The next morning, when Nox woke up, Nana was already prepared.
“Good morning, Nox-sama.”
“…Good morning.”
For a moment not understanding what was happening, Nox was astonished, but he gradually remembered what had happened the day before.
“It’s incredible that you can activate magic even while you sleep.”
Rejecting Nana’s diligent help, like the care in the mansion, to groom himself, Nox got ready.
“What plans do you have for today?”
By declining the opportunity to interact, Nana seemed a bit dissatisfied. Nox was deliberately ignoring her.
“For now, I want to leave Galaxia today.”
“Then, let’s depart immediately.”
“But first, let’s do some shopping.”
Galaxia was a very bustling city, second only to the capital, as the prince’s birthplace. Considering the possibility of having to spend the night at an inn along the way, he carefully thought about which store to stop at to buy food and additional supplies.
“Are we going shopping?”
Nana’s face lit up slightly as she repeated Nox’s words, causing Nox to tilt his head in response.
***
The city was bustling with activity early in the morning.
“Nana, is there something you want to buy? There might be discounts, so let me know before you make a purchase.”
“Eh? Well… I thought of buying a gift for my parents while we’re here.”
Nana’s expression had always been hard to understand since she was a child. Even if she was told she was kind, she couldn’t control the muscles in her face, so there wasn’t much she could do about it.
“Understood, then I will make sure to buy something.”
“I know, just by looking at Nana’s expression, I can understand.”
Saying it casually, Nana felt that palpitation in her heart again that she had the first time he smiled at her.
In fact, every time he smiled towards Nana, she felt that flutter.
“But I don’t really know much about gifts…”
“It doesn’t have to be something expensive. If there’s something interesting that is characteristic of Galaxia.”
“The scale is grand, but the items they sell aren’t that new, right?”
Nox chuckled uncomfortably. A city with a conservative and straight selection, reflecting the nature of feudal lords.
Nana thought for a moment and said:
“Actually, I would like to get fresh ingredients from Isbald, but since we’re on a long journey…”
She whispered softly.
In Galaxia, Isbald ingredients were presented in markets as part of the citizens’ lives, but their taste and quality were famous in the Kingdom of Akor.
Especially, Saarsosso was at the southern end of the Kingdom of Akor, and even though it was directly south, it would take at least two months to reach there without detours. It was a nearly inaccessible luxury ingredient that one rarely had the chance to taste in person.
Then, Nox casually said:
“Then just place it in the magic storage. What’s inside doesn’t change state unless the mage dies.”
Magic storage was a type of magic that everyone wanted to master, even those who were not magic experts, especially merchants, who saw it as a dreamlike magic.
Though they could master it, they usually could only store as much as a bag, but it was useful as they didn’t have to carry heavy loads and was resistant to street theft.
It was also possible to hide hidden weapons and healing items.
“Really? Then I’ll do it that way.”
After saying that, Nana chose fruits and vegetables at the market. She filled a bag full of produce without haggling over the price. Nox received them and stored them away as if it were something ordinary, leaving the store owner perplexed.
“Thank you very much. Thanks to you, Nox-sama, we have obtained a good gift.”
Unaware that Nana was confirming him as a talent once again, Nox blushed again.
Then, Nox bought common ingredients. Since they had access to Isbald’s products, they loaded up on a good amount of fresh produce.
After finishing the shopping, they went to have breakfast at a popular restaurant that was open from the morning in the market.
“Although it’s not the same as Pascal’s cooking, this also tastes good.”
Said Nox as he enjoyed a simple stir-fry of vegetables.
Nana began to eat carefully. She thought the heart of the cabbage was too hard.
“It doesn’t seem like Nox-sama is cautious about the food he eats outside.”
In the mansion, Nox had only eaten food served by Pascal in his presence, the sweets that Lano had brought him after saying that he also wanted to eat them, and the tea that Nana had prepared, according to Nana’s observations.
“With all this commotion, in a restaurant where you have to bring your own food to the table, there’s no way someone could purposefully poison me, right?”
“…Was someone trying to poison you in the past?”
“Yes, before you arrived, someone did try.”
At that time, rather than being in the chef’s laboratory, he ate in a corner of the kitchen, where an incident occurred during a lapse of attention from Pascal.
It was a paralyzing poison used to hunt large beasts like boars or bears, modified so that animals sensitive to smell and taste would not detect it. It was extremely dangerous.
If Nox hadn’t known how to cure it at that time, he would surely have died.
“Of course, at that time we found out who had done it. So, we returned the favor with the same poison, but in a non-lethal dose.”
It is said that the culprit suffered for three days and nights before being interrogated by Pascal.
“But at that time, the idea of putting deadly poison in the dish didn’t sit well with me. In the end, wasn’t it revealed that it was a high-ranking official loyal to the second prince in the palace who was behind it all?”
Perhaps Nox would have been next after that. It seems it became a major scandal within the palace, from what Nox later heard.
“The old fool left the management of the house to others. That mansion is a mess. I can’t help but worry about Lano.”
Despite being concerned about her brother, Nana began to worry a little about Nox, wondering how kind he could truly be.
