Shopping Mall Excursion (2)

"Alright, You get on first Liliath."

"This carriage.. could it be powered by a science engine?" She asked, holding onto a cute little bottle filled with water specially for her use.

"Um.."

Seriously though. How did Liliath become so talkative? Was it because of yesterday? Did mom or Novelle break a circuit in her somewhere?

In any case, I think I like Liliath better this way. She's the curious kind of person— or not. I could imagine the confusion I'd face if I were to suddenly move between different worlds containing unusual technology.

"Big brother sits at the back, my turn to sit in front!" The little devil declared.

Ah you little fucker.

Novelle would almost always fight for the front seat. It was a given that she would win. She didn't need to tell me that she's occupying the 'queen's' seat as if she were declaring her enthronement or engagement to some big-shot.

My mom locked the door of the house and came to the car. I pulled the garage door open.

We all got in the car, Liliath scanned the interior with an inquisitive look while the devil peeked at her, holding back her laughter. I wasn't too sure if it was because of the fact that Liliath looked like a kid who had never seen a flower or that I'm sitting together with Liliath. Of course.. I took some distance.

The car pulled out of the garage and came to the driveway.

And we set forth towards the shopping mall.

The sky was blue, ominous clouds billowing in the sky— I have a feeling that it would rain later in the afternoon.

"Noel, what means of science did the people here replace ice circuits to create this cool air?"

"Uh.. I'm not too sure myself? The cool air comes from the air-conditioner built into the car and the components that make it up— I'm not too knowledgeable about it myself.."

Seriously what? Ice circuits? Wait.. could I get Liliath to create magic tools or something for utility purposes? Wow.. that would be so cool!

"Similar to magic knowledge, there is a complex system for science after all.." Liliath came to a conclusion.

"I don't think it works that way.."

Ah crap.. common sense.. common sense. Thinking about it only scares me. How am I going to teach someone like Liliath..

"Liliath, you see. Unlike magic, science is dependent on knowledge rather than skill. It's more like creating plans for forging equipment," my mom remarked.

Wow, great. What an otaku-like answer mom, great job!

"So the difference is in that regard. Magic and black smithing are two different things after all.."

"It's the skill and knowledge behind building the machine, a lot of time, trial and error is required to temper the product to perfection."

Liliath nodded as if understanding.

But I'm confused as heck. Like.. wha.. what did language did my mom just speak? Forging as a reference to creating machines? Heck, there's a huge disparity between the two of them.

Seeing my perplexed expression my mom chuckled while Liliath tilted her head.

Speaking of Liliath, her hair was tied to a ponytail and she was wearing a yellow shirt and a pleated knee-length dark-blue skirt. Because her hair was tied, her beautiful neck was exposed. I don't even know why I'm paying so much attention to her ugh... she's so cute.

Novelle noticed something wrong then tampered with the radio. Ah— that's why it was so quiet. Music played, sending Liliath into confusion.

"A recorder? How could there be music?" Liliath tried searching around the entire interior of the car for an orchestra-- I suppose..

"It's a radio. The radio is a communication device that allows sound to be transmitted. In this case, it.. is transmitting music from somewhere.."

Fuck. I don't even know how I should explain something as simple and complex as a radio. Do I need to go all the way and explain about radio waves? Ah, I didn't think it would be this hard to answer Liliath's questions... okay, I take my words back, I prefer the quiet Liliath.. but the inquisitive Liliath also had her good points.

"A communication device that allows sound to transfer.. it's an incredibly novel idea to utilize such a technology to share music to the world," Liliath remarked, "I would've never imagined such an application for such a ma— science tool."

"I suppose."

I have no idea how I should answer that.. magic tool.. science tool.. what the hell.

Liliath was sharp to notice my difficulty in explaining the function of certain everyday objects such as the car window glass, traffic jam, three coloured boxes of red, yellow and green, and the honking of cars so she eventually stopped asking and silently stared out the window.

I felt kind of hurt and disappointed that I didn't have the proper skills and knowledge to explain to Liliath about the things in this world. I can only hope that Liliath gets used to how things are and sorta piece to gather the gist of what does what.

That said.. the little devil was sneaking a few pictures of us with her phone that she 'pretended' to play games with. I know she doesn't have a habit of using her phone in the car, so it's clear what she was trying to pull.

Liliath sat at one end, I sat at the other. So good luck finding your chances little sister— you wouldn't get one anytime soon.

The car pulled up to a toll, my mom pushed a button and a parking ticket came spitting out.

Liliath was bewildered.

Yeah.. I believe she's thinking: a paper spitting creature.

The parking lot was a multi-tier complex above the underground parking zone.

Liliath made a difficult to describe expression whenever my mom would drive up the incline place to the upper floors.

A parking spot was found and we got out of the car.

"That was the most pleasant carriage ride I've ever experienced, thank you Diana," Liliath bowed.

"No problem," my mom smiled. I wanted to puke blood.

Common sense.. common sense. I need to discuss with Liliath about getting the skill book Common Sense I, ASAP.

We entered the shopping mall, two sliding doors broke apart to allow a path for us, Liliath jumped. The cool breeze of the air conditioning slammed into my face, I had no words to describe Liliath's shuddering figure.

This is an automatic sliding door.. for gosh sake..

I could hear the couple behind us laugh at her reaction.

"Novelle, can you hold Liliath's hand so that she doesn't get lost?" I requested the little devil while my mom consoled Liliath.

"Why me? You do it big brother!" Ah duck you. Seriously, I'm really worried something might happen to Liliath.

"Come on.. stop it with us being together... just help her alright?"

We entered the shopping complex, stepping foot into the atrium that split into two wide paths. It was bustling with people. Shops lined the sides of the walking path. The avenue-like path opened up, revealing the upper and lower floors.

Liliath's eyes darted around, a myriad of never before seen things to her I suppose.

Our main goal was to get some house-hold items and more groceries. That said, groceries were usually the last agenda on the list, done just before we headed back home.

And so, we first went to the bookstore as usual.

But to get there..

"Why are there so many teeth!" Liliath exclaimed, shivering.

"Big sister Liliath.. it hurts, it hurts," tears spilling out of the little devil's eyes as she tried desperately to pull her hands away.

Oh hell.. seriously?

We came to our first major obstacle— the escalator. The terrifying-for-kids-cause-its-scary-sounding-and-can-kill-people-esca- lator. Oh and to explain why my sister was tearing up, it was because she, in the end, decided to hold Liliath's hand. And Liliath's hand was crushing her due to fear. I'm guessing her superhuman strength was because she was a demon lord candidate, no joke. The little devil was desperate.

"Hey Liliath, please let go.. um."

And she did. Novelle held her almost broken hand to her face.

"How should we deal with this," my mom contemplated. If anything, her expression was one that seemed to tell me that we were treating this as an escort mission... seriously. "How about the elevator?"

"An alternate path sounds good to me," Liliath said, cold sweat down her face.

"No. Big brother, you hold her hand."

"Huh. No," I refused.

"Hm! I did what you told me to, now it's your turn!"

The puzzled stare of the people that boarded the escalator were unnecessary.. really.. if anything, please don't mind us and return to your shopping experience while we discuss our options in delivering the frightened Princess to the bookstore on the second floor.

"I-If so then I would like to try.." Liliath spoke in a bashful voice.

I turned to her with a shocked expression.

Wut?!