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Farewell Party Strategy
The time limit is of essence, only around a whole day and a bit more. The preparations need to be done in a hurry.
“Leica, I leave the food up to you.”
“Yes, I understand. By the way, what exactly is Harukara’s favorite food?”
“To be frank, she’s a child who likes alcohol more than food… Anyways, since she’s an elf, I think she likes vegetables.”
“You’re right. Let’s use all sorts of vegetables.”
“I’m going to to go fly and buy some high-grade alcohol.”
At times like this if you don’t use money, when will you use it? Time to fly to a prospering town in Nanterre Province to buy expensive alcohol, enough that it’ll attract Harukara again.
“Mamaaa, What should we do?”
Let me see…for my two daughters… Alright, let’s use the children’s privilege to the max.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a card where you write a message on a piece of paper and read that in front of Harukara; stuff like memories of enjoyable times living with Harukara-san so far.”
This should be quite effective. She might even go ‘Well, maybe I shouldn’t leave…’
This welcome information came from the older sister.
“Eh? Is that so? I didn’t know that at all……”
“Sharsusha is too shy to show her drawings, and was always hiding it. Also, since she has not drawn recently, Mama probably would not know.”
Sharusha seemed to be troubled by what Farufa said; her eyebrows were shaped like the character ‘ハ’.
“I-I’ll show it to people once I get better at it…… Before that, I’m sealing it off….”
Simply put, I really really really want to see it. It’s the drawing of my own daughter. I decided I wanted to see it.
“Now, if it’s okay with Sharusha, could you let me see it~? Mama wants to see Sharusha’s picture~. I want to know more about the things I don’t know about Sharusha~.”
Sharusha quickly nodded, and dashed for her room after saying a quick “I’ll bring it”.
“It’s like this though…”
Sharusha came back presenting something that resembled a sketchbook with sinking confidence.
The drawings weren’t colored, but they were absurdly good. There were several realistic portraits. One of them looked like that girl Kako who Sharusha got to know in town. It also looked like Sharsua was also drawn here as well.
“Mmm, this isn’t a mother’s ‘this is good~’, but a real ‘this is good’…… Also, it’s not only good, but you can also feel the spirit of the people drawn. You managed to convey things like ‘this person is probably kind’……”
Leica who was nearby bent forward and took a look at the drawings. Astonished, she said “You could become a disciple of a painter with this…… Actually, this ability should be developed.”
“It’s embarrassing since it’s not good enough to show to people yet…”
If this is the level where you can’t show it to people, please tell me at what level you can show it.
After all, ten out of ten people would recognize that these are good sketches you know.
I put both my hands on Sharusha’s shoulders.
“Sharusha, I appoint you to the duty of drawing Harukara’s portrait. Even a rough feel one is good, so please draw. If that child even leaves, I think it’ll become her life’s treasure.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to Kaa-san’s request.”
Sharusha nodded her head repeatedly in agreement.
“However, promise me you won’t come back and see it before it’s finished. If you see me drawing it, I’ll be more embarrassed.”
“Okay, I’ll absolutely not look. I promise. I won’t do something like Tsuru no Ongaeshi.” [1]
“Tsuru no Ongaeshi?”
“It’s a fairy tale. It’s about a crane that was rescued from a hunter’s trap who transformed into a human to return the kindness given to it from the couple that saved her. She became their daughter and supported them by weaving beautiful cloth from behind a closed door. Curious, the couple peeked at her work when she specifically said not to peek. It turns out it was the crane weaving the cloth from its feathers. Being found out, the crane left.” [2]
“Aah, it resembles Karushura folklore distributed in the southern region.”
I didn’t understand well the contents of that scholarly cultural remark, but…… it simply meant there’s a similar story, right?
Thus, we generally decided on what preparations to be done.
On that day, I went out to go buy alcohol.
I bought one bottle of grape wine (worth 300,000 gold), and also one bottle of spirit (worth 500,000 gold). Let’s stop thinking about how many slimes worth they are. Since I also sold medicines and the like, I naturally had money for this. If I wanted to, I could buy ten bottles of each with the savings I have.
Well, the problem was the appointed day itself.
It’s difficult to prepare from a farewell party if Harukara was always inside the house.
“Harukara, I’d like to go mushroom gathering, but could you help?”
“Ahh. Yes master!”
Alright, the plan to take Harukara outside was a success.
“But aren’t we doing it a bit late for mushroom gathering? Don’t we usually do it in the morning?”
“There were some circumstances today.”
When I think that this might perhaps be the last group work with Harukara, I felt a bit of ennui. [3]
“Master, today your expression seems rather gloomy. Is there something wrong?”
Harukara ask me during our break.
“Well, I guess I was thinking something related to farewells.”
“Aah, something like the death anniversary of a beloved one?”
Harukara misunderstood on her own accord.
“Even if it wasn’t by death, farewells comes suddenly without warning.”
“Aah, that happens. Worrying about when to say farewell.”
Ah, suggestive behavior remark…
“I’ve been living fairly well of an unheard of way of life, but I have always thought that I want to make farewells a beautiful thing. I want farewells with mutual meaning or rather, to be able to step forward without regrets.”
“…Yea, that’s right.”
“Um, master? Are you crying?”
“N-no, I’m not….”
Grudally, the day came to an end. The preparations were probably done.
“Harukara, let’s return.”
“Yes, master!”
There’s only a few more times to be called like this I guess.
When we arrived at the house, I said to Harukara “Wait at the entrance a bit” then informed everyone inside that we’ve returned. After that, I went back to the entranceway.
“Thanks for waiting. Let’s go in.”
“Ha, did something happen?”
Harukara entered the house with a confused expression, and opened the door leading to the dining room.
““Harukara-san, thank you for everything so far!””
Everyone’s voice joined together.
Footnotes:
1. A Japanese Folktale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuru_no_Ongaeshi
2. TL/ED: We changed the contents of the passage to better describe the story.
3. Ennui: a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom