Chapter 14 – The Day Out (Letty’s POV)
After breakfast, Aria revealed her big plan. Honestly, I never thought that the big thing she was so excited about yesterday would turn out to be a city tour. Hehehe, she is like a kid who is watching a street magic-performer for the first time. Wait a second, she's never seen those before. When she sees them, I'm sure she'll have a twinkle in her eyes. I can’t wait!
Someone eventually knocked on the door. Then a powerful woman with a sword around her waist entered. She wore light armor that was both stylish and functional, with gaps along the joints that showed off her well-defined biceps. She had brown hair, similar to mine, and dark eyes.
“Knight Nora, at your service”
“Hey Nora, mother must have filled you in on the details. Follow my maid and prepare to head out” Aria said while pushing me to leave faster.
I asked the head maid to prepare three sets of clothes for us as per Aria’s order. I was then summoned to Lady Martha’s office.
“Lady Martha, you called for me?”
“I did, It’s about my daughter’s safety. I’ll have these knights you see standing behind you silently following you all around. They are all B-Grade Shadow Knights, so no one will be able to spot them. Just make sure that Aria doesn’t try to slip past Nora. Knowing her, she’ll definitely try something the moment she’s left alone. So it’s your responsibility to hold her close to Nora at all times and not let these knights make any unnecessary movements. Is that understood?”
What Knights? I’m sure the room was empty the moment I entered. I turned around,
“EEP!” I fell on my butt seeing three big men or women standing right behind me, clad in dark colored full body armor. They had this scary, eerie aura around them. I tried to regain my composure and stood up.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, kid. I didn’t intend to frighten you. These people enjoy pulling pranks on strangers, are you alright?” She asked, and one of the knights waved. They looked even more scary, but I didn’t show it on my face.
“Yes my Lady, I’m fine I just didn’t expect them, that’s all”
“I see, so anyway, have fun out there. You may leave”
***
We all got dressed in our new clothing, and Aria used a small cloak to cover her face and hair as they might garner attention.
And so, our outing began.
The Swindfort city houses a huge number of residents. The reason being the developed streets, powerful and impartial guards, and a lot of employment opportunities. When I used to sleep by the dumpster in a back alley, the most crime-like thing I witnessed was people stealing food. Common people could have a decent life with average earnings, if they could provide labor at the mines.
Miss Nora first took us to the city centre to start our tour. It was the heart of the city, with well decorated streets and a major market with all sorts of stores around a statue of God Arawn, which acted as a centrepiece for the street. All sorts of people can be seen roaming around the market, be it children, men, women, or the elderly. This street is always busy, just like I remember.
“Wow, this marketplace is so beautiful. Look at those lanterns, their design looks so cute.” Aria said, “And look at this shop, come here Letty” she dragged me to a small stall of various accessories. “Look, this hairband will look so good on you. Let me buy it” Before giving me a chance to retort, she dragged me to another stall. “Miss Nora, please take care of the payments from this purse” she said, handing a purse full of coins along with the carrybag of goods to Miss Nora.
From then on, we stopped at various stores, and she kept adding items to the carrybag until it was filled. “Miss Nora, where is our next stop?” She guided us around the town, while Aria kept purchasing anything that caught her eye and excitedly commented on it every time she saw something new. The onlookers must have thought that she was giving a tour to a rich foreigner, as it happened a lot in this city.
We came across the entertainment street, where all sorts of street performers, drama-plays and singers performed. As expected, Aria ran towards the street performer, who was doing basic magic tricks. She looked adorable while watching the man perform trick after trick. Although I’ve seen better in the past, Aria never got the chance to see these plays at her home, so it’s understandable that she is excited. She tipped every performer who caught her eye. Hehe, If the ‘past me’ saw her on the street, I would be cursing her out of jealousy.
After going through most of the major attractions, Aria must be tired, as her physique is quite weak. I suggested that she exercise a little bit in the past, but she finds it boring and runs away. I could see her pace slowing down. And as stubborn as she is, she would never acknowledge her shortcomings.
“Miss Nora, can you take us somewhere to rest and have a snack. My feet are quite tired after all this walking” I limped a little, to make my lie believable.
“Little Miss, should we take a break?” She waited for Aria’s response.
“Oh, Letty is struggling, it seems. Alright, we can take a break. You should build-up your stamina Letty, you get tired so easily” She tried to sound tough, as if doing me a favor.
Fufu, she looks so cute when she tries to act all tough.
We could see a small cafe-type shop, not so far from where we were standing. As we started walking towards it Miss Nora said,
“Little Miss, I’d suggest that we look for another place to rest”
“Why?” Aria instantly retorted.
