Chapter 54 : Engagement Cuff 

T/N: Yes I'm still alive. No I won't abandon this work (and Devil's Origin too). I'm just very busy with my real life rn~

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"Ren-kun, we're almost there. That's the jewelry shop." Fer-san said as he pointed at one of the shops lined in the city. 

The jewelry shop was pretty close from the guild, about 10 minutes by foot. 

Along the way to the shop, I couldn't help but feel overly conspicuous. 

Almost every person pa.s.sing us by the street blatantly stared at us. 

I glanced at my fiances, Chris-san was wearing a white v-neck s.h.i.+rt, the cut gave a tempting peek of his chiseled chest, increasing Chris-san s.e.xual appeal. 

Fer-san was wearing a light blue s.h.i.+rt, the color looked so refres.h.i.+ng against his galant figure. 

Sig-san on the other hand, he was wearing an ordinary black s.h.i.+rt but the s.h.i.+rt clung to his body so perfectly, almost leaving nothing to imagination. His pectoral muscle looked tight packed with every step he took. 

The three of them had different styles and type but they were equally attractive. 

It was given that we'd stand up with three das.h.i.+ng men walking side by side like this. 

"I've pa.s.sed the shop several times before but I never went inside. I didn't know the shop is located so close to the guild." 

I never had any interest in accessories so even though I had pa.s.sed the shop several times, I never paid it any mind before. I could vaguely remember the shop displayed several variety of accessories in the gla.s.s case but .. Yeah that was it. I couldn't remember much. 

"A long time ago, I had the opportunity to be acquaintanced with the owner of this place through doing quest. The craftsmans.h.i.+p of the owner was nothing to scoff at hence why I think it'd be a good idea to order our cuffs from this place." Fer-san explained as he opened the door with a gentle smile per usual. 

"Welcome!"

As we entered the shop, an old man with a suit greeted us. He seemed pretty old, around 60ish or something. 

"Oh if it isn't Fernando-sama. It's been a long time since I last meet you. Have you been well?" The old man offered his hand which Fer-san took and shook their hands together.

"I am well thank you very much. Ernst-san, actually I'm here to order engagement and oath cuff for the four of us." 

"Ah I see,what a joyous occasion. Congratulations, Fernando-sama."

Oh, when Ernst-san was smiling, there was a laugh lines on the corner of his eyes. He looked like a nice and gentle man. 

"Fufufu, thank you very much Ernst-san. This is my fiance, Ren-kun. The two men behind him is Ren-kun's fiance, Chris and Sig. Ren-kun, this is the shop owner, Ernst-san." Fer-san introduced us to Ernst-san. 

So Ernst-san was the owner that Fer-san had met during a quest huh. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I thank you for coming to my shop. My name's Ernst Bastide, the owner of Luxury. Once again,I want to say congratulations for your engagement." 

"Thank you, the pleasure is all mine. My name's Ren Himukya Cleva. Please call me Ren. "

"Then please call me Ernst." 

Even though I might be younger than his grandchild, he was being very polite and courteous to me. Ah… He was indeed a true professional. 

"I'm Christian Hast~ Do you have any cuff that would suit our cute Ren-chan?~" 

"The name's Sigurd Tyselius. I heard that there's a good craftsman in this shop?" 

Sig-san and Chris-san also introduced themselves. 

"Certainly. Christian-sama all of our accessories are handcrafted by our craftsman.We take pride in our one of a kind merchandise, no accessories will ever be the same since each one of them are crafted carefully by hand by our skilled craftsman.I'm sure we can find the perfect ear cuff for your fiance..", Ernst-san motioned his hand toward a gla.s.s case where all kind of accessories were on display and then he continued ,"Sigurd-sama, currently there's 5 craftsman in this store. I a.s.sure you, all of our craftsmen are equally skilled. We offer nothing less than perfection for our customer after all."

Handmade huh, so that means their price must be high.

Well, the shop itself gave off the feeling of a very high end establishment so it didn't surprise me if the price was higher than your average shop. 

Black and white, combined with the soft and dim yellow light, the store had a calm and sophisticated ambience. 

The decorations was not gaudy nor tacky, there was another store attendants, a female with a gentle expression on her face. 

It was amazing that the shop could look so expensive but didn't feel domineering at all, in fact I felt comfortable being in here. 

"Well then without further ado, let's choose the perfect engagement cuff for you. As for the oath cuff, I will schedule a different appointment to discuss it. It'd be better if we focus on the engagement cuff for now. When you've decided what kind of cuff you want, we can take the discussion further to our craftsman to confirm the final design in detail. Then, we will begin the production after we legalized the contract."

Oh wow, a professional truly were different. They already had all the procedure mapped out to avoid any confusion.

"I understand. Well, Ren-kun shall we see the cuffs now?" Fer-san outstretched his hand for me.

"Okay." I took his hand and went with him to see the design sample.

