Chapter 13
The next day, I woke up and cheerfully began getting ready to go out. Today was the day I was going to the central district.
To avoid standing out in the central district as much as possible, I changed into my newest clothes and put on the leather shoes I wore when I went into the forest.
That was still better than my shabby, patched clothes and woven-grass shoes. The people around here, to put it kindly, took good care of their belongings. Even when their clothes tore, they mended them and kept wearing them. Eventually, they turned the clothes into rags and used them until they were worn out and unusable.
That was why clothes without patches were precious.
I put on that precious outfit, slipped on my leather shoes, and tied a small hemp pouch around my waist with all my spending money inside.
By all my spending money, I mean a few small copper coins—only a few hundred yen—but it was better than having nothing at all.
All right, I'm ready! Let's go!
It was still early in the morning, but I was so restless I couldn't contain myself.
Even if I got to Marcel-san's place too early, I could spend the time thinking about magic tools.
With that in mind, I decided to go to Marcel-san's place.
"All right, Mom and Dad, I'm off! Marie, I'm off too. Take care of the dining hall for me."
"Be careful."
"Take care!"
"Big Brother, tell me all about it when you get back!"
"Okay! I'm off!"
When Marie heard that I was going to the central district, she kept whining that she wanted to come with me. But when Mom said she was making wild-berry pancakes for lunch today, Marie suddenly stopped asking.
Marie was sometimes surprisingly mature, but she was still a child after all. The thought made me smile. If I could, I'd bring her back a souvenir.
As I walked along thinking about that, I reached Marcel-san's house.
When I tried to open the door as usual, I found that it was locked today.
Maybe I really was too early...
I knocked on the door and called out a little louder.
"Marcel-san! Good morning!"
After I waited for a while, the door opened and Marcel-san came out.
"Leon, you're much too early."
"I was so excited I couldn't sit still..."
"Well, we can take it easy once we're there, so I suppose it's all right."
Marcel-san sighed with an exasperated expression as he said that.
"I thought we could take the shared carriage at the noon bell, but we can catch the one before it. Is it all right if we leave right now?"
"Yes! The sooner we go, the better!"
"Wait here a moment."
With that, Marcel-san went back inside the house. He probably hadn't finished getting ready yet.
A few minutes later, Marcel-san came out wearing much finer clothes than usual.
The fabric was soft and seemed quite high-quality, and the colors were vivid too.
Seeing him like this, I could understand that Marcel-san was a quasi-noble... He usually just looked like an ordinary old man, after all.
I couldn't say that to him, though.
While I was thinking that and staring blankly, Marcel-san peered at my face suspiciously.
"Leon? What are you spacing out about? Don't tell me you think it doesn't suit me."
"N-no, that's not it! I was just thinking that you really look like a noble..."
"This outfit is the lowest-ranking kind worn by nobles. Even wealthy commoner merchants sometimes wear clothes a little better than these."
"I see..."
Come to think of it, my family must be fairly poor. Still, living in the royal capital probably meant we were better off than people in the countryside.
"All right, let's go. The shared carriage stop is near the square."
"Yes! Ah... How much does a shared carriage cost?"
I realized that I hadn't thought about the cost of the carriage at all and asked timidly.
"It costs about one copper coin to get to the central district."
"One copper coin!?"
What was I going to do? That was already over my budget. I only had a few small copper coins...
As I anxiously wondered what to do, Marcel-san noticed and spoke with an exasperated look.
"Leon, of course I wasn't going to make you pay. There's no need to panic. I intended to pay for everything today in the first place."
"What!? I'm really grateful, but are you sure...? I'm only a stranger to you..."
"I don't think of you as just a stranger. If I did, I wouldn't go out of my way to take you to the central district. I've never married, so I don't have any children or grandchildren. When I look at you, I imagine this is what having a grandchild would have been like. It makes me happy."
Marcel-san... What a kind person!!
I was absolutely going to repay Marcel-san someday. I would work hard to come up with magic tools! And perhaps I could tell Marcel-san about my attributes...
Once I made that decision, I felt a little more at ease. Keeping something like this secret from everyone was hard, after all.
For now, I'd enjoy the central district, then tell him when I got back.
"Marcel-san! Thank you so much!"
When I said that with a huge smile, Marcel-san looked away, perhaps embarrassed.
"It's nothing. Come on, we'll be there soon."
"Okay!"
The shared carriage stop was a little farther away from my house than the square was.
There were several carriages, apparently heading in various directions. The drivers held signs saying where they were going, and they seemed to call out the destinations as well for people who couldn't read.
We were going to the central district, so we headed for the carriage bound there.
"There are two of us. Can we get on?"
"Yes. It's one copper coin per person."
"Then two copper coins for the two of us."
"Thank you. Here you are."
Apparently, we could board the carriage once the fare had been paid.
It was a covered carriage with a cloth canopy and two horses. We were supposed to enter from the back.
Inside, there were wooden benches along both sides. A couple who looked to be in their forties and a woman who seemed to be in her late teens were already sitting there.
When Marcel-san and I sat down, the couple spoke to us.
"Hello. Are you sightseeing today?"
"We have some business to take care of."
"Oh, I see. We're going sightseeing."
"Well then, I hope you enjoy yourselves."
The wife and Marcel-san continued chatting like that.
So there were people who could go to the central district just for sightseeing. Their clothes were brightly dyed and had no patches. They were good clothes, though slightly inferior to Marcel-san's.
They must have been wealthy by commoner standards.
Compared to them, the other passenger looked as poor as my family, if not poorer.
I was wearing the only outfit I had without patches, but she was wearing clothes covered in patches to go to the central district.
What could someone that poor be going there to do?
Perhaps she noticed me staring curiously, because our eyes met.
"Do you need something?"
"Oh, um... I was just wondering what you were going to the central district for... Sorry for staring!"
The young woman seemed a little annoyed, so I hurried to apologize.
"You don't have to apologize. I'm going there to look for work. It's nothing unusual. There aren't many jobs around here, so lots of people go to the central district to look for work. There are plenty of jobs, like doing menial work in noble or merchant households."
"I see... Thank you."
When I thanked her without really thinking, the young woman abruptly looked away. Had I offended her? I probably shouldn't talk to her again.
Even so, there really were a lot of people going to the central district to look for work. She had mentioned menial work for nobles, but that had to be incredibly difficult. It would be awful if they were unreasonable nobles...
I was definitely going to work hard and get into the Royal Academy.
As I thought about that, the carriage seemed to start moving. This was my first time riding in a carriage, so I was excited!
I was only able to enjoy that carefree excitement at first. The carriage ride was unbelievably uncomfortable!!
It jolted constantly, and my backside hurt! For someone who had experienced the comfort of a car, this was unbearably painful.
But everyone else was sitting there unfazed, so I couldn't complain!
I just wanted us to get there already!!!