It’s been a while since then. I’m not really in the loop about Adam’s life, since it’s really none of my business, but from what Marina told me, that guy’s really started getting his act together. He grew out his beard, started working out or something, always looks to be the one to help out around the castle, and of course, never forgets to voice his opinion on something. I guess you could say I’m kind of proud of him for getting this far, but really it’s still kinda hard to believe that that pipsqueak managed all this.

But who cares about him? Issei and I have been doing pretty good ever since that heist. He’d give me ideas for an invention, then I’d create and sell it. Add to that Marina’s monthly salary from working with the Gryses, and in no time our savings started to become pretty commendable! Even with this much, I’m sure we could probably make it to at least Trivis Numerica, but I’m holding off on going home for now.

I’ve got a pretty good thing going on here, after all. An amazing business, a business partner who’s basically my golden goose, and the love of my life (kind of). Yeah, I should probably think about going back home soon, Cecily’s probably worried sick, and I haven’t seen Nelly in a while. Eh, I’m sure they’ll be fine.

In any case, Nelly should be turning two years old soon, no? God, I wonder how she looks like now. Well, probably pretty much the same, I doubt a baby can change that much judging off of appearance. I mean, we already knew her hair was a vibrant orange, so except for it being a bit longer, I hardly doubt anything else worthy of mention could happen in that timeframe.

Today is actually quite the special day, as Issei said he’s got something to surprise me with! Whoopee! I can already tell from his voice that it’s gotta be something incredible. Did he find some new material? Or vendor? Oh, the suspense is killing me! I even had to call out today’s date with Marina, so he better not be joshing me!

And did I forget to mention? Ever since Marina and I started dating, it was getting noticeably more and more cramped in our house. Well, that’s mostly because we really couldn’t be doing any ‘stress relief’ with Issei around. Even still, he said he was feeling like a third wheel, so he decided to rent out a separate apartment in a nearby inn. It’s nothing too far, I could literally see his place from my window, making us neighbors in that regard, but it’s still a nice gesture from him, what with giving Marina and I some privacy.

Oh right, and Marina… She’s been a lot naggier recently. Always complaining about how I stay up late into the night, or how I don’t eat my meals properly. Ugh, she doesn’t realize what I’m trying to do here! I’m working, working on our retirement funds! I’m gonna make as many amazing tools as I can, and I need to put in as much effort as humanly possible to make that happen!

Well, let’s just forget about her for now. I’m sure she’s probably just saying that out of love for me, so I can’t be too mad at her. Issei called me over to go get a drink with him, and that’s precisely what I’m gonna do!

***

Entering the bar, barely anyone batted an eyelid at me. Back when I first entered this place, a lot of people thought I was too young to be in such a place, but they all soon got used to me lounging around here with Issei, so I guess it makes sense. I really haven’t made any connections to the people here, mostly because I can barely utter basic phrases in Cardinic. It’s a really tough language, I’ll tell you what!

“Yo, Issei!”

“Oh, Sol, you finally made it!”

Since we’re out in public, Issei has to make sure to call me Sol. That was the agreement we made all those months ago, back when we first met. If you’re wondering, he calls Marina Mariabelle when others are around as well, but such instances are rare. Both of us have been avoiding the Grys territory ever since that heist, so really our daily commute is basically just going from our home to the bar, and then back home again.

“So,” I sat down and gestured to the bartender to hand me a drink, “What’d you call me over for?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Was is supposed to be? I’m not following here.

“Wait,” Issei said with a chuckle, “You seriously don’t know? Heh, looks like all those all-nighters really did fry your brain. You should really listen to Mariabelle’s advice more.”

“Issei, come on now, stop scaring me. What’s the big deal here?”

Issei came up close to my ear, just so no one could hear him utter my real name, “Happy birthday, Lune.”

Eh? Is it already that time of the year? Wait, when did he find out about my birthday? Marina must’ve told him… Oh, these guys! I couldn’t ask for better people in my life! But wait, how old does that make me? Seventeen? Eighteen? Oh, I genuinely can’t remember! Maybe what Marina said about my lifestyle has some merit to it after all…

“I-… I don’t know what to say! Thank you!”

“Whoa, hold on, I haven’t even given you a gift yet!”

“A gift? What for?”

At this innocent question of mine, Issei’s brows furrowed, “What do you mean ‘What for’? It’s your birthday, so it’s only natural that you’d receive some presents!”

“Is this another one of your Otherworldly Traditions or something?”

While Issei was trying desperately to explain to me the importance of celebrating brithdays with gifts, I genuinely couldn’t understand the significance of it. I mean, you survived another year, isn’t that enough? Now you’re gonna ask your friends and family to give you presents on top of that? How greedy can the people of his world be, I wonder…

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Well, whatever.” I sighed as I gracefully accepted his present, “So what is this, anyways?”

“Humu, you’ll see…!”

Opening the nicely decorated box, what I saw inside simply couldn’t be conveyed with words. This was… The Book of Fortune?!

“W-Where’d you get this?! And how!?” I yelled out, confusing him.

“E-Eh? Why are you so surprised about this? You haven’t even checked the contents of the book yet!”

“Issei, do you know what this is?!”

“A-A personally compiled recipe book of all the invention ideas I know?”

…What?

“Wait, really?” I quickly flipped through the pages, and lo and behold, “Wow, it really is just a recipe book for a ton of inventions. But then why does it look exactly like the Book of Fortune?”

“The Book of what now?” Issei tilted his head, “Once I told Marina about my present to you, she made of point of me decorating it to look like this. She said you’d like it, but I guess she was just playing a prank on the both of us.”

