Chapter 462: The Selfish Princess (1/2)

At about 10:30, Stearleana was walking around the streets of Goa, guiding Jin and his friends. They were joined by Ehr, Edgar, and Reiko. Selene was a bit too showy, so she stayed at home.

“This is a relatively new district. Don’t the buildings look rather new?”

Just as she said, the stones used for building were very smooth. It was considerably different from the weathered buildings of the old Lenard Kingdom.

“But the way the streets are laid out isn’t very precise. I wonder if someone who visits here for the first time wouldn’t easily get lost in here.”

In the case of a new town, the roads would be either made vertically and horizontally like a grid, or extending radially around the lord’s castle and making the town concentrical. There were many cities that served as examples of those two building archetypes.

However, in Goa, large buildings and small buildings were lined up in a cluttered manner. Instead of being straight, the streets drew arcs as if they were bent like a key, making them very difficult to understand.

“The reason for this is that the lord… Duke Eubert Bertin Du Perchamps said he didn’t like townscapes that looked too much like grids.”

Stearleana concluded by adding that the duke was a dictatorial lord.

“Ah, but I find this kind of townscape easier to get around.”

That was Jin’s honest impression. A cluttered townscape made him feel that the town was lively. Even if a town seemed like it had been carefully fitted into a grid, Jin would feel that there would be a lot of open space everywhere. That’s why he prefered the former.

“…I feel I can understand what brother Jin means.”

“Yeah, I also like the unorganized atmosphere of this town.”

Even Saki agreed with Jin, but he quickly retorted.

“Haha, well, your room is very unorganized, Saki.”

“Ugh! I-It’s not like that anymore, Jin! Ehr makes sure it’s tidy every day!”

“…Sis Saki, that’s not something you should be too proud about, is it?”

The party went on the main street in a harmonious manner. As the number of people started to increase a little, Jin held hands with Hanna.

“It’s so you don’t get lost in the multitude.”

“Thank you, big brother!”

Seeing that from the side, Stearleana murmured.

(…Though little kids can fuss about that kind of treatment, a little girl will always find it refreshing…)

Jin and Hanna seemed to not have heard her murmuring, and went on walking on the streets while holding hands.

“Jin, Hanna, it’s getting crowded here, so let’s turn right.”

Stearleana called out to them, and the party left the main street and entered an alley. After walking on that alley for a bit, they came out into another street.

It was a quiet street, completely devoid of all the noise of the main street.

“This is commonly known as the ‘Material Street’. There are various shops that sell from food ingredients to Magi Crystals.”

“Oh, that sounds fascinating!”

It seemed that Saki’s interest had been piqued.

“Look, that over there is a shop I always go to.”

It seemed to be a little smaller than the other shops around it, but once they went inside, they were surprised to realize that it extended quite a bit to the back.

“Ah, Miss Stearleana, welcome. What are you looking for today?”

The elderly shopkeeper politely greeted them.

“Ah, no, today I’m showing some friends around. …Though she’s an alchemist, perhaps you have some ingredients you can show her?”

Seeing Saki wandering around the store, Stearleana ended up asking that to the shopkeeper with a bitter smile.

“An alchemist! You don’t see one of those every day. Well, there’s this stone I just dug out of the mine the other day.”

The shopkeeper took out a black, flat stone from his still unorganized luggage.

“It’s quite interesting. You can peel thin layers out of it.”

“…Biotite?”

Just as Jin said, it was biotite. The muscovite from the north of Kaina Village was either white or transparent, but the biotite was jet-black.

Other than their color, their properties are extremely similar.

In this region, it was regarded as a toy-like mineral that children could peel layers off from and play with.

“And then there’s these.”

“Oh, those are wonderful!”

There were several stones of various colors such as orange and purple. Their shape was similar to a regular octahedron.

“These are fluorite. I like these a lot, so I collect them.”

Saki also knew what flourite looked like from the scientific knowledge she had inherited from Jin. She also had a lot of similar stones in her collection.

To commemorate this, Saki bought a small amethyst.

“Next up is… Let’s see… Ah, how about that place over there?”

Stearleana pointed to a store that sold accessories. Some items were on display outside the store.

“Big brother, I’m thirsty.”

It was unusual for Hanna to say something like that. They had all been drinking juice back in Stearleana’s house, but it seemed that Hanna had been rather shy about it, and ended up drinking just a bit of juice.