Chapter 1-30 : The Girl Buys Clothes For The Artificial Spirit
「You’re two years late! And you left me in that house sitting on your empty bed gathering dust all alone for god-knows-how-long! Well, you came back and brought me with you at the end, but you failed me as my owner! I gave a score of minus F!」(Neige)
The bunny looked so mad.
Elle felt strange to be scolded by a living stuffed animal.
「I-I’m sorry… Umm… I didn’t know you were… ‘alive’…」(Elle)
「Hmph. Seems like you reflect. Well, I guess it’s mostly that blockhead’s fault for not explaining firmly to you.」(Neige)
「Blockhead…? You mean my dad?」(Elle)
「Of course! Who else did you think I was talking about?」(Neige)
「Right…」(Elle)
Neige, the bunny, called her dad ‘blockhead’ but she had no words to say in response since she kind of agreed with him.
Hugo was indeed a blockhead. He brought Elle deep into the forest to live there, but he had no skills to live on his own, let alone live and take care of his daughter at the same time.
He couldn’t cook, he couldn’t do chores, and he couldn’t even start a fire. Although he was doing his best, he couldn’t do those things properly because he was clumsy.
The only thing he was good at was hunting animals.
Lucky for him, Moritz lived not far from his house, so he sometimes visited him to learn things from him in exchange for the game meat he got from hunting.
「Alright, enough scolding. There’s one thing you need to do for me as my owner.」(Neige)
「Umm… Like hugging you?」(Elle)
「W, well, that too, but… that’s not what I’m talking about. Look! I’m naked! You know what it means, right?」(Neige)
「Huh? You need clothes? I thought stuffed animals didn’t need them.」(Elle)
「No, no, no. We’re not just stuffed animals. We’re special. Look at them. They wear clothes.」(Neige)
Now that he mentioned, some of the stuffed animals on the shelves were wearing cute clothes that fit them very well. Of course, the shopkeeper’s teddy bear, Gree, was also wearing ones.
「Hmm… Sir, do you have clothes for him?」(Elle)
「Of course. Follow me and see them for yourself.」(shopkeeper)
The shopkeeper beckoned Elle and turned around. She picked Neige up, held him on her chest, and followed the shopkeeper to the back room.
As soon as she entered the room, she saw many clothes racks with thousands of cute small clothes all over the room. There were some of them hanging on the walls too.
A bright-colored dress with a lovely large ribbon on the chest, a blouse with gorgeous lace on the cuffs, a velvet one-piece dress made of smooth high-quality fabric, a gorgeous fairy-tale-like princess dress hanging by the wall, and many other cute clothes.
「Whoaa…! They all look amazing! Are all these clothes for stuffed animals?」(Elle)
「Yup. Especially the living ones. I mean, the artificial spirits. Some of them are fine being naked, but most of them want clothes since they kinda have a similar mind to us humans.」(shopkeeper)
「I see.」(Elle)
Elle glanced down at Neige, wondering what kind of clothes he wanted, but before she could ask, he jumped off Elle’s arms and approached an outfit displayed in a corner of the room and looked at it passionately.
「Neige, you want this one?」(Elle)
「Yeah! I want it!」(Neige)
The outfit he was looking at was the set of a knight’s armor and a sword.
They looked cute because of their small size since they were made to fit the small body of a stuffed animal, but the armor and the sword were real. They were made of steel and looked very sturdy.
「Hoo~ Your bunny’s interested in that armor, huh? Little Lady, seems like your new friend here has the aptitude of a knight.」(shopkeeper)
「Eh? What do you mean?」(Elle)
「Simply put, it’s like the aptitudes unique to artificial spirits they will get when they’re awakened. The aptitudes will match with the children who will become their partners. There are many of them. For example, children who like to listen to stories will have artificial spirits with the aptitude of a storyteller. Playful and active children will have the ones with the aptitude of a gamer who can be their playmates. Talkative children will have the ones with the aptitude of a talker who can come up with interesting topics. Sick and bedridden children will have the ones with the aptitude of a caregiver. Etcetera, etcetera.」(shopkeeper)
「I see. You said that Neige had the aptitude of a knight. What does that mean?」(Elle)
「That means you are in need of someone who can protect you. You don’t have one?」(shopkeeper)
「…….」(Elle)
Elle shifted her gaze and fell silent in response.
