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“It appears that this glorious day is the anniversary of thy birth, young Bennett, and so I, Fischl, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, would be so beholden to bestow upon you a gift, if you would so graciously accept.”
“Oh, a gift? Thanks!” Bennett grinned and reached out to take the wrapped parcel from Fischl’s hands. “But gee, you really didn’t have to get me anything, you know.”
“One has the impression that in this world, it is customary to exchange gifts in vivid celebration of the anniversaries of births, and so I have presented thee with such,” Fischl replied, resting the back of her hand against her forehead in one of her signature poses.
“She wants you to accept the gift,” Oz translated.
“Well, okay then!” Bennett tore at the paper wrapping of the parcel and revealed Fischl’s gift—a travelling bag, made especially for adventurers. “Wow! How did you know I needed a new one of these?”
“Ah, young man, it was but several moons ago when you emerged at the gates of this fine city with a smouldering blaze entwined with thy body, a truly conspicuous and perceptible display.”
“She’s saying that she saw you walk into Mondstadt with your backpack on fire.” Oz was kind enough to translate again.
“Oh yeah, that. The fire had unfortunately, uh, burnt it to a crisp.” Bennett scratched his head and then smiled at Fischl. “Thank you for getting me a replacement. I really appreciate it.”
“Well, Bennett, as you have so graciously accepted my gift that I presented thee, and since mine eyes have observed a lack of discernable injuries resulting from the fiery incident, I, Fischl, shall depart from here and allow thee to—“
Bennett didn’t hear the rest of Fischl’s sentence, as a figure dressed in the Adventurer Guild’s uniform had crashed into him, knocking Bennett and his new gift onto the ground.
“Ahh, look what you’ve done! You just ruined all of them!”
Bennett looked up and saw that the one who knocked him down was Royce, who was once a member of Benny’s Adventure Team, but who left after suffering from Bennett’s bad luck. Royce was walking while holding a box so big that it concealed both his face and also his view of what was in front of him.
A box that now lay toppled over on the ground, its contents strewn in every direction around it. Sunsettias. Some bruised, and some with pebbles jammed into the flesh, but plenty of the fruit appeared to be perfectly salvageable, which Bennett pointed out to Royce.
Royce gave Bennett a wary look, but then knelt down to examine the sunsettias, tossing the acceptable ones back into the box. “Look, even if I can keep some of them, I still need to get a bunch more to replace what I lost. Do you have any idea how long it took to gather this many sunsettias?”
“What are you doing with all these sunsettias, anyway?” Bennett sat up and rubbed the back of his head, which had hit the ground hard. He peered inside Royce’s box.
“It’s for a commission. That astrologist woman, Mona, said she needed it for some ‘research,’ whatever that mea— Hey! Give me that!” Royce saw that Bennett had picked up a sunsettia and was quick to snatch it back, examining it from every angle before placing it into the box.
“I just wanted to help.” Bennett bit his bottom lip and shrugged.
“Help? Help? With your luck, all the good sunsettias I have left are gonna turn bad like the other ones.” Royce shook his head and sighed.
“Ah, right.” Bennett stared at the ground. “Sorry. I don’t mean to do any harm.”
“Ugh, whatever.” Royce rolled his eyes and tossed the last of the sunsettias into the box before beginning to walk away.
Fischl cleared her throat loudly. She wasn’t going to leave just yet. “Ahem, I feel compelled to express that the annual anniversary of the ill-fated Bennett’s birth shalt be a most joyous and esteemed occasion, not to be eclipsed by any unfavourable events.” Fischl had raised her voice, just a little, just enough for Royce to notice.
Hearing Fischl’s words, Royce stopped and turned around to face Bennett. “Does that mean… it’s your birthday? I didn’t know that.”
“Haha, yeah…” Bennett gave a sheepish laugh. “But it’s okay that you didn’t know! Really, no hard feelings.”
“Well, happy birthday.”
“Thanks!” Bennett grinned and gave a thumbs up. “Oh! Uh, Royce?” Royce was walking away with his box of sunsettias. “Did you want to go on an adventure with me, just today?”
Royce didn’t turn back around, but instead simply continued on his way, only stiffening his step for a split second upon hearing that question, the very slightest of reactions—one that Bennett didn’t even notice.
“Royce?” Bennett paused and waited for an answer. None came. “Huh. I guess he can’t hear me. Well, that’s okay, though! I’ll still have tons of fun adventuring by myself!”
“Can I come wi- *coughs* Ahem, young man, if I could so beseech you to extend an invitation to Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung of the outer realm Immernachtreich, along with the night-bringing raven, Oz, to accompany thee on thy arduous journey across this verdant yet delusory world?”
“Until mein Fräulein has to return home for dinner, that is.” Oz’s remark earned a glare from Fischl.
Bennett began to laugh, a big hearty belly laugh that shook him from his head to his toes. “Of course, Fischl. Of course you can join me on my adventures.”
He sighed, smiling. Fischl, Razor, Barbara, even little Klee and the mysterious Traveller. Though Benny’s Adventure Team officially had only one regular member—that is, Bennett himself—he was not alone, as he was always surrounded by his amazing friends.