We arrived at the village where we met Fran and the others.
Everyone has already bathed and cleaned up. They are sitting in front of one of the larger houses as they chat and slack.
The villagers seemed to be doing all right, as well. We didn't really greet them much last night, since it was so late. But seeing them now, it can be said that this village is actually pretty lively.
Most of the villagers here work as farmers. Wide farms can be seen on the sides of the village, and it grows either wheat and corn. Aside from farmers, they also have other occupations that suit a village, such as merchants, inn owners, or sellers for certain specific items.
Me and Lescia arrived in the village and began looking around. It was quite lively, and everyone was out dealing with their businesses. But, they all turned their eyes to me and Lescia as we walked.
Probably because of our weirdly abnormal hairs, with Lescia's hair being an unusual gold color rather than blonde. Aside from that, they definitely noticed that we are outsiders, so it still makes sense why they are keeping their eyes on us.
No bad intentions, I sensed. They are simply curious, that's all.
Lescia seemed to be quite uncomfortable with the attention, and she turned to me to see how I'm doing. I simply grinned at her and walked faster, and she followed behind me.
She is being shy… as expected of a caged beautiful rare bird.
This must be her first experience being outside and walking among citizens of her own kingdom. A rare first experience, yet abnormal, because she should've experienced this long ago.
I can tell Lescia is coping with the gazes as hard as she could, because she is keeping a smile as she walks. How nice, so she knows how to be the center of attention, after all.
We arrived at the house where Fran and the others went. I found their location long before I entered the village, by glaring at the village from hundreds of meters away from the hill. Perks of having eagle eyes.
Seeing me and Lescia approaching them, everyone quickly stood up and bowed in front of the princess.
"P-Please, no need for that, already!"
Lescia shouted slightly loud, with a lot of red on her face. Everyone then chuckled seeing her shy behavior, and I turned to another owner of the gold hair color.
"You guys had breakfast?"
I asked Fran, but she chuckled instead of answering immediately. It's like it is quite funny to her that people like us still need breakfast.
"Do we need any?"
Unfortunately, I have a very different opinion.
"… I do. I don't want to go to an enemy fortress with an empty stomach."
Hearing that, Fran gave up and let out a sigh. She then moved away as if allowing me to enter the house behind her.
One of the villagers has allowed us to borrow their house and bathroom so we can clean ourselves up. The moment we entered, they immediately noticed the golden hair color and knew immediately of the princess's identity.
The old couple of husband and wife quickly apologized for lending such a filthy bathroom to her. Of course, Lescia didn't mind it, so she panicked as well.
"I-It's fine, don't worry!"
Lescia said to calm the villagers, and they slowly lifted their heads.
The two of us take turns in bathing with me going in first. And after the bath, we headed out and met up with the others.
We then moved to a different location, in the middle of the grass field that is empty and fresh. The reason being, so that we wouldn't attract the villager's attention and ruin their daily lives by being rowdy.
I conjured a grill with shadow magic while taking out large pieces of bread. I cut it to pieces as I use my fire magic to cook it.
Today's breakfast will be baked bread with strawberry jam… made with literally magic. Everyone ate it and became really crazy due to the sweetness from the strawberry jam.
As for where the strawberry jam came from, let's just say Hod and I had a little experiment in his kitchen.
Lescia has never tried my cooking before, so she is rather confused as to why everyone is so excited. She then had a try on the baked bread that was made with magic, and she had never tasted better bread.
"This is… good! Like, really good!!!"
Everyone smiled at the sight of the princess enjoying my cooking.
While I was grilling, I could feel a presence coming from behind the houses. I turned to see, and it was a little girl with dark blue hair. She must be quite interested in whatever I am cooking.
I approached her with a piece of bread in my hand. Seeing that I was walking towards her, the cute girl quickly hid behind the wall and hugged her little bear doll harder. She slowly turned to see behind the wall to check, but realized that there was no one there.
She got confused immediately, but then a voice came behind her.
"Hello!"
"Haaa!!!"
She quickly got surprised and fell to the ground. She lifted her body and turned to face me slightly on guard, while I'm just grinning at her with my hands behind me.
"Are you interested in what I am cooking?"
She was rather afraid of me, since I did surprise her so suddenly like that. But, it doesn't mean she is no longer curious.
She looked away and nodded shyly. I chuckled as I moved my hands forward. The smell of the baked bread reached her heart easily.
"Here you go!"
She looked back at me really confused, but she can smell that this thing is really good. She hesitantly took the baked bread from my hands and took a bite. Her face became shocked immediately.
"Well? How does it taste?"
"R-Really good!"
She took no time in getting another bite in, and every time she took a bite, she always closed her eyes to enjoy the taste of the strawberry jam.
"I'm glad you liked it! What's your name?"
I asked her nicely, and she answered with the bread still inside her mouth.
"L-Lury."
"Lury? That's a cute name. Where are your parents?"
After I asked that, she stopped biting on the bread and quickly looked down. I realized that I had stepped on mine by asking that.
"L-Lury? Is everything okay?"
I can tell everything is not okay. Her eyes slowly became swollen as tears fell down from her eyes. She quickly turned around and ran away from me, leaving me guilty for asking her.
I can only stay there as I watch her run back into the church.
… Oops.
Was she an orphan…?
I'm actually a bad person… Was she actually an orphan? Why did she run to the church?
While I was watching her, I could feel a presence coming at me from a distance, and he spoke to me from behind.
"That was Lury. The daughter of the chief."
I turned to see who it was, and it's the guy that caused havoc at the Office yesterday. This guy is the new chief now, apparently, and he is the brother of the previous chief.
Lury's uncle, then. Huh?
"She doesn't really approach just anyone, you know? She has been very lonely ever since she lost her parents."
"I see… I accidentally asked the wrong question there…"
"You sure did, adventurer."
The new chief turned around and left. But if I want to apologize to Lury, I need to do something.
"Wait, chief."
The new chief turned around, and I quickly asked him straight forward.
"What kind of food does Lury like?"
.