40 – break – 2
Since we couldn’t just hold hands in front of the inn, we decided to wander the streets. Serena quietly moved as I led her, her cheeks and ears turning red.
The gaze pouring from the surroundings was roughly half positive and half negative.
The positive side is probably because we just look like a fresh couple, and the negative side is probably because the judges are twisted seeing us doing this in broad daylight, dressed as adventurers.
I thought it was really fortunate that I didn’t see those negative gazes because Serena was ripe like a carrot by herself.
If Serena had seen that gaze, and if I hadn’t been by her side, there would have been a carnage in the middle of the city.
Continuing to walk towards the center of the city, the number of adventurers gradually decreased and the number of ordinary citizens began to increase.
It was a natural change since all the humans who received the request would now leave the city, and only the adventurers who were resting today or had not yet obtained the request would remain.
In the past and now, in order to eventually find something to do in a certain area, the fastest way is to ask someone who has lived there for a long time.
Anyway, Serena will calmly follow my lead, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go around randomly.
Looking around, I found an old man sitting at a round table set up outside in broad daylight and drinking a drink, and approached him.
The old man looked at what was going on when a young man and woman suddenly approached, then glanced at Serena and smiled at me.
A young man and woman have been holding each other’s hands since morning, and the woman’s side is clearly revealing that she is embarrassed and does not know what to do.
It’s pretty easy to figure out what situation we’re in. Recognition-deterring magic is magic that makes it difficult to remember faces, not magic that hides what kind of expression you’re making.
The point of the perception-damping magic was that, even if she showed her appearance like this, if she turned around, she would forget what Serena looked like. So there was nothing to shy away from.
“Senior, I’d like to ask you something.”
Considering the amount of time I’ve actually lived, I should rather hear that I’m an elder.
The old man looked at us with eyes saying, “Look at these guys,” then emptied the glass in one go and set it down energetically with a snap.
“Are you dating your girlfriend?”
“Hey, girl friend…”
Serena, who correctly caught the words, collapsed with a pop. Unable to come to his senses, he gently pulled Serena, who was staggering.
The old man shook his head with a pleased expression. He seemed to have a better personality than I thought. First of all, he was above average in that he didn’t have the personality to believe only in his age.
Serena would have been devastated if she did that here. Since this old man has a decent personality, we should be respectful here too. I took some fairy tales out of my pocket and held them in my hand.
“Well, as you can see. So, is there anything worth seeing around here? Instead, I’ll buy you another glass.”
Then, as I gently placed some fairy tales on the table, the old man chuckled and replied coolly.
“You’re a rare young man! Yes, I mean he’s looking for a place to go on a date with his girlfriend.”
“Bonus, a place to eat for lunch and dinner.”
The old man nodded.
“Of course it should. Looking at it, it looks like your girlfriend is looking forward to a date and doesn’t know what to do. But if you take her to an awkward place and disappoint her, you’ll use it. Apparently, you’ll be satisfied if you take her with you all day.”
“I see. Then, do you have any recommendations for a place to visit for the whole day?”
“I’m worried because there are so many places that come to mind. I’ve been living in this city for several years. Are you new here?”
“Yes. This is the first time.”
“Then can you tell me where you’re from?”
“I’m from the east.”
“East, east…”
The old man tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought. Yesterday, when I came here in a carriage, I had a rough idea of where Serena had come.
He ran westward from Kartina’s territory for a long time, but when he calculated, it was a distance that would take at least two weeks to catch even with a decent wagon.
If we say that straight away, we’ll either be treated like crazy and kicked out of us, or we’ll lose our lives to the pissed off Serena before we do, so I decided not to mention specific numbers.
“Then we’ll have to stop by the central square first. There’s nothing to lose by going. Even if it’s not as crowded as at the festival, there’ll be plenty to see and do. Even better if your girlfriend likes food from the stalls. There’s so much to eat. .”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Next time?”
“Hey, how about lunch? Would you like some street food or go to a nice restaurant that costs a little more money?”
“Don’t worry about the money, I’ll recommend you to a good place.”
“Ha ha ha! You came with a very strong determination to impress your girlfriend with this! I like it. Yes, a man needs to have that level of ambition to be useful. Oh, no!”
The old man kept chatting about what was so good about it and patted me on the shoulder.
I wasn’t particularly bluffing, I really didn’t have to worry about money, but I decided to just let them be as misled as I wanted.
It’s not that our image has deteriorated because of that illusion, it’s because it’s changed in a better direction.
“If you head from the fountain in the central square to the main street in the direction the point of the sword points, you will find a building with red tiles on it. Go there. It is quite crowded during lunch and dinner. You better stop by. I recommend around 11am or 3pm.”
“What is the restaurant selling?”
“I sell most of the dishes that I think are expensive.”
The old man called the waitress and ordered another drink with the fairy tale I had added earlier.
He must have liked it so much that he got a free drink, and he seemed to want to tell me something more.
“If you have a lot to ask, sit down. But, I have a lot to answer.”
“Then excuse me.”
I pulled a chair across from the old man and sat down, and Serena, who was naturally going behind me, took her hand and sat down next to me.
Aside from being so shy, the habit I had ingrained in my body was still my knight, Serena.
“How about a dish that you think is expensive?”
“First of all, it’s the steak. Once you’ve tried the steak there, I bet you’ll think it’s a half-burnt chunk of meat from other restaurants.”
“I’m looking forward to that.”
