Chapter 13
Most of the stores the place presented before her were hamburger stores, those that put and sold ham and pickles on bread.
The square was buzzing with spectators watching over the musician playing on his flute and the painter engrossed in his painting while they munched on their hamburger crumbles.
There were many young kids who seemed to have come out to play, and the ladies in elegant dresses were trying their best not to get bored.
‘It doesn’t look that dangerous……Where should I go first?’
She was practically clueless about where the bookstore was. But, she didn’t want to return without reaping anything.
However, if you read novels, kidnapping or human trafficking would have happened around these places. The main character would be followed by a string of men who would help her, but eventually, the men would take her in at the end of the day. Sadly, she didn’t know how she could get out of danger if it got to her.
As she thought, she recalled Shabelle getting in trouble in such a busy town when she met Karpel.
‘Did she come to the capital yet?’
Shabelle was a commoner who lived in the countryside along with her single mother.
But in fact, her mother was the priceless daughter of a noble family in the capital. She falls in love with Shabelle’s father, a young butler, and escapes her father’s opposition. He loved his daughter very much, but he was heartbroken and thus, he couldn’t forgive her. But when his daughter and son-in-law dies in a foreign country, he regrets not blessing her daughter and calls his granddaughter, Shabelle, to the capital.
Shabelle leaves her home to visit the mall without an escort and gets lost. It was Karpel who helped the wandering female lead.
Of course, Shabelle had a cold impression, but she had good looks and a kind heart to cover it.
“Shabelle, you bad girl.”
The words sprang up without her realizing it.
She wasn’t a bad girl, who seemed to have a crush on the boy that helped her. Inaila knew it, but she heard a loud, angry grunt coming out of her.
Later in the novel, Shabelle changes her target to the Crown Prince, Radiov, after receiving his help.
‘Karpel is much more handsome than Radiov.’
But how could she transfer her heart’s destination so fast?
‘Okay, calm down, Inaila.’ She took a deep breath, trying to compose her growing anger.
‘Should I ask someone about the bookstore?’
She glanced sideways at the fruit store right next to the alley. The shopkeeper was leaning against his chair and biting on his pipe. She couldn’t figure out whether his eyes were small or closed.
‘I shouldn’t wake him up if he’s sleeping.’
Since there were so many people, she moved a little further in the square, squeezing herself through the crowd. She expected to find the bookstore herself, but it didn’t seem to be there.
If this was the place where Karpel sneaked out often, she could meet Shabelle here. She thought for a moment.
‘She’s not good with directions. Hmm, this is the opposite side of the aristocratic mall.’
She wanted to reach the street beside the mall, but she was confused when she emerged out somewhere else through the underground passage.
“Excuse me. Could you please show me the way to the bookstore?”
She asked a person walking past her with a bag of bread in his hand. For some reason, he looked like a native of this region.
“Go to the alley behind that grocery shop.”
He hurried away before the hooligan in a robe – she – could ask him more or thank him.
The grocery shop was standing across the square, a distance away that she could cover herself.
She studied the structure from its head to toe and watched the people working inside the store as she approached it. They seemed to be steaming bread with meat inside it. It looked delicious, but she backed away when she noticed the bad smell of the meat before she even arrived in front of the store.
‘It smells like bad meat. Can I eat it?’
She gave up tasting street food and went straight to the alleyway.
She didn’t want to stop at the store before the alley that looked like a hardware store from afar, but when she couldn’t stop herself from peeking in through the milky glass, she spotted something that looked like an orgel or dreamcatcher.
The room seemed to feel magical, accompanied by the music that was playing.
The amulet displayed on the table looked mythical. In fact, there were a lot of things that seemed interesting, but she shook her head, which made her come out of her daze when she was finished looking at the inside of the shop.
Then, she made her way to the alley.
She walked for a while, but she couldn’t find the store she was looking for, so she stopped. There was no building that looked like a store, just a single alleyway.
A very old, low building, with two or three households, stood before her.
It felt ominous to look at the dark and deserted alley.
Momentarily, she felt a larger shadow covering her shadow.
‘Isn’t this ridiculous?’
So, does this mean she is going to be swindled out by a large man and fall in danger like what happens in a novel?
