episode_0010

After locking the warehouse door again and going down to the dock as he had told her, Mila noticed a stall that had taken up a lot of space and had a tent spread over the goods.

As she walked closer to the place, despite the fact that she had tilted her wide-brimmed hat to slightly cover her face, a woman who had been standing there with her arms folded and whistling, ignoring all the other passersby, recognized her.

“Hey, are you the girl who knocked down the world’s best memer yesterday?”

“Don’t say that…”

People on the street were glancing at Mila. She, who had become famous in an instant, took off her hat and put it on her side with a look of resignation.

“That guy named Memer sent me here. Are you related to him?”

“That’s our boss. He was waiting for us.”

The woman nodded and removed the covering. It was clear that these were the items that Mila had wanted to get her hands on, having come over on a boat from across the sea.

“What’s with all this sudden change?”

“The quantity is small, and he said it’s a hassle to find a place to sell it. He’s busy these days because his business has grown. Even so, I don’t understand why he insists on moving the things he loaded onto the carriage this morning back to the dock. Anyway, he goes back and forth like one of those things that wears a pendulum between their legs. Even though he may look angry on the outside, isn’t it that he’s been secretly waiting for someone to do the same thing you did yesterday? Hehehe… .”

A woman who is twirling her braided hair on one side with her fingers and making an unfaithful joke about her boss to Mila. Mila, who is looking through her things with her hands on her sides, picks at the pendulum part and raises the corners of her mouth.

Mila picked up a small spice jar from among the items, took out a dark brown, dry leaf inside, and held it up to her nose, sniffing it as she asked.

“How much do these cost?”

“Oh, that’s what I mean. He said to give it to the fleeing lion for free, and take three silver coins from any ordinary peddler, regardless of the item. What does that mean? … Do you raise lions or something?”

“… What is the identity of this guy named Memer?”

Mila asks, nervously counting out nine silver coins from the bag tied around her waist and placing them on the floor.

“Well, don’t you know that guy who’s become really famous these days? It seems like he’s not even from this country, and he doesn’t even have parents, let alone a family.”

Ray, who had been led by Memer’s hand while the sun rose to its zenith, went around all of Julep’s clothing stores and stood leaning against the wall with a blank expression.

It was too much to walk around with. Ray wanted to say something back to him who kept criticizing the clothes his father had made for him, but he didn’t want to walk any longer, so he had to tell him several times that he liked the clothes he had just chosen before he could leave the alley of clothing stores.

If it was department store clothes shopping, he would be in a state of shock. The pattern was the same, and he wondered if it was worth going to more than three places just to choose the cloth to wrap around his waist, but Ray tried not to show that he was tired, seeing Memer’s sincerity in buying all the clothes with his own money.

While waiting for Memer, who had gone into the store saying he had something to do, Ray was watching people outside the store. He noticed a small leather bag falling to the floor from the waist of a woman passing by. He was still not used to his new shoes, so he ran over to them with awkward steps.

“Excuse me? You dropped this.”

Then, a woman with long brown hair turned around. A pretty woman who looked like she was a movie star in her previous life looked down at Ray and smiled brightly. She was one of the many faces that were widely known in this city and even in the world, but he felt a little excited and impressed every time.

“Oh, I almost got in big trouble. Thanks for picking it up. It’s really cute.”

She smiled brightly and bent down to meet Ray’s eye level, caressing his head and kissing his forehead. Ray’s eyes shook wildly with a surprised look on his face.

“Are you a little busy? I’d like to give you a small thank you.”

She said as she took the leather bag and gently took his hand. Her hands were as slender and white as Ray’s.

“n, yes?”

“It’s almost lunchtime. You don’t seem like a Julep person, but have you ever tried grilled seafood? It’s a Julep specialty.”

“Ah… No, but there… .”

“That’s great! You don’t have to decline.”

She smiles while caressing her neck and shoulders. Ray lowers his head, feeling his hair stand on end and his face getting hotter. As he slowly and hesitantly tries to follow her, he hears Memer shouting from behind him.

“Ray! What are you doing? Leave him alone! ”

Ray turned around in surprise at the same time, and Memer strode towards her, grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. Judging from the way he was glaring at the woman, it seemed like his last words were directed at her.

“Is that the destined partner you saw in your dream? Did you get lost? Or did you pick up something you dropped?”

Memer asks Ray while continuing to glare at the woman.

“Yes… . I picked it up because you dropped something.”

“Tsk… Think of a different excuse. It’s the same thing every day.”

Memer clicked his tongue and pulled Ray towards him. The woman took a step back with a regretful expression on her face, winked at Ray, and quickly walked into the alley.

‘Did I just get picked on by a girl?’

Ray looked back and forth between the alley where the girl disappeared and Memer, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened to him. And he felt a little resentful of Memer for blowing his chance to date a pretty girl.

“They’re all guys who only think about sitting on you. Be careful of girls who come at you with favors. Especially since it’s your first time.”

