Chapter 89: Where Did This Bug Spray Come From
The inn Seraphina had booked was called the Rainforest Waystation — the only rated lodging anywhere near the edge of the Ancient Canopy Rainforest. High-end all the way.
The coach arrived at dusk. The setting sun bathed the inn's white exterior in warm orange light. Uriel hopped down from the carriage and stretched his back, which had spent the entire day on a hard bench. His spine popped twice.
No romcom cliches. One room each.
When Seraphina checked in at the front desk, she tapped the counter twice with her finger, gave her name, then glanced sideways at him.
"Your room's already paid for. Deluxe. Breakfast included."
She slid a keycard across the counter.
Uriel took the card and turned it over to check the room number. Third floor, end of the hall. Seraphina's room was next door, separated by a wall that didn't look particularly thick.
They agreed on a meeting time for the next morning and went to their respective rooms.
The deluxe room was solid — better than the dorm-style inn he'd been staying at. The mattress was soft enough to bounce on, there were two pillows, and the bathroom had hot water and clean towels.
Uriel tossed his pack onto the chair, took a shower — no singing this time — changed into clean clothes, and lay on the bed staring at the ceiling.
No sound from next door. Perfectly quiet. No talking. Not even footsteps.
Seraphina had probably already gone to sleep.
He rolled over, pulled the blanket up to his shoulder, and closed his eyes.
---
The next morning, he was woken by knocking.
Knock knock knock.
Three taps. Pause.
Then Seraphina's voice, flat and even through the door.
"Uriel. Time to get up."
Uriel cracked one eye open and fumbled for the pocket watch on the nightstand. The hands pointed to 6:01. They'd agreed on six o'clock. One minute late.
Before he could respond, a second round of knocking came. Same three taps. Same tone. Same volume.
"Uriel. Are you awake?"
"I'm — yeah, I'm up! I'm up!"
Uriel rolled out of bed, raked a hand through his hair, stumbled into the bathroom, and splashed cold water on his face. While brushing his teeth, he caught his reflection in the mirror. His hair was sticking up in every direction. He tried to flatten it twice, failed, and gave up.
He threw on the outfit he'd prepped the night before, grabbed his jacket and pack, and pulled open the door.
Seraphina stood in the hallway, already packed and dressed. Hair combed to perfection. Collar flat. Sleeves buttoned to the top. Pants tucked neatly into slip-resistant boots with perfectly symmetrical bow-tied laces.
She didn't look like someone heading into the wilderness. She looked like she was about to attend a formal ceremony.
Her eyes tracked from his hair to his boots, one point at a time. Starting with his hair, moving to his half-flipped collar, pausing on the loose thread dangling from his jacket zipper, and finally landing on the heel of his boot, which he hadn't fully stepped into yet.
"Hair."
The moment she said it, Uriel ran his hand through it twice.
"Collar."
He flipped the collar out and smoothed it down.
"Thread on your zipper."
He looked down, yanked it off, and stomped his heel into his boot properly.
"Eye crust."
"...You didn't have to say that one out loud."
Uriel felt embarrassed. Seraphina's tone held no disgust, no judgment. Which somehow made it worse.
She didn't press further.
Instead, she pulled two oil-paper-wrapped rolls from her pack's side pocket and handed one over.
"Breakfast. Eat while we walk. We're on a tight schedule. Need to be in and out before nightfall."
Uriel took the roll and bit into it. Plain whole wheat bread with a thin layer of butter inside. Cold, but still soft.
So that's what 'breakfast included' means.
He slung his pack over his shoulder and followed Seraphina toward the stairwell. By the time they reached the inn's entrance, he'd finished half the roll. Seraphina pulled two neatly folded papers from her pack and handed them over.
"Maps. One shows the full Ancient Canopy layout. The other is today's planned route. There are no trail markers once we're inside. Memorize the terrain features at each fork."
Uriel clamped the remaining half of the roll between his teeth and freed both hands to open the maps.
The full layout was impressively detailed — magical beast nests, swamp zones, and collection points all clearly marked.
The route map was smaller. A red line traced a winding path from the rainforest's edge to a circled endpoint, with several plant names and collection point numbers penciled in beside it. The route skirted around a dark patch labeled Swamp Zone, curved near a stream, and looped back to the starting point.
He chewed the bread and memorized the route as best he could.
Seraphina was thorough as always.
---
They walked along the dirt road for about twenty minutes.
The vegetation shifted gradually from sparse shrubs to towering, dense trees. The air thickened with humidity. The earthy smell of soil mixed with the fresh scent of greenery. Birdsong filled the canopy overhead.
At the end of the dirt road, the ground changed from hard gravel to a thick meadow. Grass rose past their ankles, soft and yielding underfoot.
Seraphina pulled a small bottle from her pack's side pocket.
A spray bottle. The label bore a green plant illustration and several lines of small text. She uncapped it and sprayed herself several times — inner wrists first, then both sides of her neck, and finally her pant cuffs and boots.
A scent bloomed into the air.
Rich floral notes. Sharp and clean, with a hint of herbal spice.
Familiar.
Very familiar.
Uriel squinted, trying to place it, when Seraphina held the bottle out toward him.
"Spray yourself. Insect repellent."
He was about to say he had his own herb sachets, but this was a chance to solve the mystery. He took the bottle.
Plastic-like body. Press-pump nozzle. Green label with mint leaves and some other plant silhouette he didn't recognize. Right in the center, printed in bold black type, was the product name.
Flower Dew Water.
Uriel froze.
He fumbled the bottle over to check the back. Ingredient list, instructions, production date, expiration date — all there.
He stared.
"Where did you get this?" He held the bottle up. His voice had climbed half an octave.
Seraphina blinked, puzzled.
She clearly had no idea why he was reacting like this, but answered anyway. Same flat tone as always, like she was answering a teacher's question in class.
"I bought it. Malvo Department Store. Why are you reacting like that?" She paused, tilted her head slightly. "Does it repel wild beasts too?"
Malvo? What?
Did you mean Walmart? Or Target? What kind of localization is this?
"No, it's — " Uriel flipped the bottle around and pointed at the three large characters on the label. "This. Flower Dew Water. This thing is called Flower Dew Water?"
"That's what it says on the bottle." Seraphina glanced at it again to confirm she wasn't mistaken. "Is there a problem? It works really well. It's been popular lately. Spray it on and mosquitoes won't bite, ticks won't latch on, and it smells nice. The upperclassman who recommended it said her mother takes it into the rainforest every time."
Uriel handed the bottle back without answering.
He needed a moment to process this information.
This world had mosquito-repelling flower dew water.
Not an alchemical potion from the Adventurer's Guild. Not a folk remedy ground fresh at an herbal shop. Not loose goods sold at street stalls.
This was a standardized, packaged product with an ingredient list and expiration date, sold at fixed prices on department store shelves.
His worldview cracked. Cleanly. Audibly.
He spent a solid minute questioning the industrial logic of this world—and the frankly absurd odds of two universes independently coming up with the same name for bug spray.
Seraphina watched him for a moment, determined his reaction didn't fall under the "requires emergency intervention" category, took the bottle back from his hand, stowed it in her pack's side pocket, pushed aside the shrub in front of them, and stepped into the rainforest first.