“Alright, let’s go to the beach.”
And that’s how the beach episode of my life began! Or would have begun if the beach wasn’t infested with poisonous slugs this time of the year. Abundant, the size of a small duck and utterly poisonous. No, not the kind that would kill you. But the kind that would make your body itchy and red as hell. But apparently it was also used as some sort of aphrodisiac? How the fuck did that work… I have no clue whatsoever.
I figured that was the real reason why people didn’t go out to the sea at this time of the year, not because of some fictional big sea snake.
So, with really nothing to do, I watched how the Duke was taking time to help his wife. He’d taken all of us to his private villa in the southern west part of the city. By all of us, it was just Me, Shia and Nisa (and some guards). Shia wasn’t really bothered but Nisa seemed a bit weird. She seemed… somewhat melancholic? Well, who wouldn’t be sad if their mother was like this.
The lady in question couldn’t move. She couldn’t even move her hands but, but I saw her reach out to the duke earlier. And I knew she could. She just needed help for now but in time she’d be able to move, she’d be able to get a life back. Well, hopefully.
This world didn’t have antibiotics and there was a good chance she’d die from some sort of infection. But that didn’t mean she should just sit down and die. What’s the point of giving up and dying? Who benefited from that?
Shia yawned. “Since we’re here and all, let’s go see the stalls at least? I heard they have a wide selection of fish.” She put a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe we’ll find some cheap scales and bones for you.”
Why do you look like an older kid offering a drink to their younger sibling? Sigh. “They’re not fishing, so most of the fish will probably be dried. I don’t like dry fish.” Most of the dry fish smelled like kitty ass to me. No, not cat’s ass. Kitten’s ass. Very different stuff.
“Soler,” The duke called out.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to act so improper.” Rather humble.
I was about to say something but I didn’t. His rage, his mistrust, his commitment, they were all understandable. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry as well.”
That said, I walked out of there. Just outside the villa, Sibrian and the escort knight were here. Some of the duke’s guards were also on standby. One female knight was escorting Nisa.
“Me and Shia would be heading to the stalls,” I said.
“The fish stalls my lord?” Sibrian said.
“Nope. Anywhere but there,” I said.
“Hey!” Shia shrugged. “Why not?”
“Smells terrible.”
She grumbled. “I can deal with a bit of smell.”
“I can’t,” And I didn’t want to. “I’m sure there’s way more to see than dead fish.”
“In that case, why don’t you visit the bakery on Deam’s street. Their pastries are quite good,” Nisa said. Apparently, she followed us out?
I honestly didn’t know how to approach her. Every time I saw her face, it reminded me of our kiss. But- “Oh, thanks. I was thinking more like-” But I pretended like nothing was wrong. I knew she was using me and the whole kiss thing was part of her plans. Yet, it still made my heart race when I thought about her. I guess I was finally going into puberty. Still too early. Particularly why I pretended it was nothing.
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I tried declining her offer, but Nisa insisted and took us to the bakery on Deam’s street. That place was surprisingly… not clean. Nisa’s room wasn’t clean either. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
“I come here sometimes,” Nisa said. “The people here are kind and welcoming.”
I saw a lot of people here. The houses were really close to each other, almost reminding me of medieval England; narrow streets, dirty sidewalks. No one was shouting loo and throwing shit all over the back alleys though. And the people? They did indeed seem friendlier than the rest of the city.
And Nisa was kind of popular.
“That’s our store.” One story building, barely standing. Crappy wood.
“That looks worse than the church I work at…” I mumbled.
“You could just say Mom’s church, you know,” Shia said.
Yeah, no.
We had some guards with us. We always did. And for good measure. Even if this city was safe, even if this place was welcoming, there was always a chance of running into some shady guy who’d kidnap and sell us back to our families or worse….
The bakery looked like the church I worked at. And just like that church, the inside was pretty decent. They were holding down the place with a magical device maybe? Why not just rebuild the damn thing?
I’d actually asked Alayla but she dodged the topic entirely. Speaking of the church, I hadn’t worked there in weeks. I hadn’t worked in the library either. No salary, argh…
“You alright?” Shia whispered.
“I’m fine.”
Eight open tables. Some people were already having fun with the food. It smelled like bread in here, like the good kind.
Their menu (which was hung on the literal wall) seemed decent enough. They also had a display so it was fine even if you couldn’t read.
Typical cakes, bread, biscuits, standard stuff. There was more though. Baguette, Creme Brulé, Pudding and even fancy bread like stuff I’d never seen before; he also had familiar French stuff. This guy has powdered sugar.
“How expensive, is this place?” I asked.
“My treat, don’t worry about the price,” Nisa said.
That sounded nice and she was probably being nice too. But I couldn’t be in debt to her forever.
“Much appreciated,” Shia said. “It is the host’s job to entertain her guests.” Apparently, she was open to the suggestion for some reason?
But didn’t you like… hate her?
“Splendid. Now, what would you like Sol?”
“Let’s see, that bread, that bread, and that bread.” I was basically just pointing.
Nisa snickered. “Tell him we’re ready to order,” she spoke to her knight.
A second later someone came out of the kitchen. Big man, really big. Like biggest human I’d seen so far. Like he’d give those 800-pound wrestlers a good run for their money kind of big. Big mustache with a beard, lots of hair and well, some of his hair was covered in white though? Flower?
That dude’s our pâtissier?
“We would like two baguettes, two Focaccia, two trays of Dinner Rolls and-” And she gave Shia a look. “What about you?”
So, the ‘we’ meant, me and her. But she was clearly not… So, I’ll have to pay either way. Wait, two trays of dinner rolls? Are we going to swim in carbs?
“I’ll have what he will…” Shia mumbled.
“Three of all that then. Oh, and please bring three pieces of that new desert you spoke about; pudding, was it?”
The man nodded and left. He did not say a word. He went back to the kitchen area which was behind the counter I suppose?
The bread and stuff were already made though. So how come he wasn’t offering them to us? Is he literally going to make them now?
Our wait began in earnest and I felt like it would last an eternity. But it only lasted about five minutes before the man came back with trays and bread and stuff.
Turned out, he’d already had some of the stuff in the oven and some of the other stuff he just put in. So, they’d be a little late. Apparently, it was customary to serve some bread fresh out of the oven here for first time customers. Weird custom but oh well.
Three Baguettes and three trays of Dinner Rolls. The Focaccia and pudding would arrive later.
“What will be your choice of drink?” Nisa said.
“Water is fine.” I stuffed my face with dinner rolls and they were the softest, nicest pieces of rolls I’d ever had!
Nisa snickered. For some reason she’d been in an awfully good mood today. Earlier she’d been really melancholic though. Shia meanwhile was exactly the opposite. Normally she’d devour the meal in front of her but today she was just staring at the table without a word.
“Anything wrong?” I whispered, barely gulping down the bread with the help of some water.
“I… didn’t know their names…”
“Me neither.”
Well, that was kind of a lie. I did know their names but I didn’t know their names in this world. But I guess they had the same damn name here too? So fancy bread also made it past the world barrier, huh?
Wait, was there a world barrier though? Didn’t matter, bread was bread.