Hard Earned Rewards For Hard Worn Work

Having drastically improved Norri's mood, they both left his shop, with the goal of doing what they could for Rondy. Both in their own ways.

The difference in Norri's character after Shanna's speech had been remarkable.

Despite his ragged stance and hunched walking posture, each step he now took was wider as his eyes looked toward the boundary.

She was glad to see it.
And glad that so many things had become clear through his honesty.

For most, it would seem that the case was closed, but Shanna wasn't quite ready to see it that way.

After all, there were a few remaining elements that couldn't quite be tied up as easily under the 'everything was Norri's fault' umbrella.

For one, how had the pages been torn from Rondy's recipe book? And why?
Was it really Rondy's doing?

For another, there was the matter of Lady Yvessa's guarded answers.
Why be so vague if she'd truly seen nothing at all?

And finally, just what was the trap Rondy had described in his commissions notebook?
Had it just been a prank?
Perhaps for when his student Norri came around?

She could definitely picture her Rondy doing something silly like that, perhaps as a foolish way to make the nervous man break out of his shell…

…But what if it wasn't?

What if Norri was innocent, and the Mandragoros herb hadn't been the cause of the explosion at all?
It could be her usual boyfriend idolizing, but something about careless ingredient storage being the culprit just didn't sit right with her.

And so almost despite herself, her mind had drifted back to the Midnight Picklock.
Could they really be in Floraleyse…?

"Miss Shanna?" Came the gentle voice at her side, accompanied by pat on the shoulder. "We're here."

So they were.

They were stood right outside Rondy and Shanna's shop as the sun baked the little place in all its warmth.
"Oh thank you, Norri." Shanna said inclining her head.

"You must've been deep in thought…" Nori said following her in. "You had your hand on your chin the whole walk back… Y-You looked a bit like an inspector." He finished with a blush.

"Haha really?" Shanna said scratching the back of her head.
"But I'm a forager." She chuckled.

As they'd entered the main entrance, Shanna had become aware of the muffled clamour coming from within the storeroom.
At least she wouldn't have to wake him up.

"Moonlight-" Shanna had begun, before freezing.

When she'd opened the door, Rondy… It almost looked like he'd sniffed an ingredient… and then eaten it.

Rondy coughed, almost choking as she entered.
"I-I wish you'd stop doing that."

"Did you just eat something?" Shanna asked incredulously.
"What? No." He coughed again.

"Come now. Be serious." He said with a casual wave of his hand.
Shanna's eyes continued to get narrower and narrower as she squinted.

"What did you want, I am rather busy." Rondy said hastily. There was clearly a desire to skip past what everyone thought they had just witnessed. Thankfully, his lifeline came in the form of Norri.

"R-Rondy." Norri said huddling inside. "Um, I-I won't run today. Or ever again. I'll be on your side ready to help you." He said with a bob of his head.

Rondy tilted his head at the peculiar statement and actions, as Norri reached into his satchel and withdrew the azure-coloured tome. As he placed it on the table, the weight of its impact kicked up ancient dust from within the pages.

"Do you remember this book?" Norri asked, reaching into his bag for an additional one. "Before your accident, you and I were working together making potions from it."

"I… don't recollect." Rondy said somewhat glumly.

Despite his initially gloomy response, Shanna could see that a different feeling was making itself known, and one that was bit by bit overwhelming his earlier glum reply.

He was intrigued.
Slowly he walked over to where the book lay as Norri continued.

"This is the recipe we were trying to make…" Norri said, opening the huge book to a specific page. "And this is my personal logbook where I took notes." He opened that one also, spinning it round on the table so the open page was legible to be read by Rondy.

Rondy's finger trailed down the page of the old book his eyes scanning the pages, with the occasional dart to the right as he studied Norri's notebook simultaneously.

"You see I think the explosion that happened might be linked to this recipe, and when the Mandragoros herbs were added to the pot." Norri droned on. "They might have been the catalyst. Since this was the current recipe we'd been working on, we might be able to work backwards an-"

"Herb." Rondy interrupted.
"What?" Norri said, so surprised his glasses slid down his nose.

