070: Al & Eric

November 30, 2020 - 8 minutes read - 1582 words

The mansion of the Duke of Leingeland

In the shade of the garden, Alicia sits while making comments like ‘At least the weather is nice’. Alicia squints her eyes as a breeze blows her lustrous red hair and dress.

“You should be able to watch the duel safely here.” Maid

The maid waiting beside Alicia started preparing tea. Perhaps interesting things will happen today, Alicia thinks to herself. Alicia observes Bran standing in the middle of the garden while thinking various things.

In the garden, Bran stands with a wooden sword in his hand. He waits for a strong enemy to arrive, around the time of the mid-morning bell. He’s expecting Alfred to show up in the normal morning time, he waits while suppressing his fear. While Alfred is only seven-years-old, he is the younger brother of Eleanora.

Bran assumes that Alfred must have skills commensurate with a person that Eleanora would nominate. He must be skilled beyond his age, even if he isn’t as strong as Eleanora. Bran must stay alert to defeat Alfred.

Bran is sharpening his nerves for the duel, but Alfred is…

Sleeping comfortably in his bed at the inn

Royal Capital Square

Soon, the couple next to me started getting physical with their argument, so I stood up so I don’t get caught up in it. What is with them doing that sort of argument in public? I’m sort of relieved, but also worried since some might think I’m their child. Some people are giving me pitying looks.

Finally, Eric showed up. At this point, the woman was shutting down the man’s flirting.

“I’m sorry, I was late.” Eric

“You’re so late, I’m starving” Al

Eric bends over while trying to catch his breath, did he run here? It’s weird that he’s sweating so much. I didn’t need to run from the inn to get here, how was he exercising so intensely? The aristocratic inns should be close to here, it’s not that far.

“Hey, I got mixed up with a nasty guy. I’ll get you a Woocey skewer or two.” Eric

“Well, can I get the superior version?” Al

Woocey skewers only cost a bronze coin, if you’re apologizing shouldn’t it be something more expensive.

“Is that what extravagant guys eat?” Eric

“Anyway, I’d like to try the meat of the Neo Woocey that I’ve heard about.” Al

“Hey, that’s a rare meat that’s rarely sold. Also, it’s a full silver coin per skewer, let me off with normal Woocey skewers.” Eric

“Well, Woocey skewers are delicious, so I’ll be fine.” Al

I ate one skewer a few minutes ago, but I could eat another five. We compromise and start walking. Soon, cheers rose up from behind us.

“What is that?” Eric

Behind us, there’s a man lying on the ground and an angry woman standing over him, screaming out her victory.

“I don’t want to know, let’s move on to the food stalls.” AL

“Oh, by the way. What happened with the duel with Bran?” Eric

“Ah, that’s over. It’s been solved, safely.” Al

Bran, please get in a relationship with Eleanora by winning against her, also marry her as well. Oh but I don’t want him as a brother-in-law, so maybe not. Hopefully it would be someone better.

“I can tell by looking at your uninjured body, let’s go?” Eric

As we walk down the south boulevard of the royal capital, various scents, sweet or fragrant drift around. This area is lined with food stalls, restaurants, and shops, is crowded with tons of people at lunchtime.

At a nearby stall, a large cut of meat with spices is slowly roasted. Beyond that, I can see a pot of vegetables being stirred at another stall. I can see yet another stall where various fillings are stuck inside a naan-like bread. Elsewhere, there’s kneaded and baked pies, steamed vegetables, stir-fried dishes, all sorts of dishes are on sale. Could the dish I’m unfamiliar with be from a foreign country? It wouldn’t be strange for something like that to be in the royal capital.

“It smells good” Eric

“Anything wrong with you?” Al

“No, nothing. Just feel a little weird today. No problem.” Eric

Eric seems a little off today, but he’s a bit of an odd person, plus I couldn’t care less.

“Hmm?” Eric

It seems he noticed a suspicious existence behind us and tried to catch them. There has been some people following us at a reasonable distance for a while. As I’ve mastered Spatial Magic, my perception of my surroundings has also improved. If you don’t have perceptive senses, who know where you would end up when using Transfer magic.

