Year 4094 since the Great Assembly
The carriage carried Avah, Nad, Larky, and his aid to the Count Wainwright mansion in Parlour. Normally, esteemed sons of noble houses, let alone heir to the county like Larky, would be accompanied by a dozen knights whenever they went out. Seeing Larky and his anxious-looking aid, Avah could guess more or less how they had left very suddenly upon hearing news of his arrival. Though, he didn’t feel bad about it at all; it’s not like he forced them to.
Heck, he left so early in the morning to prevent this situation but like Fia had said it’s just impossible for him to sneak out of the spotlight when everyone saw him as a threat to the current crown prince even when he left his room like once a week or so.
Stepping inside the mansion, the servants guided him to one of the largest rooms in the mansion which was about half as large as Avah's private collection room where all the things he had found and fancied were on displayed. The items ranged from ordinary marbles little Avah had found in the garden to artifacts from the Founding Age of the Empire 4 millenniums ago and remains of high-ranking lawless entities, all deemed just as precious by their owner.
Avah shooed away the servants and seeing Nad who was about to get into a guarding position in front of his room, Avah moved his hand to pat his shoulder at first before settling on giving a pat on the arm of the man who was more than a head taller than himself.
“There’s no way the count with let anything happen when we’re staying here. So, go rest in your room, we’re leaving in two days. ”
Nad simply nodded at him before turning to leave. Their rooms were on the same floor so even if something did happen, he knew Avah could keep himself alive before he arrived at the scene.
“Oh, and I will take a look around in the morning. If someone asks you about me, just tell them I’ll be back.”
Hearing this, there was finally the slightest change on Nad’s expression as he turned back towards Avah. To this, Avah only pointed at the sword on his waist which Arissa had specially prepared for him. With the bones of a mid-tier entity as its blade and a hilt made of pure Moravor to enhance ownership spells making it so that no one else but Avah can wield it, the sword could make anyone OP for a moment before a truly OP guy come in.
Nad hesitated for one more moment before nodding and finally going to his room.
----------------------------------------
It was because Duke Striken had been providing Count Wainwright with both financial support and backup that Larky Wainwright had been insisting on taking care of Avah and sticking onto him like a overprotective mother hen. Avah had always been babied by his family, especially his oldest sister. So much so that there have been so many cases of businesses of noblemen mysteriously failing after someone from their family had offended or criticized the youngest Striken.
Refusing to be babysitted by Larky for another day, Avah had quietly slipped away from the mansion early in the morning. His swordsmanship may be lacking compared to the guards and knights scattered around the mansion but when it comes to finding a blindspot in security to escape from something he found troublesome, adding up both Avah’s more or less two decades of experience each, he was unstoppable.
While the streets of Parlour were nowhere near as crowded as Solasta on a normal day, it would be impossibly busy on holidays as an old city with historical significance and natural beauty. In addition, Parlour had year-round mild and pleasant weather perfect for a visit to the hundreds of clean beaches each with unique colored sand. And, the city itself would go heavy on celebrations and decorations as tourism formed an important part of the city’s economy.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
That’s also why most of the shops on both sides of the main streets were souvenir shops selling both local and imported goods at an insane price robbing clueless foreigners. Avah had asked the maid back at the mansion about the markets and food stalls the locals go to. They had recommended the “Royal Starfish” market as it was only two blocks away from the mansion. Though they would never expect such a nobleman as Avah to actually go by himself, let alone have his meal there.
Unlike Avah of this world, Avah of Earth had the habit of eating as soon as he woke up. This is because he might have to go for half a day or even an entire day without getting to eat anything with how busy things can get in a day in a life of the strongest awakened. And, today felt like a good day to have waffles.
As he made his way towards the market, he couldn’t help but notice that there were unexpectedly quite a lot of foreigners even at this time of the year. Most of them were from Balance’s continent, to be more specific, they were followers of God ‘Art theft’ attracting attention without trying as they donned long fringed skirts usually in bright flower patterns or free-flowing dresses of muted colors.
Among them, one young woman had particularly drew Avah's attention. It was neither the bright red shawl nor the gold accessories that she had adorned that got Avah to stop in his tracks. Rather, it was the easel and canvas she had affordlessly carried. Along with her bulging bag of painting equipments, Avah thought it was safe to assume that she was most likely a sentry of God 'Latho' who preferred to be called the 'Art theft' instead.
The public as well as high-status noblemen have little to no clue about what the sentries are capable of and as he was still early in the novel not much has been mentioned either. But from one of those shady meetings the original Avah had attended from fun, it was said that sentries of God 'Art theft' are in possession of extremely powerful abilities, many believing that they can perform a miracle or even call upon great calamity with a single stroke of their brush.
The young lady didn't glance in Avah's direction at all but he had a feeling that she knew she had his attention as she swiftly blended into the crowd and disappeared from his sight before he had even reacted. Feeling quite dejected, Avah strolled around the market for a while before entering a showy cafe with an even fancier signboard on which “Fairy Food” was written in even fancier letters that were decorated with glitter to fill his stomach.
“Welcome to Fairy Food!” greets one of the employees in the shop who was in a fairy costume. This variation of fairies that was popular among children was nothing more than folklore and the closest to fairies this world could get were blood-sucking half-human half-butterfly creatures that lived in deep forests.
“Uh, one serving of ‘princess pancake’ with an extra bowl of strawberries and ‘teddy choco’.” Avah struggled through the menu and it didn’t help that all of them looked appetizing.
“Princess pancake and teddy choco coming right up, sir! That will be 4 terry.”
Avah handed her a yan before receiving back a change of 6 terry and making his way towards a table at a corner. Soon, his order was ready and they tasted just as good as he expected. It would have tasted even better if the parents of the little girls inside the cafe had not been constantly peaking at him although he couldn’t blame them. It’s not every day they would see a grown-up man with a noble and serious air around him inside a cafe popular among children.
Like most days Avah spent holed up in his private library, he decided to spend his stay here at the local library. Unlike his previous world where fantasy fiction was ever so popular and creative, there were very few fictional novels and related genres in this world making Avah feel like there was a hole in his heart. He really badly missed his routine of rereading his favorite books and starting new ones with potential even at the price of losing sleep and skipping meals.
So, he thought he might as well secretly write down the novels he had memorized without trying to and hope that he wouldn’t summon some weird entity… Just the thought of getting to read his beloved novels again made Avah forget about his annoyance towards Larky and felt cheerful as he made his way around the city.
----------------------------------------
The two days went by very quickly and much to Avah’s disappointment nothing usual happened in Parlour except the heir of the county running around looking for him. Avah and Nad set off from the Count Wainwright mansion without notifying anyone knowing that sticky Larky would tag along no matter what. They left behind a note that said ‘We left. DO NOT come after us.’
Avah and Nad both settle on the carriage as it would take over two hours to reach Maswell, their purpose of travel. Before Nad went back to being a stone statue, Avah handed him over a box that was beautifully wrapped in a fabric with coconut pattern.
“It’s a locally made set of floral hairpins. I remember you mentioned that your wife likes these.”
As Nad took the box, a subtle wave of warmth flashed across his face although there was no hint of surprise. This was not the first time Avah had remembered something Nad had casually answered and it wasn’t the first gift Nad had received from him either. The necklace, tucked under his coat and holding his marriage ring, was a gift from the 8-year-old Avah who he had just started serving at that time.
“Thank you,” Nad said in his usual monotone as he carefully put away the box. Proceeding that, he continued to sit with his knees straight, quietly waiting for the carriage to bring them to their destination.