Age 14 Part 10
I'm wearing boots made of leather, the same ones I've been wearing until now. I tried wearing the clogs Annette used to wear, but they hurt my feet too much, so it was impossible.
Marl and Fritz are walking alongside me, adjusting their pace to mine. It seems I walk considerably slower. But I suppose it can't be helped. I've never walked on unpaved roads like this before.
"If you walk a little further, you'll reach a cobblestone path," Clew tells me.
We live in the downtown area, and it seems we have to walk quite a bit on unpaved roads to get to the market.
"First of all, we need flour," Mal mutters.
"Yeah, for scones, they're delicious," I say.
"Idiot, we use it for bread and stuff," Mal replies.
Ah, I see. Mal and Fritz like scones too, huh? That makes me happy, and my walking pace increases.
I remember Ed didn't like sweet things, so he only ate scones with cheese and bacon.
As the road changes to cobblestones, it becomes easier to walk, and the foot traffic increases. It gets noisier too.
Wow, what's this? It's amazing. I thought parties were crowded, but this crowd feels like it could swallow me up.
"Hey, don't dawdle. You'll get lost," Mal calls out.
Getting lost is something little kids do, right? I don't want to embarrass myself like that.
I walk desperately to keep up with them so I won't be left behind. But Marl, Fritz, and I are on different levels. I'm not used to crowds, so I quickly lose sight of them.
"Does this mean... I'm lost?" I ask.
"It looks like it. Marl and Fritz probably reached their destination," Clew replies.
"Yikes, getting lost at my age is way too embarrassing."
"It can't be helped. Don't go to strange places."
"Strange places?"
"Places with fewer people are dangerous. Anyway, you should go in the direction Mal and Fritz were heading."
"Okay, got it."
Since Clew warned me, I stop avoiding the crowds. I had been gradually walking towards less crowded areas.
"Hmm, but everyone here is so tall, I can't see anything. Which way should I go?"
"If we're going to the market, just keep going straight."
"Straight ahead, got it."
After walking for a while, the view opens up.
"Is this the market? Amazing. It even smells delicious."
It's an unknown world to me. There are lots of ingredients I don't know and lots I do.
"Clew, what's that? And that?"
I ask Clew one question after another, and he answers as if he knows every ingredient in the world.
There are many shops selling flour, and I regret not asking Mal and Fritz where they buy theirs.
"Oh, they're selling rice there."
"In Sarah's country, they said they have a lot of rice dishes."
"Yeah. But we couldn't get any rice, so we only learned how to make it."
"Should we buy some?"
"Yeah, let's. Since we know how to cook it, it's okay. And it's very cheap compared to wheat."
It's much cheaper than wheat sold at the same store. I thought it would be expensive because it's an ingredient we couldn't get.
"Sir, please give me three bags of rice and three bags of flour."
"That much? How are you going to carry it all, miss?"
"My brothers are waiting, so it's okay."
"I see. That'll be twelve silver coins."
I take out a gold coin from my bag and hand it to the man.
"Do you only have gold coins? Today, I have change, but next time, could you bring smaller coins?"
The man gives me my change with a stern look. Since all the money I received from the Marquis family was in gold coins, it seems like it would be better to exchange it for smaller coins before shopping in the market.
Three bags of rice and three bags of flour are quite heavy, and I can't even lift them. The moment the man turns away, Clew puts the rice into his spatial magic.
"Phew, that was close. Clew's magic really comes in handy."
"It's okay, but give me some rice balls to eat."
Clew apparently hasn't eaten rice balls before, so he's been wanting to eat them since he heard about them from Sarah.
"Hmm, but I don't have any seaweed. It wouldn't be the same without it."
Seaweed isn't a thing in this country. I don't really know what it is. I knew it was rice because it said so, but I wonder if they sell seaweed here too. After "shoyu"? Miso? Can I get Sarah's country's ingredients at this market?
"Oh, there they are. Where have you been? We're going to get scolded by Mum."
"Yeah, Mum's gonna be mad."
Mal and Fritz found me. I'm relieved, but it seems like they were scared of getting scolded by Mum, so they're relieved too, but they still found me and are happy to be together.
"Sorry. I got lost."
"We were just talking about getting crepes from that weird shop over there."
"We can't buy one for each of us, so let's share."
Marl and Fritz could have eaten alone while I was gone, but they found me and said they wanted to eat together. I felt so happy that I tried to hug them, but they dodged me.
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