She had Yoyo with her, but she was still a child who needed protection from adults. Since her father and her master left her, that feeling grew stronger day by day.
「…I’ll take your silence as an affirmation then.」(shopkeeper)
Elle told the shopkeeper she was looking for her dad, so he thought that her dad must have disappeared.
Thinking that the young girl in front of him had gone through a number of difficult experiences, he put his hand on Elle’s head and stroked it, trying to act nice to her.
「Well, you don’t need to worry now. Your new friend will protect you from today on. Artificial spirits, especially the ones who can fight can be stronger than humans sometimes, so you will be fine with him by your side. Moreover, you have a cat fairy as your guardian too.」(shopkeeper)
「…Un. You’re right. Thank you, Sir.」(Elle)
He said she didn’t need to worry, but there was one thing that Elle was still worrying about.
「So… How much does this knight’s armor set cost?」(Elle)
She still had some money, but she wasn’t sure if it was enough to pay for the armor set.
She noticed there were engravings that looked like magic circles on the armor and the sword. They were not just a small piece of armor and a small sword for stuffed animals, but they had been enhanced with magic. Surely they would cost a fortune.
She nervously asked the shopkeeper, but…
「No, you don’t need to pay.」(shopkeeper)
「What? Are you sure?」(Elle)
「Yeah because it’s already paid. The cost of the clothes is included when you buy an artificial spirit. All these clothes cost the same. Your dad didn’t choose clothes for your bunny back then because he was kind of in a hurry. He left immediately after he collected your bunny. I tried to stop him, but he got into a stagecoach as soon as he left my shop.」(shopkeeper)
「I see.」(Elle)
「Hmph! That man really is useless!」(Neige)
「Ahaha…」(Elle)
Elle wondered what happened back then. Why he was in such a hurry that he didn’t even have time to choose clothes for Neige?
Not just that, Elle also wondered where he got the money to buy her an artificial spirit in the first place. Hugo she knew was just an ordinary worker with little wages.
「Oh, right. Speaking of your dad, not only did he forget about your bunny’s clothes, but he also forgot about this.」(shopkeeper)
Saying that, the shopkeeper took a sheet of paper from a drawer by the door and handed it to Elle.
「What is this?」(Elle)
「The warranty card for your bunny. If it’s broken, lost, or stolen, you can come to me with this card. I’ll fix the problem for you.」(shopkeeper)
「Stolen? So you will look for him?」(Elle)
「Yup. The stuffed animals that become the vessels for artificial spirits have been marked with magic. That’s how I can feel their presence and track them.」(shopkeeper)
「Ah, so that’s why you knew I was coming.」(Elle)
「That’s right. As you know, they are expensive products and tend to get stolen by bad people, so if anything happens, you can let me know. I’ll never forgive scoundrels who steal my masterpieces!」(shopkeeper)
「A, alright. I get it.」(Elle)
After replying to the shopkeeper with a nod, Elle unfolded the paper and saw Hugo’s signature and handwriting.
As usual, his handwriting was messy. Elle remembered Moritz said that Hugo’s handwriting looked like earthworms crawling on the ground.
Elle thought it was funny, but she couldn’t bring herself to even giggle, because… she was a bit shocked.
「…Wha… Eh…?」(Elle)
Hugo and Elle’s family name was Harzheil.
Hugo Harzheil and Elle Harzheil.
However, the name he wrote on the paper was “Hugo de Neurindor”.
「Neu… rindor…?」(Elle)
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