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"Wow.. So pretty.." 

Inside the gla.s.s case, there were cuffs with various design. The cuff didn't have any jewels on it but the cuff was still very beautiful indeed. 

At first,I had thought that the design of an ear cuff was limited to a simple ring shape but turned out I was wrong. 

There was one with the shape of a cute blooming flower or a modern design with overlapping lines on them. 

There was all kinds of design, the craftsman in this shop was truly amazing!

"Whoa, this is even better than I expected. It makes me feel like it'd be a waste to wear it only for 3 months." Sig-san said. 

"Ah, that's right, we need to swap the cuff to oath cuff after registering ourselves. What will we do with the engagement cuff then?"

If I'm not wrong, the engagement cuff was worn on the left ear, same like the oath cuff. So that meant after the registration we need to take the engagement cuff off? 

"Well there's people that wear it on their right ear too~ But there's no actual meaning in wearing it on your right ear~ Usually they wear it on their right ear for fas.h.i.+on purposes~ Since the engagement period in Alsar is short, people commonly doesn't bother buying engagement cuff."

I see.. But the ear cuff in this shop was so pretty and it wasn't cheap either.

I felt like it'd be a shame to only wear it for 3 months..

"Ah I see.. It's not required for an engagement cuff to have a jewel in it, right? Then is it alright if I only get one engagement cuff instead of three? I think I will wear the cuff on my right ear someday.."

Maybe after I received my oath cuff, I'd wear my engagement cuff on my right ear. 

"Hmm.. Only one cuff huh.. I think putting three engagement cuff in one ear shouldn't be a problem since the engagement cuff is relative small but..  Well certainly putting three oath cuff on one ear might be a bit too much.. But.. Hmm.. Okay, let's try to find a suitable cuff for all of us." 

"Hmm~ Okay~ Also I think it'd be good if we use the same craftsmen that made the engagement cuff we choose for our oath cuff later ~" 

"What about this cuff?" 

"This one looks good too, don't you think?~"

The three of them agreed with my suggestion and started to discuss the design excitedly. 

Aah.. I.. I felt like I was being left out.. 

Honestly, the preparation for getting both the engagement cuff and oath cuff should be everyone's responsibility but honestly I felt like I haven't given any considerable contribution yet.

"Ren-sama, would you like to take a sit and drink some tea?" 

Noticing that I had nothing to do, Ernst-san motioned me to sit on the sofa near the display case.

"Ah, Ernst-san.. Thank you, I'd like to have some please." 

"Fufufu.. I can see that everyone treats Ren-sama as something really precious." Ernst-san smiled gently as he offered a cup of tea to me which I took gratefully. 

"Eh?"

"As you already know, the engagement period in Alsar is really short. I've been managing this store for years and I rarely ever see someone put such great thoughts when choosing the engagement cuff." 

"Oh, you knew that I'm an otherworlder?" 

"Why of course. Is there anyone in Pedrel that doesn't know that?" 

Ah I see.. 

An otherworlder will appear around every 5 years, I could be considered as a rare animal so of course every Pedrell citizen knew about me. 

But.. Pedrell was still a big city..

"Umm.." I put down the cup on the table before I continued,"Ah, Ernst-san why don't you take a seat together with me? There's something that I want to talk about, of course that is if you don't mind sitting with me!" 

Even though Ernst-san was already old, he was still tall just like every other Alsar people. 

Having to strain my neck while talking to him was getting tiring. 

"Certainly. Excuse me, Ren-sama." Ernst-san nodded and took a seat on the sofa facing directly to me.

"People seldom buy engagement cuff, right?" 

"Yes, that is true.. I think you can say only 30% of people do buy engagement cuff. Instead of buying the engagement cuff, people usually splurge more money on the oath cuff." 

Hmm…

I wonder whether j.a.panese people in general buy an engagement ring too or not? 

I never thought of marriage before so I didn't know about things like that but I think the engagement ring was more expensive than a wedding ring. 

"From where I came from, people buy a ring as a proof of engagement. Usually the engagement ring is more expensive than the wedding ring since the wedding ring tend to be more simple." 

"A different world of course has a different custom as well. I admit that the merchandise in this shop is more expensive than the other but I a.s.sure you, the quality of our goods speak for its price." Ernst-san with a laugh. 

Ah, I knew it, this was a high end store alright but I couldn't help but agree to him after I had seen the displayed cuff. 

"Fufu.. I wonder what kind of cuff they will choose? I know that people usually work together when preparing this kind of thing but in all honesty,  I didn't contribute anything worthwhile for our engagement or marriage yet.." 

If it were those three A rank adventurers, I knew that they wouldn't hesitate to choose an expensive cuff if they thought it was the best one out there. 

I wonder whether I'd become a burden to them? 

Should I do something to pay the engagement cuff back? 