“You see…this place is not that great, I’ve come here before, and the food tastes very bad”
Contrary to her words, the place in question was pretty cute, and customers were bustling. Seeing this, Aria said,
“No need, we will rest here. Letty is tired after all”
So we walked towards the shop, but Miss Nora lagged behind. She masked her face with a cloak and caught up to us. As we entered,
“Welcome to our humble shop! Please enjoy your meal” The owner welcomed us. It was a small place, with four tables arranged in a somewhat cramped manner. The owner was working as the server, while a lady behind the counter cooked the food. Miss Nora caught everyone’s attention, because her cloak was weird and didn’t suit her rest of the outfit. As we took a seat Aria said,
“Miss Nora, why did you cover your face? Don’t hide your pretty face behind this ugly cloak. Here, let me help” She reached out and snapped off the cloak.
‘She called her pretty…’ Wait, what was that?
“Little Miss…” She looked very worried. Before we could talk anymore, the owner came to our table to take our orders.
“What would you like to order, Miss…” He stopped midway, as he saw Miss Nora’s face.
“Nora, you are here? Did you get a day off from work? And who are these kids?”
As soon as she saw him, Miss Nora started to blush and muttered some incomprehensible words.
Confused, I looked at Aria, and her look said that she had figured something out.
“Who are you, Mister? How do you know our Mama?” Upon hearing Aria’s words, I became even more confused. She gave me a glare, saying ‘go along’.
‘Eep! Gotta do what she says’
“Yes Mister, who are you?”
Nora was dumbfounded and couldn’t speak. “Wha…”
“What?” This time, the shop owner was the one to speak.
“This? What? I don’t understand? You had kids? But you look so young! Oh my god! I’ll be back in a minute. Sorry” Saying so, the owner left.
“Wha- Little Miss, what did you do?” Nora had a worried expression on her face. I’m still as clueless as I was before.
“Sorry, my little prank went overboard. Now go after him fast and clear the misunderstanding with your boyfriend” Aria said while bowing. That’s weird, she rarely does that.
“I can’t leave you alone, Little Miss”
“What are you talking about? I’ll just stay here, go quickly, he must not have run very far. You can catch him easily” Aria forcefully said.
“But…”
“I said GO!” She pushed her and Miss Nora finally gave in.
Addressing my confusion, she said,
“Phew, we are finally alone. Now let’s hide, before she comes back” She started walking towards the door. I quickly held her hand and stopped her.
“Wait Aria. We can’t leave alone. We can’t do this”
“What? Letty, Why are you stopping me? Come on, it will be so much fun, with just the two of us”
“No, I promised Lady Martha, that I woudn’t let you leave, no matter what”
“Sigh, alright, you win. We will wait for her here, but you better make it up to me later, okay?” Unexpectedly, she gave up quite easily. Well, whatever.
Miss Nora returned shortly with the shop owner. They both had slightly flushed faces. I'm curious as to why we calling her Mama so upset the owner.
“Hehe, sorry Mister Owner and Miss Nora. My prank went overboard”
***
It was getting dark, so we started to make our way to the mansion. Along the way, we came across the area where I used to reside.
“What happened, Letty? Are you alright?” Aria noticed my behavior.
“Nothing much, this is the place where I used to stay in”
“Oh, is that so..”
“Aria, would you mind if we stopped by somewhere?”
“Of course not, where do you want to go?”
I led her to the bakery,
“Amelia, the lady working here, often brought me food when I was hungry. Once, when I fell sick, she even took me to the doctor. I wanted to meet her after all this time”
“What a kind person! I must thank her for taking care of my Letty in the past”
We entered the bakery, and sure enough she was there
“Welcome, what would you like to get?”
“Amelia, it’s me Letica”
“What? Kid, it’s you!” She was visibly shocked “I never saw you after the time you awakened your Class, I was worried something bad might have happened to you. I’m glad you are okay”
“Yes, I am more than fine. I found a family and I am very happy. Thank you for taking care of me for all these years” I said while remembering how I used to perk up at the sight of her bringing me fresh food to eat.
“I am Aria, Letty’s friend. Thank you very much for taking care of her when she had no one. If there is anything we could do, let me know, I’ll try my best to give you whatever you ask”
“Hahah, no it’s fine. I just took pity on a kid and smuggled her some food from time to time. It’s nothing to be praised for. I’m glad knowing that she doesn’t have to keep living the way she used to”
“How nice of you. Please give the largest cake you have”
***
Before dusk, we reached the Mansion. It was a very eventful day and Miss Nora was carrying about six different carrybags worth of random items.
“Wow, today was so much fun! Thank you Miss Nora for showing us around” Aria said.
“It’s my pleasure, Little Miss”
She dropped the packages in Aria’s room and left.
“Let’s have a nice bath while discussing how you are going to make up for foiling my plan. Hehehe…”
This can’t be good. But why am I so…excited?