She didn’t dare to show her face by lifting her robe.
‘Robes aren’t high-end, right?’
There was one in ten people in the square who wore this kind of a robe. She might have even seen a dozen of them.
She didn’t even know why he tried to lure her to this side.
But, there was no time for her to think now. The person behind her was much taller, so she could elbow-hit his stomach.
Since the distance was close, he’d be surprised if she pushed him all of a sudden. Then, she planned to jump out of the alleyway.
If the opponent caught her hem, she’d hit his jaw with her head.
She twirled around to hit him, but it wasn’t just the opponent who was surprised.
“Ha? Karpel?”
Karpel wrapped his arms around her when she rushed to hit him. But unfortunately, she had already hit his abdomen.
“Kya…..!”
“Ack!”
His chest was so hard that it hurt her shoulders. But, he was more startled at how surprising her attack was.
“I…I…I…I’m so sorry!”
She unintentionally raised her head, denting a second attack at him.
Karpel looked down at her as she raised her head to see if he was fine, but her head hit his chin.
“Oh! Sorry!”
She pulled out her recovery magic ring, slipping it in his finger, and spoke urgently.
“Heal, heal!”
Of course, nothing happened because the magic could only be activated if the wearer said it.
“Ugh……I’m fine.”
Karpel grunted, taking his arms off her and grabbed her wrist, urging her to stop.
“Uh, but…….”
He clenched his teeth, pulling out the ring and putting it back in her palm.
A firm expression seemed to admire her strength. The way her head impelled, in particular.
Her own shoulders were a little fatigued, but his jaw didn’t hurt at all.
“Uh, I thought some stranger wanted to block the way……”
“……Yeah, well done.”
She thought he was being sarcastic, but he seemed to be sincerely praising her.
Embarrassed, she mumbled an apology to him.
“Why is Karpel here…..”
Karpel, who heard her, frowned as he rubbed his palate and chin with his palm.
She murmured hastily.
“Perhaps….”
It was natural for him to sneak out here and prepare for a rebellion than her, who sneaked out to search for the bookstore. However, she kept that to herself.
Judging from the fact that his wrinkled forehead was not getting unfolded, it seemed like he felt more pain at her attacks in comparison to what she said.
He somehow looked fine enough to eradicate real scoundrels if they were to appear.
“Why are you going to the bookstore?”
She quickly came to her senses at his question, but she didn’t know how she could answer him.
It was too complicated to tell him about her failure of finding information about a race in the Ducal library.
Instead, she directed a question to him.
“How did His Highness……?”
Her voice trailed off as he pointed towards the alley with his chin.
“Or do you know anyone who lives here?”
She couldn’t understand the context of the conversation. ‘Why? Can’t I look for a bookstore if I don’t know anyone here?’
When she just stared at him, he pointed at the entrance of the semi-basement house next to her.
There was a staircase leading down to the entrance. It was so steep that she thought she’d have to cautiously place her feet if she had to walk down it.
A sign hung at the entrance. The door plate on it read ‘Books’.
‘So, it was a bookstore. He didn’t lure me to a dead end.’
When she looked around, she found the bookstore to be the only store in this alley. So, it was natural for Karpel to know her destination.
‘It seems as if I’ve read too much fiction to have the absurdity of getting into an accident.’
“There’s only one bookstore in this alley.”
“Ah, I see.”
Karpel seemed to have familiarized himself with this place.
As she entered the door he opened for her, she was met with towering bookshelves containing used books before her.
She was wondering if there was anyone when she spotted a lady wearing a monocle in the corner, scribbling something on a worn-out book.
The lady took a moment to glance at them and went on with what she was doing.
Her eyes roamed around the shelves, searching for the book she wanted.
It had to be a book about creatures. Some species looked similar to humans such as elves, but others looked like animals walking on two feet or even spirits that could not be seen by human eyes.
And as her fingers were skimming through a shelf, her eyes spotted a familiar word, so she went back to it.
[Elsium, a popular country on the east of Krenberia.]
Her blue eyes rolled along the content list until they spotted,
[Forest Elf.]
It was then that she realized.
It was not many non-human tribes that were going to invade them, but only one of the tribes, the Forest Elves.