Ten vlawnias. Ten vlawnias! Is it a dream? Is it reality? Oh man, I have never had so much money. I could buy so many things for that! Food, drinks… food, and other drinks... and maybe drinks? I forgot that in this world there are no video games. Anyway, ten vlawnias!

“Ryan, why are you smiling to yourself? It’s creepy!” Mikori said to me, while walking beside me.

Oh, I forgot. Mikori. I need to buy something for both of us. But will anything bad happen, if I will just spend this money on myself?

Am I stupid or something?! If this old lady finds out, then I’m dead! It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it at all!

“Ryan! Are you even listening to me?” Mikori said something one more time.

I looked at her. She was still wearing this blue frilly dress, and white apron. A small, petite girl, with a cute face. She looked cute, really cute. Her shoulder-length, silver hair, and big, purple eyes were cute. Everything about her was cute, but there was something more important right now. More important than this “date” of ours.

Money.

“Oh, don’t worry Mikori, I’m listening.” I responded, and smiled in the best way I could. There is no way she can guess that it’s fa…

“What with this fake smile? Are you thinking about something creepy?”

Is she a psychic or something? Anyway, I need to spend as little money as possible. I need this experience potion, and I need it now.

I looked at the list, to see what this old lady wanted us to buy. She has a nice bakery, so she might need many ingredients. Well, that’s what I thought, but the list was small. It would still cost me about five vlawnias, but the rest of the gold was for me.

You have given your money to the wrong person old lady! When my mother gave me some money on my birthday, I have bought a pillow with an anime character on it. This is the kind of person I am! This is the kind of person you have given your money to!

“Ryan! Why are you laughing to yourself!?” Mikori asked, this time with a worried look on her face.

Cute girl? And what?! Who cares!

“Oh, I’m so sorry Mikori. You see, this good lady has given us some money, to buy things she needs. Of course, we will do that, but I would also like to eat something. What do you think about that?” I asked, and she looked at me disgusted.

“Ryan, you don’t talk like that! What happened?”

“Oh, I don’t talk like that? Please, don’t make me laugh Mikori. I have always talked like that.”

What is wrong with her?! Didn’t she heard me? I was talking about food! Don’t you love food?!

I thought about those things, as I was walking through the city. The day was still young, and a lot of people were walking on the road. Sun illuminated the colorful buildings, making this walk really enjoyable.

I looked at Mikori. She was still worried about me, I could see it. Well, if she is worried about me, then I might as well ask her in normal way.

“Want to eat something?” I said it, and a big smile appeared on her face.

“Should have said it from the beginning!”

I did.

“Anyway Mikori, is there anything special you want to eat?” I asked, but I needed to be careful. Yeah, I can save a lot of money, if I play it right. I just need her, to buy cheap things, and after that she will tell the old lady, that she had a good time.

“A crepe, ice cream, some meat, a cake, and a big…”

“Wait Mikori! Wait! We can’t buy that much!” I shouted, and she looked at me puzzled.

“You just asked me if there is anything I want to eat. It’s not like I’ll make you buy all those things.”

Is she stupid?

“Could you choose one thing? I asked you, because I want to treat you.”

When I said this, she stopped walking. Her face was serious, as if she was thinking about something really important.

Is it really something so hard? Is it that important, to choose the best thing? Are you in that much pain?

“Well… If it can be only one thing, then I want ice cream.” she said, and smiled.

“Of course.” I just responded, and we went to look for a place, that could sell us some.

Anyway, I didn’t think about it before, but they have sweets that are similar to those in my world. It seems that the magic of ice cream came even here. Who knows, maybe someday I will find a black, fizzy drink with too much sugar?

It doesn’t matter. Now I need to find the place that will sell us some ice cream.

As I was walking I noticed that some of the buildings were bigger, and looked nicer than before. It seemed, that we approached the center of the city. When I looked around, I saw many shops. They sold clothes, food, and things that could be used by an adventurer.

“It looks nice, doesn’t it?” Mikori said, while still walking beside me.

“Yeah, it does.”

“Anyway Ryan, why did you feel like buying me something to eat anyway? I thought that you are stingy. I mean, when you saw that we got only half a vlawnia for killing goblins, it seemed to me that you were about to cry.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Shut up! Shut up!

“D-Don’t worry about it Mikori. I think I have changed. Yeah, I have changed! I am a new man today.” I said, and she looked at me suspiciously.

“Well, if you are going to buy me something to eat, then it doesn’t matter.”

Uhh. It’s good that she is so stupid.

“Anyway Mikori, it seemed to me that a glutton like you would know where to buy any kind of food.”

“How rude! Who do you think I am?! Some wild animal, that only wants to eat?”

“Yeah.”

It seemed that my last words, have made her really angry. Maybe I shouldn’t make fun of her? No, it’s not possible.

“Anyway Ryan, I have never asked this, but who do you want to be?”

“I don’t think that I understand.”

“What do you want to do in your future? Who do you want to become? I have never really asked you, but if we are going to be comrades, then we need to know each other.” she said, and smiled at me.

No, we don’t need to know each other.

“I want to become a NEET.” I responded, and she looked at me with puzzled eyes.

“W-What is a NEET?”

“A NEET is a person, that doesn’t work. He doesn’t contribute to the society, and he never leaves his house. A life like this would be my dream.”

