Chapter 31: The Record of Sights and Sounds in the Royal Capital (Patreon)

"This one... or this one?"

Walking down the street, ignoring the stares of passersby, Pandora studied the food stalls lining both sides with a hesitant look.

After a moment, she took a deep breath and made up her mind, dead serious.

"Whichever one the little rooster points to, that's the one..."

Her snow-white arm swung back and forth as she said it, leaving passersby staring in bewilderment.

"Mm. This one it is."

And just like that, she'd cheerfully settled on where to have breakfast.

She could always use her Authority to skip eating — reverting herself to a state of fullness, as she'd done many times already on the road to the royal capital — but faced with so many snacks laid out before her, she found herself craving one anyway.

"This one... and this one too. One of each, please," Pandora said, pointing at the array of dishes on the table.

"Right away, just a moment—" The stall owner, who'd been bustling about with the morning rush, froze where he stood.

At that, the other customers stopped what they were doing too, staring at Pandora as if they'd all lost their wits at once.

"How much does that come to?" After rummaging around in her little pouch, Pandora produced a gleaming gold coin. "One gold coin should be enough, right?"

"Uh... it should—" The stall owner, just snapping out of his daze, went wide-eyed the instant he saw the coin in her hand. "This... miss, I... I don't have... enough change for... a holy gold coin..."

The stall owner was thoroughly baffled. She had a face of stunning beauty, yet dressed plainly; and despite her plain clothes, she'd just handed him a holy gold coin.

She was practically a walking bundle of contradictions...

"A Sacred Gold Coin...?" Pandora blinked, caught off guard herself. This little gold coin in her hand — there was no way she could have told it was a holy gold coin just by looking!

"So... miss, could you check... uh... if you have anything smaller...?" the stall owner said, watching her reaction.

At that, Pandora tucked the Sacred Gold Coin back into her pouch.

"Something smaller..."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, she went right on rifling through it.

"There isn't any."

That was the conclusion she finally reached.

Heaven only knew that strange bird had filled her pouch entirely with Sacred Gold Coins stamped with the busts of the Sage and Reid!

"Uh..." By this point, not just the stall owner but everyone around had gone slack-jawed with shock.

If there was nothing smaller than a holy gold coin in that pouch, that meant...

"Is something wrong?"

In the sudden hush that had fallen over the scene, a puzzled voice rang out nearby, drawing the attention of vendors at other stalls and passersby alike.

"Never mind..." Seeing this, Pandora shook her head.

Looks like she'd have to give up the breakfast habit after all (which sounded strange, now that she thought about it)...

The stall owner still hadn't come back to his senses by the time Pandora walked away.

[A whole pouch of Sacred Gold Coins, embarrassingly conspicuous and impossible to just toss aside... what a headache...]

With that thought, she wandered on through the royal capital.

Naturally, she'd noticed someone following her too.

[Don't tell me I'm about to run into the royal capital's "signature" experience?]

She had no intention of setting up the scene where Felt steals Emilia's insignia — not that anyone could actually steal anything from her anyway (not even by force).

"What's that..." After wandering around for a while, a crowd gathered somewhere caught her attention.

"Nice!"

"Do it again!"

"..."

Early as it was, cheer after cheer kept echoing down the street.

So she made her way toward the crowd.

"Who's that, I don't—"

The person Pandora had gently pushed past trailed off mid-sentence, as if the words had simply jammed in his throat.

And so she finally got a look at what was going on inside.

"Everyone, if you've got coin, toss some in — if you don't, at least cheer us on!"

Seeing the man catching his breath, sword in hand, calling out to the crowd, she understood at once what this was.

At once, people began tossing coins into the small basin set out in the middle.

"Hm..."

Seeing this, Pandora had no intention of following suit — after all, she'd only just arrived and hadn't even watched the show yet...

"All right, get on with it, then!"

"Yeah!"

"..."

After that wave of "tipping," the audience shouted much the same thing.

"Thank you all. Now, let me show you—" The man didn't waste more words and launched straight back into his performance.

That piqued Pandora's interest.

She wanted to see just how skilled this "street performer" really was, but...

Feeling a tug at her hand, Pandora glanced down at the pouch someone was pulling at.

"Hey, wait a—" she said, turning around the moment she spoke.

"There's really no need for that..." Pandora sighed, watching a figure dart away through the crowd.

She shook her head and let it go — after all, they might well "cross paths" again before long.

Just as she turned back—

[Thud]

"Are you all right?!" the crowd suddenly cried out at the man now sprawled on the ground.

He said nothing — as if entirely oblivious, he just lay there on the ground, staring straight at Pandora.

"Was that a slip-up?"

"Should we call a doctor?"

"..."

"Uh... no... no need..." Only when the crowd's voices came crashing straight into his ears did the man finally snap back to himself, scrambling to his feet, bowing his head, and brushing off his clothes.

But when he lifted his head again, the figure in white had already vanished...

"What a letdown..." Pandora sighed as she walked down the street. "Not even as impressive as those old-time street performers on TV."

He'd barely started his routine, and by the time she'd dealt with the pickpocket and turned back, he'd just up and fallen over — what was that about...

Good thing she hadn't paid up — she'd nearly wasted her money...

"What's this..." At a crossroads, she spotted a clear little stream cutting across the path.

"There are even fish in it..."

In a densely populated place like the royal capital, finding a stream or brook with fish in it was no small thing.

Ignoring the stares of passersby, she set her things aside and sat right down beside the stream.

"Ah..." It was ice-cold...

She was used to tap water; she'd never actually seen... wait, could this be an artificial stream?

"Whatever, who cares..." She shook her head, dropped the thought, and focused on playing with the fish in the water.

[No one to keep her company — it really was boring, after all...]

It had been that way before she came to this world, and it was still that way now.

"Guess it's time to put that on the agenda..."