Chapter 58.1
Chapter 58.1
Blink, blink. Slowly, I blinked my eyelids. No matter how many times I repeated the motion, all I saw was the toy store. I shifted my gaze to Damian; he was staring at me with a bright, innocent face. He had definitely said he wanted to share a secret.
‘And he asked for my help.’
My eyes returned to the building before me. The enormous toy store, built about a year ago. This place, true to its name, only contained toys. There wasn’t a drop of alcohol, a strange herb, a weapon, or even a single cigarette to be found.
“…Are you sure this is the right place?”
“Yes, it is.”
Just to be safe, I asked, and Damian nodded. Damian and a toy store. It was a rather incongruous combination.
‘Wait, is there some sort of information exchange happening here that I don’t know about?’
What if the toy store was a front for some clandestine operation? I had investigated this place when it first opened, but hadn’t found anything particularly suspicious. It was, quite literally, a store that sold toys for children. The largest toy store in the Empire, in fact.
“Shall we go in, Amelia?”
Damian called to me, taking my hand. Seeing him enter the out-of-place store with such a casual air made it hard for me to follow his train of thought.
“Damian, you said you needed my help, right?”
“Yes.”
“At a toy store…?” I asked as his hand led me into the store. I wanted to ask if he was sure this was the place, if he was in his right mind, but I chose my words carefully. Maybe he secretly liked toys? I looked up at Damian with a dubious expression. He responded with a beaming smile.
“Yes, I don’t know much about these things.”
“…Are you going to buy something for yourself?”
After several attempts to speak, I finally managed to ask. Plenty of people liked dolls and toys. Yes, it wasn’t strange. I was just surprised because it didn’t seem to fit Damian’s image. As I tried to calm my inner turmoil, Damian suddenly began to chuckle, his shoulders shaking slightly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Me buying something? Hardly.” He continued to laugh, implying that he hadn’t come here to buy anything for himself. Then why?
“Well, you brought me here out of the blue, so I might misunderstand.”
The elderly couple who had adopted Damian were already deceased. He didn’t have any family left to speak of. Of course, he didn’t even have any close acquaintances, so I naturally assumed he had come here to buy something for himself. At least, according to the information I had gathered, he had no one.
“These are gifts for children. I have a new family now.”
“Children?”
Whose children? I asked cautiously with my eyes. But instead of answering, Damian just grinned, showing his teeth.
“It wouldn’t be fun if I told you everything now, would it?”
“…I’m not finding it particularly fun right now.”
“I don’t know what children like, so help me.”
Damian lightly picked up a doll smaller than his palm and then put it back down. He poked at the heads of other dolls with his fingertips. So, he wanted toys that children, not he himself, would like. The misunderstanding was cleared up, but… I frowned slightly. “I don’t really know either.”
I didn’t know what children liked either. I didn’t even know who these “children” he was talking about were. Just then, I saw Damian staring at a grotesque-looking doll. When you pressed its belly, its eyes bulged out. He tilted his head, scrutinizing it with a serious expression, as if debating whether to buy it.
“Wait a minute!” I reached out to him urgently.
“You’re not actually thinking of buying that, are you?”
“Is it that bad?” His face was earnest. I placed the slimy doll back where it belonged and took Damian’s hand, leading him to another section.
“I don’t know much, but I’ll help you.” It seemed better for me to choose than to leave it to Damian.
***
Damian’s taste was bizarre, no, outlandish. While choosing toys, he picked out one strange thing after another. It would have been fine if they were simply unique, but most of the toys were the kind that would make children burst into tears from fright. In the end, I had to hold his hand throughout the store to prevent him from picking up anything else.
‘He said children, but I never imagined he would buy this much.’
I turned my head to look at the cart following my carriage. The toys Damian and I had chosen together were numerous, easily exceeding a hundred. I had been so busy not only choosing toys but also keeping Damian in check. When we finished shopping and left the store, Damian’s carriage was waiting, as if it had been prepared in advance.
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