Chapter 7.5

“Aaron, by the way.”

While talking about Herace, the two empty glasses sat on the table. Brienne placed the fortune slip she’d kept between the empty glasses.

[The noble person you seek is nearby. If you don’t give up and look carefully around you, you will achieve what you desire.]

“Isn’t it a bit unsettling to just let this go?”

Felix really might be close by. Brienne narrowed her eyes and glanced around. Aaron awkwardly stood up.

“Um, if it really bothers you, should I go look around?”

“Now? With all these people, how would you even find him?”

“But it says he’s nearby, so surely……”

“Come on, Aaron, do you really believe this?”

She teased, and Aaron’s face showed a hint of embarrassment. He rolled his eyes and noisily pulled his chair to sit again.

“……Haha, of course not. I’ll just sit back down.”

Watching him, Brienne couldn’t help but laugh. She’d only teased him because it was funny how Aaron kept dismissing the fortune, but truthfully, Brienne was rather positive about it.

In a country with both divine power and magic, why wouldn’t a fortune like this be real? Of course, foresight was a slightly different area……

‘Still, if Felix is nearby, I should at least try to find him.’

Believing in fortunes doesn’t cause any harm. Brienne picked up the empty glasses and looked back at Aaron.

“If you’ve finished, shall we get going?”

“Oh, yes!”

The road back to the stall had become a bit quieter, probably because there were so many people earlier when the train arrived. It wasn’t exactly empty now, though. Aaron quickly caught up behind Brienne, who was heading to return the empty glasses.

“Miss, let me take those. I’ll do it.”

“That’s kind of you.”

Where should they start looking? While Aaron returned the glasses, Brienne checked the signboards of nearby shops.

‘Schu… Something, I think.’

‘Schuten? Schubert? Should I ask that person again?’

Brienne frowned slightly and glanced back.

And then—

“Ah……!”

“Hey, foreigner! Move!”

Someone shoved Brienne aside as they passed. Aaron tried to grab her but Brienne fell over.

“……Miss! Are you all right?!”

Aaron crouched down in surprise, reaching out his hand to Brienne. But she just stared blankly at her own hand, not taking Aaron’s.

“Miss……? Why aren’t you getting up……?”

“My wallet, my wallet……. That kid just took my wallet!”

“What? Are you sure?!”

Aaron whipped his head around to look in the direction the boy had disappeared. The boy glanced back, cursed, and ran even faster. Before Aaron could ask what to do, Brienne shouted,

“That boy, we have to chase him!”

“Yes, yes! Please wait here!”

Before Brienne even finished, Aaron dashed off across the street. Only then did Brienne realize people were staring at her and hurriedly got up from the ground.

Brienne’s face flushed pink as she brushed dust from her skirt.

‘What do I do…….’

At the moment, being embarrassed by everyone’s stares was worse than the pain from falling or the anger at losing her wallet.

At least she wasn’t in Rontiano.

No one here would tease a foreigner for getting pickpocketed. Maybe they’d just look at her with a little pity.

Thinking that, Brienne still couldn’t lift her head and quickly left the street. She decided to wait for Aaron at the clock tower near where they’d had juice.

But even after 10 minutes, then 30, Aaron didn’t return. Brienne glanced at the clock tower, scanning her surroundings anxiously.

‘Should I not have told him to chase after that kid?’

Actually, not all the money Lusell had given her was in that wallet. She’d divided it between her suitcase and her dorm room when coming to Roeta, and today, as Diashi had taught her, she’d hidden some inside her clothes.

So she wasn’t completely out of money. But she’d told Aaron to chase the pickpocket simply because the wallet was a gift from Garzen and……

‘The real problem is, Felix’s notebook was in there too.’

She’d come out to exchange notebooks, only to lose someone else’s.

Brienne sighed deeply, her face almost in tears.

* * *

“Where to?”

The shopping street near Peterman Station was the best spot for picking up passengers. Roeta Royal Palace, the National Academy, the Mage Association, Demekia Grand Temple, Mashern Harbor.

With so many people heading to various places, there were more people lining up for carriages than rats in this street.

“Hey, I said where to?”

So time was of the essence.

But the customer under the hot sun, wearing a flat cap pulled low, said nothing. The coachman eyed the customer, annoyed at having his precious time wasted.

He was a slender-jawed man beneath the shadow of his cap. The coachman couldn’t see his features well, but thought beautiful people couldn’t hide their aura no matter how they tried.

What could have so distracted him? Following the customer’s gaze, the coachman saw a woman sitting under the clock tower, looking like she might cry any second.

