"Since Talis has given you her present, it's my turn." Said Alexander with an eager smile as he turned around and headed toward the tarp, intending to grab his two presents for Lavender, excluding his ring.
"Fufu, well, they better be good presents, Alexander; the Queen of the Skies has greatly raised my expectations, so you've got a lot to live up to." Said Lavender with a slight chuckle as she rested her face on her hand while leaning on the table, using this chance to ogle Alexander's back, particularly his butt.
Shaking my head at Master's remark, I entered underneath the tarp and approached the gazebo, which my two presents were resting up against; grabbing them, I exited from the tarp and returned to the table with Talis and Master both curiously eyeing the box's wrapped in large leaves, that I weaved together to act as a wrapping paper. Setting them on the ground beside the table, I handed Master the smaller one first while being forced to smack Talis's talons away from the cake for a second time.
"Here you go, Master; unlike Talis, I didn't stuff a living plant monster in there, so you don't need to worry about being attacked the instant you open the box." Said Alexander with a light smile as he moved the cake closer to him while glancing at Talis, who glared at him.
With a laugh, Master ripped through the leaves and broke the wooden box before reaching inside, only to retract her hand, holding a seemingly pristine pouch.
"Is this, my old space pouch, Alexander?" Asked Lavender in amazement as she held a small brown pouch with a golden string and the symbol of a bright green leaf.
"Yes, that's the same old, dusty, and damaged pouch; I was able to stabilize the space inside the pouch, but I couldn't increase its size without risking obliterating the entire thing. Restoring it to its former appearance was rather easy; it just required patience, which I've got plenty of. I even managed to stitch your name onto the bottom of it." Replied Alexander with a smile as he watched Lavender inspect the pouch before flipping it over to see her full name stitched into the bottom.
"Granted, it's still old, so if you're too rough with it, it'll easily get damaged." Added Alexander lightly, pleased that Lavender seemed delighted with the present.
"This means quite a lot, Alexander; this pouch has been with me since the day I first left my family with the intention of becoming an Adventurer. Besides my wand, 'The Staff of Ethos', this is the only thing that reminds me of my family; thank you, Alexander." Said Lavender with a soft yet blissful smile, wiping a tear in her eyes before standing up and kissing Alexander as a thank-you gesture, which he gladly reciprocated.
"Heh, I'm glad you liked it, Master; it took me a few weeks to fix it, so I'm delighted the time spent wasn't for naught." Said Alexander with a smirk as he picked Lavender up and gently set her on his lap as he handed her the next present, which was a slightly larger box.
Once Master set her pouch down, she started opening the next box, quickly ripping through the leaves and breaking the wooden box; yet despite the box being larger than the other previous box, it was a ruse to deceive Master as the item inside was even smaller than the pouch.
"So, how do you like it?" Asked Alexander softly while lightly massaging Lavender as he glanced at the small piece of paper in her hands.
"I absolutely love it! It might be one of the best presents I've ever received." Remarked Lavender with a beautiful smile as she looked at the paper in her hand, a photo of Alexander and her peacefully embracing each other in the bed.
"Though I'm curious, when did you take this picture, Alexander?" Asked Lavender curiously while resting her head on Alexander's, finding warmth and protection in his broad chest.
"Last Friday, the only day where we don't spend hours a night making love; otherwise, the picture wouldn't have come out that nice." Replied Alexander with a slight chuckle while Lavender's face took on a light blush from his bold remark, considering Talis was right there listening to them.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Believe it or not, but when I found out cameras existed in this world, and they looked very similar to cameras back on Earth, I wasn't as surprised as one would expect; when you take a few seconds to think about it, it's not that shocking. If I could reincarnate from Earth, I'm sure there must've been other people as well; they might not have come from the same Earth, maybe a parallel Earth or something similar, but that doesn't matter.
I'm sure those reincarnated individuals used the knowledge from Earth to create items like the camera or boom-box to become successful in this world, which is a rather smart thing to do. I'd do the same if I had enough knowledge about a specific item.
