Chapter 3: Shopping
The morning after Rio had spent his first night with Celia and Aishia...
After finishing their breakfast, Rio and the others headed towards Amande. Their destination was the headquarters of the Ricca Guild in order to purchase daily necessities for Celia.
The stores all over the city had begun their business at a rather early hour of the morning, filling the roads with a lively crowd of merchants and customers.
“This is Amande. Like you’ve heard, it’s a very busy and bustling city.”
From under her hooded cloak, Celia looked at all the stalls lining the road with great interest in her eyes.
“First, let’s go buy you clothes at the Ricca Guild. Professor, make sure you don’t get separated...” Rio suggested.
“Let’s hold hands.” Aishia grabbed Rio’s left hand with complete familiarity.
“...I see. Then, may I hold your right hand?” Celia glanced up at Rio’s face and sought his permission shyly.
“Of course. Please, allow me.” Rio nodded readily, taking Celia by the hand.
“Y-Yeah...” H-He seems quite used to this, Celia thought to herself with a start, squeezing Rio’s hand nervously in return.
After that, the three weaved their way through the crowds and made their way to the Ricca Guild’s store — it was the branch that specialized in women’s clothing that he had taken Miharu to before. Celia’s heart was leaping at the thought of going shopping for the first time in a while, her steps springy with happiness.
When they stopped in front of the building. Rio turned to address the two girls. “Okay. I’m going to go a different way for a while. If you need anything, just tell Aishia — I’ll return right away with our telepathic connection.”
“Got it. See you, Haruto.” Celia nodded cheerfully, using Rio’s alias out loud. They had decided in advance that they would call Rio “Haruto” while outside in public, where other people could possibly overhear them, since Rio’s arrest warrant was still active, even now.
“Take care of Cecilia, Aishia,” Rio said, using Celia’s alias.
Since Celia was also technically abducted to the public, she couldn’t afford to walk around without some form of disguise, either — hence the use of an alias. On top of that, Celia’s silver hair had also been changed to blonde with the same artifact that Rio used to change his hair.
“Leave it to me.” Aishia nodded quietly but firmly.
“I will. See you later.” Rio nodded contently, turning on his heel.
After he had disappeared into the crowds, Celia lowered the hood of her cloak and turned to Aishia. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”
“Okay.” Aishia nodded, lowering her hood, too. The two of them entered through the doors.
“Now, let’s start from the first floor and make our way up. Will you help me choose, Aishia?” Celia said to Aishia in a lively voice.
“Sure,” Aishia agreed readily.
Thus, the two began their long shopping spree. Like Celia had declared, they went through each floor in order. The building had four floors total: the first through the third were for clothes and small accessories, while the fourth was entirely dedicated to lingerie.
“Oh, there’s so much variety to the Ricca Guild’s clothing. The real thing really is different. Everything catches my eye.” Celia giggled, choosing clothes from everywhere.
She was comparatively more of the secluded type, but when it came to shopping, she would pick clothes she liked with skilled hands. Furthermore, she also wasn’t wasteful, so she checked every price tag carefully as she went.
The two beautiful girls clearly stood out, drawing the attention of the store attendants and other customers.
“How about this?” Celia showed each piece to Aishia one by one, seeking her opinion. In return, Aishia gave precise advice with consideration for Rio’s tastes in mind.
“Haruto would like the other one better.”
If Rio were here, he probably would have asked “How do you know my preferences?” with a twitch in his smile. “I see, I see. I think I’m starting to get a good idea of Haruto’s tastes. I’ll keep this one instead, then.” Celia nodded with satisfaction.
After that they moved to the next floor and chose several good-looking pieces, then headed to the fourth floor to choose underwear. “Okay, now that I’ve noted all the regular clothes I want, let’s go to the lingerie section first.”
Celia climbed the stairs happily, but she stopped mid-step.
“...H-Hey... You wouldn’t happen to know Haruto’s taste in underwear too, right?” she asked fearfully.
“I don’t. We’ve never selected underwear together.” Aishia shook her head quietly.
The reason why she was so knowledgeable of Rio’s tastes was now clear: the second time they had come shopping here with Miharu, they had actually went clothes shopping together. Aishia clearly remembered Rio’s comments from when Miharu asked him for his opinion.
