The architectural style of "Lovely Happenings" shared a lot of similarities with the old European architecture from Earth.
The royal castle shared a similar Victorian styled architecture and appearance with English castles while the nobles' mansion, including our own, shared similarities with old European mansions.
Even the commoners' district shared such architectural style and appearance with its buildings made of bricks and/or wood, clay roof tiles, and colored warm shades of brown.
Even though the main stage of the otome game was in the royal academy, there were a few events that occurred within the commoners' district, especially the marketplace. These events mostly occurred during the long holidays of the academy when the heroine, who returned back to her home in the outskirts of the commoners' district, went to the marketplace to shop.
In those times, according to the route she's in, she will encounter various events and "coincidentally" meet the capture target of the route.
Yes... It makes very little sense.
In the first place, these capture targets were all high-ranking nobles. Why would they be in the marketplace?
I mean... I seriously can't imagine Alexus ditching his responsibilities to go to the marketplace and cause chaos for his subordinates. Even if he had already done his work, for the crown prince to go to the commoners' district, incognito or not, would require him to have multiple layers of protection and guards which would take time to prepare. It would be a super huge deal!
Even Wilhelm, who had the lowest rank of nobility amongst the capture target, would still have at least one or two competent guards as a member of the royal court magician.
It'll simply be too much for them to go to the commoner's district to meet a single commoner girl.
...
With that said, I'm now in the marketplace of the commoner's district.
...Yes, I'm not joking.
W-What! I-I've already talked about this to mom and dad and even Alex!!! I've made a list of things I wanted to research and reported them to my dad when I requested this trip!
This is a business trip! And even then, I still let Lu-nii and Anne follow me and even requested the guards of our household to come along with me for this day myself!
We are also perfectly disguised as normal commoners with our brown leather cloak and outfit. Well, maybe slightly richer commoners like a rich merchant's children, but you get it.
Unfortunately, I can't bring Fubuki with me. She's now in the care of Kiara and mom... Well, I hope she'll behave...
I've made plenty of preparations for this day, and I deserve to check out the food around here.
Umu umu.
...
...Yes, I know. This will only be a one-time thing. I just need to scratch this itch and then I'm done. I know this is supposed to be impossible for the daughter of the prime minister.
Thank you, mom. Thank you, dad. I'll use this time wisely.
Now then~ Let's go~!!!
We head to the marketplace in a regular-looking carriage that Axel, dad's assistant, had prepared for us. Appearance-wise, it was nothing but average and normal, but the quality was superior to the regular carriages middle-ranked merchants use for their means of travel.
The seats were cushioned with materials that are softer than regular leather, making them more comfortable. The wheels were also stronger and more durable, making the carriage shake less during our travel. Despite its appearance, it was quite comfortable to ride on.
The trip to the marketplace took quite a while. Our mansion is located very near to the castle compared to any other noble's district, so, it would've taken us maybe an hour to reach the commoners' district. But, since we are going incognito, we took the long way around to make it seem like we came from the commoners' district to go to the marketplace. It took double the time, but it's more inconspicuous.
After a while, we could hear the bustling sound of people talking over each other, promoting their things, the general hustle and bustle of a crowded place.
We have finally reached the marketplace.
There are a lot of people coming in and out of shops, visiting food stalls, haggling with the merchants who have set up temporary shops at roadsides, it was a completely different world compared to the nobles' district.
This reminded me a lot of the marketplace district in the morning back in Japan... It's so lively and crowded, but also very peaceful.
Well, as peaceful as it can be in a crowd. At least, there's no visible crime or chaos happening around here.
Upon entering the shop, the smell of herbs, plants, and the earthy fragrance that reminded me of the smell of the garden right after rainfall entered my nose.
The interior of the shop was made predominantly of wood with a few metal frames that are visible at each connective part of the beams that supported the ceiling. There were shelves upon shelves filled with various pots of plants and herbs, glass jars, cupboards, and an L-shaped desk at the end of the room with two more shelves of glass jars and pots of plants and herbs behind it.
It was very small compared to the establishments I've visited before, but it didn't feel cramped with the sizable empty space at the center of the room.
A slender woman seemingly in her late 30s or early 40s stood before what looks to be a cupboard with plenty of equal-sized drawers from top to bottom. One of the drawers was opened and pulled back and in her hands were several layers of dried dark green leaves. She brought it closer to her, examining it and smelling it, before nodding in satisfaction with a small smile and put it back into the drawer.
At that moment, she noticed us going into her shop. She immediately turned towards us, her ponytailed jet-black hair fluttering in the air as a warm welcoming smile greeted us.
