Ed made it his priority to explore the food stalls; he had become obsessed with good food ever since he started cooking. His appetite increased as well since he broke through to King establishment.
The capital was much more vibrant compared to the other cities Ed had visited; it had more people in it and was built better. The roads were cleaner and safer for carriages to move on; people were dressed well even though most of them were commoners.
Ed took a look at the palace which looked domineering; it was bigger than the palace of the Avalon kingdom. Ed looked at its walls and guessed they were enhanced in case of an attack. After sightseeing for a while, it was time for lunch so Ed got back to his food exploration. He visited every food-related shop he could see and ate all the best dishes they had, any passerby would keep staring at him for a full minute before moving away, because of the amount of food he had. But it was more of the reason that he always had a slime with him that also kept eating everything.
Any of the dishes that satisfied Ed were taken with him for Raikou, he made sure to get seconds for him since he wouldn't have the time to eat lunch. Ed felt sorry for him, but Raikou was understanding of the circumstances.
After a while, Ed was finally satisfied with his food journey. 'As expected of the capital, there are so many dishes that I would like to remake on my own' Ed had gotten some new recipes from some shop owners that were kind enough to allow him to copy it. Ed had wanted to pay them for it but most of them just gave it away.
Ed continued walking for a while and started to notice that people were getting scarcer as he walked, a couple of minutes later he found himself in a dirty looking area whose people looked like they came from a war zone. 'This must be the slums' Ed knew that every country couldn't perfectly support their citizens, however, he was still always shocked about the conditions of the slums. Even in his previous world, homeless people still existed.
While walking Ed noticed a girl coming towards him, she looked like she hadn't eaten for quite some time.
"Sir, can you please give me some money to eat?" The girl saw that Ed was dressed nicely so she guessed he would be rich. Ed felt sorry for the little girl and took out some of the food he bought and gave it to her. "Do you like the magic trick?" Ed had brought out the food out of thin air and made it sound like it was a magic trick. The girl nodded and smiled, and after receiving food, she ran away, as if she afraid Ed was going to take it back.
Ed was curious why she would do that so he followed while using the stealth effect from his Shadow Steps. After a while, the girl stopped and yelled. "Come out everyone!" Suddenly a group of five children of different ages came out and got close to her.
"I got you guys some food! Eat!" She brought out the sandwiches Ed had given her. Coincidently Ed had given her five.
The children were ecstatic and started eating; only one of the boys kept looking at his sandwich and then looked at the girl.
"What about you sister, where is yours?" The boy was apparently her brother and he was sharp. "I've already eaten mine so hurry up and eat!" The girl lied and encouraged the boy, he could do nothing but eat at this point.
Ed who was watching from afar decided to come out. The girl noticed him first and she was scared "Sir I didn't mean to take away the sandwiches for everyone please forgive" She had thought that he was mad she gave away the sandwiches he gave her.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, those sandwiches are yours you're free to do whatever you want with them" The children had stopped eating after hearing the girl since they were scared but Ed reassured them. They continued eating and Ed went ahead to sit with the girl.
"What's your name?" Ed asked the girl.
"Eri"
"Pretty name" Ed praised the girl's name and continued "Why are you with these children?"
"We're all orphans. So we gathered up to help each other, although since I'm the oldest I'm the one who needs to work the hardest" Ed had guessed already the situation. This world was indeed a tough one.
The children had finished eating and were now playing with Suika. Raikou also came out from Ed's shadow which scared them but they soon gave up to their curiosity and played with his fur. Ed didn't mind the children seeing Raikou since they wouldn't know anything about him anyway.
Even Eri started playing with them. Soon Ed noticed it was about time to leave so he got up and called Eri over. "Take these" Ed brought out even more food and gave to her after putting it in a bag. "Try to finish it before it becomes spoiled, have this as well" Ed put 100 gold coins in a small pouch and gave it to her. That amount of money should last the group for a while if they only buy clothes.
Ed made sure to check his map to see if there was anyone around that could steal their money or food after he leaves but found no one. Eri didn't know if she should accept them or not but after remembering the children's smiles she accepted.
"I'll be back some other day with some gifts" The children didn't want him to leave at first since they were enjoying their time but Eri convinced them. They kept waving goodbye and then got back. Ed told Eri that if anyone tried to steal from them she should tell them that a noble is protecting them, not many people would be willing to offend a noble. This was the most he could do for the little group of orphans.
Ed got back to the inn after buying some more food and let Raikou eat in peace. The three of them entered the bath again and then got to sleep. Tomorrow Ed would be heading to the academy.
Hello everyone! I have a couple of announcements to make.
First, my exams are over yaaay( hopefully no make up exams).
second, there will be a mass release tomorrow when i wake up.
