There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 53

They crossed the street towards .

However, another obstacle appeared.

“I’m sorry, but the only menu item we can offer right now is apple pie.”

“…Only apple pie? Not even a small cookie?”

“I’m really sorry. We’re short on ingredients.”

Indeed, a shop barely staying afloat couldn’t possibly have enough ingredients. After all, if they didn’t sell, the ingredients would quickly spoil.

Having no choice, they ordered apple pie and sat down at an empty table.

“Apple pie is fine.”

Philomel smiled faintly at Jeremiah’s comforting tone, but she couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Apple pie wasn’t a bad dessert, but it was too ordinary to serve to Jeremiah, whom she had dragged all the way to Central Square.

The only good thing was that there were no other customers in the shop to bother Jeremiah…

‘Or rather, there are too few.’

Philomel and Jeremiah were the only customers.

Suddenly, she became afraid of the taste of the apple pie.

‘Please let it be delicious! Otherwise, Jeremiah might think less of me!’

Philomel squeezed her eyes shut and desperately hoped for the best.

Soon, the sweet scent of apples tickled her nose.

“Here’s your apple pie!”

Philomel swallowed hard as she looked at the golden-brown lattice-patterned pie. Now that she thought about it, it was such a popular dessert that she, as a princess, rarely had the chance to eat it.

“Shall we try it then?”

Philomel cut the pie neatly and placed a piece on Jeremiah’s plate, then put one on her own.

“I can do it myself.”

Jeremiah hesitated, picking up and putting down his fork, seemingly put off by the overly sweet smell.

‘Apple pie is quite sweet. I should try it first and tell him what it tastes like.’

The moment she took a bite of the apple pie, her yellow eyes widened.

‘It’s more delicious than I expected!’

First of all, the crunchy texture of the apples was excellent. It seemed like they used fresh fruit. The sweet taste, which could have been overwhelming, harmonized well with the accompanying black tea.

“It’s good. Jeremiah, try it quickly!”

“…Is that so?”

Just as Jeremiah was reaching for the pie with a subtly expectant look, a sudden loud noise echoed through the quiet room.

Three men burst in, roughly throwing open the flimsy door.

“Hey! When are you going to pay the protection money? Do you know how much you owe us?”

The man at the front, with a menacing look, shouted.

The confectionery owner, who had brought Philomel and Jeremiah their pie, trembled as he replied.

“I-I’m sorry! Could you please give me a little more time? I haven’t prepared the money yet…”

“When will you ever have the money! You know it won’t be fun if you keep doing this!”

Clang! The man kicked a display case next to him, and the dishes fell to the floor and shattered.

“Oh no! Please, just give me a break!”

The owner pleaded, but the kicking didn’t stop. The man’s companions simply watched, chuckling.

“We turned a blind eye to you operating in an unlicensed building, but you don’t even know how to repay the favor and keep delaying the protection money!”

Philomel quickly grasped the situation from their conversation.

They were thugs collecting protection money [extortion money] from the surrounding merchants. They seemed to be taking advantage of the fact that this shop was in an unlicensed building to act as they pleased.

‘If it’s an unlicensed building, it won’t be protected by the authorities.’

Unable to bear seeing the fixtures being destroyed, the owner grabbed the man’s leg and clung to it.

“Oh no! How am I supposed to run my business if you destroy all this!”

“Ugh, you’re annoying! Let go of me!”

As the man’s kick headed towards the elderly owner, Philomel involuntarily tried to get up.

“Stop it.”

However, Jeremiah stopped her with a cold attitude.

“But…!”

“What can you do even if you step in?”

“Even if it’s an unlicensed building, collecting private protection money and committing violence are clearly crimes. If you report it to the authorities…”

“Do you think the authorities don’t know about this? They’re all in cahoots [colluding].”

He was right. The tyranny of local thugs was often carried out with the tacit approval of the authorities. There was no way they wouldn’t know.