She was strikingly pretty too—must have had a lover’s quarrel. Sighing, the coachman looked up, then around, noticing the blonde woman trying to hide her tears.

“……If you’re not riding, I’ll leave.”

The coachman glanced back and forth between the two, clicked his tongue, and turned away. Only then did the man finally look at the coachman, pause, and then nod slightly.

“Sorry for wasting your time.”

He handed over some money. The coachman, preparing to leave, accepted it almost automatically.

The man adjusted his cap and, with impeccable manners, blended into the crowd.

A flat cap like a newsboy, a faded shirt, loose suspenders, and worn-out shoes.

Wherever he was pretending to be a nobleman, he sure had good instincts, the coachman thought, tossing the money into his box and muttering curses at the man’s retreating back.

* * *

“Hey, stop!”

Aaron’s voice echoed over the crowded street as he chased the boy. The boy glanced back at the quickly approaching Aaron, swallowed nervously, and looked around.

“Move out of the way!”

Crash!

The boy kicked a crate of apples, shoving people aside as he ran down a side street. Some people tripped over the rolling apples and fell, and the street was thrown into chaos.

“That brat……!”

Aaron, blocked by the crowd, stomped his foot in frustration as the boy slipped into an alley between buildings. Gulping for air, the boy peeked out from his hiding spot.

“……Did I lose him?”

He hadn’t expected an escort to chase after him; that girl must really be someone important. After hiding for a while and seeing no one, the boy swallowed and opened the wallet.

It was heavy—the wallet was stuffed with money.

“Wow, what a windfall……?”

The boy’s jaw dropped as he picked out a shiny coin. With this, he could pay for his sibling’s medicine for a whole year, and cover living expenses too. Compared to what he’d get for a stolen notebook, this was a fortune. Cheered up, the boy wiped his eyes with his sleeve. No time to waste—he needed to get rid of the notebook and go see his sibling.

He stuffed the notebook and wallet into his shirt pocket and stepped out into the empty alley.

Thunk—something caught his foot.

“Ow!”

Suddenly, his vision tilted and his face hit the muddy ground. Coughing and spitting out dirty water, the boy jerked his head up.

He’d definitely seen a pair of worn shoes before he fell.

“D*mn, who the hell……!”

A man approached, lifting his flat cap slightly. A painted-on smile and deep blue eyes glinted in the shadows.

“Hello, pickpocket.”

The sudden pressure made the boy freeze, unable to get up as he checked behind the man. The guy who’d been chasing him wasn’t there, so this man probably wasn’t with the wallet’s owner……

“W-who are you?”

“You can see for yourself. Just an ordinary citizen.”

“Who cares about that? Why were you hiding like a rat and then tripping me……!”

“Well, I was curious about how it feels to steal from others.”

The man grinned and slowly bent down, waving the notebook in front of the boy’s face. The boy’s eyes widened in shock. When did he take it? The boy fumbled in his shirt pocket but found neither the wallet nor the notebook.

“G-give that back! It’s mine!”

The boy scrambled up and reached for the man, but he easily dodged and twisted the boy’s arm behind his back.

“When you ask an adult, you should use polite language.”

“Ack, wait, wait!”

Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes as he struggled to break free. Meeting the man’s cold gaze, the boy shivered.

“S-sorry, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. Just this once, please…….”

The man looked at the pleading boy and released his grip. The boy staggered back, clutching his aching arm, retreating to the wall.

“I know it’s wrong. But I never steal from people who have nothing. You—you must know what it’s like, right? Since you’re in the same situation.”

“Same situation?”

The boy nodded desperately.

“I don’t steal from people like me. You might not believe it, but I only target nobles…….”

“Then what about this?”

The man nodded with an indifferent face and gestured toward the notebook. The boy blinked several times, his face turning pale.

“That, that was just something I happened to steal along with everything else. I don’t even know what it is.”

“Really don’t know?”

The man slowly approached the boy, who tightly shut his mouth and lowered his gaze. Instinctively shrinking away, the boy felt the man’s hand rest on his shoulder, who then gestured toward the boy’s hands.

“There are people who simply can’t lie, no matter how hard they try. Their breathing changes, they avoid eye contact for no reason, and they can’t keep still, so it shows. Just like you right now.”

The man removed his hand from the boy’s shoulder and turned his gaze toward the entrance of the alley. At the end of his gaze, the guards were tidying up the now noisy street.

“I’ll give you a chance. If you can’t be honest, then guide me. Where were you planning to go with this notebook?”

The boy followed the man’s gaze toward the guards, his eyes trembling.