Sightseeing In The City

The next morning, I woke up a bit later than usual. It was still before noon—the time I had promised to meet Hana—so it wasn’t a problem.

“Well, time to get ready.”

Vim climbed out of bed and finished his morning routine. He left his room and headed down the stairs of the inn.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning!”

Hana was waiting at the foot of the stairs, so Vim called out to her.

“Shall we go grab something to eat?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Vim and Hana decided to have their breakfast-slash-lunch at the street stalls.

“It’s incredibly sunny out.”

When they stepped outside, they were greeted by a clear sky without a single cloud. Rain makes subjugation missions significantly more dangerous, so fair weather was a welcome sight. The Knights were likely out on their investigation by now.

Leaving the inn, they walked side-by-side down the main street. Stalls were lined up densely on both sides of the thoroughfare.

“You two travelers? How about a skewer?”

A stall keeper called out to them.

“What kind of meat is this?”

“Grilled chicken. It’s freshly grilled right here with my special sauce.”

Skewers are a staple everywhere, but the type of meat here was different.

“I’ll take two, then.”

“Coming right up!”

The man handed over two skewers, and Vim paid him in exchange.

“By the way, I heard slimes have been appearing around here. Has there been much damage in town?”

“Oh, so you’ve heard? It’s a mess. People are scared of the monsters, so my suppliers aren’t transporting meat. I’ve had no choice but to raise my prices.”

The stall keeper looked genuinely apologetic.

“No, it’s fine. Thanks for the info.”

“Sure thing. Come back again!”

With that, Vim and Hana moved away from the stall.

“Here, this one’s for you, Hana.”

Vim sat down on a convenient bench and handed a skewer to Hana.

“Thank you for getting mine as well.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m hungry too. I’ll go grab us some drinks. Wait here.”

Vim stood up from the bench and bought some fruit juice from a beverage stall. The price seemed a bit higher than the standard rate here as well; the slime outbreak was clearly taking its toll. He returned to Hana with the juices.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

Hana took the juice with both hands.

“Wait just a second—”

As he spoke, Vim hovered his hand over the juices. A few ice cubes materialized inside the cups.

“Amazing. It’s ice!”

Hana looked into her glass, sounding impressed. Last time, he had simply chilled the liquid, but this time he decided to actually add ice. Ice is a luxury item that is rarely available, but Vim could create as much as he wanted with magic.

“Now then, let’s eat.”

Vim added ice to his own glass as well and took a sip.

“It definitely tastes better when it’s cold.”

“It really does!”

They chatted while happily munching on their skewers, finishing both in no time. However, they were still a bit hungry.

“Shall we look at a few more stalls?”

“I’m in favor of that.”

The two stood up from the bench and started walking down the row of stalls again.

“Did you notice?”

“Yes.”

Vim and Hana had both sensed an anomaly.