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Whilst we were in the uninhabited meadow, Gerald told me that Melisa had returned to the city, so I'm now on my way to visit her.
I knew she was thinking of returning to Danes City, as the last time I spoke to her, she told me that matters concerning Exceptional Destiny's base of operations in the capital of Drial Cenit were already fairly well established.
But I didn't know exactly when she planned to make the return journey.
As I approach Melisa's house, I see that the huge warehouses, which were previously under construction, are finally finished.
The warehouses have very large double doors, wide open.
Thanks to the open doors, you can see that inside the buildings there is a vast number of wooden crates stacked one on top of the other in the form of huge columns.
As I walk along, some of those wooden crates are being handled by a group of workers, who are loading them onto one of the many carriages coming in and out of the site.
When I finally arrive at my beloved's house and open the door, I head straight for the kitchen, as I can see that's where her blue dot is.
"Hey. How are you, sweetheart? You didn't tell me you were coming back," I say as soon as I see Melisa's figure, who has her back to me, chopping some vegetables, probably for a salad.
The farmer jumps at the sound of my voice, causing the kitchen knife to slip from her hands and land a few inches away from her, sticking into the wall of the house.
But Melisa pays no attention whatsoever to the knife and, turning around, runs towards me, saying, "Darling! You didn't tell me you were coming by either. If I'd known, I would have gotten ready to welcome you."
"Haha… You don't need to get ready to welcome me. I like you just the way you are…" I say as I pull her into a tight embrace, which Melisa welcomes gladly.
"… I didn't tell you because I didn't know you were here. But now that you're here, I've brought you some gifts I'd promised you and still owed you."
"Ohh... Did you promise me a present?..." she says, snuggling up against me.
"... I don't remember."
"Yes, I did," I say as I release her from my embrace, which she doesn't seem to like one bit, to give her the things I bought for her at Erick's shop.
"... Here you go"
"Ahh... You were referring to these things," says Melisa, holding in her hands the short sword with Edge+, the small shield with Physical Shield+, and the set of armor with the same runes as the shield.
"Don't you like them?" I asked upon noticing the slight tone of disappointment in the woman's voice.
"No... I mean, yes, I do like them, but I had already gotten my own equipment. Objects that I had already gotten used to using. And now that I have these things, I-" says Melisa hurriedly and with a troubled air.
'Ohh? I hadn't imagined that she could do that...
A part of me thought that she wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea of fighting and that she mostly pretended to please me...
But it seems that's not the case.'
"Sorry, darling. It's my fault. I should have fulfilled what I promised you much earlier..." I say, interrupting her.
"... If you like, you can return those things to me. You don't have to accept them if you're not interested in having them."
"That won't be necessary. I do love them. It's my fault. I should have waited, but since I had to travel out of town... Well, I didn't want to travel unarmed and without protection," says Melisa, hugging the objects to herself.
"Agh... I'm a fucking idiot! I focused on preparing your status for the trip and didn't realize you didn't have equipment," I say, realizing how much I let her down.
"It's okay, Emir. It's normal for you to forget some things, and especially considering everything you've been doing lately in Drial Cenit," says the woman, finally storing the objects in a storage ring so she can come closer to me and lean her body against mine again.
"Yes, but I can't allow myself to forget things related to you. You are my priority... Ahem, along with Alessia and Delia," I say with a furrowed brow, while my mind lashes out at the thought of what could have happened because of my mistake.
"Anyway... What's done is done. You can't undo the past, but you can try to make sure it doesn't happen again," she says, lifting her face to give me a quick playful kiss.
"It won't happen again. I swear" I say, and I kiss her too, but I linger on her mouth, letting my tongue explore the farmer's tongue.
"Hah!... You don't need to swear anything to me, silly. We are human. We can make mistakes. The important thing is what we do when we make these," says Melisa, after taking a breath when we finally separate our lips.
"What a wise woman my wife is," I say with a slightly joking tone, but full of affection.
"Hahaha... I like it when you compliment me. By the way... If you didn't come to the city for me—" she says, leaving the sentence hanging.
"Yes. I came to see Gerald..." I say, to which Melisa sighs with a resigned air.
"... He's not that bad, darling. In fact, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have found out that you returned and I wouldn't be here now with you."
"Haa... Yes, I guess I have to thank him for that. It's just that... I don't understand how you can get along so well with him. You have nothing in common. He is a miserable old pervert, a womanizer, a brawler and-" she says, but I interrupt her as I see her face start to get red slightly with fury while listing Gerald's many qualities.
"And he is my friend... Or something like that. What is certain is that he works for me and so far I have no complaints in that regard." I say and explain to her the things I got today at Gerald's store, among which are the improvement materials for some of Alessia and Delia's skills.
So I promise her that next time I will ask Gerald to get me the materials to improve Melisa's inventory, but she apparently has a very different idea.
"I don't want you to get the materials for me, Emir. And even less knowing that they would come from... Your friend. I am an adult and independent woman, and I can take care of myself. If I don't do it, I'm going to end up feeling like a kept woman," she says as she slightly pulls away from me and looks directly into my eyes.
"Honestly, I think what you just said is nonsense. It's not something I think about very often, but I know you're quite a wealthy woman..." I say, laughing, amused by her words.
"... How are you going to feel like a kept woman merely because I give you a few random objects or not?"
"You have already given me more than enough since I met you, Emir. You have no idea how much you have given me. If I keep receiving things from you, I will feel bad, because I have nothing to reciprocate," says the farmer while bringing a clenched fist to her chest and looking at me with an anguished expression.
"Haa... Fine. We'll do it your way. I don't agree with practically anything you've said, but I will respect your decision..." I say with a sigh, as it seems stupid to me that we are arguing over this nonsense.
"... After all, if you change your mind, you can tell me at any time."
"I'm not going to change my mind! Just tell me what the damn materials I need are, and I'll take care of getting them..." she says with a huff of exasperation.
"... Moreover, I can also take care of getting what Arya needs."
"Haha... Ok, I'll make a list for you later. But first, I would like to take the opportunity to spend a few hours at some labyrinth. Does that sound good to you?" I say in a conciliatory tone.
'That will probably do her good to vent on the monsters all that accumulated negative energy.'
"Yes, that sounds perfect to me. But I think it would be good to call Arya to join us," says Melisa while looking toward one of the rooms in the house.
'True, Arya... Why wasn't she with Melisa? Did they have a fight?'