Toy companies across the globe are always the fastest ones to adapt to the trend in this world.
They launch their products so fast and are so efficient at it that they can make a new product appear on the market in less than a month.
’Well, media publicity also played the role of making me famous so they just went with the flow and followed the trend I guess...’
’But... is it legal to make something like this when they haven’t even asked me for permission first? Shouldn’t I be receiving some of the profit from the sales of these things?’
Lia was looking at the Rio plushies with a grin on her face, while Rio was lost in his own world of thinking.
"Lil miss, this product is just a test product and this is the entire stock... I think the producers are just testing the waters and seeing whether it will actually sell or not for now..."
"I can’t give all of them to you, as that way the test survey for the company would become invalid... they want to measure how many people will buy these after all..."
Lia was disappointed that she could only have one, but the shopkeepers’ words also cleared Rio’s doubts.
’No wonder they didn’t come to me yet for permission; they are just testing the waters for now... they will approach me later perhaps when they are sure that this stuff will be popular...’
Lia grabbed the plush toy in her arms and hugged it tightly as the two left the store afterwards.
"This is adorable! It’s so squishy and soft and so amazing!! I have decided! I will add this item to my collection!"
Rio couldn’t help but feel complicated seeing Lia hug that plush toy with such a happy look on her face.
"You have the real thing you know; you can hug the real one too you know... why are you doting on that more than the real one..."
Rio slumped his shoulders down and started pretending as if he were a lonely, abandoned puppy discarded by his owner.
Lia was taken aback for a second but then gave Rio a hug and put the plush toy in her space ring.
"W-what are you saying, idiot? of course I treasure you more... hehe, you and your silly pranks..."
Lia jabbed Rio lightly and grabbed his arm to brighten up his mood.
Rio smiled back immediately and scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness.
’I really do weird things when I am with her... sigh, I have become such a bad guy...’
Rio shook his head and took Lia to the next hall.
The next hall was filled with smaller glass tanks, and thousands of small, unique fishes were swimming in them leisurely.
Lia took Rio to one of them and spoke with a happy smile on her face.
"This is the one... yeah, I remember seeing this one when I was young... these are ’Purple horn fish’; these were my mom’s favourite..."
"She said that she wanted to have these at home but didn’t have the time to take care of them so she couldn’t keep them..."
Lia placed her palm on the glass, and the purplish-looking fish seemed to be curious about everything as they flocked over to the glass where Lia had placed her palm.
A happy look appeared on Lia’s face as she giggled at those dumb yet cute-looking actions of the fishes.
They were swimming and bumping into each other.
*Click*
Rio didn’t miss that rare chance and clicked a photo of Lia giggling in such a cute way.
"Hey, don’t take a photo all of a sudden; you startled the fish..."
Rio shrugged his shoulders and put away his phone.
"Well, you just looked too cute playing with them so I couldn’t stop myself from capturing this moment..."
The two of them walked all over the hall and took several photos together.
There were dozens of different types of unique fish on display.
"They really have a vast collection here... I did hear that this place was also built with the intent of keeping endangered species safe, but there really are so many types of fish here..."
Lia nodded his head at Rio’s words and replied in a calm voice,
"There are millions of types of creatures living in the ocean; new types of creatures keep evolving due to changing mana flow in the water..."
"Those who fail to adapt end up going extinct... I want to go to an underwater type of dungeon someday and witness many unique water monsters..."
Lia’s eyes were shining with excitement while saying those words.
She wasn’t particularly a marine life enthusiast or anything; it’s just that she wanted to look for exciting adventures and thrilling places.
Hearing her words, Rio smiled a bit and said,
"Well, if you want... I can just ask the awakener’s association to assign the next underwater dungeon clearing duty to me; I will take you along during that mission..."
"As I am an S-ranker now, I am quite sure they will be ready to fulfil most of my demands... and even if they don’t, I can always follow the other route..."
Lia shook her head at Rio words,
"No, we don’t have to go that far you know... I just want to enjoy it; there’s no need to quarrel with others over such a small matter..."
"Besides, I haven’t even become an S-ranker yet; I don’t want to be a burden..."
Rio placed his hand on Lia’s waist and pulled her to his side.
"You are not a burden at all; don’t think like that. you are one of greatest source of confidence and strength, you know..."
Lia was a bit surprised by Rio’s sudden bold move, and a shy look appeared on her face when she noticed that others were also noticing the two of them being so lovey-dovey in public.
"Idiot... W-what do you mean one of your sources of strength? What are the other sources then?"
To hid her embarrassment, Lia changed the topic.
"Well, the other sources are, of course, my ’Sword Intent’, and my ’Path’... but you are the greatest source of my strength, though..."
Lia’s face became even more red when Rio whispered those words in her ear and she pushed Rio away in panic as she hurried away.
"Humph! Idiot, you say whatever comes to your mind; we are going to the next hall!"
Rio smiled and followed in her footsteps.
’Teased a bit too much I guess; now she’s ignoring me... how cute, I want to tease her even more... ahem, I must control myself...’
’Self-control is important...’
Rio had to channel a bit of his sword intent to calm himself down and stop teasing Lia more, as he didn’t want her to get angry.
Teasing is something you must do in moderation; too much can easily cause damage to the relationship, but too little will make things boring.
’I don’t know why but I just like it when she’s so cute and shy... Ugh, am I a weirdo? No, I really am a weirdo...’
Rio shook his head and stopped thinking about this matter and followed Lia to the next corridor.
"Whoa... this corridor is also decorated..."
Hearing Rio’s surprise, Lia nodded her head and pointed at the ceiling.
"Of course it is; they have made such beautiful carving almost everywhere in this place... I heard they invited a dwarf to create these..."
"This carving is of the ’Illusiory Divine Beast, Marik.’ It’s a gigantic SS-rank snake that is extremely powerful and is said to have be an ally of humanity since a long time ago..."
Rio glanced at the carving and noticed that ’Marik’ was drawn quite accurately.
"It’s really accurate... the creator of this might have met the real thing itself, perhaps..."
Hearing Rio’s words, Lia shook her head.
"No way, in the books it’s mentioned that no one has reported seeing the divine snake for centuries now... and this aquarium was built just around the end of the Orc War..."
"We don’t even know if that divine snake even exists in reality or is just made-up myth from the stories..."
At Lia’s words, Rio scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness but didn’t say anything in the end.
’Well, I know this carving is quite accurate because I have seen the real thing; that big snake is literally sleeping in his own self-made space created with illusion and magic...’
’He’s literally in the capital city and is guarding the tomb of his friend...’
"Ohhh! They have ice cream there! Let’s go!"
Before Rio could get busy with his thoughts, Lia dragged him away with an excited look on her cute face.
The two of them explored the entire aquarium while taking photos of each other and making memories that they will remember for a long time to come.
Rio even bought Lia a brownish-colored hat that looked cute on her and fit perfectly with her golden hair.
Lia was so happy and excited that she jumped and gave Rio a kiss on the cheek before running away with a shy look on her face.
It was indeed a very peaceful and happy day; the depression and anxiety built from the previous incident were completely erased with this relaxing time.