The day after the experiment using Wind Magic Stone with Fire Whirlwind, Rei could be found walking through the City of Anesis.
Since Elena was busy attending to her affairs and Rei had nothing in particular to do until she finished, he planned to look around Anesis for any rare food, Magic Items, souvenirs, or the like.
That was the plan, at least...
"Something tells me we're really standing out, though," he muttered in dissatisfaction.
Normally, whenever he went out into the city with Set, drawing attention was nothing unusual. If that were all, Rei would have been used to it by now, and even if he stood out, there wouldn't have been much need to worry about it.
"Yeah, I figured you'd think that. Hey, you two. Me and Rei don't mind you coming along with us, but could you at least come by yourselves?"
Beside Rei, Bluitt called out to the two who were eating skewers from a stall with a sense of curiosity.
Ranigus and Teles returned puzzled glances while eating the stall-bought skewers for the first time. It wasn't that they were playing dumb; they genuinely seemed to have no idea why they were being told such a thing.
Noticing this, Bluitt let out a sigh along with his words.
"It's your escorts, your escorts! And attendants too! Moving around with nearly twenty people like this, of course you're going to stand out!"
"Even if you say that, whenever I go out into the city, it's always like this. Right, Teles?"
"I feel the same way. In the first place, I'm a delicate woman, so naturally I need escorts. Besides, I also need female attendants to ask things of that I couldn't possibly ask a man to do."
The two of them, proper nobles through and through, stated this as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Granted, if one were asked whether Ranigus, Teles, or Bluitt represented the proper conduct of a noble, nearly everyone would answer the former. Given that Bluitt held the position of next family head yet walked the city streets without even a single escort, he was the one who was special in every sense of the word.
"If it's going to be like this, I should've come alone... no, alone with one creature," Rei muttered as he watched the exchange between the three.
Normally, Set would prioritize staying with Rei, but today he had apparently chosen to play with Ielo, so he hadn't come out into the city with him.
Ielo also usually spent time with Elena, but Elena was busy dealing with various matters related to the Celestan incident and had no time to be with him.
For that reason, Rei had planned to look around Anesis alone today. But Bluitt had visited him in the morning, and they ended up heading out into the city together. Just as the two of them were about to leave the Duke Kerebel Mansion, they ran into Ranigus and Teles, and for some reason, the four of them ended up sightseeing around Anesis together.
(Bluitt aside, I haven't really talked much with Ranigus and Teles before. Besides, the fact that they came to the Duke Kerebel Mansion probably means they had business with Elena. So why did they decide to look around Anesis with me? Is it because of yesterday's Fire Whirlwind?)
Rei couldn't help but think something along those lines, but for the time being, he decided not to dwell on it.
No, rather than that, what concerned him more was the knights and attendants who had come along as their escorts.
"Come on, Rei, don't worry about it so much. With this many people around, there's no way anyone's going to try anything stupid," Ranigus said, and it was certainly an indisputable fact.
If someone picked a fight when there were multiple knight escorts present, it would be bizarre. That wouldn't be some chance encounter but rather someone who had picked a fight with a specific purpose from the start.
"Ah... fine. Let's just go around with this many people for today. Looking around Anesis by myself doesn't have to be today, after all."
"...That's surprising. I figured someone like you would just send the unneeded people away."
For Bluitt, Rei's words were apparently completely unexpected. He wore an expression of genuine surprise.
"Really? Well, I just thought it might be nice to look around with a large group once in a while. A change of pace, you could say."
"A change of pace, huh. Well, if you say so, I don't really mind."
Since Rei ultimately wasn't making an issue of it, Bluitt accepted it without pressing the matter further.
Bluitt normally went out into the city alone, but as a noble, he was still surrounded by a large number of people in his daily life. That was why even in this kind of situation, it probably didn't bother him all that much personally. The reason he had shown concern earlier was largely a form of consideration for Rei, who wasn't accustomed to this kind of situation.
Though it was also true that he couldn't deny the thought that walking around the city trailing a large entourage was a hassle.
"Alright, next up... let's see, how about we try some soup at that stall over there? I've had soup from that stall before, and it was pretty good."
As a way to change the mood, Rei pointed to a stall selling soup a short distance away.
Ranigus and Teles, who had naturally never had soup served at a stall before, headed toward it with evident interest.
As the Abuelo Stall Owner, one couldn't blame him for normally not wanting to do business with such a large group, but fortunately, he had a stout-hearted disposition. Without any sign of fear, he welcomed the two... and their escorts and attendants.
Of course, the fact that he was able to take such an attitude was largely because the one governing Anesis was Duke Kerebel. If a noble committed an act of tyranny here, it would be tantamount to picking a fight with him.
That was why, even if nobles who treated commoners as less than human in their own territories gathered in large numbers, the vast majority of them would not behave tyrannically in Anesis.
The reason for saying the vast majority was that, although a small number, there were still those who would act as they pleased even in a place like this. Naturally, such individuals would be made to receive an appropriate punishment from Duke Kerebel.
