Chapitre 52: Capital City Lograth
The next day me and Celine were walking through the inner streets of Lograth. We just arrived yesterday and thus we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. Mom gave us some pocket money so that we could buy a few treats here and there.
On a side note, I asked Mom earlier how she was earning her money and she told me that she really was living off of pension funds alone. She revealed that, yes, she was basically jobless ever since she gave birth to Celine.
I remember Mom's face as she told me, 'I'm telling you dear, countryside expenses plus city money is a deadly combination'. She admitted to living on some faraway village solely because the living costs were much lower there while the money she was receiving was based on city standards. That basically allowed her to live for two decades without working a dime.
Of course, now we were at the city, at the inner parts of the city, no less. The same things that we used to buy probably skyrocketed in price, so we had to be a little more intelligent with our finances. Mom had a lot of money saved up through the years and she wouldn't hesitate to spend it for our sake, but I wasn't the comfortable with it.
Spending money without a reliable constant source of income just felt… bad. There was no other way to put it. Sure one could argue that Mom's pension payments is a source of money, but the amount wasn't meant for living in an upper-class residential area, where the prices of goods are probably inflated. That would mean that we will always be living off a deficit, where Mom's money would slowly but surely be drained.
Luckily, I had a silver lining. A certain teacher, a certain duke's daughter who couldn't run out of money to spend. She said she would be my sugar mo-, 'sponsor', as long as I remained close to her. Was it bad? Ehh, Celine said that it was her family that gave her the scholarship in the first place. So, in a way, she was the reason that we moved to the city in the first place. If she could do that, I'm sure she wouldn't mind throwing some cash out for her lovely student.
I was soon snapped out of my reverie as Celine flicked my forehead.
"Ow" the pain was real, Celine didn't hold back at all
"You've been spacing out for a while now" she said with a frown "Come, let's walk around to see the surroundings"
"Where should we go to first?" I asked my Sister who was reading a guide sort of map regarding the city
"Let's go the inner city's western quadrant first, it is the place where businesses are located so we can assume the shops there will be delightful"
We were currently at the southern quadrant, where a lot of the residents live, I nodded at my sister's word and we took a walk first around our street before heading west.
Located at the side of the road, were well-maintained trees and hedges that added the much needed greenery in this streets of grey. And beyond those hedges were the large gardens, maintained by each residents, each with their own villas or mansions. Of course the gardens were currently covered in a white blanket of snow, preventing the growth of any vegetation that the owners could have wanted.
As we wound on our way, and the sun rose higher and higher above us, the golden arcing rays of the sun slowly began catching up to us. However it did very little to disperse the chills that the winter winds has been blessing us. Here and there, we would pass by a few elves, all dressed in pleasantly old-fashioned attires, a fashion sense that the people of my previous world would associate with the late Victorian era. I suppose the thick layer of their clothes could help ward off the cold.
Yet while I was questioning whether or not the people wearing such outfits felt snug at all, Celine was in a trance looking at them with fascination. I could see stars in her eyes as she looked at the city fashion, entranced by their unique charms.
As we got closer and closer to where the shopping district were, there were more and more of such people that could be seen walking down the streets. Fortunately, even with more people the streets never felt crowded. There were ample space within the road to prevent any people accidentally bumping into each other.
"Still, it really surpassed my expectations." I said in amazement, as I looked at the paved brick road we were walking on. We were finally at the shopping district.
I've said this multiple times but I was amazed because it looked like an actual city, with actual stone roads and buildings, and not some nature-loving city built on trees or forests. The streets of Lograth were wide and elegant, busy with traffic of feet, carriages, and horses, it reminded me of the streets of Frankfurt. There was a sort of ambiance to it, one that reminded me of my hometown, a very European ambiance, so similar yet so different with its own unique flavor belonging only to that of elves.
"Stop looking around so much Riel, people will think we're country bumpkins" Celine whispered as she pinched me in the side, while she coolly looked ahead as if she was used to the surroundings. Perhaps she was more conscious of how she wanted to be perceived by others, when she saw all the people dressed in elegant clothes?
It wasn't like she wearing rags as we walked down the streets. She still looked beautiful in her simple clothing, though it wasn't as sophisticated as the people around us, But no one was staring at us like we some kids from the slums.
Not bothering to ask where she learned the term 'country bumpkin', I replied to her "But we are country bumpkins though?" However all that earned me was a stronger pinch to my sides and a glare from my loving sister.
All around us were shops selling quality confections and desserts and boutiques selling stylish articles of clothing. Celine's eyes were attracted to a store that was selling the same Victorian era dresses that she was so entranced by earlier, and immediately she dragged me inside with her.
We were greeted by a beautiful elf lady who was serving as an employee. When she saw Sister dragging me, she immediately knew who was the one interested and the one buying, so she quickly started talking to Celine.
"Good Morning Miss, may I know what you're looking for" the salespersons asked
"..." Celine was stumped for an answer, she just realized she didn't know what to call those dresses and she didn't want to look like she was unfamiliar with them. She looked at the elf lady who was dressed much better than her, and she said "I'll look around first, I'll call you if anything catches my eye."