“I-I see...” Celia sighed in relief. She felt an indescribable mix of relief and disappointment.
“But...” Aishia murmured. Celia froze, on high alert.
“Huh?”
“He probably doesn’t like them to be too flashy,” Aishia predicted, making Celia gulp.
“...W-Why?”
“Based on his clothing preference.”
“A-Ah. Well, that’s true... O-Okay then, fine. Let’s choose some,” Celia agreed with her heart racing in her chest, hurrying up the stairs with quick steps. Aishia silently followed her.
“Wow, there’s so much variety here. The Beltrum branch had a low number of selections and always sold out. With all of this, someone fla-... someone my size should be able to find underwear, too.” Celia’s eyes sparkled with a burning fire as they stepped into the lingerie shop.
“You can choose anything you want — That’s why Haruto brought you here.” Aishia explained.
In reality, the products by the Ricca Guild — especially the items for women — were of such a good quality, the products by other merchants couldn’t hope to compare.
And so, with approval from Miharu, Aki, and Masato, Rio held the ironclad belief that if one was to go shopping in the Strahl region, then it had to be at Amande.
After Miharu and the others learned to read and write, they had noticed how some Japanese names were mixed in among the products of the Ricca Guild’s stock. There was quite a bit of mystery there for them, but that was a story for another time.
“Fufu... Then I’ll have to be more grateful towards Haruto. Now, let’s pick some right away. We can start buying some good underwear.” Celia seemed extremely happy as she started to select underwear with a beaming smile. With light footsteps, she scoured high and low for lingerie, Aishia in tow.
“Thank you for your continued patronage. If you require any assistance or would like to have your companion’s size measured, please let me know,” a shop attendant offered, bowing her head at Aishia.
“Oh, then may I take you up on that offer? But wow, you come here often enough to be remembered?” Celia accepted the attendant’s offer before turning to Aishia.
“I’ve only been here twice,” Aishia replied.
“You’re so beautiful, you left an especially strong impression, Miss. The company you had last time was beautiful too, and you’ve brought another beauty along today,” the attendant added with a smile, looking at Celia.
Celia smiled shyly. “Ahaha, I see. Thank you for the compliment,” she said politely.
“We’re here to buy her underwear today, so I’m fine,” Aishia said to the attendant, getting her to measure Celia’s size.
“Understood. Then, shall we get to measuring right away?”
“Yes, please do.” Thus, Celia had her body measurements taken by the store attendant.
“Now, please come this way.” After being led to a private room that also acted as a changing room, Celia’s stripped down to her underwear and had her chest size measured.
“Your skin is very beautiful. You have such a lovely figure, too — I am most envious as another woman.” The attendant stared at Celia’s skin raptly as she measured her.
“Ahaha, it’s just a childish stature,” Celia said with a self-deprecating grimace, making the attendant shake her head firmly.
“That’s not true. You may have a petite body, but you also have curves where it matters. It’s a very feminine body shape.”
“...Ahaha, thanks.” Celia smiled uncomfortably.
After that, the size measurements wrapped up quickly and Celia was able to try on several attractive pieces of underwear.
? ?
Meanwhile, Rio moved about on his own, gathering information from the inner city.
His goal was information about the heroes who could be the friends and family of Miharu, Aki, and Masato, but he was also looking for the whereabouts of Lucius, the mercenary who murdered his mother. He walked around the market, visiting inns that were open for lunch and chatting up shopkeepers as he ordered.
It’s no different from last time. The heroes, that man... There’s no new information circulating... Rio left the inn he was gathering information at and sighed quietly. According to what Celia had told him, the Galarc Kingdom also had a spirit stone that could summon a hero, but there was still no identifying information about that hero as of yet. The only things circulating were witness accounts of what was most likely the pillar of light that occurred during a summoning rising from the Galarc castle. It was possible that different kingdoms controlled the flow of information differently, Rio guessed.
If it’s come to this, then maybe I should sneak into the castle of each kingdom? It isn’t impossible with Aishia’s cooperation, but... it’s a little risky. The situation was very different compared to Celia’s case, after all.
