Chapter 463 – The Spring Feast.
– Chii Ik!
The sound of the fish and potatoes being fried in oil mixed with the sound of the rain, forming a strange harmony. Tempura that sinks to the bottom and then comes to a boil and rises to the top.
The salesman in a yellow raincoat stirred them several times with a net, scooped them out at once, brushed off the oil, wrapped them roughly in one of the piles of newspaper, sprinkled them with salt and vinegar, and handed them to them.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“It can’t be helped, right? Most of the restaurants that open in the morning are proper inns, and most of them are places where you can have a simple meal like this.”
Usher doubted whether he could really eat this because of the strong smell of oil and ink, but Lydica casually handed it over and put one in her mouth.
“Mmmm, as expected, fried food is the best.”
Usher listened to her and examined it. Certainly, the golden-brown fritters with hot seaweed look crispy even at first glance.
Even so, I was concerned about the oil-soaked newspaper and the smudged ink, so Lidica picked up a fry and handed it to me.
“Here, you should try it too.”
In the end, I lifted the visor lightly and put it in my mouth. It crumbled as crisply as I thought, but I felt a salty yet strange sour taste along with the soft potato texture.
‘Amanas?’
The vinegar sprinkled on the tempura seemed to be made from Amanas. Looking at the vendor who sold fries to them, he is organizing the small stalls one by one as if he had finished his business.
Even when they came, there were few customers, so they must be finishing their business.
“We eat the rest over there.”
Unlike the rainy sky, the bench she sat on was not wet. Looking up at the sky, I saw a transparent roof that reflected the gray sky.
“It’s amazing to see an alley made like this.”
It’s fair, only the sound of rainwater beating is heard. There was no rain pouring down there. This kind of space was created by covering such a ceiling over a relatively narrow street corner.
Most of the roads they walk on are also made by people’s footprints. The water that overflowed from up there went down a small pipe to the ground and into the sewer.
“Most workers use this for breakfast. There are many places like this all over the city so you can use the stalls even when it rains.”
If it’s not possible, it seems to be doing business outside, but the peak has passed. Lydica continued her words and fed her fries to Elkana, who was absent-minded.
“Delicious.”
“Huh, right? Mr. Usher, what would you say about your impressions?”
“Delicious.”
Even though she didn’t make it herself, she smiled and handed the other fries to the two as if she was very happy with it.
“Now then, try this too!”
This time it’s fried fish. Crunchy, hard fried batter slightly wet with vinegar was chewed, and the fish meat trapped inside was lightly crumbled and chewed.
‘Was it Tresca?’
I recognized it when it was sold on the street at a price of only 2 coins, but it was like the fish that lives most in the cloud region.
“This is the first time I’ve eaten Tresca this way.”
“Oh, don’t you eat fish that live in the water in the Holy Land?”
“I’m not from the Holy Land.”
Lidica looked at him suspiciously and talked, but Usher brushed it off lightly. Because he didn’t even seem like he was seriously asking anyway.
“Huh, then you must have gone to the Holy Land during the pilgrimage, right?”
“How did you become related?”
While chatting and sharing fries, Usher held up his visor and spat out at the smell of ink stinging his nose as well as the feeling of chewing paper.
“Tsk, but eating ink and paper doesn’t feel very good.”
“Pu-hu-hu! This is the original way to eat… Yep!”
Indeed, Lidica laughed at him as well, frowning at the taste of paper and ink. Rather, only Elkanah tilted her head as she watched them.
After simply filling their stomachs, they tossed the mushy newspapers in nearby trash cans and washed their greasy hands in the pouring rain.
“Hehe, good. I’ll guide you properly this time. There’s an inn nearby.”
Soon, the place that Lidica guided us to was a rather large space.
“Here, here!”
The moment he looked inside, Usher couldn’t believe her eyes.
“…Is this an inn?”
It was a space lined with many rectangular boxes that people could barely lie on. No matter how you look at it, the sight of the two side by side placed side by side was far from an inn.
“No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t look like an inn, it looks like a morgue.”
“Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard that those boxes were originally intended to be used as coffins.”
“…”
It seems that it was not a mere illusion.
