Extraordinary – Ordinary – Soap! - Chapter 3

CH3: LUCIA BARTERS WITH CELES

“Has Her Holiness adapted to this world yet?”

“Yeah, gradually. Since Her Holiness’s education has also ended, they say that the purification journey will begin.”

”Is that so?!”

That’s certainly a cheerful topic!

Or so I thought, but Sir Celes’s face looks gloomy.

“Is something the matter?”

”Yeah, well… it seems like I’m required to accompany Her Holiness as a fellow pilgrim on that journey.”

He was drooping his shoulders as he informed me with those words. In return, I also felt dejected.

No, wait, I think being elected as a traveling companion for the purification journey is amazing?! It is and all, but in this way if I become unable to meet him during that time… as I thought, I’ll be lonely.

“It’ll be lonely…”

In response to my inner voice I involuntarily spilled out, Sir Celes snapped his gaze towards me with a staggering force.

“Eh, no, well, um…… take good care of your health, and please come back safely. Alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely come back to you! Without fail!”

Firmly clutching the hand I was holding my sandwich in, Sir Celes vigorously declared that. As expected of a knight; his grip strength is overwhelming. It hurts.

“Hey, by the way, does that mean… if it’s alright with you, that ribbon of yours, Lucia – I was wondering if you wouldn’t lend that to me as a charm or something? Or just kidding!”

In reply to Sir Celes’s words, I placed my sandwich down on a napkin and touched the ribbon tying my hair together with one hand.

“This? It’s a cheap ribbon, but will it actually work as a charm?”

It’s not silk, but sheer cotton. There’s no pattern as well – it’s a single shade of violet.

“It will!”

“Since I have a brand-new one the same as this in my room, I’ll give that to-“

“This is definitely fine! Really!”

Because of the earnest look in his face whilst making that declaration, I pulled out my ribbon as it originally was.

Accompanied by rustling sounds, I then handed over my ribbon to Sir Celes after smoothening out the creases in the fabric.

“Thanks! If I have this, I have a feeling that I’ll be able to try my best!”

A good-looking man grinning from ear to ear is pretty overwhelming to deal with!

Just one ribbon causes him to burst out into a broad smile… the power of a handsome guy sure is amazing.

“Ah, there’s been something I wanted to give to you, Lucia.”

Sir Celes had inserted his hand into an inside pocket of his uniform for the sake of putting away the ribbon. And just like that, he whipped out a tiny package as a replacement.

“Hand cream. It’s a gift I received, but it’s meaningless to me since I don’t use things like floral-scented creams. If I can get you to accept it though, Lucia, I’ll be happy.”

The cute package fastened together with a pink ribbon is a product of Lily Brizzi, currently a hot commodity on the market.

I haven’t seen the real thing before, but it’s written so on the paper – the logo is inscribed on the package.

“This – is this Lily Brizzi?”

“Mmhm. They say it’s really popular among girls, so I was thinking, ‘Maybe Lucia might like it too~’ or something like that.”

As I thought, looks like it’s Lily Brizzi without a speck of a doubt. Amazing, it’s my first time seeing it!

Lily Brizzi is an incredibly popular cosmetics shop within the royal capital. Above all else, I hear that this floral-scented hand cream is the most popular among all the merchandise.

By no means should this rumored hand cream be entering into my hands. It’s definitely bothering me…

”Just so you know, this is no good.”

”Eh?! Why?!?!”

“I mean, why should I be the one receiving this? Giving away someone else’s present to another person is no good!”

When it comes to giving Lily Brizzi as a gift, the sender is probably a woman, right?

There’s no mistaking it as anything other than a heartfelt present.

“Suppose that I gave you a present, Sir Celes. If I caught you doing something like giving it away to another person, then I’d be sad…”

“That kind of thing – it’s not like that at all!”

Lily Brizzi-brand hand cream. I’m fascinated by it, but here’s where I exercise my firm self-control.

Because, a present from a girl…

Since Sir Celes appears to be a very cool, good-looking knight, I think most likely there are a lot of people who fall in love with him. There are probably also a lot of noble girls who hand over presents like this to him as well.