In a safe place, you don’t have to be right on target, but that’s a safe location. In a place where the footing isn’t as good, you have to be more precise. I’ve been practicing Transferring to those locations, they use more magic energy, so it’s good for training magic energy as well.

I’ll chalk up noticing the shadowing pursuers to those efforts. I’m not sure that watching out for Eleanora would help much, she’s too obvious. Also, I don’t want to think about those experiences.

“What with those people? What happened?” Eric

Eric overreacts and scares the followers away, well, they’re just further away now. He can’t see the signs anymore.

“No, it’s nothing.” Al

“Oh, really?” Eric

As we walked down the street, I saw an interesting meat that gave off a strong smell, even for a food stall.

“That meat is so red” Al

A well-built man with tanned skin kneads spices and herbs into another large piece of meat. It smells so strong, even though we aren’t near the stall, what does it taste like?

“That a dish from the wester country, Lazur Kingdom. It a dish known for its strong and spicy flavor.” Eric

Lazur Kingdom, it’s a country far west of the Misfilt Kingdom. They control a vast land area, but it’s mostly desert. I’ve read of the country in my studies, but I’ve never eated food from it.

“Hmm, it looks spicy.” Al

“It’s spicy, but surprisingly moreish. Want to try some?” Eric

Eric says that with a dangerous smile, I’m worried about it. If the ordinary flavor is that red, what does the hottest flavor taste like? Would I be able to taste anything after trying it?

“No, no, I’ll skip it for today. You said Woocey skewers were good? There’s some over there.” Al

“Ugh, where are your guts?” Eric

I ignored Eric’s provocation and lined up at the stall selling Woocey skewers.

A little while after the noon bell rang over the royal capital.

“Slow!” Bran barked.

“Hey! It’s already past noon! The duel should have been in the morning, but we’re well past then! Ms. Alicia, do you know where that guy is?” Bran

“Oh? Is it already noon? I had lost track of the time.” Alicia

Bran’s face is flushed with anger, but Alicia just sounds morose. Bran is not something Alicia is paying attention to at the moment. At first, she wanted to see how Alfred would fight Bran, so she moved out to the garden. Since Alfred didn’t show up, she felt like her time was being wasted.

Luckily, a new product arrived while she was waiting, an item Lazarus Shokai was soon to introduce. One of Alicia’s servants heard about it and made a copy for her to play with. It’s interesting since it’s so simple to play. It’s a simple toy that can be built out of cardboard an skewers, that’s a clever idea. Who came up with sticking cardboard on a skewer and spinning it?

It seems like Alfred might have been behind this, in addition to Reversi and Shogi. It doesn’t really have the preferred oomph when the pieces hit each other, but it seems an easy thing to fix. The Lazarus Shokia company is working hard on productizing it, they’ll soon be on sale. How was this thought up? What other things is Alfred hiding? These kinds of thoughts are the things that make Alicia’s life interesting.

“My Lady” Servant

A servant has arrived, dressed in a black robe. She appeared like she crawled from a shadow.

“Lin, what is he doing now?” Alicia

“He’s currently walking with Eric Sylford on the Southern Boulevard” Lin

“Is he coming to the duel?” Alicia

“He seems to have abandoned the duel, either he overslept or didn’t want to participate. He left the inn a little while before the noon bell rang and headed for the main square.” Lin

Alicia seems surprised for a second, but then started laughing.

“Ahahah! It’s so strange to go out to play after skipping a duel. I wouldn’t think of such an action.” Alicia

“He went to play instead of duel?! What does that mean? No, what did you say?” Bran

Bran rushes over after catching wind of the situation. Alicia is about to spur Bran onto an interesting direction, but she’ll need to choose her words carefully. The shadowy servant disappeared behind the tree.

“It sounds like Alfred is walking along the South Boulevard with Eric, right?” Alicia

“What the hell is with him? That guy! Then I’ll find him!” Bran

Bran is shaking with anger, but bows down to Alicia before running out of the garden. It’s needless to say which direction he headed for.

“Things are getting interesting again.” Alicia

She sits in the gardens wearing a large smile.