I’ll need connections to try the head-on approach... And it has to be that of a rather powerful noble. Though there’d still be risks...
The head-on approach seemed like it’d be a headache, too — after all, he had already experienced the mess that was royal and noble society first hand.
Rio pondered and pondered, ending with a great sigh. For now, my first goal is to confirm the full names of all the heroes across the kingdoms. If I can find that by gathering information in town, fine. Even if I have to sneak into the castle, I mustn’t be greedy. Direct contact should be left as a second priority goal. As long as I can gather their existence and location, at the very least...
He decided to think about how to approach them another time. It was only delaying the issue until later, but there was time.
In any case, he had to consider living with Celia from now on, too. Although he had promised to teach her various things about sorcery and spirit arts, he at least didn’t have to teach her a language like he had with his Japanese guests.
All that was left was —
Lucius...
Rio recalled his vow to avenge his mother and grit his teeth. This man was probably a more difficult task to deal with than handling Miharu, Aki, and Masato.
I’ve got as far as how he became the leader of a famous mercenary squad as an adventurer, but his name hasn’t come up at all in recent years. The mercenary squad he was affiliated with — the “Lions of the Sky” — was widely known in certain regions of the Strahl region, but there was absolutely no information as to where he was located.
Is he dead?
When Rio imagined it, an indescribable emotion rose within him, making him frown.
He didn’t care if he was dead, but Rio’s resentment wasn’t so shallow that he could accept his life or death status as unknown. The flames of revenge that burned quietly in the depths of his heart had yet to extinguish, even with his reunion with Miharu and Celia.
Rio squeezed his hand into a fist.
...I should look into it a little further.
He quieted his heart with a deep breath and started walking again.
? ?
Roughly one hour later, Rio was done gathering information and now stood next to Aishia in front of a changing room on the second floor of the Ricca Guild.
“Hey, what do you think?” Celia twirled around in front of Rio and Aishia, wearing the clothes she was trying on. The hem of the skirt fluttered softly.
Rio’s eyes widened. “...I think it really suits you. It has some vague resemblance to the clothes sorcerers prefer to wear, I think?” He was referring to the traditional fashion that sorcerers wore to proudly display their status.
“Right? That’s exactly it. These are clothes made for sorcerers, so I thought it was cute. It’s also made from excellent fabric that can be used as travel gear, too, you know? Aishia chose this one as well,” Celia said, giggling happily.
“Cecilia is a sorceress, after all. I think it really suits you.”
“R-Really? Thank you. Then this is the first one I’ve decided on. Will you look at the second one with me, too?”
“Sure.” Rio agreed.
Thus, Celia’s fashion show at the changing room commenced. All the clothes Celia had selected were trim and cute, all drawing positive reactions from Rio — exactly as Aishia had declared they would — making the comment “I think it’s wonderful” fall repeatedly from Rio’s mouth.
“What about this?” Celia asked several outfits later. “That looks good. I think it’s wonderful,” Rio said pleasantly.
“...Geez, I’m happy to hear your compliment, but you’re always saying the same thing.” Celia glared at him and pouted her lips.
“Ahaha, sorry. I don’t really understand clothes, but I think you have a great fashion sense. I think you’ll look cute in anything you wear, Cecilia,” Rio said without any shame at all, scratching at his head awkwardly.
“Wha...” Caught off guard, Celia couldn’t help but turn red.
“...Cecilia, are you embarrassed?” Aishia asked, watching Celia’s expression.
“I-I’m not embarrassed!” Celia said in a fluster.
“N-Now now, can you show me your next selection, Cecilia?” Rio soothed Celia to avoid causing trouble for the store and urged her to continue the fashion show with a strained smile.
“O-Okay.” Celia nodded with a blush on her cheeks, quickly dragging the curtains of the changing room shut.
? ?
Some time later, Rio and the girls wrapped up their shopping and visited a high-class restaurant of the Ricca Guild to have lunch. The time was a little after the peak time for lunch, so they were led to a table without waiting too long.
“I’m sorry. I made you buy more than I planned...” Celia hesitantly bowed her head from where she sat opposite to Rio. Their shopping spree had ended when Celia had been pondering between her many remaining options, whereupon Rio had simply decided to buy the rest for her.