"Anyways, I've got a third present, but I'll show it to you in just a second; right now, it's time to reveal what's underneath the tarp. Talis, if you could do the honors!" Stated Alexander excitedly as he quickly stood up with Lavender in his arms, nearly causing her to drop the picture.
"I'm on it!" Replied Talis as she quickly removed her beak from the cake and flew towards the top of the tarp, clutching it with her talons before lifting it into the air.
With Talis removing the tarp, a white rug leading through several large arches composed of various flowers that only stopped once it arrived before a small, white gazebo covered in flowers while the roof had a statue of a tree engraved into it; to say the least, it was a breathtaking and magnificent sight considering I crafted the entire thing myself with some help from Talis.
"My goodness, so this is what you've been hiding underneath that tarp; did you make this by yourself, Alexander?" Remarked Lavender with widened eyes as she gazed upon the gazebo, arches of flowers, and white rug in astonishment.
"Heh, nope; I also helped." Replied Talis while seemingly smirking as she landed on one of the arches.
"Yeah, besides the statue of the tree on the top of the gazebo, I did everything else." Said Alexander with a smile as he stood at the beginning of the rug while still holding Lavender, who was intensely staring at the Tree.
"Alexander, is that tree modeled after what I think?" Asked Lavender with shock as she turned and glanced at Alexander, who was sporting a wry smile.
"Yes, that statue is modeled after the World Tree; I had a feeling you'd eventually figure that out, but I didn't think it would only take a few seconds. Seems I underestimated you, Dryads, Master." Remarked Alexander with an awkward chuckle while lightly shaking his head, though his words caused a reaction within Lavender, which he feared would happen.
"First, it was the Druidic language, and now it's the World Tree; I've never talked about either of those, so please enlighten me how you learned about such things, Alexander." Stated Lavender with a frown as she folded her arms and looked up at Alexander, whose awkwardness only intensified.
"Umm, can we speak about this later, Master?" Asked Alexander with a forced smile, though all he got in return was a raised eyebrow.
"I plead the fifth?" Muttered Alexander, though he quickly went silent as he felt Lavender's glare intensify.
"Alexander." Said Lavender, her voice calm yet commanding.
"Haa, alright; please don't be mad, but whenever you go to sleep after we make love, I may or may not snoop around your room, which led me to find your diary that I may or may not have read." Said Alexander as his voice became softer with each word, causing Lavender's glare to reach an all-time high.
"Before you get angry, Master, I didn't read much of the diary, only a few of the beginning pages; I also intended to tell you, but with your birthday approaching, I decided to keep it a secret until then. Either way, I'm still sorry for snooping around your room, and I'll accept whatever punishment you decide." Added Alexander quickly as he confidently raised his head to the sky with his eyes closed, ready for whatever Lavender threw at him.
I waited for Master to say something, but for a solid minute, I just stood there with my eyes closed in silence, which prompted me to slightly open my eyes and look at Master, only to see a small green hand flying right for my face.
'Ouch, though I deserve that.' Mused Alexander as he felt a stinging sensation on his left cheek from being smacked by Lavender.
"That's for secretly snooping around my room." Said Lavender with a stoic face as she rubbed her hand, which was in pain from the impact of hitting Alexander's face.
"Although listen, Alexander, I'm not that mad that you snooped around my room or read my diary; I don't have anything to hide from you, well, maybe a few things I'd like to keep a secret from you, but either way, if you had just asked me, I wouldn't have minded if you read my diary." Added Lavender calmly as she tapped Alexander's forehead, causing him to look at her.
"I understand, Master, and I'm sorry for doing that, but why did you slap me if you weren't that angry?" Asked Alexander with a nod while looking at Lavender, who smirked.
"Hmm, because I felt like it." Replied Lavender with a smirk of amusement as she eyed Alexander's twitching expression.