After our shopping trip for food, me and Pepper sneak out to go look for a great gift to give Saffron. I’m sure that girl can help me find something that would really knock Saffron’s socks off. Since it’s for her, I’m not too concerned over the money, but it’s not like I’ll spend everything we got on her.

“So, does this look good?” I pull out a lovely dress to show. “Do you think she’ll like it?”

“Probably not.” I guess I should figure that a girl that hasn’t changed her outfit since the day I met her wouldn’t want new clothes. “Come on, if you’re so intimate with her, shouldn’t you know what she likes?”

“Of course I know what she likes.” I get defensive at this accusation. “She loves sweets, baking them specifically. I know the outdoors are what she prefers instead of spending so much time cooped up in the house.” There are plenty of other things as well, but I’m not about to spend all day listing them out to Pepper.

“Then, maybe I’m not the one you should’ve asked for help.” We’ve barely started and it feels like she’s already wanting to back out. “If you want it to be romantic, then you’d know better than me.”

“But you’ve known her longer than me.” I counter. “So, maybe you know something that I’ve never even considered.”

“Okay then, how about this.” She pulls out a spear from one of the barrels. I gotta say, it’s really convenient that general stores exist in a world like this. The ones that really have most of what one might need. Otherwise, we’d be arguing about what building to enter. “She’s super strong, but you already know that.”

“True.” It is of a good build, at least to my eyes. Which aren’t the best at appraising medieval weapons. “But, I think she prefers her magic over tools.” Even when we’re cooking, she like to pull out her fire magic to heat things up. Despite the fact that we have crystals that can do all the work for us. That girl really likes showing off to me. Maybe something that could accentuate that would be loved by her.

“A gift you say?” The store owner catches wind of our conversation. He seems to know Saffron pretty well himself, which isn’t a huge surprise because he’s lived here all his life. “Perhaps something like this would tickle her fancy?”

“What is that?” I wish I could tell what something like this was. It looks to me like a marble with an odd dragon emblem inside.

“Doesn’t look all that special.” Pepper is skeptical of this man. “Are you sure you’re not trying to pull a fast one on us?”

“I would never dream of it.” He takes slight offense to accusation. “I live here you know. If Saffron were to find herself scammed by me, then I can kiss my precious life goodbye.” I’m a little doubtful that Saffron would straight murder a member of this town. Though I certainly agree that the girl would force him to return our money.

“You haven’t answered my question yet.” I turn the attention back on myself. “Is this supposed to be jewelry or something? I’m not seeing how she can wear this.”

“It’s not something to be worn.” He clarifies. “You wouldn’t really understand, considering what she actually is.” I see that news of me being aware of her dragon hybrid status still hasn’t reached across the town yet. “But let’s just say that if she really loves you, then she’ll accept this gift without hesitation.” A little worrisome to hear. That means if she doesn’t like the gift, she doesn’t actually love me? No, I’m overthinking things. He’s just trying to sell me something shiny and nice. I guess we can probably fit this on some ring for her.

“I’ll buy it.” There’s not enough time to get it fit on a ring considering its size. Not in time for her birthday, which is tomorrow. So, I hope she’ll be cool with getting it as it is right now.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Pepper’s free to stop me from making this purchase. In fact, we did agree that she could use physical force if need be. Seeing as all the disapproval I’m getting is some words and a glare, she seems to be on the side of allowing me to do this.

“Wonderful.” The shopkeeper gently places it in a box and wraps it as one would a gift. “I assure you that Saffron will love this gift as much as she loves you.” Sounds like he carefully chose his words there. Especially given what he told me before about this present.

“Guess all that’s left to do is wait until tomorrow.” I say while we leave the store. Party or not, my girlfriend’s still going to be getting presents from all of us.

“I can’t believe you really left this shopping to the last minute.” Pepper scolds me. Sorry, but I guess that habit of mine never really left even on this new world. “You didn’t even know what to get until that guy told you what to get.” She’s still a bit skeptical that this wasn’t the best present to give. Even then, I do trust that man enough for him not to purposefully sell me something terrible. We’ve known each other long enough for that to be worth something.

“Look, I got it either way. So if I could ask for one more favor, then could you-” While I’m asking her to help hide this, so I can keep it a surprise. I trip. No, I’m not normally a clumsy person. Pepper falls too, and it’s because of one certain little girl.

“Gotcha.” She stands before us, the only time I’ll ever see this girl tower above me. She had in her hands some rope, the simple tool that she used to catch our legs and flip us over.

“Now’s not the time for your silly games.” Pepper springs up to her feet. “The two of us are talking about important things.”

“Yeah, can’t you behave until after Saffron’s birthday?” I’m sure she wouldn’t do anything to ruin it, but I’d rather not have to be on high alert all the time.

“Don’t worry.” She says while I get back up. “I still have one more surprise.” Why does she say that like I’d get excited over the prospect?

“There you are.” Saffron arrives, running up to all of us. “Salt, I know that you think hide and seek is fun. But could you please not leave so many decoys laying around?” In her arm is a bag of flour, obviously something that Salt used to hide her tracks.

“Well it wouldn’t be very fun if it was just the two of us.” Her response makes it clear that she won’t be listening to that advice anytime soon. “Anyway, we should head home. I’m beat.” Wasn’t she just full of energy a moment ago? Not that it matters to me, we were already heading home before our rude introduction.

“You know, sometimes I don’t get why you pull all these tricks.” I say just as we’re outside the front door. “Surely you have better things to do with your time.”

“I have my reasons.” She says it so innocently. I swear, this will always be a part of her.

“Well, I hope they’re good reasons.” Saffron unlocks the door, we enter the dark foyer. Then suddenly, the lights are flicked on and we’re given a huge surprise.

“Surprise!” A crowd of people yell out at us.