Chapter 23: Time with Ryuu

Arthur Leywin:

"So, where do you want to go first?" I asked Ryuu, who was walking beside me.

We just left the Stardust Garden, and I left Sylvie with Bella, so it was just the two of us.

Ryuu thought about it for a while before she had a look that showed she had come up with something, "Oh, I know! How about going to see the new stage play? I heard people talking about it and how good it was." She said with a smile, her eyes almost sparkling.

"Then let's go," I said with a smile. Most of the time, Ryuu was calm and composed, so the times she acted like this were fun.

It reminded me, especially of that incident a year ago... I chuckled slightly.

"What?" She asked, looking at me, confused why I suddenly chuckled.

"Just remember when you got scared by that spider and tried and failed to kill it using magic." Of course, the spider escaped in the end, but the dining room was a mess.

Her face redded, and she looked away, "I told you not to bring it up.".

"S-Sorry, I just remembered it out of nowhere." I apologized while trying my best not to laugh.

She puffed her cheeks in faked anger before a smirk formed on her face, "You know, I just remembered it out of nowhere," She paused, and the smirk widened, "Sylvie once told me when you were smaller..."

"Ah, no, no, no... Let's forget about it, okay?" I asked, trying not to listen to what she was about to say. I quickly made a mental note to punish Sylv later... I did spend a lot today, so cutting our meat supply should be alright.

"Only if you never mention that again."

I sighed in defeat, "Fine...".

We continued walking, joking around, and it didn't take long for us to arrive at the familia owned theatre.

I bought us two tickets, and we went in and found our seats.

The play reminded me of the ones I saw in my previous life, but I couldn't remember the exact name, but that didn't matter as we both enjoyed it.

After leaving the theatre, we walked around the city, checking out different stalls in the market square.

They sold things like magic items for kids to more practical stuff like a magically expanded water pouch that could hold double the amount of water. Things like that were created by people with the Mystery development ability.

It reminded me of the artifacts in TBATE. This world didn't have things like dimensional storage rings, so could someone create them with the Mystery development ability, or could I do it without it?

A small problem I encountered in the dungeons was the lack of things I could bring back. Most people would hire a supporter, but I would rather have someone like Ryuu fighting alongside me.

"Why are you spacing out?" Ryuu's voice snapped me out of my thinking.

"Ah... I was thinking about Magic Items." I told her, and we walked toward the family-owned restaurant that had recently opened.

The restaurant is a Japanese-style special-of-the-day type restaurant owned by Jōichirō Yukihira. The family came from the far east to open the restaurant here in Orario.

I found the restaurant one day after I bought a new sword and took the wrong turn by accident, and I could say that their food rivals, if not beats, the food served in the Hostess of Fertility.

The owner was also less scary, so that's a big plus. Something I learned early on was that Mama Mia isn't someone you should piss off and that she loves money.

We sat down and got the menu. Looking at the menu, there were dishes from different cuisine styles like French, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and a style called Yukihira style.

In the end, we both decided to pick a dish called Mapo Tofu Meal. A Chinese full-course meal that consists of one mapo tofu dish and three other staple dishes.

"So... How much stronger did you get while I was... Stuck in the dungeon." I asked her while we waited for the food

"I'm almost level 5. I only need something to give the last push." She said, sounding annoyed at the last part. I discovered how hard it's to find a feat that would push an adventurer to the next level.

She talked about what she tried to do to level up, but it wasn't enough.

Our food didn't take long to arrive, and it looked and tasted delicious. The only complaint is that it wasn't spicy enough. I ordered the extra spicy version, but this is just slightly spicy.

Looking at Ryuu, who looked like she ate the flames of hell, I suppressed myself from saying Rejoice, and gave her a glass of water.

"Sorry, they must have misplaced our dishes..." I chuckled, seeing her drinking another glass as I switched our Mapo Tofu.

Testing the other one, she smiled, "This one is much better." She said, and I chuckled again before eating a spoonful of my extra spicy Mapo Tofu.

Hmmm... Perfect.

"How can you eat that with a smile." She asked me, surprised.

"Because the food is good," I answered simply, and we continued eating and telling stories during the time I was stuck in the dungeon.

After we were done, I paid for the both of us, and we started walking back to the Stardust Garden, enjoying the magic-stone-illuminated view of Orario.

"Ryuu, can you close your eyes for a second?" I asked, and when she did it, I took the necklace I bought her and put it around her neck.

"You can open your eyes now," I said, and she looked at the necklace.

"It's beautiful," She said and kissed me.

"When I saw it, the gem reminded me of your eyes," I told her awkwardly, as it was the first time I bought a gift for her as my girlfriend. Um, it's weird to actually think that I got a girlfriend when I reincarnated here I didn't expect to have one.

We continued walking, and as we got close, Sylvie sensed me, so she ran towards us before jumping into my hands.

"So, how was your date." She asked with a smirk, so I flicked her on the forehead.

"Good, I even decided to stop buying meat for a while," I said with an evil smirk.

Her eyes widened in horror before looking at Ryuu, "Mama! Tell Papa not to do it!"

Ryuu also had the same evil smirk I had before saying, "You know Sylvie, you should eat more veggies."

"Noooooooo!" We both chuckled, looking at her cry.

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Authors Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

I want to try to publish two chapters instead of just one a week, so here you have the second chapter this week.

If you enjoy this story, remember to vote and leave a review if you haven't.