Chương 109: Mama's Gift

When I brought the box of potions I picked out for my parents out of the closet, I saw Luna nervously talking with a smile on her face to them. Mama was leaned far in, clearly intently listening to whatever Luna was talking about, and Papa was also listening, though, he was acting more casual about it. As I approached, I could hear what Luna was talking about-"T-Then…We went to the arcade, we played a few games together and briefly split off from each other." Luna said.

"And then what?" Mama urged.

"Mama, I brought the potions," I said, lifting the box onto the table.

"Shh!" Mama turned to me and put her finger to her lips, motioning for me to be quiet.

"And then…Well, I found out later that Bin played on the alchemy lab machine there."

"Oh my! So that's how it happened?! I remember reading something about the Little Bomber being located due to a machine in an arcade, I never imagined that it was while on a date with you!" Luna's cheeks flushed and she nodded. Oh, that's what they're talking about? After putting the box on the table, I quietly slipped away to garden, bringing three bowls with me I grabbed from the kitchen.

Story time always require snacks~ My garden was thriving, I had planted quite a few more strawberry bushes in it, bringing me to a total of 10 C+ grade bushes. Honestly, I would plant more, but I decided to wait until I moved to do so. You would think I'd have an excess supply of them now though, wouldn't you? The problem is, all of my potions use strawberry concentrate, which requires quite a bit of strawberries per gallon. Plus, Luna secretly snacks on them throughout the day.

All I can say is thank goodness I have [Plant Growth], if I didn't I don't know if my supply could meet the demand. At some point, I want to try and rank it up again. I've been theorizing a few upgrades I could work towards. Picking three bowls of strawberries was easy. I had gotten to the point where I could tell if a strawberry was ripe just from a glance. Bringing the bowls back to the table, it seems like Luna had gotten to another part of the story,"So…

From there, we would meet once every weekend and just hang out together…"

"Oh-ho? Hang out together? So, you went on dates every week?" Mama asked with crescent eyes.

"Y-Yes…" Looks like they're getting along well. I internally nodded, satisfied. Without disturbing them, I placed the bowls in front of each person respectively. I noticed Luna's eyes immediately locking onto them, but, she didn't stop telling the story to Mama and could only eat with her eyes.

"Thank you." Papa whispered to me as I placed the bowl in front of him. He gently patted my head before picking up a strawberry.

"Mm." I smiled. I took a step back and watched as he inspected the strawberry. I also snuck a glance at the description. [Homegrown Strawberry] Grade C Picked from a C+ grade strawberry bush that was nurtured with love and care, this strawberry has had its 'Growth' property stimulated. Due to the tender affection of the gardener, a hopeful wish has reached the strawberry's properties, aiding in its quality; "Grow up big and strong!

~" It had changed slightly since I last checked it, but, overall it was about the same. All that really mattered was that the grade had reached C grade! Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I wonder what I needed to do to make it C+ grade or higher? I've been consistently using my [Plant Growth] skill on my garden, yet, nothing's broken through a higher grade yet. The strawberry bushes are the highest at C+ grade, with opara grass being the next highest at D+ grade.

Maybe that's how I should upgrade my [Plant Growth] next. Focusing on the quality… Hm… I'll think more about it later, I don't have the slightest idea how I'd even do that in the first place. Papa looked at me after presumably checking the description; He showed a gentle smile before biting into the strawberry. A bit of juice exploded onto the outside of his mouth. His eyebrows raised and his eyes widened as he chewed. He was experiencing the profound taste of my strawberries!

I looked at him smugly, waiting for his reaction. But, it never came. Instead, he immediately picked up another strawberry and popped it in his mouth. Since the strawberries were huge, even he, could only eat half of it at once comfortably. Well, I guess the lack of words is a reaction in itself. I nodded proudly. Papa finished the eight strawberries in the bowl within a minute. He went to eat the next one, only to find his bowl empty.

"T-Then, we watched our first awakener's league game together…It was the Steel Gators VS the Principality of Clockwork." Luna said.

"Oh-ho, that was their first game of the season, no? I remember going to watch it live." Mama said, nodding with a smile. It looked like she was reminiscing the match.

"You like watching the league too?" Luna said, her voice raised excitedly. It seemed like she forgot her nerves in that moment.

"Of course," Mama said, "Our guild has an alliance with SG, so we had to go show our support."

"Eh!? Really?!" Luna was shocked, "Your guild is allied with SG!?" While Luna and Mama were conversing, Papa sneakily moved his hand towards Mama's untouched strawberry bowl.

"That's right," Mama nodded, "Sometimes we even train-" Mama suddenly smacked Papa's hand and glared like a hissing cat, "What do you think you're doing?" Pfft! How did she even see that!? I wondered. Mama's eyes were nowhere close to her bowl, yet, she could tell that Papa was trying to snatch her food?! Is she actually a cat?!

"Nothing," Papa replied nonchalantly, "I was just relocating something."

"Relocating my bowl of strawberries to your mouth?" Mama scoffed. Luna, noticing that Mama and Papa were about to bicker, quietly started snacking on her own bowl of strawberries. Hehe, this is nice. I smiled. … Unfortunately, Mama and Papa couldn't stay for dinner. As much as Mama wanted to, Papa reminded her that they had a meeting to go to and if they don't head back now, they'll miss it. Still, Mama tried to cling onto me and stay, but the evil Papa dragged her to the door anyways!