Sis left me for a while and looked around, a bit later it seemed like she was dissatisfied with what she saw and seeing that saleslady looking from a distance panicked, I could hear her say to the other people working to get something better.
Thing is, the clothes earlier isn't something that you can just call a 'dress' and be done with it. It was layer upon layer of clothes that gave that fancy look and appeal, and from what I could see they were only selling the coats, bodices, and skirts in this store. So of course they would look rather incomplete. As for the corsets, stockings, boots, and the like. She has to buy that somewhere else. Of course there might be a store that sells all of those, but it wasn't this one.
As Celine went through more and more clothes, I picked one and decided to ask the saleslady. "Maám, how much would it be for this coat in particular"
Seeing that I finally picked one, the saleslady happily said "That will be 300 Curonnes, cutie". Smiling I thanked the pretty lady before returning it
While I was smiling on the outside, in the inside I was shocked. This was hella expensive. We only had 50 Curonnes with us and that was enough to feed the family for seven days back in the village, yet a single top was already double that. But Celine was still browsing through the clothes, and the saleslady was bringing out things that only got more and more expensive.
Quietly walking up to Celine, I flicked her shoulder lightly before telling her that we couldn't afford any of the things in here.
"Eh?" Sis was surprise when she learned of the prices before looking around awkwardly "Ehem… I guess let's come back another day." she said as if she didn't find anything she was satisfied with before leaving the store with me
After that eye-opening experience, we didn't have much to do. The 'generous' pocket money that Mom gave us earlier didn't look that much all of a sudden. The restaurants were within our price range, but we didn't want to spend money the money that was able to keep us alive for seven days before, merely in a single meal.
As expected prices in the exclusive parts of the city were much, much higher. But still it wasn't like everything was that expensive "How about we go to the city square? There should be a gate to outer city around here" I suggested and Celine agreed
After all our new home was located behind the inner wall, a lot closer to the royal palace. Once we're past it, things should be pretty normal, If the large stone gate was the dividing line between Lograth and the outside world, then the inner wall was the line that separated the common folk from the upper crust of society.
The sun was still blazing high up in the sky, a bright reminder that it was still noon. We still had plenty of time to walk around and familiarize ourselves with the city. It was around a forty minute walk leaving the inner city and toward the city square, not counting the distance from our home to the shopping district. However we both weren't too bothered by it, because we had plenty of training and walking wasn't enough to make us sweat. Not to mention, the cold winds blowing constantly cooled off any heat our body could have made.
It wasn't until we finally reached the city square that we were able to settle down.
The city square also had stores all throughout its vicinity, while being nowhere as expensive as the ones we visited earlier. For now me and Celine decided to take a bite at a family restaurant, I had salad while Celine decided to go with steak. We were sitting by the window while observing the people walking through the square.
"Hey, is that a church?" Celine pointed to a building northeast of where we were currently. It was a building constructed beautifully, complete with a round arch, spires, and a central tower
"Hmm, judging by the size, Sis, isn't it a cathedral?" I replied before adding "Well, it depends if there is a bishop there."
"Oh, I see." answered Celine
Our family wasn't the most religious out there, seeing as to how open they were regarding my 'heretical' magic and even then they had some reservations about it. But the same couldn't be said over the majority of the people here believed in Mezzaluna, the goddess of the earth, nature, and somehow the moon?? Plus her daughters, Ceres, representing agriculture, vegetation, and fertility, and Diana, representing wild animals, the hunt, and also, chastity and childbirth?
I don't know how the goddess of the moon is also the goddess of the earth or how the goddess of chastity is also the goddess of childbirth. All I know is that, when it comes to Diana apparently a few days after being born, Diana helped her mother in giving birth to her sister, Ceres, which is pretty 'ehh?'. I know, pretty wack.
Usually I wasn't one to believe in gods, but I'm someone who has been reincarnated. So maybe there really is one, who knows. Since I'm an elf, I don't mind learning more about their religion. I already know that the three goddesses were believed to be our ancestor and also represent everything that we, elves, should be.
Coincidentally, it was also in line of what I usually associated elves with. Nature, agriculture, hunters, and chastity. I don't know what happened down the line and we have this war-mongering, imperial elves that I know of instead.
"Where else should we go?" I asked Celine after we were done eating
"Well, my school is too far away… So, maybe just take a look at the shops around here instead?" Sister suggested
I agreed to her suggestion, so after receiving our bill and paying the 20 Curonnes, I was dragged into another clothing store. This time they were much cheaper, but there was a noticeable drop in quality everything from the attitude of the employees, the design of the store, or the clothes themselves. But this was the service Celine was much more used to.
"Oohh, Miss how much is this?" Celine's eyes were drawn to a close-fitting, elastic garment that meant to cover your legs all the way up to your thighs, in other words, stockings.
"That'll be a 20" The lady replied
"Hmmm…" Celine was considering whether or not it was worth it, but in my mind I had other ideas
How could I have not thought of it earlier? I already saw from Aerin that pantyhose existed in this world back when she was taking her clothes off for my, ehem, "massage". I should've gotten both Mom and Sis to wear those, so I could have the pleasure of ripping them apart during sex.