That damned girl…! She nearly gave me a heart attack! Well, in any case I’m really happy that Issei gifted me this. Now I don’t have to nag him about every little detail about future inventions! Heh, looking at the book, it really is meticulously made! There are even some (really well made) illustrations of how the finished product is supposed to look and act. Granted, there are a number of grammatical mistakes, but then again he is foreign.

“But why provide me with such a gift?” I asked.

“Well, the thing is…” Issei braced himself before speaking, “I think I might be going home soon!”

…Eh?

“W-Wait? Home? You don’t mean…?”

“Yeah, when I say home, I mean back to my world. I’m not sure if the details line up, but back before I met you, I found some old guy who told me if I visit all Six of The World Wonders, I’ll be transported back home.”

…Are you kidding me? An old man? Dude, there’s desperate and then there’s you.

“W-Well, no offense Issei, but are you really going to take the advice of some random old man?”

“You don’t get it, Lune.” He uttered, “It’s the only chance I got for now. That being said, our time together has been really fun, and I’ll treasure it until the day I die.”

Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on, are you seriously going to leave right now!? S-Stop joking around, dumbass! What am I gonna do without you around? What about our business!

“That’s also the reason I gave you that book.” Issei pointed, “It’s got enough inventions to help you amass a sizeable fortune. More than enough for you to go home, I’d say. Please be sure to use it to your heart’s content.”

“Hold on a minute! Are you really going to throw yourself into some perilous journey just because of the words of some random old man!?”

“Well, thing is, those words aren’t completely random. Back before I met you, I signed up to work for the ITA. I did some commissions for some quick bucks, and used said money to pay someone to scope out if the Cognisphere really exists. I haven’t heard anything back from them, which is why I haven’t yet left this place, but recently I’ve been asking around and I was offered a chance to personally visit the Tower of Currents. It’s a chance I simply cannot miss.”

What the hell…! This guy’s gone bonkers! Traveling the world? What makes him think that’s possible!? I need to convince him not to go, no matter what!

***

Walking back home from the bar, the air between Issei and I has grown stiff. I’m still sort of hoping that he’s joking. Maybe if we go back home, Marina will be waiting for us just to scream ‘Gotcha!’ like she usually does.

But no, he seems like he’s really happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen him. Guess he really wanted to go back home all this time. Ugh, everything’s falling apart suddenly, why did it have to be my birthday today? It’s like a curse, whenever something worthy of note happens, it always falls on my birthday! First it was me leaving Whitehood, then this! Ugh…!

“S-So, Lune,” Issei tried to break the tension, “Got any questions for me before I leave?”

“Hell yeah!” I shot back, “I still don’t know anything about you! About your home country, about your language!”

At this, Issei gave me a nostalgic smile, “Heh, you’re interested in Japan, huh? Well, can’t say I’m surprised, it’s quite the beautiful land, at least in my opinion.”

“Is it prettier than here?”

“Oh, a billion times, yes! In terms of size, I’d say Japan is sort of like that Archipelago at the bottom left of the map.”

“Schnell’s Archipelago?”

“Yeah. It’s an island based country, and it consists of multiple islands. It’s so vibrant and colorful, not at all like Cardina is.”

At these words, I felt a small tinge of melancholy about not being able to see it for myself. That being said, Cardina does have a very moody ‘blue’ feel to it. Maybe if vibrancy is what he wants, he’d have better luck in Entropa? Well, if what this supposed mysterious old man said about him going back home is true, then he’s sure to visit it eventually.

You see, there are indeed 6 World Wonders in the world. Going in no particular order, these are:

* The Cognisphere in Sibirus

* The Tower of Currents in Meridia

* The Library of a Thousand Passages in Simpleton

* The Tria Prisma in Abyssus Solis

* Auros’ Throne in Sulfury and

* Mount Ivrys in Polaris

These places all share a common trait, the fact that their inception is enigmatic and mysterious in nature. It is said that all of these World Wonders were created by the Gods when they were still creating the world, and were left as a sort of archaic memory of a time long passed. But this is exactly why one would never think to venture to all these places in a single lifetime. You’d be risking too much for too little!

“Issei, don’t go. The chances of you surviving the trek are null.”

“Wow, that’s kind of a harsh evaluation, isn’t it?”

“I’m not joking here. You will die if you go. You’re not strong enough to travel on your own. Instead, please wait a bit longer for me to go back home and settle everything I have left to settle there. After that, we’ll go together.”

Issei was getting a bit antsy now. He has no right to get angry, seeing as I’m only offering my help here, yet he’s starting to develop an ill-advised attitude. The nerve of this guy…!

“That’ll take to long and you know it!” Issei shot back, “I get that you helped me against those guards back then, but I’ll be fine on my own-!”

Suddenly, Issei’s mouth shut up completely. He knew the situation he was in, and immediately understood my intentions as I flicked a half-charged Fireball right next to his head, barely missing his ear.

“…You are not going anywhere.”

“What the fuck, Lune!? You trying to threaten me now?! Have you finally fucking lost it or something?!”

“I’m perfectly sane, you fucking reprobate! It’s everyone else who’s crazy! And when everyone is crazy apart from me, then it just looks like I’m the crazy one!”

He had no words to refute my logic, so he instead chose to act like he cared about my wellbeing, “You’ve changed, Lune. I’m worried about you, Marina’s worried about you!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I finally let out a loud shout, “This Fireball was a warning, but next time it’ll be the real deal. Just try to run away, asshole…”

Out of fear, worry, or perhaps even a sense of self-preservation, Issei chooses not to talk back and instead quietly walk in silence until we get back to our respective inns. Without so much as a word spoken between us, Issei calmly opens the door to his room, but before he could close it, with a tinge of anger he murmurs, “You mentioned wanting to learn more about my home country. When we meet again, I’ll teach you some Japanese…”