Chapter 38 - Bear Kappa
The next day, after morning training session and breakfast, Miguel showed up at Gail's house.
“Okay, let’s go!”
“Huh? Is Dad coming with us?”
“Huh? Is Misha coming with us?”
Dan and Gail asked each other.
“I’m coming, too.”
Even Aina seemed to be tagging along. Thus, the group headed toward the forest. Misha was grinning from ear to ear. Quite a difference from her mood yesterday. Arnold seemed pretty fired up about something, too.
“Dan, why are Dad and Mom coming with us?”
“Yesterday, after I told Master Arnold that I could use magic now, he insisted on going to the forest, too. But weren’t you supposed to bring Misha only after the cabin was completely finished?”
“Well, yesterday….”
Gail explained what happened with Misha yesterday.
“You sounded like a married couple.”
Dan laughed out of loud. Miguel then spoke to Gail.
“Hey, kiddo, you haven’t shown your face at Big Bro’s shop since then, right? He’s probably getting impatient. Let’s stop by before we go to the forest.”
Come to think of it, Dwan told me to drop by about once a month. I’d completely forgotten.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
The group arrived at Dwan's workshop, but it was closed.
“Is he taking a day off? The shop is closed.”
Gail said to Dan.
“Hey, it’s over here!”
Miguel called out loudly.
“What, you guys don’t even know that Big Bro opened a new shop?”
Miguel looked exasperated. The group then arrived in front of a certain building with a big sign that said Chief Trading Company.
"Big Bro, I brought the kid."
"I told you to show up once a month, didn't I?"
Dwan suddenly started yelling, but he didn't seem particularly angry.
"Oh, what's this? Arnold and Aina are here too.... and also the young lady."
"It's been a while, Mr. Dwan."
Misha greeted Dwan with a big smile.
"Kiddo, this is your share for this month. Two gold coins."
Dwan handed two gold coins to Gail.
"Two gold coins!?"
That's about two million if converted to Japanese yen.
"The new tools are selling like crazy. No matter how much we produce them, we can’t keep up with the demand.”
I just earned 2 million yen without doing anything....
"It'll probably stay like this for a while, so I've already hired some people to help with the production."
I can see quite a few people working in what looks like a workshop in the back. It's great that the business is booming.
Seeing the situation, Dan asked Dwan anxiously.
"P-Pops, are you not going to make weapons anymore?"
"You fool! What's left if you take that away from me? I will continue to accept orders to make weapons."
Dan was relieved to hear that Dwan hadn't stopped making weapons.
"By the way, what are you planning with this group?"
"Today, we are just going to the forest where I usually train."
"What do you mean by just going? This is suspicious. I'm coming, too."
"You are coming too? Sure, I don't mind."
Thus, Dwan joined the group.
"Dad, can you hold onto this for me?"
Saying that, Gail handed Arnold one gold coin.
"This one is for Dan."
He then handed the other gold coin to Dan.
"Young Master, what's this?"
"You always paid for everything, so I’m paying you back."
"No, no, no, this is way too much!"
"What do you mean by he always paid for everything?"
Being asked by Arnold, Gail explained that Dan always paid for the meat skewers, iron grills, and everything else with his own money.
"Dear...."
"Dan, that gold coin is from me, so take it. You don't have to worry about Gail's money."
"M-Master, it's really not that much...."
"No matter how close you are with Gail, I'm entrusting him to you as a job. I won't allow you to pay his expenses out of your own pocket. If the money runs out, just let me know."
"U-Understood."
It's been bothering that Dan always paid for everything. I'm glad Arnold recognized it as job's expenses.
The group left the trading company and headed towards the forest after that exchange.
"Hey, kiddo. What's with that hairstyle? Is it in fashion or something?"
Oh, I forgot. I was supposed to get revenge on Dan.
"It's an image change.... a makeover, Pops."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Dwan said, looking puzzled.
"Dad, I'm going to ride on Dan's back, so please carry the iron mesh."
Arnold, with a questioning look on his face, took the iron mesh from Dan.
"What's up, Young Master? You are acting all spoiled today."
Dan said as he crouched down for Gail. Then, as the group left the town, Gail secretly set the back of Dan's head on fire with magic.
"Hot!?"
Dan quickly put Gail down and immediately tried to put out the fire by tapping his head with his hands.
"Young Master, what are you doing!?"
"Hahaha! This is a payback! You burned my hair but kept quiet about it. I walked around the town with missing bangs yesterday."
"What?!"
Dan frantically touched the back of his head.
"It's... gone! My hair's gone!"
"Hey, Pops, this is a makeover!"
Everyone laughed out loud at Dan's head.
"You're all so mean...."
Dan, with a kappa-like head, muttered sadly.
"You guys, that's enough already...."
Aina, with tears welling up from laughing so hard, began chanting a spell.
"□□□□□ Heal!"
Dan's head was enveloped in pink light, and his burnt-out hair regenerated slowly.
Wait, Aina's healing magic can regenerate hair too? That's amazing.
"Mom, my bangs too...."
"Your hair will stay like that as punishment for pulling a prank on someone with magic."
Come on, Dan started it, that's so unfair....
Gail tried using healing magic on himself after arriving in the forest, but his bangs, which he never really paid attention to in the first place, didn't regenerate.