Chapter 164
Chapter 164: A day around the city
While waiting for the girls to return, Lenn and Renn rambled about how strong Lupa was. Additionally, how much they wanted to see how strong Vincent was. A while later, the girls came from upstairs with a set of fresh, clean clothes.
Ester, Lupa, and Tula wore clothes similar to what Yula was wearing. However, Ester seemed a bit grumpy after having a hard time finding a blouse to wear.
Vincent gazed at Ester and Lupa with a pair of lightly blushed cheeks. On the other hand, Kazumi giggled at Ester’s slightly baggy shirt for not having a large chest. Lupa, Tula, and Yula had tighter blouses.
“Looks like everyone is here.” Yula stood up and grabbed the Blood Bound Bag Of Holding, containing all the items she needed at the office of law and order.
Yula then announced something not even Vincent thought he would hear this soon, “All right, Ben. I will follow you while my kids, Vincent, Ester, and Lupa, take a stroll around the city.”
“Oh. Will you be looking for a place to stay?” Ben wondered.
Yula quickly looked at Vincent and said, “No need to hurry. I would be pleased to host a place for my daughter’s saviors to stay until they can find a place to stay.”
.....
[Tula’s mother is kinder than I thought. She is allowing us to stay here until we can plan what to do next.]
-I didn’t expect to hear something like this. I thought Yula would suggest we leave in less than a week and not longer. Having a place to stay is starting to make me feel like we belong somewhere.-
Kazumi could relate to Vincent’s words. His body was her home, so in a way, Kazumi felt she belonged with Vincent, Ester, and Lupa because of this. Even if she had to use her precious mana to appear in front of them.
“Thank you. ” Ester said. Then she patted Lupa’s shoulder to say the same thing. Like a big sister, Ester wanted to teach Lupa courtesy.
“Thank you. ” Lupa repeated without understanding why they had to show their appreciation to sleep in a house. She never said such things in Ester’s wooden cabin. This is the second time she entered and slept in a human home.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Vincent respectfully lowered his head.
“Protect the family, you hear?” Ben said with an energetically friendly raised fist.
“Don’t worry. I will protect them, as you already know.” Vincent replied without hesitation.
Ben nodded while remembering why the commotion started in front of the South Gate in the first place. How the three decided to protect Tula even when many archers prepared to fire arrows at them.
Shortly, they formed two groups split after exiting the house. One group consisted of Yula and Ben. The other rambunctious group consisted of the rest.
Hours passed quite quickly as they enjoyed the tour. Lenn chose to show a few essential shops to visit while Renn showed a weaponsmith shop. The middle-class shops looked nice and clean, unlike the lower class shops, which mainly consisted of stands or small corner shops.
The twins also directed the group towards sweet selling stores and stands. They pampered Tula by purchasing a few small sweets, but Vincent noticed how the sweets still cost a lot of money. The cheapest was a swirly toffee. It was small, but its price was twenty copper.
Both Tula and Plow liked the sweets. When Lenn and Renn noticed Lupa’s interest in the sweets, they purchased a handful for Vincent, Ester, and Lupa as a thank you for bringing their sister back.
“Vincent! Let’s make money! I want sweets!” Lupa became addicted to sweets after the first lick.
“Let’s think about it later, but you must remember, the sweeter things you eat, the quicker your teeth with fall.” Vincent tried to scare Lupa and educate her. Then he thought, ‘It’s to be expected of someone that never tasted a sweet before.’
“Ohh no! I don’t want to lose my fangs!” Lupa stopped eating with a frightened expression.
[I think you should try to calm her. Lupa is gullible and naive even if it’s the truth.]
Vincent approached Lupa and said, “However, it doesn’t mean you can’t eat sweets. I know a way to keep healthy teeth... I mean fangs. So enjoy the sweet in your hand.”
“No. Tell me how to save my fangs first!” Lupa insisted as if Vincent knew the information to solve a crisis.
“Ahem... An apple a day keeps the tooth doctor away.” Vincent said with a smirk.
After a second passed for the phrase to sink in, Lupa’s golden eyes gazed from left to right until they stopped at an apple merchant. “Apple, apple.” Lupa pointed as if the apple stand in the lower district merchant area sold potions of life.
Vincent had no choice but to buy a few apples for Lupa. He got himself into this situation, and so he had to own up to his words.
“How much for the apples?” Vincent asked.
“Good day, sir. Currently, I don’t have a batch of fresh apples because of the lockdown. The price is one copper each; however, I’m making the offer of buy two and get one free.” The apple merchant offered.
-How many apples are on the stand?-
[Hmm... about fifty something.]
“Give me forty of the best ones. ” Vincent ordered.
