19 Meeting Esri Again (1) Revised

I looked at the girl, who was charmingly smiling and waving her hand in front of me. I returned her smile before responding.

"What a coincidence, Esri, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here on business, to place an order with the blacksmith guild."

"I see"

"How about you?"

"I came here to buy a storage bag after the uncle of the adventurers guild recommended that I do so."

Esri nodded "Mhm, the storage bag is a big help for the adventurers, it's a small pouch, but it can hold a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, That's why I need to buy one for myself; do you know of any stores that sell it?"

"Hmm... let's see... Ohh, I know a shop that sells at a low price"

"Really? Where is it?"

"Since I have some free time right now while waiting for the order to be processed, I'll accompany you there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course, Let's go"

Esri snatched my right hand and dragged me away. We went down a back alley and came to a halt in front of a small workshop building. 'Aleatória Workshop' was written on the shop's roof.

We walked into the store while Esri was still holding my right hand. Damn, gauntlet! I could hold her soft hand if it weren't for you!

"Welcome to our Workshop… Ohh! Esri! Do you need something… Hmm?"

The woman in front of us noticed Esri's grip on my hand. She has the reddish-brown eyes of a very attractive young lady. Her brown hair was tied in a side ponytail with a thin ribbon, and she wore a shop apron.

"Where did you find this handsome Esri? Did you finally find your destined one?" the woman teased with a meaningful smile on her face, looking at Esri's hand.

Esri followed the woman's gaze and discovered that she was holding my hand. She blushed and abruptly let go of my hand.

"No! you misunderstand, I was just accompanying him to buy his storage bag,"

"Hee! Suspicious, accompanying a handsome man while holding hands?" retorted the woman, a wide grin on her adorable face.

Esri appeared flustered and unsure what to say because she couldn't deny that she was holding my hand. She looked at me, pleading for assistance. She was so damn adorable! I wanted to hug her and kiss her on the cheek. However, I resisted the urge. I took a step forward and looked at the lovely lady.

"Excuse me, I'd like to purchase a storage bag."

The woman, on the other hand, appears to have ignored my words and instead inquired.

"Can you tell me what you are to Esri? Are you her boyfriend?"

What? We only met yesterday.

"We are friends, I just came here and don't know anything about this City yet, so I was asking Esri's help to accompany me for a while," I replied calmly.

However, the woman does not appear to be convinced: "Hmm... It can't help that you guys are hiding it because Esri is so popular..."

The woman approached me and said, "If you hurt her feelings, I won't forgive you."

I only glanced at her. What's the deal with this lady? Her delusions are off the charts. Whatever reason we give, it appears that she will simply believe that we are concealing it. Nonetheless, when she warned me, I could tell she cared about Esri.

So, Instead of denying it, I smiled at her charmingly, "I promise you, I won't hurt her. It was obvious since she helped me a lot and I will repay her kindness accordingly"

The woman froze and just stared at me, her face turning red. She shook her head and muttered, "D-damn it! What's with that princely beautiful smile? My heart was almost taken away."

Obviously, I heard her because of my keen senses, but I ignored it and took it as a compliment.

"S-so, what are you looking to buy?"

"I'd like to purchase a storage bag."

"O-ohh, storage bag, hold on a second, I'll get it now."

The woman dashed inside and abandoned the two of us.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding, Kazuya."

"You don't need to apologize because I'm not uncomfortable. instead, I'm happy that someone is saying you're my girlfriend. why not become my girlfriend for real, so there will be no misunderstanding."

"You must be joking, you haven't even taken me on a date."

"Oh, about that, I already asked the landlord about the food that I mentioned; I'll check with him later to see if he has the ingredients, so, I might need a little time for our dinner date, what is your free time?"

"At the end of the week, I have a day off; we can have our dinner date then, but are you serious about having a dinner date with me?" She inquired, a curious expression on her pretty face.

"Of course, having a date with a beautiful woman like you is my fortune."

"What a glib tongue, then I will be expecting our dinner date at the end of this week"

I smiled at her, placed my right hand on my chest, and bowed slightly. "Yes, I will make it more romantic for you, my lady,"

Esri nodded and smiled charmingly.

The woman soon returned. "Here is the storage bag, sir."

She handed me the storage bag, which was black and the size of a small shoulder bag, but the inside was large enough to fit 100 people.

"How much is this?"

"One Gold Coin"

I gave her one gold coin.

"Thank you for purchasing our product; do you require anything else?"

"... hmm, I think nothing for now"

She nodded and looked at Esri, saying, "... Esri, take care of your boyfriend, he looks like he can get a woman's heart with just his smile, be careful."

"I told you, Nina, he is not my boyfriend."

"I would love to become her boyfriend but she doesn't want to" I followed up

"Maybe later but not now, if I like our date maybe you have a chance," Esri said as she smiled teasingly

"... And like that I was rejected again," I said with a fake dejected expression on my face.

"You two don't need to act like that, I won't tell anyone. but with that look of his and you holding his hand while dragging him here. for sure lots of your admirers will target him," Nina said with a knowing smile on her face.

"Haa~ How many times should I tell you that we aren't in that kind of relationship?" Esri said with a look of tiredness on her face.

"Oi, oi, don't jinx it or else someone will really bother me later on," I interjected in their conversation.

"I didn't jinx it, I just stated the truth" Nina replied

"Well, it doesn't matter..." I said confidently

"Even if a swarm of cockroaches appears, I'll just beat them and shut their mouths; who dares to take a fancy to my girlfriend?"

"Who's your girlfriend? hmph!" Esri said in annoyance.

However, contrary to her reaction her face looks rather cute.

"Hahaha, you're so cute, can I pinch your cheeks?" I asked, but my fingers were already lightly pinching her cheeks.

Damn! So soft! Esri slapped my hands together.

"Don't pinch a woman like that, if it was not me they would slap your face. Also, you are getting too full of yourself." Esri said as she squinted her eyes at me.

"hahaha!"

I only laughed it off, it seems trying my luck again was exposed.

"Ehem!"

We both looked at the source of the noise.

"You two, stop flirting, other customers are waiting, you can leave now if you don't have anything to buy... Shoo, Shoo," Nina waved her hand like sending butterflies outside her shop.

Esri blushed and glared at me before walking outside the shop.

"I will come back again if I ever need something again"

Leaving those words behind, I followed Esri.

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A/N: Sorry, guys. I was sick for a week after my vaccination and had a minor disagreement with my good friend's editor, so I was unable to upload chapters. In addition, the writing quality may suffer. Despite the fact that I was using Grammarly and Docs, I am aware that these tools will not fix all of the errors.