Of course, after emerging from the tailor shop and making their way out onto the street, Erwin and onean immediately became the center of everyone's attention again. However, in contrast with before, the two of them were feeling a lot calmer and more assured. At times, all that was needed for a complete change in mindset was a change of clothes.

Everyone was curious to see what this pair of young people were going to do, and only after Erwin carried an easel to the center of the crossroads in the town did everyone finally understand what he was planning.

Neither of them were ones to wilt under public scrutiny. Ever since she was a child, Onean had been looked up to by all of the citizens of the Effer Kingdom, so she was completely unfazed by the number of bystanders here. Of course, the prerequisite to this was that she had to be dressed appropriately. As for Erwin, he had always had notoriously thick skin, even back in Sarus, so he naturally also didn't care how many pairs of eyes were focused on him. Thus, the two of them casually sat down onto the wooden folding chairs they had bought, and Erwin began to paint a portrait of Onean.

The rough sketch that Erwin had drawn using charcoal was already sufficient to display his outstanding artistic talent. In contrast with the average artist, he wasn't overly invested in creating accurate sketches. Instead, after roughly confirming the proportions, he began to draw Onean's facial features with a series of bold and flowing strokes. Through his artwork, one felt as if Onean's golden eyes were conveying a story, and that her intricate nose was drawing breath. Every single slight detail of her expression and facial features were captured to perfection, but things like the outline of her face were quickly glossed over with simple strokes, clearly demonstrating Erwin's priorities in his artistic process.

A short while later, a vibrant and soulful painting had appeared on his canvas.

This was the special talent that Erwin possessed. His artwork couldn't be considered to be very conventionally accurate to the subject, but it perfectly captured the intangible subtleties that made a piece of artwork appear to possess a soul.

While Erwin was completely absorbed in his creation, everyone was watching with interest, and they were even making an effort to speak more quietly so that they wouldn't disturb Erwin.

Finally, Erwin set down the piece of charcoal in his hand before standing up from his chair, then took a few steps backward to inspect his own artwork, and only then did everyone begin to discuss their opinions of the artwork in a spirited manner.

Onean also made her way over to the canvas before taking a look, and she was genuinely very impressed, even though this wasn't the first time that she had witnessed Erwin's artistic talent. From a young age, she had seen countless artworks created by all types of master royal artists, so she was naturally able to immediately identify the unique nature of Erwin's artistic style. After seeing the casual artwork that Erwin had created in the forest the day before, she was already struck by the feeling that he possessed outstanding talent. Looking at this finished sketch now, she suddenly came to the realization that Erwin's most remarkable talent was his ability to capture the soul of the subject.

"Young man, would you be willing to sell this painting?" a man who appeared to be a merchant asked as he emerged from the crowd. The completely tasteless yet undoubtedly expensive sheepskin coat that he was wearing was a clear indication of his occupation.

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face as he cast his gaze toward Onean, while Onean was looking at the merchant, waiting for him to state a price.

"I'll give you 20 Loonies." Judging from the tone of the merchant's voice, it was clear that he already felt himself to be very generous, and objectively speaking, that was indeed the case. Generally speaking, a casual sketch created by a street artist would already do very well to fetch one or two Loonies. Erwin didn't look like any renowned artist, and judging from the tattered clothes that he had been wearing earlier, he looked like a wandering artist, so this was already a very steep price for his artwork.

"I'll give you 30 Loonies for it." Right at this moment, another voice rang out from the crowd, and on this occasion, it was a man who appeared to be the commander of a mercenary legion who stepped forward. The armor that he was wearing was clearly of a very high quality, and after emerging from the crowd, he took an embarrassed glance at Onean before shifting his gaze elsewhere.

"I'll give you 40 Loonies!" the merchant from before declared, clearly not very pleased that someone was bidding against him. Not only that, but it was a mercenary who was competing with him. Even though this mercenary appeared to be decently wealthy, the merchant was confident that he had a higher budget to work with.

With that in mind, the merchant glared at the mercenary with a disdainful look in his arrogant eyes.

However, the mercenary didn't seem to have noticed this at all, and he tucked his arms behind his own head with a nonchalant expression, occasionally stealing a glance or two at Onean. Perhaps he already knew from the very beginning that he wouldn't be able to outbid the merchant, and he was only placing a bid because he wanted to make himself known to Onean.

Right at this moment, a young man stumbled out of the crowd with an army raised up high, and he hurriedly said, "We'll give you 50 Loonies!"

"We'll give you 50 Loonies," the young man repeated as he made his way over to Onean with his head lowered, and at this moment, his face was as red as a beetroot.

"What's a missionary of the Universal Church like you doing buying a portrait of a woman?" someone jibed from the crowd.

The young man's linen robes were quite distinctive, and it was clear from his attire that he was from the Universal Church.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Could it be that your god instructed you to do this? Or could it be that your god has taken a liking to this woman and wants to make her a nun of your church?"

"I heard that in the sermon of the Universal Church, there's a part about relinquishing desires. As a missionary of the Universal Church, you're blatantly going against the teachings of your own religion, so how can you preach to us? Do we look like gullible people who can be easily deceived?"

More and more dissenting voices were emerging from the crowd.

The merchant was clearly very happy to see this, and why wouldn't he be happy to see this competitor being denounced by the public?

The missionary of the Universal Church only appeared to be around 16 to 17 years of age, and he was a very shy kid who had most likely never experienced anything like this before. His head was lowered this entire time, and he was biting down onto his own lower lip, enduring the malicious denouncement from the crowd in silence.