“There are other stir-fried dishes as well, and…”
The old man constantly praised the restaurant’s cuisine. Listening to what he said, it seemed that the outline of the restaurant could be roughly grasped.
First of all, it is a restaurant that focuses on luxury, but the first floor sells food that even ordinary people can pay for if they want to, and the second and third floors are real restaurants.
It is completely different from the entrance, and the soundproofing system is perfectly equipped, so even if a bomb explodes on the first floor, the sound does not reach the second floor.
I wondered if it would be better to build a new building somewhere else, but I decided to just put it aside. I guess I did it because I had a thought.
The old man looked quite surprised when I asked him to tell me more about the second and third floors. It meant that I could afford it.
I answered with a light laugh, and the old man continued explaining without muttering, as if he realized something while watching me.
Of course, the biggest factor was probably because I kept adding fairy tales to my drink whenever I was empty.
Thanks to this, the old man was completely drunk by the time we explained where we were going to roam before dinner and where dinner would be held.
Even so, it seemed that he had a fairly decent personality, judging from the fact that the tone of his words only slightly increased, and he didn’t show his temper or go into a riot.
After the long explanation, the old man sighed heavily. It’s been about 30 minutes or so. If you plan on going around all day, 30 minutes is a pretty good exchange.
“Sir, then we’ll leave. Thank you for the explanation.”
“Let it be. I didn’t plan on drinking this much in the morning either.”
“Can’t you have a free drink?”
“Khehehe, that’s right.”
After exchanging greetings lightly, I stood up from my chair. And just as he was about to get up, the old man called Serena.
“There, lady!”
For a moment, a very subtle emotion passed over Serena’s face.
It felt bad to be called arbitrarily, but since he was the one who had been chatting with me just a while ago, it was like he couldn’t reveal it.
Fortunately, the old man was so drunk that he didn’t notice Serena, who was stiff and stiff, and opened his mouth.
“Hold him tight. He’s a very nice young man. You probably won’t regret it.”
Serena’s expression subtly changed once more. Fortunately, the old man didn’t notice the answer.
It seemed like he was just trying to cheer me up, saying that I would feel good when I was drunk. Leaving behind the old man who started humming an unknown melody, he returned to the street.
Serena’s hand, which was holding my hand, was stronger than before. The blush-like face suddenly returned to its original white skin, showing off its complexion.
“What’s wrong, Serena?”
“I was contemplating whether to kill him or not.”
“……What?”
“Because I belong only to the lord. There is no reason to be called that by other people.”
“…”
Seeing Serena spit out those words casually, I was dumbfounded for a moment, then let go of my hands and pulled both cheeks.
Serena’s face twisted into a funny look. The original version was so superior that even when the face was distorted like this, its beauty was still the same.
“It’s not like that.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Well, where did you just think about it and not put it into practice? He let go of Serena’s cheek. Serena smiled, as if she was glad that I had pulled her cheek.
Anyway, even if someone like me pinches her, she won’t even send a message to Serena, so of course she’ll think of it as skinship.
“That old man told me to stop by the central square, so I’ll go there first, okay?”
“Wherever the lord goes, I will follow you.”
“It’s nice that they’re all the same.”
“thank you.”
There was only one thing I wished for today.
It’s that the judges don’t run into the twisted ones.
There are people with bad personalities everywhere, but at least today, I hoped that I wouldn’t run into such people.
Well, even I wasn’t sure what Serena would do if this situation was interrupted.
My eyes were sparkling since this morning, but my life was in danger if I got into a fight. Not me, but the lives of those who quarreled.
Furthermore, Serena had no means of proving her identity, and I was an F-class adventurer of the lowest rank.
There were plenty of opportunists who only became strong against those weaker than them, and this was sure to be no exception.
It is an absurd wish to wish all the countless people in this city to be good.
Of course, since it’s a big city, the security is probably good, and there’s a high probability that fighting in a restaurant you usually think of will not happen.
If he did that, he would be beaten with excitement by the immediately dispatched guards and dragged to prison, so why would he do that?
Instead, disputes masquerading as discord between adventurers can happen at any time. Due to the nature of his job as an adventurer, where life goes back and forth, quarrels arose very often.
And as long as the dispute didn’t spread to the general public, it was an unwritten rule to let the adventurers solve it.
The fatigue of the guards was too great to interfere with every single one of those things, and the adventurers would be dissatisfied with being interfered with all their actions, so it was more of a custom that had become moderately hardened.
Only a few extremely developed large cities, such as the kingdom’s capital, were exceptions to that unwritten rule.
So, it was best to at least walk around and hope that you don’t run into any thugs. That’s why I purposely dressed Serena in plain clothes that didn’t stand out.
It must have been.
Everyone around you was lying flat on the floor.
I just hoped that the gaze would not reach myself as much as possible, trembling for fear of being criticized or noticed.
The only one who didn’t bow was Serena.
There was only silence in the central square, which should have been noisy with people’s voices. Even though there were so many people gathered, not a single breath could be heard.
Only the sound of the metallic sabaton hitting the tiles on the floor could be heard intermittently.
Those dressed in the armor of the Royal Knights lined up on both sides. He wore a helmet on his head, and even had an armament in his hand.
A silver-haired woman stepped out among the stiffly lined royal knights with military discipline. Then, a unified voice resounded throughout the central plaza.
“Meet His Majesty King Gargantua.”
“””Meet His Majesty King Gargantua!”””
Why is Charlotte here?
