd you ask something like this to me?" asks Roubaul while looking at Ben strangely.
"Ah, sorry, I mean this thing behind the map. I've found out that these words aren't the explanation for this map. This is a code, 'The Dark Sun' is what written here," says Ben.
"Hmm? 'The Dark Sun'? I never heard about that. Are you sure that's what's written there?" asks Roubaul.
"Yeah, I'm very sure of it. And I'm also sure that this thing will help me somehow," says Ben with a serious expression.
Roubaul looks at Ben and knows that he is serious. But none of them know the meaning of that code. So they start to discuss the code using everything they know.
Ben uses AI Chip's help to find every possible answer using every data in its database. AI Chip has everything that Ben knows like books. So it should've helped them, but it's not.
They discuss until midnight, but they don't find an answer. Both of them agree that the only way is to go there by following the map. But Ben needs to prepare himself because this might be very dangerous.
"The Dark Sun, just what is it?" ponders Ben before he goes to sleep.
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