I Will Break Off the Engagement Because I'm Jealous - The Untalented Villainess Who Rejected the Prince Searches for a Safe Haven with the Cheat Heroine - Chapter 5.3

The square, where the morning sun had yet to fully rise, was crammed with stalls. There were many shops and quite a few customers as well.

(“Rest at the inn,” my foot! When you travel to an unfamiliar city, you can’t just stay cooped up in a boring inn with no hotel amenities! Stupid Iris.)

As she walked through the city, Emilia felt a flicker of indignation, but her eyes sparkled as she gazed intently at the morning market stalls.

“Mister, one of these, please.”

Along the way, Emilia stopped at a vegetable seller’s stall and pointed at a cucumber. A short man stared fixedly at her.

“Kid, you’re not from this country, are you?”

He asked with a hint of suspicion. Incidentally, Emilia was wearing travel clothes similar to what Iris’s mother, Rekka, had mistakenly worn once. Her pantsuit with her hair tucked into a cap, along with the loose, brownish outfit, seemed to make Emilia look unnecessarily young and rather androgynous.

“I heard even foreigners can buy things here, though?”

Emilia replied in a low voice, and the shopkeeper waved his hand in front of his face.

“Ah, sorry, that’s not it. It’s just that I’d prefer currency other than Imperial coins, if possible.”

“Oren copper coins are fine, right?”

“Can’t give you change.”

“Then, for one copper coin, one of each kind you have.”

Emilia took out a copper coin and tossed it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper, having caught it, held out a single cucumber toward her in return.

“What, running an errand?”

“Nah, just sampling first.”

Taking the received cucumber in both hands, Emilia broke it in two. The flesh, slightly thick, was juicy inside. She could see the seeds, but it didn’t seem to be a problem.

“Huh, a cook’s apprentice? Fancy taste you got.”

“…Something like that. If it’s alright, I’ll buy in bulk.”

“Want me to sweeten the deal?”

“No. Introduce me to other shops. With just vegetables, you can’t make a proper meal, right?”

“I see, you’re sharp.”

Tossing out a casual excuse, Emilia took a hearty bite of the cucumber.

“Delicious…!”

After chewing it up with a crunch crunch and swallowing, she inadvertently let her thoughts slip out. Emilia lifted her face.

“Iri————s”

She searched for the golden-haired, blue-eyed girl… and let out a small sigh. Pulling herself together, she returned to eating the cucumber.

(Oh well. I’ll buy some and let her eat it later.)

Though it was of a decent size, she quickly devoured it, munch munch, leaving only the stem end.

“Phew… Enough for six people for a day. I’ll leave the selection to you, so can you pack it up?”

After finishing it, Emilia made her request anew. She had been about to say enough for two people for three days, but she swallowed the words and rephrased it. It was better not to let it be widely known that she and Iris were staying together.

“You got enough budget for that?”

“Of course. How much?”

When Emilia asked in return, the shopkeeper held up one hand, fingers spread.

“Five coins.”

“Okay, five coins. That’s cheap. In the Kingdom, they’d charge sixteen.”

“That so? It’s normal here. I’ll throw in a little extra for the tasting sample.”

When Emilia handed over the copper coins as requested, the man, looking pleased, began diligently packing vegetables into a paper bag. He included some fruits as well, promising a hopeful dining table for the near future. Recalling the cucumber she had just devoured, whose freshness alone made it edible, Emilia smiled with satisfaction.

(Mister, you just played dumb there. This means Oren Kingdom currency is actually valued much higher, right? Which means Imperial currency has lost trust and plummeted. Coming to check before getting ripped off by the money changers was the right move.)

Inwardly, she was thinking about something else entirely. It felt connected to the Imperial capital’s blockade, and a slight feeling of gloom settled over her.

“Kid. Go eat over there. The sourcing is from this market. The stock doesn’t overlap between stalls, so if you go around the shops, you’ll figure out who’s selling what.”

The shopkeeper, handing over the paper bag, pointed deeper into the street. Looking that way, she saw fire and smoke. Apparently, there were stalls cooking in iron pots right at their fronts. There were scattered figures of customers seeking breakfast.

“I see, thanks. I’d like to do good business with you for a while longer, if that’s alright.”

“Cheeky brat. Come again.”

Waving to the smiling shopkeeper, Emilia gently pressed a hand against her stomach, which threatened to rumble.

(Iris. I hope you’re not hungry after just that for breakfast…)

☆ ☆ ☆

(The ingredients’ freshness is good. The oil and salt aren’t bad either. They use spices too, it was delicious. A world of difference from the inn’s meals. You can even feel a sense of abundance in the commoners’ lives… but their currency has no credit, huh? The people receive the benefits of civilization and develop, while the centralized political system is being defeated by it.)