“But it’s popular with ordinary workers and adventurers?”
“You mean here?”
“Yes, if you give me a blanket for 3 coins, and if you add 1 coin, you can get wheat porridge.”
Certainly, as the environment was the environment, it was a very cheap price compared to the inns he knew. For day laborers and adventurers with poor earnings, this would be a good place.
“It’s just like the dorm.”
Even Elkanah was speechless at the sight of her looking at the empty coffin as if she liked it.
“Please direct me to another place.”
“Ummm, anywhere else.”
I thought it couldn’t be worse, but that thought quickly disappeared.
“I can only see the rope here.”
“I’m going to sleep over there.”
I wondered if Lydica was deceiving herself, since the place where only the stiffly stretched ropes were fixed in a similarly wide space reminded me of drying her food or her clothesline.
“Growl! Coul.”
Seeing a person sleeping in a corner over there, wrapped in a rope, it seemed to be otherwise.
“Are all the inns like this in Pasifenia?”
When she wondered if she should give up holding the inn, Lydica hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
“It’s not an inn, but there are places similar to it.”
The place she arrived soon was a certain church. The only odd thing is its appearance. It was mostly like what he knew, but that there was a cross at the top of the roof.
In the Holy Land or in Parz, crosses were made inside churches, but there was no case of placing them on the roof like that. It was the same with the newly created Parz.
“You mean lodging here?”
“It’s not like that.”
At his question, Lydica shook her head with a slightly uneasy expression.
“I can’t sleep here.”
“What if I can’t sleep…”
“Oh, oh oh?! A paladin? Are you a paladin?”
They’re looking at a view of the cathedral, so bang! The church door opened, and someone rushed out in a hurry. He jumped out without even using an umbrella and suddenly approached them.
“What’s going on?”
When Usher asked in embarrassment, he lowered his head and said.
“What’s going on! How can you just stand outside even if you see the paladin in person? It’s a day like this, so hurry up and eat inside!”
While the priest was talking like that, he suddenly made eye contact with Elkana, who was holding the hem of his cloak, and yelled at her.
“Yeah, two years! Wicked witch, where are you holding the cloak of a paladin!”
“Yes.”
Because of this, as Elkanah shrank and tried to fall, Usher briefly lifted her cape and made her invisible.
“This is my party now.”
“But how can a witch… Even Dimacaeri?”
The priest seems surprised to hear him, but it seems that it was quite shocking to see Lydica and even open her mouth in a daze.
Usher watched the scene and swallowed a sigh. What he learned after becoming a paladin was that their religion was not particularly hostile to witches.
Even so, it seemed to be the same as hating witches. It was even said that a certain faction was actively rejecting witches, and Paciphenia seemed to be in a similar situation.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really want to hear it. Let’s go first.”
“Yes?! But.”
The priest seemed to be trying to catch him, but he was already leading Lidica and Elkhana.
“Isn’t the church against witches?”
How long was it when you walked? Lydica spoke to her first.
“I don’t know why you think so, but there is nothing in our doctrine that specifically harasses or defines witches as enemies.”
It was just that most people who followed the religion didn’t look good on witches. The reason he knew it was simple. His lover was a witch, so he just recognized it.
“…That’s what it was.”
I was walking down the street in the pouring rain, listening to her voice that seemed to have leaked from somewhere. Suddenly, I saw the papers on the bulletin board.
It was said that it was not wet even during the rain, but it was in the form of being put behind glass. Among the many papers, the one that caught my eye was the one decorated with exceptionally colorful pictures.
“A wreath offering?”
“Ah, it’s already that time.”
“Is anything going on?”
“Fufu, it’s more of a festival than a job. It’s changed a little, no, a lot from the original intention.”
Lydica put on a bitter expression, but she met her eyes with him and smiled, she said.
“Okay. Since I’m guiding you. I’ll accompany you to the festival! Few people can enjoy the festival with Dimacaeri, so it’s an honor!”
Usher burst out laughing as he faced such a Lidica. I came to another country anyway, so I thought that if there was something I could enjoy, it wouldn’t be bad to enjoy it.
“Nonsense.”
The eyes that had been watching them for some time muttered such words.
