Chapter 3: First Shopping

“Lady Claudia. I think it would be fine if you settled down a little more.”

“No, in a place as mysterious as this, I do not know what might happen.”

Lilka spoke to Claudia, who was busily darting her gaze to the left and right of the main street.

“For now, this is the Royal Capital’s central street. I don’t think anything out of the ordinary will occur.”

It was typical of Lilka to be considerate toward Claudia in her role as a guide. Well, considering who their companion was, she wasn’t necessarily overthinking things. Even if they had that ring with the security buzzer, its effectiveness would be limited against a “loose cannon” type of opponent.

“Um, was it really alright for me to receive this?”

Alphina, sandwiched between me and Mia, held a small bag with both hands as if covering it.

“It is a fair price for your labor. We didn’t give you any special treatment,” Mia replied, having performed the assessment. In fact, the contents of the bag were fewer than ten copper coins. It was less than a third of the hourly wage of a fast-food place in Japan.

Alphina handled the bag as if it were jewels, which made me feel a bit guilty. It was an amount that probably couldn’t even buy a single button on the clothes she was wearing. That gap symbolized the difficulty of the mission ahead.

There was a reason we were walking through the Royal Capital. It was all well and good that I had given Alphina her part-time job pay since she had returned to school for the first time in a while, but the shocking—though perhaps not surprising—fact came to light: she didn’t know how to use currency.

Since it looked like Alphina would just take the money home and put it in a jewelry box, an after-school mission to teach her how to spend money was suddenly organized. However, choosing where to go shopping was difficult. After all, copper coins are useless in the kind of shops suitable for taking a Princess.

Since I, who was most familiar with the copper coin economy, wasn’t being helpful, Lilka volunteered to be the guide.

Thus, we came to the crossroads between the Merchant District and the Artisan District, having walked down the central street from the Noble District where the Academy stands. To the east, a plaza along the street could be seen.

“How about here, Vinder?”

“I see, a Forum.”

The rectangular grounds were surrounded by columns, with a flowerbed in the center and benches around it. Several stalls were set up around the benches. It was a construction that reminded me of the ruins of public squares in Rome. Those were positioned as public works projects created by ancient rulers to win the popularity of the masses.

Indeed, many citizens seemed to be using it. There were also couples.

“The security is good here, and the stalls that are out are all licensed ones, right?”

“Exactly. So, what do you recommend?”

It was an exquisite choice for a Princess’s first shopping trip.

“No, you should be the one doing the escorting from here on out,” Lilka nudged me.

“There’s such a thing as the right person for the right job, right?”

“Rather than me, a ‘Silver Lady’ since birth, you, a ‘Success Story’ from copper, are the right person.”

The stalls lined up around the central flowerbed were quite diverse. A shop grilling meat—people were biting into it with their hands. There were no [lighter foods]. Simple snacks like fried bread. I recall those being incredibly hard.

Then, how about an object? There was a shop with cloisonné brooches lined up on a straw mat.

It might be good for use during this kind of incognito outing. Come to think of it, how did that illegal Shogun who loved sneak-attacking vassals prepare his poor samurai cosplay outfit?

“So, what are you going to do, Senpai?”

“No, haha. Ahem. Lady Alphina, do you have any requests?”

Excluding the person being asked, I’m sure every girl there pinned a label of “incompetent” on me. Asking a Princess who has never used money to choose is a tall order, isn’t it? Everything is different from the tea parties at the Academy’s gazebo.

“I’ll leave it to Ricardo-kun… No, that won’t do, will it?”

Alphina looked at me for a moment as if troubled, but then changed her mind and began looking at each stall one by one. She has a strong sense of curiosity, and she might be finding this interesting in its own way. We followed her slow pace. It might have been a somewhat surreal sight.

Finally, the Princess’s feet stopped in front of one stall. Smoke was rising, and there was the good smell of charred oil. I thought she would choose something lighter, like a pastry, but she made a rather bold choice.

“What kind of food is this?”

Alphina spoke to the owner of the stall.

“Huh? You don’t know Yakitori? What on earth… Wait, a noble?”

The owner looked troubled. Claudia tried to step forward, but Lilka held her back.

“It has a very lovely aroma.”

“O-Oh, my place uses chicken sourced from Dargan… s-sir/ma’am. The taste is outstanding, it is?”

The owner, intimidated by the Royal Academy uniform, began a clumsy pitch once he was reassured by the customer’s innocent attitude. By the way, your customer isn’t a noble. Ignorance is bliss.

While I was worried about the owner’s survival, Alphina decided on her order. It was Yakitori using a part that looked like thigh meat; the seasoning seemed to be only salt.

Ah, I miss Teriyaki. I’m a man who believes that any food can become Japanese if you have soy sauce, but there’s no way I can recreate that ultimate seasoning. Well, I don’t have rice anyway.