Having enjoyed the warm, soft, and tasty meal, and after finishing her shopping, Emilia used the Spirit Car’s “Storage” skill in an inconspicuous back alley. She took the abundant ingredients, packed tightly into the paper bag, into the storage, and began walking towards another street.

(That market earlier was probably for commoners, non-skill holders. The posted prices weren’t dual-priced, and transactions with foreigners were allowed. In fact, direct transactions with foreign currency seem to be welcomed. Has the Empire really undergone a political change? This level of division is no joke.)

Remembering that the inn and dining hall prices were “foreigner rates,” Emilia wound her way through the back alleys. She felt the stench of decay several times, avoiding dead ends as she slipped smoothly along. The roads, full of ups, downs, and turns, were novel, unlike anything in the royal capital. Perhaps the soil was different in the Empire; everywhere she looked, the bricks were bright red.

(Around here, even though it’s behind the high-class inns it feels like a slum. The Empire’s social structure was supposed to be one where skill holders were privileged and led the talentless commoners.)

Witnessing the gap between the official doctrine and the actual society, Emilia nodded deeply. Considering she might be active in the Empire long-term, it could pose an obstacle… but for her, curiosity won out.

(And so, as civilization developed, the productive power of the more numerous commoners surpassed them, leading to prosperity. But the civilization hasn’t developed enough for the outnumbered skill holders to consolidate that power. Communications and distribution are underdeveloped, so wealth doesn’t concentrate. It gets consumed before it can accumulate. What a distorted country. Interesting.)

Food production increase, mineral resource extraction, industrialization… while industries were developing, electricity and communication technologies hadn’t been invented. Society’s attention was on power sources using spirits like Spirit Cars; steam engines and such didn’t exist yet. With monsters as humanity’s natural enemy and fewer conflicts among humans, this world had developed differently from the societies Emilia knew.

Feeling a bit excited, Emilia wanted to talk to someone.

“I wish I could go around with Iris. I’d like to hear her opinion too.”

Thinking of her absent friend, she muttered but kept walking. Grasping the structure of the main streets and the back alleys connecting them, she headed deeper and deeper. Having obtained sufficient food and a bit of information, Emilia’s plan for the rest of the day was to wander. First, she focused on memorizing the streets, just in case something happened.

(Back when His Highness used to drag me around, I got into the habit of memorizing routes out of anxiety. So that if anything happened, I could get back alone. Otherwise, if something happened to His Highness, I wouldn’t even be able to go call for help. With a turn like this, that way must be a dead end.)

Remembering Sieg caused a slight ache in her chest. But Emilia, clutching her brooch, wasn’t thinking about him. She was thinking about the friend whose hand she grabbed even abandoning the prince.

(Maybe, just maybe, I might find Iris… that’s what I’m thinking as I walk. But I’m not meeting her. Well, the city is big, the chances are low…)

Since leaving the inn early in the morning, there had been no sign of Iris.

“Since I’m here anyway, it’d be better with her. Like this… it’s boring.”

At a three-way intersection, Emilia stopped for a moment and let out a deep sigh. There was no one around, only narrow alleys continuing deeper. If she could walk here holding her hand, how much fun would that have been—. Thinking such thoughts, she clenched her hand, then opened it again.

(Maybe she’s not walking outside? No, no. In a city she’s barely ever been to, what business could she possibly have—?)

Growing increasingly curious about her friend’s whereabouts, Emilia suddenly turned left and looked down the depths of the alley.

As if a soft breeze had blown.

It felt like.

(…Well, if I meet her, I’ll ask. There’s no reason for her to be in a place like this anyway.)

Turning back to face forward, she started walking.

Two steps, three steps forward.

“——Iris?”

She lifted her face, eyes wide open, and murmured.

Turning back, Emilia peered into the alley again. At the far end of the path, she was definitely there. Shoulder-length, fluffy golden hair, blue eyes. Petite, still in the same outfit she saw this morning. She was talking intently with someone. A figure that seemed to be a boy, and showed no sign of noticing Emilia.

“Iri————”

There was still distance. Emilia tried to approach Iris.

Within her line of sight. Iris.

Took.

The hand.

Of that other person.

Her heart thumped, leaping up.

“……..Huh?”

Her own voice, her murmur, sounded like it belonged to someone else.

Deep in her chest, the unease froze cold and solid.

The face of Iris, whose hand was being held, was smiling.

That peaceful face of Iris.

She hadn’t seen it at all in a long time.

“No way”

Iris and the boy disappeared around the corner.

Emilia stood frozen.

Her lips trembled.

A single tear traced its way down.