Huh? Somehow I’ve gone and made myself extremely sad.

Hand cream… certainly, I’d be happy to accept it because of my awfully rough skin. But in my line of work, we’re expected to endure to the best of our abilities and go without such a thing, though.

“It’s rude to the girl who gave this to you.”

“Girl?!”

After I flatly said that, Sir Celes made a surprised face.

Huh? Why???

“It’s not from a girl! This, I bo… or no, nevermind, that’s not it – there’s a son from the Brizzi family in our troop. It’s from that guy!”

“The person who gave you that is a man?”

“Gift… Ah, right, right, it’s from a guy! That’s why Lucia, it’s fine if you don’t worry about it! So here, take it!”

He forcibly handed it over.

“Well, if you insist then. Thank you very much, I’m happy!”

”That’s good…”

”With the ribbon and hand cream, it’s just like bartering!”

”Bartering?!”

Is that wrong?

Somehow, Sir Celes looks to be visibly stricken. Or is it just my imagination?
Then I realized it when I saw Sir Celes’s depressed figure. I instinctively turned pale.

When I think it over, calling it “bartering” was definitely rude. How impolite I was!

After all, switching Lily Brizzi hand cream with my ribbon isn’t an equivalent exchange!

It’s not at the level of swapping gifts with your various coworkers. In exchange for an unused sample of a crazily popular product, I gave back a paper-thin and secondhand ribbon.

It looks like I accidentally downplayed the value between mine and Sir Celes’s items with what I said earlier. I can’t believe I’d even imply my ribbon was of equal value to his gift!

”I’m sorry! I said something rude!”

“I don’t mind, I’m used to it! Lucia, you don’t have anything to worry about, so it’s fine already! Bartering, right, that’s definitely it! You’re not mistaken!”

“Is that so? I’m really sorry, though…”

As I quickly bowed my head, the wind blew through my now-unfastened hair, tousling it.

It’s a little bit of a nuisance now, since I don’t have my ribbon to tie my hair together anymore.

Ribbon… ah, don’t I have this Lily Brizzi-brand ribbon?

It looks to be higher class than my old ribbon, at least. It’s pink with a flower pattern spreading across the fabric.

I unwrapped the ribbon from the package, combed through my hair with my fingers, and tightly bound it together. Alrighty, I should be good with this!

“Um, if it’s okay with you, may I use this hand cream now?”

Just as I asked Sir Celes that, a pleasant smile returned to his previous, slightly troubled face.

“Yeah, by all means use it!”

As soon as I was told, I immediately tried opening the wrapping paper.

The resulting round tin features the Lily Brizzi logo and a picture of a pink flower drawn on it. When I pried it open, a sweet floral scent started wafting about.

Super cute! And a great smell, too!

”Wow!”

I let out a shout of joy without thinking. Right after that, I noticed that Sir Celes was looking downward and had slapped his face with one hand, slowly dragging it down and covering his eyes from view.

”Is something the matter?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, um… yeah, I was just thinking ‘great, what a relief!’ is all.”

“?”

When I scooped out some cream from inside the tin and smeared it on my hands, it spread out more than I expected.

Compared to the cheap hand cream I usually use, this one isn’t as clumpy or sticky. Once all the cream was absorbed so that it disappeared, my skin was silky-smooth afterwards.

More than anything else, it’s an amazingly nice scent! I’m so happy!

”I’m incredibly happy!”

Ah, shouldn’t I share this happiness with Sir Celes as well? It was originally a gift addressed to him, after all.

”Here, Sir Celes too!”

“!”

I took Sir Celes’s hands into my own, and with both of my hands slathered the cream evenly. Hmm, his hands are really calloused from sword practice.

”Me too… I’m — considerably happy.”

Hey, it’s the same with me!

Lily Brizzi is amazing. The fragrance goes as far as to make men happy. As you’d expect from only something popular.

“I’ll definitely treasure it!”

”I’ll also cherish this.”

And then we laughed together.