“No way… .”

“I can’t let my guard down because this happens while I’m just trying to pick out a hat that suits you.”

And then Memer puts a small blue hat with feather decoration on Ray’s head.

After that, as they walked side by side to the carriage station outside Julep, a question occurred to Ray. What if virginity in this world is only valuable to men?

“How will other people know if I’m the first or not?”

The physical structure of the other world and here was almost perfectly the same, except for the size. Even if that were the case for women, how would one determine a man’s virginity?

“They leave scars. They use teeth, nails, and things like that. It’s an instinct that comes from a dirty possessive desire. ”

Memer lowers his hand down to Ray’s waist and makes a diagonal drawing with one of his index fingers. At those words, Ray instinctively closes his legs.

“Even if a child grows up, there is a limit to how much they can tell their father by his face. This is a method that women who cannot lie find to put shackles on their spouses. Didn’t you know why they give needles as gifts at weddings?”

Ray’s mind quickly rolls over memories from his childhood. He thinks of a wedding he’d seen once or twice, then a small scratch on his lower abdomen that he saw while taking a bath with his father flashes by, and he makes an expression as if he’s come to a realization.

“That’s why I’m telling you to always be careful until you meet your mom. Okay, today’s work is paid.”

Memer put three shiny yellow coins in Ray’s hand. It was obvious at first glance that they were gold.

“Huh? What’s going on…?”

“I’m glad you hung out with me today. It reminded me of my little sister. I’d like to take you to Frau, but I have something else to do, so I guess I’ll have to leave you with that woman, even though it’s a little awkward. Don’t tell her you got three, just give her one and tell her to take you to Frau comfortably. You can buy the rest for your mom or buy her something delicious to eat.”

Ray looks at Memer with a bewildered expression.

After filling her cart with as many new items as she had sold in Julep, Mila looked up at the clock tower erected on the dock and headed toward the carriage station. Three silver coins for one item was an exorbitant price, and she would have to spend almost all the money she had earned in Julep, but Mila refused the woman’s words several times, saying that Memer had said she could take it for free, and paid the money.

Entering the narrow alley, a woman wearing a black outer garment as dark as her pitch-black hair stopped in front of Mila, who was pulling a cart against the right wall. As Mila turned the cart to the left to avoid her, Mila took a step to the left and blocked her path.

“Are you doing business while dragging that around? Can I see your items?”

“… Right.”

Despite the rude attitude of an unidentified woman who stares at Mila with cold eyes, Mila obediently removes the tent that was covering the cart. However, when the woman gestures for Mila to turn the cart, Mila stands still and turns the cart without saying a word, and places the items right in front of the woman.

“Wow… It’s just a bunch of crap.”

Mila doesn’t respond.

“Aside from things like this, is there anything valuable? I have enough money to buy it.”

She rummages through the items in the cart with not at all careful hands. Mila’s grip on the cart handle grows stronger.

“For example… the luxury goods of the palace… .”

As he said that, he threw the ceramic bowl he had been picking up, and it shattered violently.

“… … !”

“Why, are you mad because I broke some junk? Just consider it as something you bought.”

A woman with short black hair who throws small coins one by one on her face and smiles arrogantly. Mila’s lips are twisted as she clenches her molars tightly. Mila touches the small dagger next to the compartment where she keeps her hat and ledger with her fingertips, but soon she opens her fists weakly and bends down to pick up the coins that have fallen on the floor.

“I can’t even handle that. I’m sorry you didn’t like the item.”

And at the end of Mila’s gaze, who was smiling awkwardly, the woman in armor was placing her hand on the long sword hanging from her waist.

“… How petty. Just go your way.”

And then he kicked the cart with his foot. Mila hesitated as she caught the decoration that almost fell off the end of the cart with her hand. The woman, who had been smiling coldly the whole time, stood up and passed by her as she tried to turn the cart around.

“I miss that red hair.”

He whispered. He watched her from behind as she left without looking back, then soon started walking towards the carriage station again.

Ray, who had been waiting first, runs towards them, waving his hand from afar.

“You’re right on time. Are you leaving for Fraua now?”

“… … .”

“Ah, this is the clothes that Memer bought me. It has a similar pattern to the ones my sister sells, right?”

As he lifted the cloth wrapped around his waist a little, Mila’s eyes opened wide.

“… Why? Oh, right, I told you to be careful. ”

He hurriedly puts down the cloth he is holding in his hand. They say clothes are wings, but Ray, who is not at all accustomed to the manners or gestures of this world and gives off a strange aura because he is somehow indifferent, stands before her in neat and luxurious clothes. As if he had met his girlfriend at a convenience store and seen her in casual clothes for the first time, Ray unconsciously swallows his saliva, and looks up at her with a bewildered face. Then, when he discovers the dagger in one hand, he flinches and steps back.

“Huh… Are you trying to find a scratch?”

Ray pretends to draw a diagonal line across his lower abdomen with his index finger.

“What are you talking about…!”