chapter 34

“I see . ”

Said Lilia as she nodded, but she didn’t really feel so within . It only felt kind of plain to her . She felt a bit down thinking about having to walk around outside in the dress .

“Do I properly look like a commoner?”

When Lilia asked that, Alisa and the agent girl both averted their eyes .

“Eh?”

When Lilia stiffened, Alisa said in a fluster,

“It, it’s alright! It’s, not really like a commoner, but you do look like a rich lady going out incognito!”

“That’s right! At the very least you don’t seem like a duke’s daughter anymore!”

Should she really be reassured, or happy with that? Lilia couldn’t think of an answer, and could only give off a vague smile .

“Mistress Lilia . Please take this as well . ”

She was handed a straw hat . It was in the box with the dress . When she put it on, the two girls watching on both nodded with satisfaction .

“Does it fit?”

“Yes . No problems . ”

“You will be guarded no matter what happens so please rest assured . ”

Would she really be protected by this girl? Lilia looked at her a little doubtfully . The girl probably noticed, as she quickly shook her head .

“If something were to happen I would not be able to handle it myself . After leaving the academy, Father shall be covertly following behind . ”

“I see . It’s fine even if we walked together though . ”

—Eh? Is that really fine? Lilia, just imagine it . Some well bred young lady walking together with some old dude dressed up in all black .

—Calling him ‘some old dude’, really you…

Though she was admonishing her speech, Lilia did try imagining . Quickly, she came to the conclusion that it was no good, and shook her head .

“Sorry . Let me revise that . I want to walk alone . ”

“Understood . I shall return then”

While smiling wryly, the girl gave a bow and left the classroom . As she was watching her depart, she suddenly remembered .

“Now that I think about it, with that girl, and the other two as well, I still haven’t asked for their names huh . ”

“It seems so . Shall I inform you their names now?”

“No, it’s fine . I’ll ask them myself when I get the chance . ”

Leaving that aside she needed to get a move on or she’ll be late in returning . As Lilia walked out the door, Alisa silently saw her out with a bow .

There were soldiers constantly stationed at the gates of the academy . Normally one would go through various procedures to pass through the gate . She was anticipating just how she might talk her way past, or perhaps get them to let her through discreetly, but,

“Have a safe trip . ”

They just let her though without saying much at all .

—What’s with that?

—Yup . Make sure you thank those agent people after . It seems they’d talked to them about it beforehand .

At those words, Lilia’s eyes widened . She hadn’t heard anything about this…

—There was that thing you did to them the other day, so they were probably desperately trying to not earn your ire .

—I didn’t really intend to get that mad at them though .

—Nah you were plenty scary back there alright?

So it was like that, thought Lilia as she left the school grounds . Right outside the south end of the academy was a wide road running parallel across the exit to either side, as well as an even bigger street that ran straight south from there . With either of the roads, there were all sorts of stores lined up along them . Lilia took out the paper she received from Aira and started walking down the indicated route . However she quickly came to a stop .

—Sakura . Do you, understand this map?

—Yep . I can read it but… Ahh, I see . Only the basic points have been marked out here . I’ll guide you along .

Following Sakura’s instructions, Lilia set out into the south side town .

—You see, a hundred years ago there was a great sage in this country . The great sage taught many things to the country, but the of all things it seems what he’d put the most effort into was food . There wasn’t a single thing he enjoyed eating here, so he tried super hard to fix that . What a wonderful person! By the way Lilia, you’re not listening are you . Ah, make a right there .

—I’m listening . I just don’t have as much of an attachment to food as most nobles .

Following Sakura’s directions, Lilia walked down onto a busy street by herself . The various people coming and going turned to look at her as they went by, but it was the same even in the academy so she paid it no mind . And so, she didn’t even really think about why she was garnering all this attention either .

As soon as Sakura began guiding Lilia along she had started to lecture about this country’s history . That said, it was mostly history related to food . She certainly had the desire to eat delicious things, but she wasn’t as caught up in such a thing as Sakura . She had no interest in something like the great sage who brought about some revolution in food .

Sakura should be aware of that as well, but even so she continued to talk . She even periodically confirmed if she was listening properly .

—Hey, don’t you find it odd, Lilia?

—About what .

—The method to make salt isn’t even known here, but it somehow became a common everyday item .

Lilia’s feet came to a stop .

There were various seasonings gathered in this country . Of course salt and sugar were among them . And they, with a magic formation and the spirits’ help, were created from raw materials while completely omitting the actual process of their creation .

Normally without knowing the actual process of making something you wouldn’t be able to create such a magic . Therefore, it seemed that there was someone who indeed knew the full process for creating them, and yet the only known way of producing them currently was using magic formations . It seemed like something quite obvious, but only after it was pointed out did she notice the strangeness of it .

—Right? It really is strange .

At Sakura who gave a cheerful laugh, Lilia felt a slight chill . The way she spoke made it seem like she actually knew all about the creation processes mentioned . The way to create them without relying on a magic formation .

—Sakura . Could it be that you, were that great sage or something?

She asked with a tiny bit of conviction, but Sakura immediately denied it .

—However, I do think that Mr . Sage guy was someone who resembles me quite a bit . Though I don’t know if he’d also possessed someone like I did, eh? Ah, Lilia that store there! It’s strawberry daifuku buy some buy some hey buy some!

—Just when I thought we were having a serious conversation… Please put a bit more effort into staying on track…

Voicing her complaints all the while, Lilia headed towards the store Sakura pointed out . The treats called ‘daifuku’ were lined up on the counter, and the one called a strawberry daifuku was in the middle of them, lined up so that they stood out prominently . Buy just one, she put it in her mouth on the spot .

—I see… So the strawberry itself was inside the thing…

—A strawberry daifuku! It tastes like a strawberry daifuku too!