Jeremiah slowly crushed the pie with his fork and continued.

“It’s not like you can do anything to those guys right now, and it’s best not to meddle in other people’s affairs. Even if you somehow save the owner here, do you think those guys won’t come back again?”

“…”

“It’s something that will happen sooner or later anyway. Don’t get involved if you can’t take responsibility to the end.”

Philomel bit her lip, speechless.

His opinion was overly cynical, but it accurately pointed out the problem.

Philomel, who was no longer a princess, couldn’t do anything. Even if she brought up the law, they wouldn’t listen, and she would be lucky if she didn’t get hurt in the process.

Realistically, Philomel wasn’t kind enough to help others without a plan.

But was it really meaningless to help others just because she couldn’t take responsibility to the end, as he said?

For some reason, she wanted to argue back, so Philomel said weakly.

“…Jeremiah, you helped me when I was almost pickpocketed.”

“I was just cleaning up the trash that fell in front of my house.”

Jeremiah stabbed a piece of pie with his fork.

“Anyway, it’s not a good atmosphere for conversation. Let’s eat quickly and leave.”

An undeniable expectation was visible in his sky-blue eyes. The pie seemed delicious to him too.

That’s when it happened.

Thud!

A shoe flew from somewhere and landed on Jeremiah’s plate.

“Gasp.”

The apple pie was ruined.

Philomel looked ahead and saw that the man who had been assaulting the owner was missing a shoe on one foot. It seemed that the shoe had come off while he was kicking the owner.

One of the man’s companions swaggered over.

“Sorry about that. That guy dodged because he didn’t want to get hit… Oops, looks like you can’t eat the pie! But you know you can’t get a refund, right? Because this money is our money.”

The fork in Jeremiah’s hand bent with a creak.

“…Do you want to die?”

“Huh? You little brat, how dare you talk to me like that…”

Bang!

The man didn’t finish his sentence because Jeremiah slammed him into the opposite wall.

After that, it was a piece of cake [easy].

“Y-You bastard! What are you! Who do you work for…?”

Jeremiah quickly dealt with the man who had been hitting the owner as well. It was a feat achieved with fists and kicks, not magic.

In particular, the flying kick was so clean and flawless that it was beyond artistic.

“…Do you even know who we are to be doing this, ugh!”

Jeremiah easily dealt with the last man and dusted off his clothes.

“Philomel, are you hurt anywhere?”

Philomel came out from under the table and replied.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

When the pie was ruined and Jeremiah’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, she had already taken refuge there.

Philomel smiled slightly as she looked at the chaotic interior.

“What is it, Jeremiah? You told me not to meddle in other people’s affairs.”

“…It’s a personal vendetta [feud].”

“Okay. Let’s call it that.”

“It’s not calling it that…”

At that moment, the last man who had fallen staggered to his feet.

He was a man with a nervous appearance and a small build.

“Assaulting a good citizen! I’m going to report you!”

Jeremiah sneered.

“I guess in the Empire, they call thugs who cause trouble in shops good citizens.”

“It’s not causing trouble! We were just giving legitimate guidance because they were illegally operating in an unlicensed building. Go ask the authorities!”

“You haven’t been hit enough.”

“Eek!”

Philomel stopped Jeremiah from approaching the man.

“Wait a minute.”

“Why?”

“I have something to say.”

At Philomel’s words, Jeremiah frowned but took a step back.

She stared at the man who was sitting on the floor, trembling and mouthing words.

“W-We were just following the law. According to Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Imperial Commercial Code, operating in an unlicensed building…”

Unlike the other two who used their strength, this one seemed to be in charge of using his head.

Philomel quietly agreed.

“Yes, that’s right. Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Code does state that operating in an unlicensed building is illegal.”

“T-That’s right! Knowing that, you still dare to do this…!”

“But there must be exceptions.”

Philomel’s small but firm voice echoed quietly.