She Receives a Letter

Quinn shrugged. "Hey, I'm not one to turn down a meal."

Technically, as a slime, you could say that he was both always hungry, and always full. There was no real need to devour anything anymore as the ambient mana was enough to sustain him. Yet, as a former human, he found joining friends for a meal, rather nostalgic.

It was towards the end of this meal that a small person approached their table.

"Excuse me, Hero! I have a letter here for you from a Mister Gin Holmes." The lad said, holding out a wax sealed letter.

"Robin, it seems you can never escape the letters that find you no matter where you are." Jasmine laughed. "But since when did you know a 'Gin Holmes'?"

Robin glanced up from the sealed envelope. "Well, that's what I'd like to know."

She glanced back down, and blinked. The letters in the name 'Mister Gin Holmes' seemed to swirl around and rearrange until they formed the words 'Master Gnomes'

Robin placed the letter, words down on the table. She sat back in her chair, and looked up at the lad, who was still waiting there. She smiled, and said in a quiet voice.

"Do you want me to pay for postage? Or do you want me to reveal your little charade?"

The lad chuckled. "Seen through that quickly, huh! Indeed, you truly are an interesting person."

"Robin? What's going on here?" Christian asked, looking confused.

"Well," Robin shrugged. "It appears that our guest has already arrived." She glanced about the table. "And not a moment too soon, since we just finished brunch."

The people about the table glanced at each other, and saw that it was true. Even Gerard, who wanted to grab another biscuit, could only dourly look down at his bulging stomach in dismay. He had overeaten to the point of a stomach ache. In the end, Gerard went back to his room with Elise to rest while he digested his food.

The remaining food was left on the table, to be gathered by Ponzu for another time. Robin's group retired to the room where the merchant had been held captive. The 'messenger lad' tagged along with them to the room.

Christian glanced at the young lad. "Well? Aren't you going to go fetch the guest?" He asked, thinking it was just an errand boy.

"Christian." Robin held back a laugh. "He IS the guest."

"Wha-!? Him!?" Christian exclaimed in surprise.

"... Incidentally, I'm actually a girl." The 'lad' smiled wryly, as the cap was taken of, revealing the hair that had been braided about her head into a sort of coronet.

Even Robin was surprised at that, but, after another moments consideration, she shrugged. Perhaps given time, she would have discovered it. Yet, Robin did not consider it a loss.

"Touche." She chuckled.

Christian had also calmed down to think about it. "But..wait...Robin, how did you realize it? You didn't even open the letter."

Robin tilted her head merrily. "Elementary, my dear Christian~!" She joked. "Her expression gave her away."

"Ah." The girl suddenly realized. "So that's what it was!"

Christian looked blank. Why was he not understanding anything? He glanced at Keith and Jasmine, who seemed to have caught onto something from Robin's hint. Was he the only one who didn't know?

Robin had mercy on him. "A real messenger lad would expectantly wait for his payment, yes. He might also be curious about the hero, or even excited to be so close to me. However. This girl here, showed a calm calculating curiosity that is prevalent among only one type of people..."

At that, Jasmine snapped her fingers. "Researchers!"

Robin nodded. "Indeed. Originally, that in itself was just one oddity, and might be overlooked. But then the name on the letter had a funny little trick added to it. The name, Mister Gin Holmes suddenly became Master Gnomes."

"But, even then, that's no real proof that she is a Master Gnome, what made you certain?" Christian asked.

"Well, sure, you're right." Robin agreed. "It really wasn't an outright proof, to be sure. So that's why I decided to test it out."

Christian blinked. "Test it out?" So that means that Robin was actually...

"Mhmm!" Robin nodded. "In other words, when I gave her a choice earlier, I was actually bluffing. The fact is often enough, when someone thinks they have been found out, they will either try to lie their way out, or admit to it. The fact that she didn't even attempt to lie is what confirmed her identity."

"Huh?" Christian blinked. "What do you mean?"

"If she really were a messenger boy, or if she wanted to continue pretending to be a messenger boy, she would have said something like, 'What do you mean charade? Of course I want the postage!'" Robin explained.

"Oh!" Christian finally understood. "Then, what was in the letter, I wonder?"

"Ah, the letter was a blank sheet!" The 'lad' admitted readily. "I came up with the idea on the spur of the moment, so I only had the time to work on the outside. I wanted to see what you would do when you opened it. Though, I think what actually happened was far more interesting."

Robin chuckled. "Very well, Master Gnome, how would you like us to address you?"

"Oh, you can call me Freddy." The gnome replied.

"Freddy... it's a name that strikes fear into the hearts of young people where I'm from. Good choice~" Robin joked.

Freddy made a face. "Well, sorry for that, but it's not like I can change my name. More importantly, I want to discuss this contraption of yours. This 'Rubiks cube' idea...well, although it is interesting, not many enchanters have the time to work on it."

"And you do?" Jasmine asked.

"Ah! D-Don't get me wrong! We all wanted to work on it!" Freddy shook her hands to try and explain. "But we're not allowed to work on a new project until we've finished the one we are working on. It's because enchantments, especially runic enchantments, cannot be stopped halfway. I was the first to finish my project, so I snapped it up as quick as I could!"

Robin nodded. "So? What do you think about it?"

Freddy closed her eyes a moment in thought. "When I first heard about it, I thought that, if it could really be created, then it would spark a whole new branch for enchantment magic to be explored. It's a revolutionary idea, indeed!" Freddy looked at Robin with a passionate expression.

"No one has ever considered the idea of breaking up runes into assembly parts. We've always pursued making them indecipherable, or more potent, or seeing how small we could write them. But, putting them on a cube and scrambling up the words, no one has ever dared think of such an innovation!"

Robin nodded. She knew Freddy's true passion was enchanting, so she was not too disturbed by her passionate gaze. However, someone else was disturbed.

Christian had become quite sullen. There was even a mild frown on his face. 'Robin, just how many girls are you going to attract, even with that mask of yours!' He wondered sourly.

Jasmine, also noticed that Christian was sulking. Visibly, even! She disguised her sudden puff of laughter as a cough.

She just now found that the current dynamics of the group wasn't so bad, after all. There were hidden benefits... At the very least, this frazzled silent frown of Christian's was much more welcome than his smug grin and indelicate words.

"Ah, Sir Grey, could you let Ponzu know to hold off on making afternoon tea? I'll be showing him a new recipe later on." Robin recalled her promise to Quinn, and made sure to communicate before she got too focused. Sir Grey just nodded with a smile before leaving the room.

"So, do you think it's possible?" Robin asked.

"That's what I'm here to determine!" Freddy smiled excitedly.

Robin spent the next half hour explaining the basic functions of a Rubiks cube. During that time, she answered all of Freddy's questions, while asking some questions of her own. In the end, though, Freddy shooed them all out of the room to begin her work.

Before even attempting enchantments, she needed to determine which runes could be used together safely. This required both calculations, and intimate knowledge of runes: something only Freddy could accomplish. According to her, it would take at least a few days to complete the calculations.

This meant that Robin and her group suddenly found themselves with free time once again. Robin completed payment for the extra room with the innkeeper.

But, this innkeeper was not the real innkeeper. He was actually a doppler slime that Quinn set in place to keep the inn running. The true innkeeper had already been package delivered to the elves for judgement according to his crimes against their kin. Thus came the need for the Doppler Slime.

Quinn had made a smart move. A disappearing innkeeper would certainly draw suspicion towards them. And having the hero's actions drawn into question was not something the group desired at the moment.

Robin headed straight to the kitchens.