Hinoiri had continued deeper into the forest after her meeting with Kenta and the slave girl. She did not seek the comforts of what passed for civilization upon the island for she was still distraught over her beautiful locks of hair being destroyed by the heathen. Still, Hinoiri had stolen his sword. That filled her with some morsel of delight. There was also the fact that Hinoiri was covered from head to toe in mud now. She could never be seen as such, but the mud was necessary to soothe the itch of her inflamed skin. She hoped the heathen was faring far worse. So, covered in mud and exhausted, the woman fell asleep and dreamed the dream that infiltrated the minds of many.

She awoke before sunrise, cold and crusty in her layer of mud, but at least her skin felt better and in her right hand was clutched a golden clasp. Parts of the dream from the night before filtered into Hinoiri's mind like sun through the leaves of a forest canopy and she absently muttered, "Help me, Christmas Spirit." Whatever that meant.

As the words left her mouth, Hinoiri would find herself bathed in surprisingly warm snow which, shockingly, did not leave her wet in the slightest, though it did cleanse her of the muck and filth that covered her: as the white fluff fell away, Hinoiri would find herself in a winter wonderland, standing before a meek young man who himself lingered behind a counter, upon which a shining window peered into the counter, displaying several items on display, most tellingly a length of fine cotton.

"Good morning, Hinoiri-sama! I am the Holiday Helper, here to explain to you what it is you're holding in your hand!" Ever cheerful, the Helper gave the woman a massive smile before continuing.

"You have the Golden Clasps, a piece of an ancient relic called The Crimson Saint's Coat! There are two other pieces to the artifact, one of them being the Cotton Lining in my possession, which I can offer to sell to you! If you weren't in that terrible place you are, I could also offer to give you a quest for it, but unfortunately, the Holiday Magic is only so strong there. Sorry!" With the apology, the Helper bowed his head before raising it and smiling yet again. Chipper bastard.

"I can't tell you what or where the third piece is, but I can tell you that if you get ahold of it, you can come back here and, for a nominal fee, I will put the Coat together for you and tell you all about it's impressive powers! As well, if you want, I can hold on to your Artifact piece at no cost to you until the next time you come for it! With it in my possession, I won't tell anybody I have it or that it belongs to you! Finally, if you would rather not bother, I can buy the clasps from you for a reasonable price!"

The snow may not have been cold and may not have left Hinoiri drenched, but it was shocking. Her eyes went not to the boy after the snowfall, but to herself, examining her cleansed figure which was still darker than normal, but the itch was gone. Finally, after admiring herself, she looked to the boy who had been jabbering away from behind her counter. Clearly, he was just trying to take her clasp away. She didn't know where it really came from, but it had been in her hands so it was hers now. "No," she stated bluntly, ready to leave. She hadn't even considered the other options. There was no way she would work for or pay for such a common piece of cloth. But then, he offered to buy it. And what was a silly clasp worth to Hinoiri if she kept it? "How much," she added, just as curt as she had been previously.

"Fifty thousand yen, Hinoiri-sama." The Helper replied in a chipper manner, ignorant of her gruff attitude. As he spoke, a sizeable box suddenly grew from the counter to the left of the 'window'; it was an oddly-shaped thing, with multiple buttons along the face, simply waiting for the Helper to press a few buttons.

Hinoiri-sama, he had said again. At least he has one thing right, she thought as she looked down at the clasp in her hand. Gold or not, Hinoiri didn't understand why such a trivial thing was worth so much. It didn't even look like real gold! Perhaps he was touched in the head. If Hinoiri had a conscious, perhaps she would feel bad about taking advantage of him (or so she thought), but she didn't. "Done," she said simply and stepped up to the counter for the exchange.

With a bright smile, the Helper pressed a few buttons on the odd-box and it gave a loud CLANG before ejecting a tray from the front; from this, the Helper pulled a satchel far too large for the tiny tray to have contained which jangled merrily with coinage. Setting the payment on the counter, the Helper clapped his hands together excitedly, and quite suddenly the clasps would vanish from her hands, appearing within the counter, enshrouded by the cotton lining from before.

"Thank you very much for your patronage, Hinoiri-sama! Please have a wonderful year!" And suddenly, the snow again fell over Hinoiri, and before she knew it, she would be suddenly sitting where she had been when this entire mess began, albeit now cleaned of the muck and fifty thousand yen the richer.

[4 stat points, 50,000 Yen gained, post placement with exit]

Hinoiri stood in the forest as the illusion faded. Yes. Illusion. Hinoiri was a master of them herself, so she had assumed the winter wonderland was naught but an illusion. Or perhaps a dream. Regardless, the money in her hands was real. It was quickly stuffed into her bag of plenty where it burned in the back of her mind, begging to be spent. So into town she went.

[exit; four to reiatsu]