Hey! Why are you looking at me like that?! Did I say something weird? Why are your eyes so full of compassion?

“T-Then, good luck?” she said, with a weird smile.

Who do you think you are?! Why is my dream weird for you?! I just want to live my life in a peaceful way! You are the weird one here!

“Look Ryan! It’s a place that can sell us some ice cream!” Mikori interrupted my thoughts.

Why are you even so excited?

When I looked at the place, I noticed that it looked really nice. It was a small, wooden building in the middle of the city, with red roof and white walls. It had a cute feeling to it, and on top of the door there was a sign with an ice cream cone drawn on it.

“Come Ryan! Come!”

Maybe I wasn’t that excited because I have eaten a lot of ice cream in my old life? For a NEET like me, sweets and unhealthy foods are normal.

“Okay, okay…” I just replied thinking about how I’m going to save a lot of money.

Yeah, I will just buy her some ice cream, and I will leave the rest of the money for myself. If this old lady asks her “what were you doing outside?” she can just reply the we went to eat something. This way I won’t need to deal with her, and I will have more money, and…

Am I an evil genius?! I might be!

“Look Ryan, this place is cute.” Mikori said, when we entered. She was right. The place wasn’t big. Painted in green, It had maybe four tables, and a small counter. In it, behind the glass ice cream was stored. Many different kinds. Chocolate, banana, vanilla…

“Yeah, it does. Anyway, you can ask this nice lady for some, and I will pay for you.” I said, as I looked at the girl behind the counter. She was a normal young girl, with long black hair, wearing a white apron.

“And you? What will you get?”

“I don’t need to eat anything.” I replied, and she looked at me surprised.

“Huh? Aren’t you going to order anything? Maybe I should order for you?”

Don’t make this harder than it is. I want to eat some too. I miss my high sugar diet, but it’s not like I can eat like this in this world.

“D-Don’t worry Mikori. Just get anything you want. I will pay.” I said, and smiled.

Yeah, a girl like her will understand. A glutton like her, will understand, and she will go to eat…

“I don’t want to.”

Huh? What?!

“W-What are you talking about Mikori? You don’t want to eat ice cream? Are you sick or something? Do you want to rest? Maybe I should…”

“S-Shut up! I don’t want to eat alone. I will feel bad, if I’m the only one having fun.” she said, and blushed for some reason.

Is this something people do on dates? Is this a date? Yeah, maybe my heart would skip a beat, if it wasn’t about money. Money is more important, than stupid things like this.

“Oh, don’t say things like this Mikori. I will be having fun too, so just order, and…”

“No!”

Why!? Why are you making it harder?! I just wanted to have some money for myself! Can’t you understand it?

“Mikori, would you be so kind, and…”

“No!”

Why!? Why do you think I have gone to this place? You think that I wanted this? I just need you to tell the old lady, that we had some fun while we were buying things she needed. This is the only thing I want! Why do I need to pay more?!

Ehhh.

I looked at the things that this girl behind the counter was selling. I looked at chocolate ice cream, and at the vanilla one. They looked so tasty…

“O-Okay Mikori. Tell this lady, that you want two ice creams.” I said, and she smiled at me.

I surrendered. How much can something like this cost anyway? It can’t be that expensive.

“What flavour do you want?” Mikori asked, and I chose the one that I liked the most.

“Chocolate.”

When I said that, we approached the girl, that was looking at us weirdly for some reason.

“One with chocolate, and one with vanilla please!” Mikori said with enthusiasm I have never seen before. Are you always hungry?

“Okay, that will be three vlawnias!” this lady said, and smiled.

Three?! Three vlawnias?! Why… Why would ice cream cost that much?! What are you talking about?!

“A-Are you sure, that it costs that much?” I asked, and she looked at me.

“It’s hard to keep the temperature low in here customer, we need to use a lot of mana to do that, that’s why it costs that much.” she said, and waited for me to hand her money.

Wait! Just wait a moment! I can’t pay the amount of three days of my work, for two ice creams!

“Mikori, are you sure that you want to eat here? Maybe we should…”

“I’m sure! I’m sure!” she responded quickly, with a big smile.

She looked happy. She was looking at the ice cream that was behind the glass with a big smile, as if she was going to eat something like this for the first time. She almost looked like a dog.

Eh…

“T-Then… H-Here is the m-money…” I said, and handed this girl behind the counter three vlawnias.

Three vlawnias! Three vlawnias!

“Ryan, are you so happy that you want to cry?” Mikori said, while still smiling.

Why… Why did it happen?

Oh, I know why it happened. I have zero luck! It seems that even God hates me. I don’t even know how zero luck supposed to work! If you had zero strength, then you wouldn’t be able to lift anything…

Then if I have zero luck, does it mean that nothing good will happen in my life?! Never!?

I looked at the happy girl beside me. She was waiting impatiently for her food, with a big smile on her cute face. It seemed that she didn’t care about anything else…

Well, maybe this isn’t that bad?

“Here you go!” this lady said, when she handed us the ice cream.

They were given to us in an ice cream cones. I looked at mine, and it reminded me of the times, when I would go with my mother to an ice cream parlor. Well, before she wanted me to disappear from her life. Maybe I shouldn’t buy this anime pillow?

“What are you waiting for?” Mikori said with a big smile, as she was eating her portion.

I just looked at her, and took a bite. It was delicious.