Chapter 248 – Under the Sanctuary.
Soon he arrived at the village he had passed through, pursued by the people who had come here with Krikaliev the day before.
“Why are you here all of a sudden?”
When he turned to Erica, who had brought him here, she tilted her head.
“Isn’t that what you came to play?”
“Wait, I don’t think it’s time to play…!”
Erica puffed out her cheeks as Usher couldn’t hide her absurdity.
“He let me into the house and gave me a meal.”
“Ugh, that’s it.”
“Um, Usher was only thinking of using me.”
Soon after, he sighed at the gray color of the girl who was about to shed tears at any moment.
“Okay. Okay. Don’t cry.”
“Aha ♪ So, are you playing?”
As soon as he finally agreed to hang out, he realized that she had been tricked by her smile as if he was about to burst into tears, but he couldn’t help it. The strange structure of houses without gatekeepers or walls felt a bit out of place, but she was drawn to Erica and didn’t even have time to think about it. Lanterns shining brightly in orange light harmonized as if they were dancing, and the people making noise in between them melted into the scenery. An old town with bright lights and people’s voices resounding.
“How does Usher want to play?”
“Even if you say so, I don’t know.”
Usher said he knew absolutely nothing about this place. It was all because it was just a village under the Holy Land.
“Then let me guide you!”
“Oh, hey! Wait a minute!”
Before he could say anything, Usher was drawn to Erica and immersed in a landscape full of people.
“Ugh, it’s so cold, what the hell are we going to do to play?”
However, it was colder here than expected. It would have been difficult to hold on if the bandage hadn’t been wrapped around the dress. This place must have been underground, but the wind that kept blowing from somewhere was cooling it down even more. I don’t think there was any wind blowing until yesterday.
“Hee hee, if that’s the case, I know something.”
Usher was wary that she might stick around to keep her warm, but Erica took him and went somewhere else. While relieved by him, he was immersed in complicated thoughts due to the regret that penetrated through them, and a fragrant smell reached the tip of his nose. They were standing in front of a street vendor where steam was rising.
“When adults say it’s cold, drink soup here.”
“In a place like this?”
Are you selling food? The tattered stalls made of iron plates were not very trustworthy. If you look at the roof and pillars, which are almost brown with a lot of rust, you are worried that the food will taste like iron.
“Mister! Please give us French fries, fried scales, and two bowls of soup!”
Usher looked at the stall with a subtle expression, but Erica was already holding his hand and talking in front of him.
“Wait, I didn’t bring any money. Can I order that much?”
There was really nothing Usher was holding right now. The bag had also been left at the girl’s house. But Erica pulled out her pocket from the inside of her wide sleeve and pulled out some fairy tales from inside. Then, the man who was watching them from behind the short tent of the stall lit a fire with a crackling sound and started to boil the sizzling oil. She then scooped out the soup that was boiling on one side with a large ladle, poured it into two bowls, and set it on a small iron table in front of them.
“It’s the 4th fairy tale.”
“Here you go!”
Erica puts four fairy tales in his outstretched hand and climbs into her chair.
“Easy to sit down quickly!”
Then, seeing the way she knocked on the seat next to her, I had no choice but to sit next to her, and the food on the street stalls that I couldn’t see well came into my eyes. In the place where he poured the soup in front of him, various ingredients were gathered together and boiling. Large radishes were sliced into large chunks and melted transparently, no matter how long they had been boiling, and various mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and red peppers floated to the surface and floated on the muddy surface of the water.
“This…”
It was clearly mixed with the vegetables he had seen in Lantua, so Usher felt familiar rather than unfamiliar. Still, it’s the first time I’ve seen them come together like this and boil with the others, so I can hear Erica’s voice as I’m just looking at them.
“Huh? Aren’t you drinking?”
She is sipping her soup, holding her bowl as if she is used to seeing the girl. She followed her and brought her bowl to her mouth and she parted her lips hastily at the hot feeling of his mouth.
“Ugh!”
“Oh right. It’s hot, so you have to be careful?”
“What if I say that now!”
“Eheh, sorry.”
Erica’s words on her return are sarcastic as she is already scalded and her sore lips are closing her pain. Though belatedly, she blew on the soup to cool it down, and when she brought it back to her mouth, the still hot but still cold enough broth seeped in. It was a bit spicy, but it was sweet, and the spicy and clean taste seemed to warm the body. After drinking the soup for a while to warm up, the oil that had made a whining sound started to sizzle and boil.
“Fish scales?”
There, thinly sliced potatoes and large fish scales were collected separately and put in oil. Potatoes shrivel and bend as the scales boil in the oil boiling around them. Not long after, the fries he pulled out were sprinkled with salt, and the fries placed in front of him were, of course, fried scales.
“Did you make this for me?”
Clearly, it was the owner of the street vendor who handed him this tempura, but for some reason, Erica, who ordered it, was suspicious.
“Ehehe, I don’t really know because I only watch what adults tell me to do.”
“Then why are you asking me to do that!?”
“But I can’t eat it even if I’m curious. I hope Usher tastes it for me.”
