I felt a bit overwhelmed by Blossom-san, whose excitement had surged to new heights, but I did my best to clear up her misunderstanding.
"Actually, Blossom-san, I’m not really a Samurai Master..."
"I see! By the way, Master, are there any points for improvement regarding the rooms or the garden? I would love to hear your thoughts on that!"
...What exactly did she just say "I see" to? This was no good. Just as Camellia-san had warned me, once she got worked up, she stopped listening to a word I said.
"Err, I will offer advice on the rooms and the garden, so please, just stop calling me 'Samurai Master.'"
"Understood! In that case, 'Master,' from the perspective of someone from the source world, which areas should be improved?"
...Well, she certainly stopped. Just as I requested, she dropped the title "Samurai Master." She just happened to drop the "Samurai" part and kept the "Master"!?
It was a lost cause. Her enthusiasm was already through the roof; trying to fix her choice of words right now would be an exercise in futility. I decided it was better to just answer her questions first.
Honestly, when it came to Japanese-style aesthetics, I really wished I could have brought Noin-san along as an advisor. She might have been at a loss if asked about the way of the samurai specifically, but when it came to gardens and rooms, she was bound to be an expert.
"For starters, my impression is that you’ve put out a bit too much... I understand the desire to display various things, but 'wabi-sabi'—a simple and quiet atmosphere—is also important. I think it would be better if you reduced the clutter a little."
"I see, I see! This is very educational!"
She took notes with an incredibly serious expression. She really was a diligent and straightforward person at heart... even if her metaphorical brakes seemed to be completely broken.
"Also... what about the characters on that hanging scroll?"
"I researched the character for 'samurai' from the other world and wrote that myself!"
"Actually... it's wrong."
"Is it really!?"
The character written on the scroll wasn't "Samurai," but "Wait." While you could turn the character for "Samurai" into the one for "Wait" by adding a single stroke, fixing it in the other direction was impossible.
I wrote out the correct character for "Samurai" to show her the mistake. Once she saw it, Blossom-san clenched her fist, a look of deep regret washing over her face.
"As I thought, calligraphy isn't mastered in a day either! I wanted to decorate the room with a cool hanging scroll featuring otherworld characters, but I couldn't find anything suitable, so I made it myself... To think I got the character wrong! What a blunder!!"
"Well, those characters can be quite complicated. Just to confirm, do you just want a hanging scroll, or does it absolutely have to say 'samurai'?"
"Oh, it doesn't have to be that. It's just that 'Samurai' was the easiest otherworld word for me to look up."
Once I confirmed that Blossom-san didn't have a specific obsession with the word "samurai," I pulled a hanging scroll out of my Magic Box.
"An acquaintance of mine wrote this. Would you like it?"
"T-This is a hanging scroll! And it has otherworld characters on it... What does it say?"
"Err, hold on a second. I have a note from the person who gave it to me... It says 'Menpeki Kunen.' It refers to nine years of facing a wall, and it's used to describe the act of persevering and putting in effort over a long period toward a single goal."
"...So... cool..."
Blossom-san’s eyes sparkled like a child’s as she looked at the scroll. She seemed to have taken a real liking to it.
The scroll I had produced was actually written by Noin-san. As for why I had it, the story went back to a few months after the Six Kings Festival had ended.
Noin-san had invited me over because she had obtained some delicious tea sweets. While we were drinking tea together in Noin-san's Room in Kuro's Castle, she had come to me for advice.
At the time, Noin-san didn't have a proper job. She mostly got by on an allowance from Kuro or small rewards for helping out with family chores.
Noin-san wanted to change that and earn her own income. However, the problem was that she was the world-famous First Hero—a figure surrounded by countless rumors of both her death and survival.
Joining a merchant guild was out of the question. Since Noin-san also struggled with Recognition Inhibition Magic, the jobs she could take were very limited. She had been quite troubled by the situation.
That was when I happened to learn she practiced calligraphy, so I suggested she try selling hanging scrolls. It turned out there were many people like Blossom-san who were fascinated by otherworld culture, and the scrolls had been selling quite steadily.
I had bought this specific scroll after hearing that her work was being sold at a shop in the Kingdom of Sinfonia. I hadn't actually known the meaning of the four-character idiom at the time, so I'd had to ask Noin-san later.
"A-Are you sure I can have such a masterpiece!?"
"Yes. Besides, these are sold to the public, and there are many other varieties available."
"Is that so!? Where on earth can one find such wonderful items...?"
"I'll show you the shop sometime."
I had a feeling that Blossom-san and Noin-san would get along quite well, given Blossom's intense interest in Japanese culture. They might even become good tea friends.
I decided I would talk to Noin-san and introduce them to each other in the near future.
Serious-senpai: "And just like that, the shocking truth is revealed: the First Hero is no longer a NEET..."