There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 135

“…….”

“…….”

Once the silence settled, an unbearable awkwardness washed over them.

Philomel, wanting to shake off the strange atmosphere, spoke even more cheerfully.

“Wow, the market starts right here! Let’s go quickly!”

Philomel and Nasar strolled through the market of Angelium, doing their shopping.

“That will be 10 Bell.”

“10 Bell is……”

“Just a moment.”

Philomel stopped Nasar as he fumbled for his wallet.

“Why is it so expensive for just one bundle of jerky?”

The grocery store owner hesitated.

“This amount is easily worth 10 Bell. I wouldn’t make any profit selling it for less.”

Philomel opened the bag of jerky and furrowed her brow.

“It’s too expensive.”

“No, miss, you don’t seem to understand, 10 Bell is perfectly reasonable……”

“Let’s go, Nasar. We’ll buy it at another store.”

Philomel whispered to him, making sure everyone could hear.

“Don’t come here anymore. They overcharge terribly……”

“W-wait a minute!”

At the shop owner’s urgent voice, Philomel turned around and asked in a dry tone.

“What is it?”

“I’ll give it to you for 9 Bell……”

“Give it to me for 4 Bell.”

The shop owner looked like he was about to cry at the absurd discount.

“That’s a bit much, how about 8 Bell?”

“I won’t buy it unless it’s 4 Bell.”

“Then 6 Bell! I’ve already cut it a lot!”

“4 Bell.”

“I really can’t go below 5 Bell.”

“4 Bell.”

Philomel stood firm like a mountain and didn’t budge. The shop owner soon admitted defeat.

After getting the jerky for 4 Bell, the two left the grocery store.

“It was obvious that 4 Bell was the right price, all that fuss.”

Philomel muttered to herself, then suddenly became aware of the gaze on her.

‘Oh no, did I look too frugal?’

However, Nasar’s eyes were filled with admiration.

“How did you know that 4 Bell was the right price?”

“Actually, I bought it before, so I knew.”

“You did, Philomel?”

“Yes, just recently, when I escaped from the Imperial Palace.”

At that time, Philomel’s chosen mode of transportation was a public carriage that carried several people, and the journey was long, so she had to eat during the trip.

“There’s nothing better than jerky for a meal.”

Easy to eat and store in the carriage.

But then, someone stopped her from buying jerky at the asking price, just like Nasar was about to do. It was a woman sitting next to her in the carriage.

“That person saved me from being ripped off. She also told me that 6 Bell was enough for this amount of jerky.”

And how to haggle as a bonus.

After she started traveling alone, she gradually put her teachings into practice and her skills improved.

It wasn’t even years ago, it was just a few months ago, so it was hard for the market price to change significantly during that time.

Nasar, who had been listening intently to Philomel’s words, tilted his head.

“Huh? But didn’t you say a moment ago that 4 Bell was the right price?”

“The other 2 Bell is the unfair price.”

“What do you mean by unfair?”

“They’ve been charging Nasar much more than the right price all this time.”

It seemed that this wasn’t Nasar’s first visit to the place. When he entered the store, the owner greeted him with a grin from ear to ear.

It was obvious.

‘They must have taken advantage of Nasar, who doesn’t know the ways of the world.’

The reason the owner accepted Philomel’s haggling was probably because he didn’t want to lose Nasar, a big fish [a valuable, easily exploited customer].

‘It may be a small amount that’s not even spare change for Nasar, but…’

Naturally, she felt twisted inside. The thought of this person being treated like a pushover by others.

However, Nasar, who had been thoroughly fleeced, burst into a hearty laugh.

“I still have a long way to go. I’m really an idiot.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad……”

How often does a young duke need to haggle for jerky at a grocery store?

“No, I will continue to be an idiot in the future.”

“……?”

“So please keep teaching me by my side, Philomel.”

Philomel soon burst into laughter as well. Then she said, pretending to be coy.

“It depends on how Nasar does.”

“Then you’ll stay by my side forever.”

The two continued to wander around the city of Angelium after that. Holding hands.

“Is this the right price too?”

Nasar, who was holding a set of cooking utensils, asked cautiously.

Philomel took a moment to consider, saying, “Hmm……” before answering.

“……I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

She wouldn’t know about things she hadn’t bought before.

As such, neither of them was really familiar with shopping, so they struggled a lot along the way.

“Nasar, do you really need this?”

“Shouldn’t we have something like this?”

They spent all their time discussing this and that, putting their heads together. It was a process of two novices suddenly crashing into the real world.

But it was fun.

After roughly purchasing the necessary items and taking them to his accommodation, the sunset had already arrived.