"And I thought I was living the life, haaa… so stupid…" I muttered to myself
Since I was already here and seeing that they were selling stockings, I decided to ask the saleslady if they had garter belts, chokers, and pantyhose, as well. To which the saleslady surprisingly replied
"Uhmm Sir, I've never heard of any of the things you've mentioned" she smiled awkwardly as she replied
"Oh..." I thought that maybe they just had a different name for it, so I decided to describe what they looked like.
Unfortunately, they've never heard of anything close to a garter belt and all that they had for a pantyhose were the thigh-high stockings Celine was already holding. For chokers though, they mentioned that they had some tight necklaces, but they asked for what color specifically. And when I mentioned black, they looked rather uncomfortable before asking who it was meant for.
"Uhm… for my Sister" I noticed the obvious change in expression when she heard my words so I asked "Is there something wrong with black necklaces?"
"Uhm, not really the necklace… you don't look like the type to go to that sort of places and you look pretty young but..." The lady came closer as she spoke her word "Prostitutes usually wear black ribbons around their necks, so people might get confused"
"Well, not really just prostitutes, dancers also wear them but people kind of see them as the same thing." She added
"Oh really?" Well that was a new fact learned, but hearing that it was a ribbon, it really wasn't the one I was looking for. So I asked her just to be sure "Would you mind letting me see it?" And when she finally brought the black ribbon she was talking about, it really wasn't the one I was looking for. It still was pretty similar to a necklace and was not the collar that I wanted.
'Well, this kind of sucks' I had to settle with the stockings for now, so when I saw that Celine was still debating to herself whether or not it was worth buying. I chimed in next to her, "What's that Sis?"
"Oh… just some girl's stuff. It's called stockings apparently" Celine replied to my curiosity
"Oohhh, I was always wondering what the pretty socks that teacher wore was called, I didn't know they were stockings." I said as if I just learned something knew
"..." She went quiet for a while and started thinking about the matter seriously. "Now that you mention it, the girls earlier also wore these." She said after some consideration
By the 'girls earlier' she was talking about, she probably meant the rich ladies back in the inner city. I didn't know what was it that changed her mind, hearing me call it pretty, or her thinking that this was some rich girls only trend, but she decided to finally to try it out first before buying it.
…
…
It was now the afternoon and we were on our way back home. Currently we just entered the gates of the inner wall and were at the entrance of the shopping district. The place was livelier compared to when it was noon, there were more carriages and people on the street.
Strangely, Celine still seemed to have thoughts about her new purchase and was looking at the legs of the ladies dressed elegantly. Though their dresses would hide most of their legs, one could see that the women all had socks that were pretty similar to what she just had bought and that thought seemed to have comforted her a little, thinking that her money wasn't wasted after all.
Well, with that we only had 10 Curonnes left, we spent 20 on food and another 20 on her new piece of clothing. Just as we were walking in the streets though, a luxurious carriage made its way on the road and drew the attention of everyone on the street. In a place where everything was meant to be high-class, it would take something special to be considered luxurious and turn the heads of people.
The carriage had a family crest on it, the crest was a double bladed spear with twin serpents coiling around it from top to bottom. The carriage was inlaid with gold, and instead of horses, it had a single large griffin like creature pulling it. The creature looked like a mixture of a griffin and s wyvern, it had a long draconic body that reached about 12 meters in length. It had a long tail between its two hind legs and two fore arms that also served as its wings. Instead of scales, it was covered with feathers and at the end of its long neck was a head of an eagle.
I've read about this creature before, if I remember correctly it was called a 'Silverwing Raptor'. They were native to the southern parts of the empire, and was particularly known for being a predator that attacked farmer, sometimes even convoys of soldiers. Although difficult, it could be tamed. And it looks like one of the tamed ones were currently in front of me. Despite its enormous body, the road was wide enough to contain it and have ample room left.
(A/N: Think of something like this, check paragraph comment)
In a place where everyone had money, maybe they were the daughters of successful merchant or maybe they were the merchants themselves, no matter how rich they were, one thing they couldn't buy was blood. The prestige of a bloodline that has continued for centuries upon centuries and the powers that comes with it. Someone from a high-ranking noble family was here.
I've seen that exact crest at a certain shop that sold expensive musical instruments, back then I just thought it was the logo of the shop but seeing it again here I had a rough idea of which family this carriage belonged to.
The chauffeur stopped the Silverwing just besides me and Celine, and I couldn't help but think. 'And just as I was thinking about money, look who arrived.' the carriage door opened slightly and from inside I could see a blonde haired beauty lavished in luxuries beckoning me and Celine to get inside.
"Oh my, I didn't expect to see you here, sweetie." Aerin said as she called out to me
Celine didn't look all that pleased with her arrival however. But it would be rude to decline someone's offer, especially in a public place like this, not to mention the one who was funding her academic life. Without a choice, Celine accepted and kept me by her side as we entered Aerin's carriage.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone