26 - Hazelnut

We continued on in a daze and after a while Maja spoke up. I thought she was going to comment on our first demon encounter but I was wrong.

"I'd like to name the Moroza if that's alright with everyone."

Is that what she's been thinking about all this time instead of that bird demon guy?!

"I don't know if it would respond to it like Toast does, but go right ahead. What name are you thinking of?"

"I want to call her Zay'tun. My home doesn't have a word for what she reminds me of, but the neighbouring villages would use this word." 

Her?

"What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it, it's a small black fruit that we stored in salt. My mother used to put it in our bread for flavour. I thought it matched Toast quite nicely."

Maja called Zay'tun's name and she cocked her head and flashed with a white light. Maja's status screen popped up in front of her.

"Oh my."

"What is it?"

"It seems the little one has been charmed by me. I have a new tab in my screen, and her name and stats are there. How curious."

Monster taming? Nice RPG feeling!

Toast and Zay'tun spun in circles, and I couldn't be sure but the Moroza seemed happy. 

Maja smiled and giggled to herself, and Tamon was lovestruck and tried to make his move once again, asking her all sorts of things about her homeland, only to be ignored completely as usual. He wept in defeat and we kept walking.

~~~~~~

In two more days time we arrived at Kauppala. It was a market town so we could hear it before we saw it; the hustle and bustle of people and stalls selling their wares from all over the southern part of the country.

Maja explained that because Kauppala had less law enforcement and laws in general, merchants often skipped over Great City Linna to sell here instead. It could be a shady place because of that. Adventurers were more abundant here as well due to the higher level monsters in the surrounding wastelands and frequent escort quests that led them here.

We decided to split up to gather information. Now that Maja had named the Moroza it was following her instead of Toast so we agreed to both lie about having Spirit Partners. During our walk I discovered that monster taming isn't actually a job class in this world, and the Moroza showing up only on Maja's 'Party' screen was unprecedented.

We went in different directions from the market square and agreed to meet back at nightfall. I began by looking around at all the market had to offer. This is research too!

I indulged in strange smelling foods and stranger smelling drinks. Toast ate a brightly coloured orange and purple fruit that Alku had sent a popup about, notifying us it was safe for him to eat. 

At least she's still doing that.

Toast and I ventured through the maze that was the market asking around about demons and castles. Half the people I asked ignored me and tried to sell me something, and the other half said they didn't know and tried to sell me something. I stopped at a small booth that was selling daggers, and my inner RPG fan wanted one terribly. 

Unfortunately for me, every time I took an interest in weapons in an effort to try and actually play as a 'character' in this world, I was blocked by the simple fact that most, if not all weapons required a certain level to equip. The lowest level weapon I had found in a shop in Linna was essentially a pointy rock on a stick, and even that needed level 3. 

Maybe I can get lucky in Kauppala. Show me level 1!

And there it was. A curved dagger with some rust on it, aptly titled 'Rusty Dagger' when I picked it up and the dialogue box appeared. 

>Equip Level: 1

YESSSSSSSSSS!

My excitement was through the roof and I looked up at the merchant to ask how much it was.

"That one? Hmmm, that one has sentimental value you know. I'd let it go for a silver piece."

Expensive! But I want it!

I dug around in my pocket for the coin I'd reserved for my food supplies, when a small voice with a sharp tone cut in.

"What a scam artist! You expect this idiot to pay a full silver for a weapon that'll break in one hit? I mean it's his own fault that he's an idiot but you shouldn't take advantage of idiots!"

I turned my head to see a little girl with twin tails, a raggedy dress, and a thick and heavy leather apron belted to her small frame. Her face was marked with soot, and she stood with her hands on her hips, scowling at the merchant. He scowled right back.

"Mind your business brat."

"Brat?! Who are you calling a brat?! I'm already in my 60's, and weapons are my business, idiot!"

She angrily tapped on an emblem pinned to her apron strap. It was another strange character I didn't know, and I wondered if I really should learn how to read here.

"Fine, dwarf brat then. Get out of here before I tell your master you disrupted my business. Or maybe I'll ask him for the silver, eh?"

She gulped and stammered, and I saw her angry eyes start to gloss over. I interrupted and handed the merchant a silver piece, put the dagger in my belt loop, and hurriedly thanked him while I grabbed the girl under my arm and bolted from the booth. Toast chased at my heels laughing in my head while the girl kicked and thrashed around yelling at me to put her down.

In a back alley that branched off from the market, I stopped running and set her down. Toast excitedly ran around her sniffing and jumping. He always liked kids back home. She however did not care for this and pressed herself against a wall, apologizing profusely. I wrangled Toast and had him sit politely a ways away from us so I could try to calm her down, and crouched to her level.

"Hey, I'm sorry about him, it's okay now."

She smacked my cheek with full force.

Eh?

"You stupid idiot! How dare you pick me up! Moron! The disrespect of kids these days! Idiot!"

"I-I'm sorry? You looked like you were in trouble."

"Well I wasn't! I can handle myself fine! I'm already in my 60's you know!"

She said that before to the merchant, is that a saying around here?

I ended up letting her scold me for several minutes, until Tamon and Maja appeared at the end of the alley. Toast and Zay'tun reunited and frolicked around, and I caught the other two of them up to speed, or at least, up to my speed given that I was clueless as to what was going on with this girl.

"Ahh, I see now. We saw you running through the market and worried something had happened. My apologies, I should have prepared you better for speaking to other people."

Was that an insult? Coming from shy and reserved Maja?

"Sir Mitsuta, this woman here is a dwarf. The emblem on her apron indicates she's an apprentice in a workshop, and you should hold her in higher regard."

Maja leaned in a bit to whisper to me.

"Dwarves don't like being disrespected. They especially don't like being mistaken for children."

I finally clued in and bowed in apology to the dwarf-lady. She haughtily turned her nose up at me.

"This idiot bought a junk weapon for a whole silver too. You should keep a better eye on him."

She snatched my dagger from my belt and tinked it off the wall. It crumbled to pieces and pixelated away.

"Look."

I cried over my level 1 weapon, grasping at where it had disappeared, and looked to her in disbelief. She looked down at me smugly.

"I tried to warn you, idiot."

I whimpered and looked to my friends, who shook their heads at me. The dwarf-lady sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped. Come to my master's workshop and I'll give you another dagger if you're going to act so pitifully."

The tsundere has finally appeared! I could have happily lived my life without meeting you!

We followed her through alleyways in all directions, and once we were thoroughly lost she announced our arrival. A large heavy door swung open, and an intense heat radiated from inside. Toast and Zay'tun recoiled and waited just outside.

"Hassle! You're late! Where's my soapstone?! We can't keep marking these with chalk!"

A hefty stout man that aligned much more nicely with my ideals of a dwarf appeared at the back of the forge, red in the face. Our guide rushed over to him, and we awkwardly watched as she got berated and yelled at for various things. Her already tiny body seemed to shrink as he went on.

After he'd finished hollering and threw his hands up, he disappeared behind a rack full of materials, and the girl shuffled back to us. Tamon tried to relieve the tension.

"S-so your name is....Hassle?"

"No! Of course not! That's just what that dumb jerk calls me. My name is Hassel."

Isn't that the same?!

I thought about how I would write it, and deduced that there was no food relation in her name, and therefore she couldn't possibly be a new character in my isekai life. No tsunderes allowed!

"Ah! My father used to buy Hasselnot cream for our bread when my brother and I were children!"

Tamon reminisced as I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, and Maja drove the final nail in the coffin.

"Ahh, yes, if I recall correctly Hassel is Hazel in dwarvish, isn't it?"

....Ugh.