Lastly, although my exams are done, i will be sticking to releasing 2 chapters a day. I believe this will help me maintain a good quality of the novel while improving the story line, especially since i'm a one man team.
I hope you all understand what i'm trying to say and enjoy the chapter^^
After waking up, Ed made sure to check his equipment and put them in the Inventory while he wore clothes that were fitting for nobles. Ed went down and checked out of the inn, getting out Ed made his way to the palace. The specifics for the academy as in its name or its location were never mentioned. All what Ed knew was that nobles would meet the king of Scale country and they would hear from him.
Ed wondered if he should get some gift since he'll be meeting a king but decided that he would just craft him a weapon in case he actually needed a weapon. He would use the excuse of not knowing what weapon the king uses, and say he would buy him one. Either that or he would cook him a meal that didn't exist in this world.
Ed already knew the palace's location from his sightseeing yesterday and headed there. As he got to its location he was stopped by the guards.
"Excuse me sir, but we would need some sort of identification to let you through" The guard was trying to be as polite as possible, since if they offended some noble by mistake they might lose their life, and worse their family's life would be involved as well.
Ed remembered the letter his father had given him and took it out. He didn't pull it directly but instead made it look as if he took out of his sleeve. "This should be enough" He gave the letter to the guards. After confirming it, they let him pass and told him a maid would be coming soon to escort him. Indeed soon enough a maid came and he followed her to a hall inside of the palace. The hall was very huge and looked like it could easily hold 100 people. That should be the number estimated to enter the academy this year.
When Ed got in the hall he found only 2 other people inside, one of them was a man who had black hair and eyes and looked like he was Japanese while the other person was already someone he was acquainted with. It was Emilia who he had helped before.
"It looks like we meet again Miss Emilia" Ed went and greeted her since they already knew each other. Emilia looked like she was shocked.
"You never told me you were a noble" Ed indeed didn't mention that the last time he met her he was wearing his leather armor.
"You never asked if I was anyway" Ed smiled and continued making small talk with Emilia. Soon the black-haired man looked lonely and bored so he approached the two.
"Hello, my name is Hayato I'm from Ryuu kingdom. It's a kingdom far to the east. May I know who you two are?" Hayato seemed to be a nice mannered man and was looking to make some friends during his stay at the academy.
"My name is Ed nice to meet you"
"Emilia" The three of them made small talk with each other, mainly about hobbies and preferences. Soon the hall started filling up and Ed noticed a couple of unusual looking people. A group had animal-like characteristics while another one had small horns.
'System I thought humans were the only sentient race in this world' Ed asked the system about this matter.
[Host is mistaken many races exist. The ones you saw just now belong to the beastman race and the Oni race. Some monsters also have a certain degree of understanding such as dragons who are considered top-level monsters]
'I see. I still don't know much about this world after all' Ed knew his knowledge of this world needs to be improved, luckily for him, he was now in an academy the perfect place for it.
As Ed was deep in thought a voice that approached him knocked him out of concentration.
"Yo Emilia, so a leech like you made it all this way after all" Ed looked at the disgusting voice's origin and was immediately annoyed. It was the man who made his moves on Alice back in Claw city.
Before the man could continue Ed interrupted him. "We're having a peaceful conversation here please don't butt in," The man noticed Ed and his face showed a hint of fury in it.
"It's you again, I had a feeling we would be meeting here. So you're associating with scum now Emilia. I guess scum and leeches do go well together" The man was now attracting so much attention in the hall. Ed looked towards Emilia and noticed she was lowering her head in shame so he was now getting a bit mad, when suddenly.
"I would like to continue speaking with my new friends so please excuse us" Hayato seemed to be annoyed as well. The man was now embarrassed after being told off by two people. "You better watch yourself you failed prince and princess" After that he left to a corner of the hall.
"Thanks for your help Hayato" Ed thanked him for his help since it would have taken a long time to send off the man.
"No problem, he was being rude to anyway. Do you know him from somewhere Miss Emilia?" Hayato asked a question that Ed wanted to ask as well.
"His name is Norris. We come from the same country. I don't want to talk about anything more than that" Ed noticed that Emilia seemed to despise this subject so both of them didn't push her any further.
He also remembered what she told him on the carriage 'I'm not well liked' was her reason for being betrayed and now Ed was making a connection between that case and the man she hates.
After a while, the hall looked like it was full and a butler came inside and asked for everyone's attention.
"It seems that all the Sirs and Misses are here. Now then, will you all please follow me. We'll be meeting the king of Scale kingdom now!" The butler spoke and turned around indicating that everyone should start following.
Hello everyone! First chapter of the mass release, in case of any mistakes please point them out!
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