"It was good to see you again, my precious, little baby." Mama embraced me tightly, "Don't ghost me again, you hear? Else I really won't let you go unpunished."

"Mm…" I nodded in her arms.

"And, it was nice meeting you too, my beautiful daughter-in-law." She said, looking at Luna.

"Y-Yes, thank you for visiting." Luna politely bowed. But, Mama wasn't allowing only a bow, she separated from me and embraced Luna as well.

"Make sure you take good care of each other, okay?" She said to both of us.

"I will!" Luna said resolutely.

"Mhm." I nodded. Papa was carrying the box of potions I packed for them; It wasn't anything much, just around 100 potions total. Most of them were fatigue and mana regeneration potions since they had no real use for my D+ grade buff potions. Though, I secretly slipped in 5 dynokali potions at the very bottom for Mama. At the top of the box was a ziplock bag of strawberries. After getting caught trying to steal her strawberries, Mama ate one herself and instantly found out why Papa tried to snatch them.

She had started munching on them while listening to the rest of Luna's story.

"Okay, my baby, Mama's got to go now. I'll be back soon, though." Mama said looking at me reluctantly.

"Okay, Mama, drive safe." I said.

"Get home safe, mother-in-law, father-in-law." Luna politely bowed.

"Just make sure you text me before you visit." I added.

"Oh? Are you scared that I'll walk in on you two having some fun time together?" Luna's face instantly flushed.

"M-Mama! N-Not that!!" I immediately exclaimed.

"Stop teasing them even as we're about to leave." Papa rebuked Mama.

"Bahahaha!" Mama laughed, "Alright, we're leaving, if there's any trouble, blow them up and let Mama know later, okay?"

"Okay~" I replied.

"No!" Luna snapped back and shook her head at me, "I'll handle it!" Papa gave Luna a thankful nod. And with that, Mama and Papa left. Well, after leaving one last message,"I guess that you two don't have to worry about protection, do you?" The door shut immediately after and Luna and I stayed frozen for moments. This…This is a large part of the reason why I didn't want to see Mama again…Her teasing is a kind I can barely handle!

"Ahem," I cleared my throat, "Mama is always joking around like that." I commented.

"Mm…" Luna nodded with a flushed face. She took a deep breath and shook her head before continuing, "Y-Your parents were very nice." She said.

"Yeah, they're quite…Um…They're very carefree."

"Y-Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"Pfft," I started to chuckle, "I guess the only thing left is for me to meet your parents?"

"A-Ah, y-yes!" Luna's face somehow got redder, "They're very nice and kind."

"I'm getting a little nervous just thinking about it now, haha." Is this how Luna felt?

"It's okay! They're really welcoming and I think you'll like them and they'll love you."

"I hope so," I chuckled, "Your mom's a former nun, right?"

"Yes! Though, she's not a nun anymore, she still follows some of their scriptures. But, she won't force anything onto you, my Dad isn't even that religious."

"Well, I'd imagine so. If he can break a nun's celibacy…"

"Bin!" Luna shot me a glare.

"Pfft! Sorry!" Hehe!

"Haah," Luna sighed and hugged me.

"Huh?" I hugged her back, "What's this for?"

"N-Nothing…I just wanted to hug you…"

"Oh…I really love you so much." I said before kissing her.

"Mm…I love you too…" … The next day I was brewing potions. I still had some C- grade buff potions to make for Luna. However, just after I finished making the strength potion, a knock at the door distracted me from checking its description.

"Hm…?" I curiously approached the door. It shouldn't be a guild or the association, right? Is it Grandma? Looking through the peephole in the door, I saw…No one. Did I get ding-dong ditched or something? I didn't open it immediately, opting to inform Luna first. She was still searching for a house to buy.

"Mouse," I said, knocking on the bedroom door.

"Hm? What's up?" Luna turned to me.

"Did you order food or something? Someone knocked on our door." I said.

"No?" Luna shook her head, getting up, "Someone knocked? You didn't open the door, did you?" I shook my head. We both headed to the front door and Luna looked through the peephole before opening the door. She peeked out into the hallway. Then, her eyes locked onto the ground.

"It's a package." She said. As she said, a small cardboard package sat right beside the door.

"It's for you." She said.

"Mm?" I tilted my head, reading the label. To: Stella Nyxotol. From: Elara Nyxotol.

"Oh! Mama sent it." I quickly picked it up and headed inside.

"What is it?" Luna asked curiously.

"I'm about to find out~" I brought it over to the table and grabbed a kitchen knife to cut the tape. After a moment, I opened the box and… My eyes widened with surprise as I saw the contents. In the box was a hand-written letter and on top of it was a small rectangular card. An ID card. Florida Driver License Class E Stella Lyra Nyxotol DOB: 06/19/xxxx EXP: 06/19/ xxxx UNDER 21 UNTIL 06/19/xxxx Sex: F HGT: 4'-07" ISS 11/21/xxxx SAFE DRIVER"WAIT! WHY ARE YOU PERMITTED TO DRIVE!?" Luna exclaimed.

"Bahahahah!" I laughed.