Does That Sound Too Casual?

Because they already met, somehow Aria ended up following Rei's activities. Though luckily because Rei was just busy buying things, he wasn't chattering at her anymore and was more focused on the pile of boxes in his hands, and Aria's hands too.

"Please hold this one too." Said Rei who immediately handed her a heavy basket. Aria wanted to complain. But because Rei's hands were more full with heavier stuff, she could only sighed alone.

Aria couldn't see everything, but apart from the boxes with various things, Rei also bought a lot of strange things. For example, sacks of colorful sand, rags, wood waste, cutlery, and even various plant seeds. What's more, when they got to his carriage, apparently there were already more piles of boxes and other sacks there.

"Is that enough?" Rei mumbled, sounding rather proud to see his carriage full.

"You've been around to buy all of this?" Asked Aria after she also tucked her birdcage in there. "What's all these for?"

"Miscellaneous. But mostly for your practice." Rei replied, which instantly made Aria furrowed her brows in silence because she had absolutely no idea what he meant.

But before she could even question that, Rei had already turned to his servant coachman. "Take these all to my house in the hills. Just put everything in the middle room. I'll be there later." He said.

Aria kinda hoped that Rei would also tell her to go home first, but unfortunately the carriage just walked away leaving them behind. "...M-Maybe I should go to Mr. Bishop and Feny's place, right?" Aria intentionally said it first.

"No. Just come with me." Replied Rei who immediately walked first. "You remember we still need to find an artifact for you, right? Since we've already met, we should just get it now."

"Is there anyone selling them here?"

"Not here. And not for sale either."

"What does that even mean?"

Rei seemed to be sighing softly, but then he slowed down so that they would walk next to each other. "Her name is Mrs. Loreine. She's a noble, famous for having a large collection of magic items." He told her. "She seldom sells her stuff. But if we're lucky, sometimes she can be persuaded."

"I see." Aria answered as it is. But because Rei still seemed to be glancing at her, Aria felt a bit strange. "Why? Is there anything else?"

"Not really. But maybe I should tell you that she's a fortune teller. So you don't have to panic or anything if she suddenly reads your mind. Or even our plans." He replied.

"...You must trust her a lot." Aria guessed. And as expected, Rei didn't really deny it. "But a fortune teller, huh..."

But because this time Aria seemed to widen her eyes in admiration, Rei added again. "You're not thinking about asking her your fortune or anything, right? It'll be a pain."

And Aria immediately pouted. "Why? Divination's purpose is usually for the sake of helping people, you know." She complained.

Aria had never had the money to go to a fortune-telling shop in her life, but she had always been curious about such things. She even once wanted to learn how to tell fortunes if only she could buy the book--which she couldn't, unfortunately.

"Or make people paranoid." Rei replied later. "I mean, what do you even want to ask?" He asked. Aria looked a little lazy to answer, so Rei guessed first. "About your family's whereabouts?"

"..." Awkward for a moment, Aria glanced at Rei and realized that he might have asked it on purpose even though he knew that it was a sensitive matter for Aria.

But rather than wanting to offend her, Aria also felt that maybe Rei was just curious. So after gathering her courage, Aria tried to answer it. "Actually I'm not sure if I want to look for them."

"I… I'm not sure why, but it seems like my mother and father were kicked out by their families." And finally Aria said it.

Rei was silent for a while as if he had purposely left Aria alone with her gloomy feelings by herself. But after a while he replied. "Well, family is not always good." He said. "You remember the devil cats from back then? I'm sure it was from my uncle."

"..." Both shocked and confused, Aria wanted to accuse Rei of pranking. But since the person didn't seem to be lying, Aria swallowed her accusations.

So Rei was back to continue. "I'm definitely the type to seek revenge, but you don't seem to be? Revenge could be fun though."

"Well, for now I'm just a little curious. What did my parents actually do wrong to get them kicked out of here."

"Or maybe it's not them who did something wrong."

Aria gave a small smile and replied. "I do hope that's the case." She said.

After that they both fell silent again. But when she realized that her feelings had felt a little better, Aria glanced back at Rei. "...Mr. Rei is kind of weird." She said it subconsciously.

Although judging by the way Rei immediately turned around, he seemed to have heard that. "Weird what?"

"N-Nothing."

Rei was still furrowing his brows, but in the end he just ignored it. "Talk about weird, your way of speaking is weird too, you know. Still calling me 'Mr.' even though your way of talking is already informal." Said Rei with a somehow sneering tone.

"W-Well..."

"Select one. If you can't speak formally to me, you can just call my name as well."

"...You mean just Rei?"

"Why? Does that sound too casual?"

"..." Not knowing how to answer, Aria could only avert her face. But because it felt strange to stop the conversation there, Aria finally replied. "T-That too, but, um, how should I put it… Aren't you being too modest?" She said then. "Don't most nobles usually don't like being called by their first names?"

But Rei snorted at that. "Are you insulting me?"

"…If anything, I feel like it was a compliment."

Seemingly dissatisfied with that reply, Rei kept silent while narrowing his eyes at Aria. But a moment later, he let out a short breath. "Whatever. Just use Mr. then."