Chapter 235

A Stroll Through the Capital — Part 2

The road that led to the flea market was slightly less busy than the city’s main street, but that wasn’t to say that it was barren . Businesses still lined both sides of the road with their fanciest products put in their display cases for all to see . There were even all sorts of stalls and carts set up along the side of the road . Unlike the stores, they mainly featured different kinds of food and attracted customers through their unique aromatic blends . It was precisely one of these smaller businesses that happened to grab our attention and momentarily distract us from our flea market-centred expedition .

“Hey lovebirds, come try one of Alshir’s most famous dishes?” The clerk waved at us right as we passed by the store . “It’s roasted boar, the best in the city . One bite is all you’ll need to make this date more memorable than any other . ”

“…He called us lovebirds . ” Nell’s fingers fidgeted in joy and embarrassment as she repeated his words under her breath . His silver-tongued sales pitch had struck home .

“Sure, why not? Give us two . ” I did admittedly find it to be a pretty good pitch, so I paid the man his due . “Actually, on second thought, make that three . Two for here, one to go . ”

“Thank you kindly, sir . Do come again,” he said as the goods and coins exchanged hands . “I promise you it’ll be just as good next time as it is this time . ”

I chucked the one he’d wrapped up in my inventory, took a bite out of mine, and put the final skewer in front of Nell’s mouth as I gave her a smirk .

“And here’s your share . ”

“O-oh, u-uhm… Thanks . ”

She hesitated a bit, but eventually ended up taking it from me with her mouth, as I’d intended .

“Is the one you put away for Enne?” she asked, after transferring the shish kebab to her hand .

“Yeah . You know how fond of eating she is, right? She’d probably sulk if we ended up hogging all the food to ourselves . ”

The sword in question wasn’t with us, and not just because she was trying to give Nell and I a day to ourselves . This time, she wasn’t even standing by in my inventory . She was instead having herself a play date with none other than the country’s highest ranking child . It was a situation that in part stemmed from carelessness, my carelessness . The room we were allotted was a private area, so I was under the impression that she wouldn’t be discovered if I allowed her to do as she pleased so long as she stayed within it . Evidently, I was wrong .

Iryll had, during an instance in which the two of us were lazing about on the couch, entered the room without any prior warning . It was an incident that led me to introduce the two to one another, and despite my concerns, they ended up getting along incredibly well . Enne’s doll-like appearance had the other girl instantly enamoured . This, when paired with Iryll’s lack of similarly aged friends, led the princess to be as excited as a fangirl meeting her favourite celebrity . She was so lively, in fact, that she’d caused even the taciturn, expressionless Enne to open her eyes wide in surprise . Heh . That made for a pretty good laugh .

Though we were being stalked, I wasn’t actually concerned about my lack of a weapon . I couldn’t exactly swing Enne around in the city’s borders given her size anyway, and I was glad to see that she had made a new playmate . I’d be more than happy if the two ended up as good friends .

“Now that you mention it, she really does like eating, doesn’t she? She doesn’t normally make many expressions, but she always starts smiling happily as soon as dinner makes its way to the table . ”

“Pretty much, yeah . Super cute, right?”

“Mhm . She certainly is . ”

After another minute or so of walking, Nell froze up the same way I did back at the intersection . I could tell that she had to actively stop herself from looking in the direction of the person stalking us .

“Hey, Yuki? Have you realized we’re being followed?” she said in the most nonchalant tone she could muster .

“Yeah, I’ve known for a good while now,” I said .

I was by no means surprised to find out that Nell had realized we were being tailed . It was only natural, given that our pursuer had gotten closer so as to not lose us in the crowd . His skills were fairly impressive, given how long he had eluded her detection—he had started following us shortly after we departed the castle . But being in close quarters meant the jig was up .

“Geez, you could’ve told me,” she said with a frown .

“Yeah, but I didn’t want him to know that we were onto him,” I said . “You can be a bit silly at times, so I was thinking that you’d probably end up overreacting and giving it away . ”

Allowing ourselves to be surveyed was a much better option than chasing the spectator away, as his job likely involved either figuring out my identity, keeping an eye on Nell, or