I Became My Healer Elf Character - Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Silken Wares And A Hat That Scares
Hikari exited into the street with Amelia and the two children. In the wealthy district, the stalls around them were fancier. A few of them had seafood, and the smell of freshly cooked fish reached her nose. Of course, Hikari as a Japanese person could not resist a certain stall which had fish and rice.

The elf walked over and looked at the pot of sticky rice. She grinned at the young woman running the stall.

Hikari ended up ordering four orders of fish and rice for breakfast. In the end, the taste was fine, but it was still nothing compared to her actual homeland. Right about now, she was missing the taste of soy sauce. However, looking over at Nona, the little girl didn’t have such reservations.

She ate as if her life depended on it, and her eyes sparkled each time she brought a spoonful of food to her little mouth.

“Don’t eat too fast,” Hikari said, “you will damage your little tummy.”

Nona nodded as Hikari cleaned the little girl’s face with a towelette. “I am sorry. I never had food this good.” As the girl finished, little tears streaked down her cheeks. “I have never felt so happy.”

Hikari smiled at the little girl. “Well, if you think we’ve had fun now, life can get even better than this.”

“It can!?”

“Believe me. Remember what Amelia said about me being a goddess? That also makes you a little angel at the same time.”

“Don’t make such promises if you won’t keep them,” Amelia said. “Look, now she’s brighter than even the sun.”

Hikari chuckled. “Who said I won’t keep the promise?”

“What about me?” Kai asked.

“You can be a little angel, too. Consider it as a reward for keeping your sister safe all of this time. You’re good karma has returned.”

“Karma?”

“You don’t have such a concept here? Basically, if you act good, then the world will grant you a good life. If you act bad, then bad things may happen to you.”

Kai nodded seriously. However, a second later, a blank expression adorned his face and he tilted his head. “If that’s true, then how come nothing bad has happened to those thieves at the guild? And what about me? Shouldn’t I have bad karma for stealing from those innocent people?”

Hikari was stunned. She smiled wryly and looked towards Amelia for help. However, that girl simply turned her head away. Thankfully, Hikari’s savior was none other than Nona.

“Brother! We shouldn’t question our goddess’ wisdom! She can’t be wrong. If anything, the world is the one who is wrong for not following her rules!”

What kind of weird logic…Yes, it wasn’t Hikari who could ever be wrong. It was the world for not obeying by her will. She was saved by the minds of children who are too innocent for this world. After all, it was this goddess who by Amelia’s own admission had ‘sinned’ the night before. The elf in question shook her head and decided not to think about it.

Instead, she pointed her staff to a store not far away. “Let’s see what they have in there.”

“Okay!” The little girl ran and grabbed Hikari’s hand.

The store itself was in the same style as many of the buildings—the smooth white stone. However, there was a little wooden placard above the door that made Hikari curious. The name of the place was [Soranna’s Silken Sea].

The group walked inside, and little bells chimed above them at the same time. It seemed to be a magic shop. There were several trinkets and mana containing items lining the shelves to the sides. However, the entire middle section was made of extravagant woven clothing.

Upon entry, a woman with a pointy blue witch hat looked over the group. For a second she looked down at her desk as if the group were unimportant. However, she quickly did a double take. The woman pushed her glasses up and practically jumped over the counter with wide eyes.

Hikari had expected the store owner to rush her, but no, she ran towards Nona instead. However, the second before the witch could reach the little girl, Hikari stopped her with her staff.

“And what are you doing?” Hikari asked.

The woman gasped and shook her head. “I am sorry! I have never seen an outfit like this! This is seriously absurd! And…And…This boy too!” The woman pointed at the boy with crazed eyes. “Why does this boy have an outfit more outstanding than the guards in the royal castle? Why is this girl’s outfit better than those of the magic school!? Who designed them!?”

Hikari’s eyes widened. “Oh, you can tell?” The elf gestured to her own outfit next, pulling on the sleeve. “And what about this one?”

“Hmm?” The witch tilted her head before leaning in closer to Hikari, invading her personal space as if it was the most natural thing to do. She pushed up her glasses and squinted at the outfit.

The woman’s mouth gaped. “I can’t even read it! Who are you people!?”

“You need to calm down. Do you treat all of your customers like this? Look, you’re scaring the children.”

“Oh yes, yes, my apologies.” The witch bowed towards the children. “I am terribly sorry for my behavior. I am Soranna—otherwise known as the witch of silk. Oh, but don’t worry. I am a nice witch.”

“I am Hikari.”

“Hikari?” Soranna asked, placing a finger on her chin. “I feel like I heard that name before.”

The elf in question wondered where she could have heard it. There were only two possibilities in her mind. One was that this witch was related to that other witch, and the other one was that this witch was part of her business dealings with Salazar. Either way, she didn’t want to reveal anything.

“Rather than that,” Hikari said, cutting the witch off prematurely, “are all of the outfits in this shop made from the webs of those spiders?”

“Oh? You know about them? Ashamed as I am, most are not from those spiders. I’ve not been able to procure a large amount of them, but there are a few in stock. Honestly, I am more curious about you guys. Did you make all of these clothes? Are you willing to part with anything?”

“And what if I did? Wait…Are you going to join the auction tomorrow night?”

“Of course, I will. If I didn’t I’d be the dumbest enchanter around.”

Hikari smiled and pulled a witch hat of her own from her inventory. “In that case, you’d want something like this huh?”

Soranna almost jumped out of her boots trying to grab the hat.

However, Hikari pulled it away quicker. “Not so fast. This is a greedy business you’re running.”

“No! You misunderstand! I just wanted to observe it!”

Hikari looked over the hat in question. In her eyes it wasn’t that special. It was acquired from a quest line involving a sect of witches when she was around level 400.

In that small story line, she had to clear out an entire dungeon that the witches made camp in. The theme of the dungeon was evil plants, and the witches all had spells related to buffing their plant summons or summoning void plants. The dungeon was called the [Gloom Garden], and the witches were called [Gloom Garden Witches].

The hat itself was green, and had pink thorns curling around the brim. It gave out a small aura that was likely only visible to Hikari and Amelia. It was dropped from the final boss of that dungeon who happened to be the leader of the witches: The Gloom Garden Maiden. Hikari inspected the hat to be sure.

[Hat of the Gloom Maiden] – This hat found its way to the owner through the worship of voidal plants. It is said that the hat itself still lives in the hands of its new owner.

Effects: All plant based magic is %50 more effective. Plant magic costs %100 less to cast. The wearer of this hat may summon a Gloom Goliath at no cost. (Once the Goliath has fallen, the wearer must wait 24 hours to summon another.)

Hikari never found this hat to be fitting for her or any of her subordinates. However, she also didn’t remember the flavor text about the hat being alive. She was going to use this thing as a potential bait. Maybe it’s too dangerous?

Soranna gave her puppy dog eyes. “This…This is a living artifact, is it not?”

Hikari nodded. “How much do you think something like this would go for at an auction. Rather, how much would you pay for this?”

The witch practically salivated, but she reeled it in. “M-may, I see it?”

Hikari handed it over. “I would be very careful.”

Soranna obeyed and held the hat tenderly in her palms. Then she inspected it with her glasses. Her expression went from shock to confusion to disappointment before she handed the hat back to Hikari.

“I don’t think there is anyone in this empire who can afford this. I certainly can’t. If it was auctioned, it would get the highest bidding in the whole thing.”

“I see…In that case, why don’t you auction it?”

“Yeah, it would really…Huh?”