She wanted to ask why she couldn’t eat, but she didn’t have a clue, so she closed her eyes and popped the fried scales into her mouth. The first thing I felt was the salty taste of the salt and the texture of the distorted scales as the hot oil grilled them. Still, I thought it was worth eating so far, so I might have been off guard for a while. The problem was the moment he chewed the scales.
“Ugh, what is this?”
The taste when chewing was good. The sound of it breaking into a crispy mouth made me think it was delicious for a moment. However, the problem was the fishy smell that could not be hidden the moment the scales inside touched the mouth after chewing. The tongue-piercing taste turned my head and spat it out on the floor, and I saw white flakes sticking out, wondering if they were edible. I drank the soup to somehow wash away the taste, but fortunately the clear soup washed away the fishy smell of the scales.
“Ugh, is that strange? Adults eat it deliciously.”
She looked at Erica, wondering if she was trying to trick her, but as if she didn’t know what was wrong, she took the scale fry in front of him and sniffed her.
“Goodbye~”
Usher ended up sipping soup and leaving the street vendor with fried scales that he couldn’t even eat. Her body warms up, but her half-filled stomach feels hungry, and as she walks in silence, the girl enters an unfamiliar alley.
“Hey, why are you here?”
In a dark alley, he could only think of bad things, so he stopped Erika.
“I have something to see.”
“What’s the matter…”
-Hey.
But before she had even finished asking her own question, Usher was frozen at the sound of a chilling sound coming from the back of her alley. And then I heard a lot of crunchy sounds of stepping on the ground.
“Ah! It’s good. You were there today too.”
There was a group of some big lizards there. After adapting to the darkness of the alley, the inside of the alley is teeming with lizards no matter how small they are, no matter how small they are, the size of his forearms or taller than their height. There was even a guy who was looking through the trash can and looked this way from inside the trash can.
“Hey, what are they?”
At first glance, the lizards looked like they had their wings removed from the dragon and shrunk to a smaller size. No matter how small it may be, it is still large, and the hard scales covering the skin and the reptile’s sharp eyes were strangely intimidating, so he held the girl’s hand and stepped back, but she seemed to be unconcerned.
“They’re just kids running around looking for something to eat around here. That’s why they sometimes come to feed them.”
“…I’m not the prey, am I?”
“Eh, I just came to give you some fried scales.”
That’s because the way these guys looked at him was unusual. Still, when Erica sprinkled the fried scales she had taken from him, their attention returned to them.
– Shiiik!
-Saaaaagh!
Then, they started fighting with each other to eat fried scales themselves. They push and hit each other with their long, thick tails. There is also a sound like whipping. They even open their mouths wide and try to bite each other. What are you doing here, so there are so many lizards like this living in the back alleys? Tired of the sight, Erica calls him.
“Usher, Usher~”
I ignored it for a moment, thinking she might do something else.
“If you don’t see it, is Usher going to tell these kids to eat some fried scales?”
“Ugh, what is it?”
It wasn’t a waste of food, but even so, the fishy smell from fried scales was unbearable.
– Shiiik!
Rather, the problem was that the large lizards that were fighting over the scales, as if they had understood Erica, all glared at him. Her goosebumps rise when she hurriedly replies to her.
“Hee hee, ah~ do it.”
The girl was holding one of her fries and holding it out to him.
“…Is this okay?”
I was used to eating potatoes, but the fact that Erica was holding them made me suspicious. If you look at the fries she is holding, wondering if she is holding fried scales together.
“Huh, then how about doing this?”
“Hey you…!”
Erica stuck out her tongue and she tossed the fries she was holding in her hand over it. If he were to eat it as it was, he would have thought so, but wasn’t he approaching him asking him to eat it as it is? Her thin fries stuck to the little girl’s tongue and ended up right in front of Usher’s nose without falling off.
“Yeah, just giving the fries separately.”
“Hehe, if I don’t stay in Paris, will I be left behind?”
It was difficult to hear because her tongue was sticking out, but Erica was clearly telling him to eat it. The moment Usher finally closes his eyes and opens his mouth.
“Aha ♪ You were tricked?”
All he could see was her sticking her tongue out and eating her fries. As her Usher stared at her, speechless, Erica smiled at her bashfully and put her new fries into his mouth. Anyway, the fries she ate were different from the potato dishes she ate at other places, and they were salty and crispy, so they were definitely delicious.
“Haha, so what are you planning to do now?”
“Huh? We’re still hanging out together.”
“Did you mean playing with me?”
“Eh~ Isn’t Usher a toy?”
You mean the kid who knows that is making fun of him? Usher didn’t know what to think of Erica now.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to do something obligatory. You just have to enjoy being together, right?”
Still, he couldn’t confidently face the gray light that warmly reflected him. Every time he faced that light, his pathetic feelings for himself and longing for the golden light only increased.
“But can’t we get out of here soon?”
“Yes why?”
“Their eyes are scary.”
It was because the sharp gazes glaring at him made me feel the determination that if it wasn’t for Erica, I would have ripped him apart.
“Yeah, okay. Then let’s give the rest and go!”
As Erica sprinkled the remaining fried scales, the lizards’ fight intensified.
“Daddy, let’s get out quickly.”
That’s how they got out of the alley where a fierce fight was taking place.