Philomel and Nasar walked down the street in silence.

‘I’d hate to part like this.’

They would meet again tomorrow if nothing happened. Nasar seemed to feel the same way.

Then, a certain conversation stopped Philomel in her tracks. The people who were looking at the posters plastered on the walls were whispering.

“They still haven’t found the missing princess, have they?”

“They’ll find her soon, like before.”

“I don’t know. It feels different from then for some reason.”

“What’s different?”

“How should I put it, the atmosphere is unsettling these days……”

“Unsettling? Everything’s the same except for the princess disappearing.”

“Doesn’t Hector of Three-Way Intersection keep saying the world is ending these days?”

“That guy’s been crazy for ten years!”

“Is that so?”

“I just feel sorry for his family. The head of the household suddenly fell for some cult.”

The conversation was cut off by the appearance of the security forces. They glared at the people, who cleared their throats and scattered.

Philomel reflexively stiffened.

‘The Angelium security forces.’

Naturally, unpleasant memories came to mind. She had been locked up in the detention center of this security office.

She was unspeakably miserable at the time.

The prisoners hurled low-quality insults at Philomel, and the security forces even intimidated her by neglecting the situation.

The despair of that time often came back to her as a nightmare.

“I’m a little thirsty.”

Nasar said quietly. He pointed to a restaurant a little further away.

“The fruit juice they sell there is delicious, I’ll treat you.”

Philomel quickly understood his intention.

He had noticed Philomel’s aversion to the security forces and naturally turned his steps in another direction.

Even though ordinary people, including the security forces, couldn’t recognize her thanks to the magic Le Guin had cast.

‘Come to think of it, Nasar was the one who saved me back then too.’

It was still vivid in her mind.

“You’re safe! I was really, really…… worried.”

The person who recklessly cut through the bars of the detention center and came in. The man who looked at her with eyes that seemed like tears would fall at any moment.

Philomel wrapped her arm tightly around the man’s arm. Nasar’s body stiffened when Philomel linked arms with him.

“Why all of a sudden……?”

“Just because I like it.”

However, the heart-fluttering time did not last long. Because a desperate cry was heard.

“Captain! Please find Ian!”

A woman clung to the hem of a security captain’s uniform.

The security captain was embarrassed and tried to pull the woman away.

“Please don’t do this, Mrs. Solbrit. Your husband’s whereabouts are being searched……”

“Are you really looking for him? It’s been months since he disappeared, and there’s no news!”

“Geez, what can I do if there are no clues!”

“Thomas told me. Everyone’s just pretending to search!”

The security captain glared at the security guard next to him. Judging by his expression, that man seemed to be Thomas.

The woman cried out.

“How can you do this? You were Ian’s colleague!”

Philomel stopped trying to enter the restaurant. She felt like something was pulling at the back of her head.

“Ian Solbrit……”

She rolled the name, presumed to be the woman’s husband, in her mouth.

She had definitely heard it somewhere.

Ian Solbrit, a security guard in Angelium, Ian……

‘Wait, Ian?’

She remembered.

A part of the memory from the detention center that she had recalled a little while ago.

“No one will care even if a prisoner’s limbs are not intact.”

There was a security guard who particularly threatened Philomel among the security guards. The other guards called him Ian.

Unless there was a person with the same name in the small town of Angelium’s security forces, the woman’s husband would be that man.

Philomel turned around and carefully examined the faces of the security guards.

‘Huh?’

There were no familiar faces. Not a single one of the guards who had glared at her with fierce expressions at the time could be seen.

Even if Philomel’s memory was inaccurate, there should have been at least one.

‘They’ve been replaced.’

It was a fact she had just realized, but it wasn’t surprising.

It was a misunderstanding, but they had treated Philomel, who would later become a VIP of the imperial family, poorly. In a way, it was a natural result.

‘But what does it mean that he’s missing? And they’re not searching?’

There was some truth hidden that she didn’t know. Judging so, Philomel tried to approach the woman.

“Philomel.”

But Nasar grabbed her. Philomel turned to him.

Seeing his somewhat embarrassed expression, Philomel realized.

Nasar knew. And he didn’t want Philomel to know.

‘What should I do?’

If Nasar was hiding the truth, there must be a valid reason. It would be easy to pretend not to know, as he wished.

There are truths that are more comfortable to keep buried.

But.

“Nasar.”

Philomel didn’t want to run away from the truth because of discomfort. If she had that kind of personality, she wouldn’t have stayed in the Imperial Palace to find the truth about in the first place.

“Tell me what you’re hiding from me now.”

Nasar, faced with her resolute gaze, sighed.