My Last Dive [Made in Abyss Fanfiction]

31| The Beauty of Nothing

A note to the readers: I normally wouldn't put another disclaimer, but I feel I should just in case my writing skills aren't as good as I think they are and I don't get across what I truly want to. Len isn't meant to be a reliable narrator, he never was, and that's especially true in these next few chapters. I don't intend to glorify drinking, but in his mindset and with what he knows, he wouldn't see it as anything bad. I just wanted to let you all know of that. Also, the art of Lissy and Syele in this chapter was sketched by my friend Quaone and colored by me.
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The shop door creaked slightly as I opened it and stepped inside. A faint scent of stale berries washed over me, not entirely unpleasant, but belying what the store sold. Shelves of different kinds of bottles stood about the store's interior, more wine than ale or any other kind of booze, and there was also a small corner dedicated to imported alcohol.

This store sold the products of Orth's singular refinery, boasting wines made from Abyssal fruits and able to stay afloat on foreign shipments alone. Of course, much more of the profits came from domestic purchases, and there were a decent amount of people already here in the shop. Eight or nine in a store that could hold fifteen, nearly all of them seeming to be Delvers. I tried to pay them no mind and began searching for the wine Aedia had bought before.

After spending far too long searching, I found the bottle and grabbed one before turning my attention to the cheaper wines. The cheapest wine was less than expected, about as much as a couple potatoes, and those were already cheap. The flavor was surely abysmal, but I could care less about the flavor for now. I took a few of those cheap bottles and brought them to the counter. The cashier gave me a look as he rang up the cheap bottles, but he didn't say anything. I left the store with a triple-reinforced bag with my purchases. Now to hide these from Aedia...

I easily stacked a few lighter items atop the wine bottles to make it look like I was holding a bag full of normal groceries, and my one free arm occupied with that was enough to convince Aedia to let me go home early.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come back with you?" Aedia asked with concern. "It's not a long walk back, so I don't mind the extra exercise."

"And that's the thing, it's not a long walk," I said, trying to smile teasingly. "I'll be fine." She didn't say anything after that, just watched me go until I was lost in the crowd. She had a chance to tease me there, I was wide open to it, but she hadn't taken it. I couldn't remember the last time Aedia had made a jab at my expense, and I honestly missed that.

When I arrived back home, I was about to enter the pharmacy when a thought came to me. Lissy might insist on helping with the groceries, so I should try to find a way to keep her from possibly finding out what I'd bought. We had a box beside the house that had milk delivered to it every other week early in the mornings when it was shipped in from off-island, and it was just large enough to fit the extra bottles. I could grab them tomorrow morning before Aedia woke up, or late tonight if I was still awake and she was asleep. I still stuffed a couple items between the two I needed to bring to mitigate noise. With everything hidden, I went inside.