Chapter 158 – Being Welcomed at Edgeworth (1/2)

The next day we headed off towards Edgeworth Village.

I had originally planned to go by myself, but Alicia and Fate made a fuss the moment they realized that I was going outside of the country. My plan was to only be away for the day and be back by night, though it would be squeezing things a little tight depending on what was going to happen.

Folding space all the way to Edgeworth was beyond the current me. Flying would take a few hours each way so anything less than the whole day was unlikely to work for me.

Though, a part of why I allowed them to come with me was because it was reassuring as well.

It would be the first time I was away from the two for so long, and that fact made me nervous. Even if Claret was used to caring for them for a few hours at a time, this would be several times that.

So in the end, Claret and I flew through the twilight hours while I carried my babies.

It would be their first time seeing a place outside of the Hourai Commonwealth. The first time they see humans or beastkin. Depending on who it is that wanted to see me, maybe even dwarves.

Though fortunately the light races that they haven't seen didn't look too different from us so they probably won't have much trouble there. But they would be meeting strangers up close, so it did make me worry a bit.

It was probably best I hold onto them the entire time.

We made or way through the air towards the village. Fortunately it was to the west, so the rising sun was at our backs, easing the burden on our eyes.

It didn't take too long before we got close and made the rest of the way on foot to avoid looking too suspicious. Orphne could fly all the way without problems, but it would be weird for someone not a fairy to enter the village airborne. I'd have no way to explain it as they didn't know I was a vampire, and entering while invisible was pretty rude when I was invited.

I greeted the guard at the gate and passed through without incident.

Or at least, nothing that appeared to be trouble. The guy dashed off right after letting us through and closed the gates.

Since he left me without a parting word, I just continued my way to Mint's store. Since Orphne only received his message just the day before, he should have still been in the village rather than already out on his trade route.

”Holy shit they're real.”

”Umm...hi?”

When I entered the store, the bored looking man behind the counter gave me the rudest greeting I've ever had. It was so rude in fact, that I wasn't even sure how to take offence to it.

Whack!

”Just what in the world are you saying to a customer!”

After a few brief moments of awkward silence, another figure came out from the back room and slugged the man in the back of his head.

”I'm terribly sorry about that. I don't know what got into this moron's head.”

”Uh, no. It's fine.”

”Ow! Ow! It hurts!”

The figure proceeded to put the young man into a headlock that even a professional wrestler would be proud of.

”If you have any suggestions for punishments for this idiot, please don't hesitate to tell me Miss Scarlet.”

”No, umm, I'll leave that to you.”

Personally, I'd rather just forget about the incident entirely and pretend it didn't happen, so making any memories regarding the fallout of the event worked against me.

”Thank you for your kindness. Hey! What do you have to say to Miss Scarlet?”

”Ow! Okay, okay! I'll say it! Thanks for your kindness Miss Scarlet!”

”Umm...no problem.”

”Ow! Stop it! I can walk on my own!”

Bang! Crash!

Still in that headlock position, the older figure slowly dragged the younger back to the adjacent room before the younger was roughly tossed through the entry and the door was slammed shut. There was the sound of tumbling past the heavy wooden door, but I pretended not to notice.

”Really, I'm sorry about that idiot son of mine.”

”I said it's fine. Let's put it behind us already Mint.”

The owner of the store, and the contact I had developed here in Edgeworth Village, Mint. The other man was his son, and the few times I had met him, he did try to hit on me. It was quite annoying, but for the sake of my relationship with Mint, I tried to brush it off as gently as possible. Maybe that was the reason why he never got the message?

Or maybe he was just that stubborn.

”Thank you Miss Scarlet. You really more than live up to your namesake.”

”Ahaha...”

It's been quite a while, but I had forgotten that a lot of people constantly connect me to the Scarlet of the past who was known to the public as a saint, even though it brought enmity to the church, and likely ended up getting her killed.

While I didn't like it that people put undue expectations on me because of the association, there wasn't much I could do when I end up living up to those exact expectations. The fact that it results in the public line between her and me being blurred, as annoying as it was, wasn't really something I could do much about. Especially at this point.

I could only hope that as time moved on, I'd eventually step out of her shadow.

Though I wasn't exactly looking to becoming a public figure in the first place, so being forgotten by the greater populace wasn't exactly a big deal. Or rather, if that's what it took for me to escape the previous Scarlet's shadow, I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

”Still, I have to say that your twins are quite adorable.”

”Oh, thanks!”

Mint stepped around the counter and came over, leaning in to get a good look at my cute little babies.

Both of them sat in my arms, but Alicia turned to look straight at Mint. Fate on the other hand hugged me tighter and buried her face in my chest. The difference in reaction, it might have had to do with the fact that Alicia had reincarnated like I had.

Since she was blind in her previous life, she was less capable of recognizing people than normal even if she could remember. But even then, it was possible that she recognized Mint's voice, as this was the village she was originally born and raised in.

Fate on the other hand, she reacted exactly as I had figured. Expecting her to react well to new people was asking for too much. I just hoped that she wouldn't get startled to the point that she'd start crying.

”Yes, they take after you so much, I have no doubt that they'll become incredible beauties in the future.”

”Ehehe, yea. I bet they'll be as beautiful in the future as they are cute right now!”

The corners of my lips rose to the point that my cheeks hurt, and still they continued to rise further. Having my babies complimented like that went right to my head.

”Oh, I see. You ended up becoming THAT kind of mother huh?”

”What kind?”

Hearing the odd mumbled statement, tilted my head as I asked Mint about it.

”No, it's nothing. Don't worry about it.”

”Oh, alright.”

Maybe he didn't mean for me to actually hear it. It was quite quiet after all. Maybe if I was still human, I wouldn't have even noticed it.

”Oh yea, how's things been going with Orphne? Has there been any problems?”

”No, things have been going quite smoothly. The transfer of goods with Lady Orphne has been quite uneventful, thankfully.”

”LADY Orphne?”

”Is, is something the matter?”

(A ton of things! Or rather, why lady?!)

”Umm, why do you call her Lady Orphne?”

”Isn't that how everyone calls her? When she introduced herself, she said that it was how everyone called her back home. She said that she was part of the noble class.”

(That lying bitch!)

On one hand I was glad that she wasn't causing trouble over here where I couldn't see her, but at the same time, that was some lie she had made for herself!

”She's not nobility or anything. Just my subordinate.”

”Oh, is that the case...”

”It is. Make sure everyone knows. While she does represent me, that's all there is to it. You can think of her as an errand girl. If she causes trouble, feel free to do what you think is right.”

It looked like I needed to come here once in a while to make sure that Orphne wasn't hiding anything from me.

I sighed at the extra work that little fairy had suddenly made me.

(At least what she's done so far isn't really a big deal.)

The potential consequences was big, but as long as it didn't get out of this village, it wasn't really anything serious.

I'd have to give Orphne a bit of a talking to, but hopefully that'll be enough.