I'm not sure what I should do hm…

"I see.. I may be an outsider but I know that Ren-sama's happy smile is the best gift for them. Please give them your happiest smile, I'm sure they will be delighted to see it." 

"Eh? W-well.. I understand! I was wondering what I should do to return them back but I guess you're right, showing my grat.i.tude for all their help would be the best thing to do." 

"Yes, please do so." 

Receive the present with a smile. Okay! 

Rather than accepting the present with hesitation and uncertainty, it'd be better to receive it with a grateful smile instead!

As for returning the favour, I could spend my whole life making them happy instead since the four of us would be together forever from now on. 

"Ren! We've decided!" 

"Fufu~ We finally found the best cuff for Ren-chan!~" 

"I'm sure this cuff will suit Ren-kun." 

While I was talking with Ernst-san, the three of them had decided on the engagement cuff. 

I nodded to Ernst-san and returned to their side with a skip since I was a little bit excited to see what kind of cuff they had choose. 

"Then, I will take the cuff out.. Oh.. This is Marcell's work. I'm sure it will suit Ren-sama very much. Here you go." Ernst-san went behind the display case and unlocked it, taking the cuff they pointed and handed it to Chris-san.

"Thank you~ Ren-chan!~ Look!~ It's so pretty, right?~"

"Out of all the other cuff displayed, the three of us agreed that this cuff will suit Ren the best." 

"It's a little bit bigger than the rest but the design is very pretty indeed."

Chris-san opened his palm and showed the cuff to me. 

It was a silver cuff with delicate creeping ivy design. 

The size was quite big, I think the cuff will cover around ¼ of my ear but the intertwining vine was so carefully placed together that even though it was a little bit big, it didn't look trashy at all. 

Ah, this part right here looked like a blooming flower!

I didn't know how to describe it well but this cuff was really, really pretty! 

"So pretty! This cuff is so incredibly beautiful! Ah… Would pretty things like this suit me? I'm afraid it won't suit me.." 

I couldn't help but think whether it'd be alright for me to wear such beautiful cuff. 

Someone more beautiful and more graceful would suit this cuff better than me. 

"Of course it will suit you, Ren-chan~ I'm going to help you put it on so can you turn this way?~" 

"…Okay."

I turned my body away from Chris-san so he could put the cuff on for me. 

He swiped my hair away from my ear and gently secured the cuff on my left ear. 

Surprisingly the cuff felt lighter than it looks, it clasped comfortably on my ear and didn't feel heavy at all. 

"See?? The cuff suit Ren-chan very much!~"

"Yes, it's as if the cuff was made for Ren-kun." 

I could feel my face was getting flushed hearing their stream of praises. It was really embarra.s.sing when someone praising you without hesitation like that!

"It looks good for sure. Our cuff have similar design as Ren's but smaller and minus the flower. Ren, won't you please help me put the cuff on?"  Sig-san said as he pointed at the small cuff inside the display case. 

"Ah, that cuff is also beautiful. The design is very similar to mine too." I replied as I examined the cuff. 

The cuff had similar twirling ivy design like mine but the size was smaller by half than mine. 

If I looked at it closely, the direction of the ivy was different than mine too. 

The cuff had similar design but still pertained its unique individuality.

"Ren-sama, I will help take the cuff one by one from the display case and give it to you so you can put it on your fiance, is that alright?" Ernst-san said as he handed me the cuff. 

"Yes, thank you Ernst-san." I took the cuff from Ernst-san's hand, the cuff was really light, just like my cuff. 

"There you go Ren." Sig-san said as he squatted down so I could reach his ear.

"Yes." 

I remember clearly how dangerous beastman's ear was so I carefully put the cuff on without touching the ear more than necessarily. 

It wasn't like Sig-san was going to jump on me in public places like this but it was better to be safe than sorry. 

After I put the cuff on Sig-san's ear, Ernst-san took another cuff so I could put it on Fer-san and Chris-san's ear respectively. 

"With this, Ren-chan has officially become my fiance!~" Chris-san grinned happily. 

Hearing Chris-san said that, made me remember Ernst-san words to me so I put on my best smile and thanked them back,"Yes. We're finally become engaged. Thank you for the beautiful cuff." 

The other three looked taken aback for a split second before their face broke out in a smile, filled with satisfaction and happiness. 

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Name : Ernst Bastide

Age : 68 years 

Height : 194 cm

Hair color : grey (because of his age)

Eye color : brown

The owner of Luxury, he's a kind and gentle old man. He met with Fer long time ago from a quest. 

A/N: Back in j.a.pan Ren was still a university student so I think it'd be given if Ren didn't know much about engagement and such. I was having a hard time thinking of the best cuff design for them.. I wish someone else would give me an inspiration what kind of oath cuff would be the best for them. (´・_・`)

T/N: I'm sorry but I'm still busy with my wedding preparations so update will be superrr delayed!~ I will do my best after my wedding (it's at the end of July so current my I'm at my busiest state now)

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