You don’t too often see Mori Kaoru play entire chapters for straight-up comedy.  She enjoys her gags, but they’re usually quick-hitters inserted in the middle of other stuff (usually accompanied by an exaggerated reaction shot or two).  This time around she pretty much gives over an entire chapter to a running gag – the adventures of Watch-chan.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t actually remember that much about the pocket watch at the center of this story.  It was given to Mr. Smith by Talas’ mother I recall, as a sort of attempt at a dowry, and he threw it away after he was forced (or decided, depending on your interpretation of events) to leave her daughter behind.  I don’t remember the details on the crest, or even whether or not it was actually gold – but I don’t think it was ever owned by the Russian royal family.

What happens here is a sort of telephone game which takes place after a man finds the watch half-buried in a dune (presumably where it was since Smith tossed it away).  I actually laughed harder at the way his wife ripped his bubble to shreds than anything else in the chapter, but things stay light-hearted all the way through.  The man sneaks off to hock the watch at a shop in town, with half-mumbled stories about it being from Russian royalty.  The shopkeep buys it off him for 50 tanga (which I gather isn’t a lot), and with each change of hands the legend of Watch-chan grows.  Eventually it was owned by the Tsar himself and provides either a blessing or a curse, depending on how one uses it.

If anything surprises me here, it’s that Mr. Smith didn’t try harder to reclaim the watch after it found its way back to him (as you just knew it would).  But I guess with Talas herself now by his side, the watch doesn’t seem so important.  All in all this chapter is a pleasant diversion – which was actually pretty much what Chapter 75 was too, now that I think about it.  Things are moving at a relaxed pace in this arc, but at some point soon we’re going to see danger find the Smith party.  At least I assume we are – if not, the setting will have to change again sooner rather than later.