Chapter 33 The Ultimate Pillow

A week had passed since I had escaped from the clutches of a vengeful Goddess. Luckily it had only been Loki that had chased me and not Finn, he had only trailed behind to keep his Goddess safe. She had even gone to Hephaestus to scream about me.

Now however it was present time. I had already given my parents their presents. Da got a very small set of metal working tools. Because he now worked mainly with alchemical equipment he needed to be much more precise. It even included tools to strip metal into wire and use it for metallic inlay.

Ma's gift was much more difficult to make. I got the idea from a blog about condoms that could change color based on the STD, I made something similar but for poisons, and well not a condom. It was a little jar of clear liquid that when someone's tissue sample was dipped in it would change color signifying certain poisons. I gave her both a few test samples and the formula for it. Of course I didn't have every poison in the world on it, but some of the more common ones as well as more deadly ones found in the Dungeon.

When they had asked what it was about I just told them the presents were a part of a story from Dungeon Oratoria, which was true. It was the author that created Danmachi's idea of Christmas. It was a story about a Spirit that saw sad children from a wartorn country crying themselves to sleep so she would descend in the night leaving presents at their bedside.

I knocked on the crotch door that was Ganesha's Familia base and asked the person that answered If I could talk to Ardi.

"Hi Kova! What's up? You've never visited our home before," she said cheerily.

She was wearing a thing of work clothes with thick gloves on. A few scrapes and dirt covered her.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"I'm working on my Taming with a Needle Rabbit. It's giving me some trouble though, poor thing has a limp."

"Oh! This is perfect then."

I dug into my pack and pulled out a large box.

After handing it to Ardi she opened it up to see a wide array of different sized collars with little name tags. Each said "Ardi of the Ganesha Familia" and there was even a potion along with stencils of each letter in Koine.

"They're name tags, when you've thought of a name all you have to do is put the stencil on then dab a bit of that potion on it and it will stain the metal."

Ardi's eye's shone and she leapt at me, hugging me tightly.

"Thank you Kova! Ooh should I name it Snugglemuffin?"

"Uh no, definitely not."

"Why did you get this for me?" She gasped. "Do you have a crush on me?! That's so cute, my first admirrer."

"You're a bit young for me," I said bluntly.

"I'm older than you."

"Not old enough, your sister on the other hand…"

She punched me in the shoulder lightly.

After visiting Ardi I went over to the Guild. I wasn't going into the Dungeon today for once, so I was able to go in when it was nearly empty. Rose was at her usual spot at the front desk. She was resting her head on the counter and dozed lightly.

Before I had even made it all the way to the counter her nose twitched and her eyes opened looking at me. Her werewolf senses were crazy sensitive.

"Yes Kova? Don't tell me you're going into the Dungeon now, it's already past noon," she said, standing up and straightening her clothes.

She said nothing of the fact that she had literally just been sleeping on the job in full view of everyone.

"Well, in lieu of the Winter Spirit I wanted to give you a gift."

"No," she cut me off.

Despite my best efforts Rose had been keeping me at arms length since my run in with the Evilus a few months ago. It was like a catch and release where every time she realized I was eroding her walls she would build them up again. Luckily I could tell it was so she wouldn't be hurt instead of what a lot of girls did to me back on Earth treating it like a game, otherwise I would have kept my distance from her.

"Yes! After all, it helps me in the end too. It would help you help me in Dungeoneering"

Rose frowned, but didn't complain further.

I pulled out a fluffy pillow from my bag of goodies.

"A pillow?" Rose said flatly.

"Not just a pillow, I ordered this from the Hermes Familia. It is self-cooling, lullaby playing, and an easy to clean magic pillow."

It was the most expensive present I had gotten.

"And how does this help me help you." she said though her eyes had gro

"Well I got you this to help you help me to help you in helping me, because I always noticed how tired you are. So if this state of the art pillow allows you to sleep better at night then during the day when you teach me about the Dungeon you'll be able to use your full mental ability."

"I don't think-"

I put the pillow in her hand, forcing her to feel the heavenly softness.

"Rose it's very important that you help me help you in being able to help me in my-"

"I'll take it if you stop saying help."

She took the pillow and I saw her ears flatten and her eyes go half-lidded. It was the sexiest face I'd seen on her, and all because of a pillow. Rose held it close to herself and I saw her nose twitch.

"It has your scent."

Of course it does, I needed to make sure every time she used it she thought of me, it definitely wasn't manipulation.

"I had to make sure it works."

"Hmm," she said, too busy snuggling up to the pillow.

"Alright I gotta go! I'll see you tomorrow."

A small smile touched her lips as I turned. I hid a little fist pump as I left, now I only had one place left to go for the rest of the presents.