The owner grilled the meat uncomfortably while being monitored in every movement by Claudia. Having received the skewer and handed over a copper coin in exchange, Alphina came back to us with a smile. We followed suit and ordered as well.

The five of us sat on a stone bench with Yakitori in our hands.

“Well then, let’s eat…?”

Alphina looked puzzled by the skewer in her hand. I made a point to bite into my own skewer boldly. As he bragged, the taste wasn’t bad. Dargan deals in chicken as well as beef, apparently.

“Princess, I will prepare tableware immediately.”

Claudia spoke, but Alphina stared intently at the skewer in her hand and then at me. The skewer held in her white hand slowly approached her pink lips.

Munch…

Her cute lips opened, and just the top-most small piece was taken into her mouth.

“Oh, it’s very delicious!”

When her throat let out a small sound, Alphina pressed her hand to her cheek. It’s amazing that she can react like this to eating Yakitori. It’s practically foul play that she looks completely natural.

“Vinder, you wretch. Teaching Lady Alphina such strange things.”

“This is just how you eat this food.”

“That’s right, even at meals, bread is eaten with hands, so please just go with that.”

Lilka and I mediated. Come to think of it, sandwiches were thought up by a noble, weren’t they? Perhaps there were circumstances where bread was okay to eat by hand without violating manners.

Claudia glared at us, but eventually withdrew her protest at Alphina’s happy expression. Even if she said it was good, it was only at the level of a street stall. However, the atmosphere plays a big part in these things. Moreover, it was her first purchase with the first money she had earned herself.

“It was delicious, but my throat is a bit dry.”

“That’s true.”

I spotted a stall nearby selling fruit water. Even though it was called fruit water, it was nothing more than water with a bit of lemon juice squeezed into it. Even so, it would be good for refreshing the palate after the greasy meat.

“Then, this one is my treat. Everyone, please wait here.”

“Ricardo-kun, please let me pay for it.”

When I tried to recover from my blunder with money, Alphina spoke up. The two of us headed toward a slightly distant stall. The second shopping trip ended without incident—except for the fearless old lady at the stall who mistook Alphina and me for a couple.

Holding a container made from a cut plant stem—softer and thinner than bamboo—in both hands, Alphina walked beside me with a full smile.

“I can have so many different experiences when I am with you, Ricardo-kun.”

“Please thank Lilka for today.”

“Yes. That’s right. I will thank her later.”

Alphina said, looking as if she were peering into my face. Looking at her happy smile, I felt a little relieved. When I saw her at the Academy for the first time in a while, she looked a bit tired. The matter of the prophecy must be a burden. If she was able to refresh herself even a little, that’s what matters most.

“Come to think of it, Ricardo-kun, you are leaving the Royal Capital tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Alphina asked tentatively. Perhaps she heard about my business trip from the Grand Duke.

“Yes, it seems a problem has arisen with the beekeeping. I’m going to see it directly.”

“Primary information?”

A term I had taught her came out of my classmate’s mouth. It felt a little ticklish.

“That’s right. There are many things you don’t understand unless you see them directly.”

“Thank you for keeping me company today, even though you are busy.”

“It’s only a day’s distance by carriage, so the preparations are minimal. If anything, isn’t Lady Alphina the one having a hard time with the prophecy?”

I turned the conversation toward what I was concerned about.

“That is… It’s all right. My role is almost over.”

Alphina said. The images flowing from the crystal were becoming clearer and clearer, weren’t they? If so, the image of the calamity must already be solidified.

Right now, they are likely in the middle of narrowing down the candidates for the calamity that could occur and formulating countermeasures. That’s within the realm of politics—or rather, administration. If the Prime Minister is directing it directly, the number of people and the information they can access must be on a different scale. However, knowing it’s not just that, I noticed the slight shadow in her expression.

“Lady Alphina, why do you go that far as the Princess-Priestess—”

“…!”

Just as I was about to ask the question, Alphina’s feet stopped. Between the columns lining the plaza, stone slabs were placed respectively. The one she stopped at was a particularly large one among them. A relief was carved into the stone slab. It was a composition where about a dozen men and women, clad in old-fashioned clothing reminiscent of togas, stood in a row. Perhaps the subject was taken from mythology.

Even to someone like me with no artistic background, I could tell the technique was magnificent, but the content was completely beyond me. For example, what kind of artistic intent was behind the blank space in the center?

“It is a splendid relief.”

Thinking about it, continuing to talk shop at a time like this is boorish. Alphina would likely be well-versed in styles and motifs.

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Alphina smiled elegantly. It was delicate and beautiful, like the relief itself, and yet somehow ephemeral…

“But we should head back soon. Everyone is waiting.”

“Ah… those guys!”

Claudia glaring this way, Mia with dead eyes, and Lilka with a sarcastic hand over her mouth. A wide variety of gazes were gathered. Alphina lightly waved her hand holding the drink and headed toward the bench. I hurriedly followed after her.

I’ll stick to refreshing today. I can deal with the difficult talk after I return from the business trip.