"Oh my~ What cute little customers~ Welcome to the Invulnerable Vagrant~ How can I help you~?"
Ahh~ Her voice is so warm and gentle~ This kind of warmth and coziness is something you can't get in high-ranking establishments~ I feel so comfortable here~
"Good morning, big sister~! I'm looking for herbs and fragrant flowers to use to make soap~! Do you sell them?"
"Oh my~ Ufufufu~ You're such a cute sweetheart for calling me big sister~ Yes, we have quite a selection of them here~ Would you like to take a look~?"
"Yes please~!!"
"Okay~ Then please come~ Your big brother and big sister can come too~"
"Yes. Please excuse me."
"B-Big sis- I-I understand..."
Woowww~ There are so many things here~
I've heard of high-class establishments that sell tea leaves or shops in the noble's district that sell herbal ointments from mom. I would love to visit them sooner or later, but now that I have a chance to go to the commoner's district, I want to come here and see what the trend is in this society.
Lu-nii began to walk around and browse through the things in the shelves and cupboards while Anne and I went with the nice lady to her desk where she had already taken out several flowers, herbs, and plants and placed it on the table.
"Since you're looking for fragrant flowers and herbs, I assume you are looking to make your soaps smell good, right~?"
"Yes~!"
"Ufufufu~ Then I recommend these~ These are the popular scents often used for the soaps in bathhouses in town~"
An assortment of various colored oils in a vial was placed down on the table.
"Oh~ Are these Laavendear and Roselily oils?"
"Ara~ You're so smart for knowing what these oils are~ You are very correct~ The slightly purple one is Laavendear oil while the green and yellow one is Roselily oil~ The others are tea tree oil, which smells like hazel, and red white lily oil~ They're all the most popular scent of soaps that is often ordered by bathhouses for their soaps~"
Oooohh~! These are nice~ Humu, if I have the flowers and good quality oil, I think I can make these scented oils to be used in my shampoo~
It would be a great improvement to my current only slightly scented shampoo, and I can have more types of it to sell as well!
Alright, let's experiment with this ~!
"Can we have one of each, big sister~!"
"Oh my, really~ Thank you very much~ Then that would be five silvers for these five bottles~"
I took out my small coin pouch that I prepared especially for today's shopping and took out five silvers for her.
"Thank you very much~ Here~"
"Ufufufu~ Thank you very much for your purchase~ Here you go~ Is there anything else~?"
I took the five small bottles of oils and gave them to Anne so she could put them into her bag.
Hm~ Is there anything else I should buy here?
I can get some flowers from mom's garden, or even have them delivered from a flower shop in the noble's district.
I don't really have an interest in other herbs too as of now since I'll be focusing on these five oils first in my experiment.
"Lu-nii, do you have anything you want to buy?"
"Hm? No, they are all very interesting, but I'm just here to accompany you. Are you done?"
"Yes, I am!"
"Good. Then let's go. Thank you very much, big sister."
"O-Oh my~ What a handsome young man, ufufufu~ You are welcome~ Please come by again if you need anything else~ The Invulnerable Vagrant will always welcome such cute customers~"
"Hehehe~ Yes~ Goodbye, big sister~!"
I waved my hands and headed out of the shop.
That was a great start for the day~ She's also such a nice big sister~ I'll definitely visit her again~
"So? What are you going to do now?"
Lu-nii asked as he put the hood of my cloak over my head before he did his.
Oh right, I forgot about that. I instinctively put my hood away when we entered.
"Isn't that obvious, Lu-nii? We're going to taste the cuisine here!"
"...I've thought as much. Alright, let's go."
"Ooooh!!!"
I walked ahead with the two following closely behind me.
Mmmh~ What should I eat~
There are so many food stalls selling various foods around me~!! I wonder what should I start with~?
Should it be that kebab lookalike? No, first should be appetizers, so grilled skewers? I wonder what meat it is? But it smells so good~ It smells like teriyaki~!!
As I was very busy wondering what I should devour to satisfy my stomach, Lu-nii and Anne whispered to each other behind my back without my knowledge.
"...Young master, is this alright?"
"...It can't be helped. We've already had our guards as well as a few royal guards Alexus sent disguised as civilians around us just like those two armed men near that food stall."
"...I see. That is good."
"...We already have this whole area guarded, so you don't need to worry. That is... As long as Risa doesn't wander around alone or out of this area."
"...I am very worried, young master."
"...We all are, Anne."
Afterworld
Be strong Lucas, Anne, guards of Lorya Household, and royal guards of the palace. You only need to protect one little girl...
Just one unpredictable... energetic... little girl...
I-I wish you good luck!