"Um... is it Miss Tiran's birthday?"

In a dessert shop on the street, four people sat around a small round table under a parasol, each on a rattan chair, with serious expressions on their faces as they contemplated.

Under the scorching end-of-summer sun, even with the umbrella cloth providing shade, the heat still seeped through bit by bit, melting the parfait in front of Aya.

Apart from strolling around the city for leisure, they also needed to seriously consider what birthday gift to give to Miss Tiran.

After all, Tiran had personally said she would eagerly look forward to it.

"I'm starting to regret agreeing so quickly back then." Aya, troubled by the gift, had completely lost her appetite, and simply pushed the nearly collapsing snow mountain parfait in front of her towards Little Angel, who was gazing at it with affection.

"Thank you, Aya-san~"

Quickly scooping a spoonful and sending it into her mouth, Little Angel flashed a happy smile.

As for the other two strategists A and B, pulled out by Aya to brainstorm ideas, they leisurely sipped on their fruit juice iced drinks through straws, with beads of condensation forming on the crystal-clear glass walls, reflecting colorful juice under the sunlight.

"Hey hey! I didn't invite you for drinks just to watch me struggle alone! Give me some ideas!"

Aya pounded the table in dissatisfaction, feeling like she was the only one troubled by this in the end? Little Angel, let's not even talk about her, and you two, you've received benefits too!

"Don't say it like that, it's business hours now. It's a loss leaving the store unattended to come out and have drinks with Aya." The golden-haired tavern owner hopped off his chair, moved the rattan chair closer to the table, then hopped back up, assuming an air of authority as he waved his finger at Aya.

Come on, your clothing store doesn't even have any business during the day.

Aya glared at the other side where the actual shop owner was.

"At least I stopped my sewing and the manuscript I was going to submit for the next issue. That's genuine work." Roger rubbed his nose, revealing a simple smile, looking plain like a homebody...

That was not a lie; it's just that the manuscript hit a bottleneck and the deadline was far away, so coming out was a way to find some inspiration.

-- Do you think I don't know about these things? I've long understood Roger's slacking work style from Tiran!

Watching the two sipping on their drinks that were practically bought with the salary she had been already cut by Mimi, Aya gritted her teeth.

"Stop the chitchat and think for me."

From her pocket, Aya took out a small leather pouch and placed it on the table, revealing several pentagonal crystals reflecting a faint ink-blue hue in the loosened mouth of the pouch.

Her "Dragon's Treasure" was no more, the small items she used to carry around before—like the ancient Babylonian coins—had been handed over to compensate for the broken machine Liecho made, and now, the only valuable thing left was this.

An unexpected item obtained from the battle with the Dark Shape in the Morninglight illusion, although it was a drop in the illusion, it maintained its existence even after leaving, containing a very faint power of Minglin and a large amount of dark elements, both in form and magical power similar to the magic crystals dropped by monsters; taking it to the Magic Guild's market for appraisal should fetch a good price.

With a glance at each other, Little Mo and Roger each took half of the crystals from the bag, then topped their hands on their foreheads and went into a contemplative state together with Aya.

"Um, I'd like another chocolate parfait!" After finishing off Aya's strawberry parfait, Little Angel waved to the nearby waitress.

"Firstly, we need to clarify the demand, right?"

As the owner of a clothing store, Roger proposed after deep thought, "Just like running my shop, both the service and product need to meet the customer's needs. If you're going to give a birthday gift, you must consider that as well."

"Stop kidding. All the clothes made from those drawings of yours follow your own XP. Especially that new piece last time, no normal person could handle that style... it's just popular thanks to a group of curious people who bought it," Little Mo mercilessly exposed, revealing something remarkable, "But, you're right. In the end, Aya, it's hard for us to solve the problem without specific requirements from you."

"Um... something she likes?"

Aya pondered for a moment, chin in hand, "Manga, figurines, life-size body pillows..."

As she spoke, Aya suddenly slumped over the table as if she had lost her soul. Something's wrong; why did she only think of these otaku-related things when it came to giving a gift to Tiran!

"No, no, no, there must be better options." Aya's eyes lit up, "I remember seeing those fully realistic android dolls with self-heating and self-cleaning effects at the underground market last time. They can be customized to any desired appearance..."

*Cough!*

The two strategists who were drinking almost choked on their beverages as they listened, especially Little Mo, "Are you serious about giving such a gift to a girl?"

Now that it was mentioned, it did seem inappropriate, and it was even worse than the previous suggestions.

Moreover, things like android dolls were completely meaningless for Miss Tiran since they already had a living being among them.

"I mean, why not consider some normal things that girls would like, things they usually use or enjoy?"

Little Mo had a firm grip on the conversation.

"Things that normal girls would like?"

Repeating it, Aya raised her eyebrows after a moment of contemplation and asked with a guess, "X products?"

"Well, that's one way to think about it... No! Something more ordinary! Even consider Silver War Maiden as an ordinary girl!" Little Mo rubbed his head, feeling exasperated, then continued to coax gently.

Even more ordinary?

Aya really couldn't think of anything more. In the end, she hadn't encountered many extraordinary girls, had she? Leaving aside Miss Tiran, there were also Little Angel, Moros, Shuma, Mimi, and the Emperor of Xichu... Her experience in this matter was completely zero.

"Delicious food, beautiful clothes, useful cosmetics, cute accessories... There are so many things that ordinary girls might like."

"That's true, but Miss Tiran doesn't lack any of these things."

And the birthday cake was already taken care of by the mother-in-law, and Mimi alone was planning the beach celebration and birthday party... It wasn't easy to make an effort in celebrating the birthday in this aspect.

"What about plush ball training suit?" Roger, unwilling to be left out, casually inserted a suggestion, instantly silencing the room except for the pure and innocent Little Angel still eagerly anticipating her chocolate parfait.

"How could you suggest such a thing as a gift, you idiot!" Little Mo bluntly vetoed.

"Hmph, superficial."

Pushing his glasses up with a middle finger, Roger said, "I never said it was to be given directly to Miss Tiran."

"I could completely have Aya model with everything stuffed in it and have it delivered to Miss Tiran, I had imagined this scene before, but unfortunately, I never painted it. If Aya could provide the most realistic experience..."

As he spoke, he was still breathing excitedly, so thrilled that his hands clawed the air, causing Aya to feel a headache, and she responded with a firm mental correction punch.