Rondy tapped a word twice on the aged recipe book.
Shanna and Norri craned in to see what he'd been pointing to.

"Herb. Not herbs. Singular." He said.
"Rondy… You remember Old Tongue still?" Shanna asked in surprise.

He looked up cautiously. "…Doesn't everyone?"

Norri and Shanna shook their heads in complete synchronicity.
"…They… They absolutely do not." She said weakly.

Shanna was surprised she wasn't as miffed as she thought she'd be, that Rondy had remembered Old Tongue, but not her. But as she knew it from his stories, he'd taken those lessons as a child from one of the last known teachers of Old Tongue, and from a survivor of the Old Race no less.

A rare privilege indeed.

In the face of losing such a one-of-a-kind experience versus their romantic bond…

Really, there had been no loss at all.
She would get it back anyway.

He'd been reading until just then.
Once again, they'd locked eyes. He'd suddenly raised his head, and in doing so met her gaze directly as her heart beat excitedly.

"I will do my best…" He began. "To determine if this is what caused the explosion and if so, what ingredients are used in it. If I can, reverse engineering an antidote may be possible." As he finished, his eyes lingered on Shanna's for a few moments longer with an impossible to discern expression.

"U-Understood." Shanna replied, holding the basket before her with both hands.
"Well, while you two figure that out, umm, I'll go ahead and make some snacks."

Both boys gave a nod of their head, albeit in their own fashion as Shanna took the opportunity to flee the room at high speed.

She rushed into the kitchen, closing the door with her tilting body as it rested upon the wooden frame.

What was that exactly?!
What a strange expression!

Rondy had never looked at her like that before...

C-Could it be? That her commitment to re-romancing Rondy was making her fall in love with even these strange nondescript expressions of his?

Clapping the side of her face with both palms, she tried to plan out her attack strategy.
"Okay! Let's get to work then!" She said aloud as she took out all her purchases from the wicker basket.

~ ~

The day had crawled along for the boys, hard at work as they'd been.

Poring over the books had been more time consuming than they'd thought, as Rondy struggled to remember proper grammar and sentence structure on some of the Old Tongue instructions, and had to go back crossing out scrawling notes he'd already written.

It was just as the sun was beginning its gentle slope towards the horizon, that a face peeked in through the doorway.

"Okaaaay, it's break time!" Shanna said, before she dipped away again.

Norri rubbed at his forehead with the back of his arm.
"I am pretty hungry." He said looking at Rondy. "The hours really flew by, huh?"

Rondy nodded.

As they left Shanna beckoned them to the living room, and as Rondy entered his detached facade immediately froze over and shattered.

Cringey, colourful, banners hung from the ceiling with one saying LOVE FOREVER! and another saying HAPPY DAY 2 OF MY NEW RONDELHIEM♡♡♡

The walls were plastered with cutout hearts and glittery sparkles.

And upon the table sat an assortment of food. 
There was Brava's various pies, some sandwiches… and next to those fresh pink and white flowers sat in decorative multicolour glass bottles.

"What do you think?" Shanna said with her hands behind her back.

What do I think, Rondy thought paling. Was that a trick question????

He'd only barely manage to survive the initial blast of lovey-doveyness.
Meanwhile, every second spent in the room continued to sap his life energy as every subsequent wave of lovey-doveyness continued its assault on his every sense.

Not good…!
Not good at all…!

A powerful foe had indeed appeared before him. He sought to cover his face with his arm for retroactive protection.

"But that's not aaallll~!" Shanna said in a singsong voice. "Ta-daaah~!"
She moved her arms to her front presenting the tray of freshly baked cupcakes she'd been hiding behind her.

"Try one!" She said brightly.

J-Just take one and be done with it, he bravely thought to himself.
That should appease her, right?

But that's when he caught sight of the icing that adorned the cakes.

On.
Every.
Single.
One.

All of them had cringey, romantic nonsense written across the top.

It was over.

No, he'd known it'd been over the second he stepped foot into this boss's lair.

For the second time in so many days Rondy's body collapsed backwards as he fainted yet again, overloaded on the intensity of Shanna's lovey-dovey ambush.