Among the rumors heard by the residents of Anesis, there were even whispers that several nobles had been stripped of their titles. That said, those were merely rumors, and it was unknown whether such things had actually happened. But even so, there was no doubt that the residents of Anesis believed that someone like Liberte of the Duke Kerebel house was the kind of person who would not hesitate to take such action.
At any rate, due to such reasons, the residents of Anesis did not cower excessively in fear of nobles. That said, they naturally didn't behave insolently toward them either.
"Welcome. I heard you. How many servings of soup do you need?"
"Let's see, one serving for everyone here. If the soup is as good as Rei says, there's nothing wrong with everyone having a taste."
At Ranigus's words, the escorts and attendants showed surprise but also pleased expressions. Even though it was daytime, given the current season of winter, warm soup was more than welcome.
After a female attendant tasted the prepared soup for poison and determined there were no issues, Ranigus and Teles, followed by the escorts and attendants, drank it.
Originally, the soup was the kind that a commoner might drink when they felt a bit peckish or cold, and it was by no means a soup meant for nobles to consume. Even so, the moment Ranigus and Teles drank it, they genuinely thought it was delicious.
It wasn't that the soup's flavor had improved; this was purely a matter of the surrounding atmosphere. The food bought at stalls during a festival wasn't exactly exquisite by any standard, but it still tasted delicious within the festive atmosphere. The same thing was likely happening to Ranigus and Teles.
(Well, unlike Bluitt, these two are proper nobles through and through. Considering their circumstances, buying something from a city stall and eating it... might actually be their first time?)
Thinking this, Rei also purchased and drank soup at the stall. It wasn't incredibly delicious, but the flavors of vegetables and Dried Meat had transferred into the broth, and there was no mistaking it was a comforting taste.
"Is this because it's Anesis? Or is soup like this served in other places too... what do you think?"
"Right. I'd like to think it's because it's Anesis. It would be nice if they served the same kind of soup in my family's territory."
At Teles's words, Ranigus nodded as well.
Seeing the two of them like that, some of the surrounding escorts and attendants smiled. They were probably happy to see the people they were supposed to protect and support earnestly thinking about their own family's territory.
"...So, are you sure you don't need to be in there with them?" Rei asked Bluitt with a hint of teasing.
Though Ranigus and Teles came from noble families, they could not become the family heads. In contrast, Bluitt had been designated as the next family head. Given that, Bluitt, like Rei, should normally not be on Rei's side but rather on the same side as Ranigus and Teles.
Despite this, Bluitt was on Rei's side, watching Ranigus and Teles as if observing a heartwarming scene.
"That's because they've hardly ever been out into the city, which is why they end up like that. I go out into the city fairly frequently, so I generally know what living in the city is like."
At Bluitt's words, the escorts of Ranigus and Teles nearby showed a slight hint of surprise. For those who served as noble escorts, the notion that a noble frequently went out into the city was completely unexpected.
Noticing the escorts' reaction, Rei moved on to the next shop without saying anything in particular.
The next place they headed to was a shop that sold a variety of tableware and general goods, so that Ranigus and Teles could also enjoy it.
For Rei and Bluitt, it wasn't an especially unusual shop, but that was only because the two of them were accustomed to walking around the city. In that sense, a shop dealing in general goods was quite novel for Ranigus and Teles.
"Hey, look at this. It's the first time I've seen this kind of tableware, but... what in the world is it used for?"
"Hmm... I'm not really sure either. Wouldn't it be fastest to ask someone who actually knows?"
"Young Master, that is a tool used for tenderizing meat when cooking," an attendant who had been listening nearby said in response to Ranigus's words.
"Tenderizing... meat? Why would you do such a thing?"
"By pounding the meat with this, you can make it more tender, and you can also even out the thickness so it cooks through properly."
"...The thickness aside, pounding meat with this alone makes it tender?"
Looking at the cooking implement that resembled a small hammer with a hint of disbelief, Ranigus shifted his gaze. Teles also cast a somewhat skeptical glance at the explanation.
However, when the shop clerk explained that the attendant's words were correct, they seemed satisfied and shifted their interest to the next item.
"Is it really that interesting?"
For Bluitt, a shop selling such general goods was nothing particularly special. But that was only because Bluitt frequently went out into the city on his own. For an ordinary noble, entering a shop frequented by commoners was extremely unusual, and it wouldn't be strange for them to be fascinated by everything.
"Of course it's unusual. Bluitt, when you first started going out into the city, wasn't everything interesting to you too?"
"That's... well, true. I won't deny it."
Bluitt muttered in understanding, perhaps recalling the past. If anything, he probably remembered that when he first started going out into the city, many things were novel to him, and he had been amazed by everything. At that time, he must have been even more impressed than Ranigus and Teles were now.
Thinking of that, Rei concluded that the scene unfolding before his eyes wasn't all that unusual, but... Bluitt continued watching the exchange going on inside the general goods shop.