Onean only wanted to tease this wealthy merchant, and she didn't anticipate that things would take such an abrupt turn. While it was true that she and Erwin were in need of money, there was no way that she would actually sell the portrait that Erwin had drawn for her, especially not for just a few dozen Loonies.

Even so, she didn't directly turn down the young missionary. Instead, she was watching him with an intrigued expression. Looking at the freckles on his youthful face, his clear and innocent eyes, and the stubborn yet panicked look on his face, Onean found him to be a very interesting subject to look at.

The young missionary became even more uncomfortable under Onean's close scrutiny, and his chin was about to be tucked into his chest.

In the crowd, there was an elderly man in the same linen robe watching the young man that he had sent out with an indifferent expression, displaying no intention to help him.

"This artwork is a present for my wife, so I don't have any plans to sell it for now," Erwin said with a smile as he made his way over to the young missionary.

The young missionary immediately extended an embarrassed and apologetic bow.

A string of wistful sighs rang out from the crowd in response to Erwin's declaration. The merchant was prepared to make a bid over the 50 Loonies that the missionary had offered, but upon hearing what Erwin had to say, he could only give up on the idea. As for the mercenary, he gave Erwin a polite smile, indicating that he had no intention of coveting someone else's wife, then made his way back into the crowd.

As a result, everyone also became aware of the relationship between Erwin and Onean. They had thought that the duo was a pair of lovers, but as it turned out, they were husband and wife.

Of course, the reason why Erwin had said this was because he didn't want to see anyone else making advances toward Onean in his presence.

Onean was rather amused to see this, and she was naturally aware of the purpose behind Erwin's words. She then turned to look at him with a provocative expression, and it seemed that she wasn't opposed to being the center of attention every once in a while.

"I'm not selling this portrait, but I can draw portraits of anyone here," Erwin declared as he turned around to face the crowd. "If you're interested, please take a seat here. I'll be charging five Loonies per portrait."

"Really?" A noblewoman immediately emerged from the crowd before taking a seat on the chair that Onean had been occupying just a moment ago. A suggestive smile appeared on her face, and her eyes were filled with curiosity toward Erwin. It was clear that she had already been observing him for some time, and she had been waiting for this exact opportunity.

She had come to Belama to purchase some werecat slaves, but even after shopping around for several days, she was unable to find any that lived up to her standards. Thus, she was planning to return to her manor on this day, but Erwin just so happened to arrive in the town. It was love at first sight for her, and she had already been waiting for him outside the tailor shop for quite some time, so she certainly wasn't going to pass up this opportunity.

Erwin nodded at the noblewoman with a pleasant smile, then turned his gaze toward Onean, in response to which Onean gave him a casual look that said: "do as you please".

The noblewoman was very pleased to see this, and she finally had an excuse to openly stare at Erwin and take in his handsome face.

Erwin rolled up the portrait of Onean before placing it into an art tube and sitting back down. Only then did he notice that the noble woman's intentions were most definitely impure. Even though she was seated on her chair in a prim and proper manner, the seduction in her eyes was so blatant that Erwin could feel chills running down his spine at the sight of her.

In a rare display of seriousness, Erwin pretended to be completely oblivious to the woman's lustful gaze as he focused his attention on his artwork.

Right at this moment, the music of that lute rang out from outside the crowd, and the traveling poet with the deep singing voice passed through the crowd before arriving directly in front of Onean with a passionate expression.

Beautiful lady

Your eyes are like the sun, basking the entire earth in its warm radiance

Your eyes are like the stars, lighting up the night sky.

How praiseworthy our god is for creating one as beautiful as yourself

Compared with you, all other living beings appear to have been created with casual neglect

You are undoubtedly our god's most prized masterpiece

I am so frustrated for my pitiful vocabulary cannot even begin to describe your stunning beauty

I am so angry and so resentful

Angry at the machinations of fate

Resentful at the passage of time

Beautiful lady

Your appearance makes me feel as if my entire life prior to this was without purpose

But I should also be joyful and thankful

Thankful for the machinations of fate

Nothing will bring more joy to me

Than the moment I first laid my eyes on you

...

As the traveling continued to sing, he made a grandiose display of falling to one knee, strumming his lute as he raised his head to look up at Onean.

The crowd was very eager to see what was going to happen next. After all, Onean's "husband" was present on the scene.

However, Erwin remained completely unconcerned as he continued to focus wholeheartedly on his artwork, enjoying the flirtatious look in the noble woman's eyes. He didn't even bother to turn around to take a glance at the traveling poet. He knew that Onean had to have seen countless bards and poets in the past, and the ones who received invitations to the royal palace had to be far more adept at what they did than this traveling poet. Furthermore, the lyrics of his song were very cliched and superficial, so it would be a miracle if he could win any degree of affection from Onean.

Just as Erwin anticipated, Onean was completely interested in the traveling poet who was half-knelt before her. She couldn't help but yawn into her own hand as she listened to his shallow lyrics, but she still maintained a polite smile.

After finishing his song, the traveling poet didn't even get a chance to try any of his corny pickup lines on Onean before the lute in his hands was grabbed away by Onean.

The scene that unfolded next was one that was quite astonishing to Erwin.

Onean began to play the lute as she made her way elegantly toward him. He had no idea that she was capable of playing such an instrument.

In her current set of clothes, she was like a beautiful countryside young maiden, presenting a stark contrast to her usual regal grace as a princess. With the lute in her hand, she was looking very joyful and carefree, and Erwin couldn't help but be entranced by the sight of her.

The music that she was playing on the lute was very melodious and bore hints of homesickness, which resonated directly in Erwin's heart.

In this foreign land, they were the only ones who understood one another.