While the apple merchant excitedly prepared a small, worn-out crate with forty apples, Vincent placed his hand in his pocket to take out the money, but Lenn and Renn promptly said, “Let us pay, teacher.”
“But... didn’t you already buy is some sweets? ” Vincent never minded free stuff, but the twins had already use three silver from their pockets. He felt terrible for being cheap if he accepted.
Lenn, “No, we insist!”
Renn, “Let’s share them and have healthy teeth, hehe.”
Behind them was Ester with a smile on her face. She saw Vincent becoming flustered without knowing what to do. Vincent was being put on the spot with the twins insisting on paying, while beside them stood Lupa with drool about to trickle from hunger.
Lenn, “Here is the money.”
Renn, “Let me carry the crate. I’m strong.”
Vincent decided to let the twins do what they wanted. ‘If they are happy, then I will let them do what they want.’ Vincent thought while shrugging his shoulders.
Next, the group headed towards the fountain in front of the guildhall. The area seemed less crowded than the previous day. They easily found benches next to each other to sit on and eat apples.
As they ate a couple of apples, Lupa started insisting that her fangs became sharper and healthier.
Vincent and Ester nodded to agree with Lupa, but both knew it was all in her wild imagination. It seems Lupa is very proud of her fangs, both in beastman and wolf form.
*Ben and Yula – Office of law and order*
Ben escorted Yula to the office of law and order building. After a couple of turns, two Royal Soldiers guarding an iron door came to view.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Mumbled Ben with a puzzled expression.
“Halt. Who goes there.” One of the Royal Soldiers asked.
Ben took out his identification and said, “I’m City Guard Vice Captain Ben. I applied for an appointment in the reception hall and waited until it was our turn. Is there a problem?”
“Please enter.” The other Royal Soldier opened the door for Ben and Yula to enter.
Ben looked at Yula and nodded to comfort her. Yula was starting to panic since Royal Soldiers weren’t a common sight. However, Ben was also surprised since the highest-ranking door guards he saw were Vice Captains. It was his first.
Ben and Yula entered the room. A few hours later, the iron door opened, and two stressed people exited the room. What happened inside made both Ben and Yula stressed to the point of breaking in sweat.
Ben and Yula exited the office of law and order. They completed their objective quite smoothly, but inside the office was a high-ranked person, a Royal Guard.
“I guess it’s finally over. ” Ben uttered with his hands still trembling.
“Why did the Royal Guard ask us those questions? And why did we have to sign a document of secrecy? We only talked about Vincent...” Yula asked in confusion.
Yula didn’t know why the Royal Guard needed to know who Vincent is, and what kind of person he is. The Royal Guard also asked a few specific questions, such as Feng Mengli’s disciple identification.
Yula answered all the questions, but she kept a bit of the truth hidden. Vincent told her how he didn’t say the complete story in the interrogation room. Yula mentioned bits and pieces as if Vincent hardly talked.
“Shhh... walls have ears! Let’s go home and remember what we signed. It’s of great importance to keep it a secret. Vincent must have caught someone’s notice, but it doesn’t seem to be in a dangerous way.” Ben interrupted Yula and increased his pace to leave quickly. However, he didn’t tell the real identity of the Royal Guard questioning them as Yula would become more stressed than she currently is.
*Evening in the middle-class district*
Lenn and Renn led the others to shops they didn’t visit in the morning. They visited artisans such as wood, glass, and textile.
The wood artisan shop had wooden sculptures on display, ranging from a cool dragon to a beautiful angel with wings and a halo. The glass shop had a variety of crystal-like cups, and the textile shop had fabrics, pillows, and a small mattress on display.
The next shops they visited caught Lupa’s nose as the smell of food made her hungry, even if she ate quite a few times during the day.
Lupa wasn’t the only one. Vincent seemed interested in an herbs shop. The apples made him crave for a slice of an apple pie.
Time flew, and it was time to return. Lenn and Renn were leading everyone home when a group of people they knew crossed their paths.
“Ohh! If it isn’t lefty and righty!”
“Hey, look. There are three beauties with them. We scored today.”
“Isn’t that their sister, though? Her chest is hard to forget.”
“Nah. Can’t you see how she quickly hid behind that petit chested beauty? I heard she is hard to intimidate.”
Four teens blocked the road while passing multiple comments. One thing easily revealed their intentions. It was a pair of lusting eyes.
Lenn and Renn recognized the four as the troublesome greens. The four of them were three years older than the twins. They loved to pick on others. Mostly those younger than them. However, karma follows them as they can’t seem to progress from being new recruits.
[Why don’t you look at this. We are experiencing the legendary bad-mouthing trash event. I wonder what you will do. This is getting exciting.]