“No, don’t worry about it. There weren’t that many in the end, and they were all daily necessities that you needed, no?” Rio shook his head easily.
“But... It was fairly expensive.” Since she had looked at each individual price tag, she had a general idea of how much the total was. Even if Celia was still working at the academy, she would have hesitated before a total like that.
“It’s okay. I’ve earned more money than I can spend from selling monster materials and enchanted gems.” In reality, whenever Rio had the time, he would train and obtain food by hunting beasts and monsters, so his pockets were surprisingly deeper than your average noble.
“...You really aren’t pushing yourself?” Celia stared at Rio’s face as she asked.
“Of course not.” Rio nodded casually.
“...All right. Then, thank you.” Celia sighed quietly. She decided in her head that she would repay him for this debt properly, but didn’t say it out loud since he would probably refuse her.
“Now, setting that aside, how about we order the lunch course?” Rio asked, immediately changing the subject.
“Yeah. I’ll leave it to you, Ri... I mean, Haruto.” Celia nodded and almost said Rio, before correcting herself to Haruto. She was still in danger of calling him by his real name when she let her guard down.
“You okay with that, too, Aishia?” Rio asked with a faint smile.
“Yup. I’ll leave it to you.” Aishia nodded.
After that, they gave their order to the waiter and had an hors d’oeuvre carried over to them shortly afterwards, signaling the beginning of their enjoyable lunchtime. As the three of them chatted peacefully, the waiters brought over salad, soup, bread, pasta, and meat dishes in that order, making the time pass with lots of fun.
“What did you think of this restaurant?” Rio asked after dessert. He had asked for Celia’s thoughts during the rest of the meal, too, but he asked her again. “Yeah, it was good. Every dish was delicious, and the pasta really had that local specialty taste to it. I’d probably visit often if we had a restaurant like this in Beltrum’s capital, but...” Celia gave her satisfied opinion, but showed a look of contemplation towards the end.
“But?” Rio asked.
“The food you cooked for us yesterday tasted better, I think,” Celia said with a shy grin.
Rio’s eyes widened, as he was taken by surprise. “...Thank you very much,” he thanked her embarrassedly.
Celia watched Rio’s reaction and smiled happily, this time changing the topic to one from the past. “Come to think of it, during your school days you would make light snacks and bring them to the research lab. You’re pretty good at cooking, right Haruto?”
“I don’t know if I’m good or not, but it’s thanks to my memories of my past life. I was living alone and cooking for myself for a long time, so I remembered tons of recipes,” Rio said humbly.
“Ah, I see... The food for Beltrum nobility is all so unimaginative; every flavor is seasoned so strongly, so it gets boring easily. But... your cooking had a delicate flavor to it. There were some foods I’ve never eaten before yesterday — did they include some of your recipes...?” Celia asked.
“Yes, there are recipes that don’t exist in this world that I tried to make with the ingredients of this world. There’s a food that’s similar to pasta... Would you like me to try and make that?” Rio concealed the fact that pasta was an Earth-made product and offered to cook for Celia.
“Really?! Pasta was a boom in Beltrum for a while, but everyone got bored of it. It’s been a while since I last ate it.” Celia beamed happily; it seemed like the pasta they ate at this restaurant just now had raised her expectations.
“Then, I’ll make it tonight.”
Celia nodded with joy. “Okay, I look forward to it! Oh, is it okay if I watch you make it?”
“Hm? Sure, I don’t mind... but it isn’t very interesting to watch, you know.”
“No, I want to learn how to cook, too. I would feel bad making you cook everything for me, and I’d like to let you eat some of my cooking as a form of thanks, too...” Celia said embarrassedly. She had been considering what she was capable of doing for Rio’s sake.
For the record, it was a very rare event for a high-class noble daughter to cook.
“...If that’s the case, then I’d be happy to. I’d like to try your cooking, too.”
Rio imagined Celia in an apron and couldn’t help but turn his mouth up in a smile. It actually suited her quite well.
“Y-Yeah. I’ll have to end up relying on you to learn how to make it, but please teach me,” Celia requested, peering up at Rio’s face nervously.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login