The rest of the way was rather quiet, since wherever they went, the people would only look but not make any mischief. Unlike before, there was fear beneath their curiosity.
The two of them had to turn several alleys and streets until they found an opening. It was a rather bustling court, very different from the silent and awkward streets they had walked through earlier.
Evening sunlight fell on to the crowd as a sense of living in a fantasy engulfed Shen Yu. He stared wide eyed at the local folks, noticing every detail with his sharp elven eyes. The women here wore very festive gowns, pink, blue, yellow, red, the color and pattern were rich but certainly not stitched with expensive material. On the other hand, the men wore the customary black and white overalls, monotonous and crude.
There were a few children playing around the corner and some old people sat beneath a lonesome tree which provided some shade from the warm sun. The clearing was edged with parallel running shops, ranging from clothing, to eatery, to stationery, to grocery. Until now they hadn’t seen any inn around, and Shen Yu was puzzled about where guests usually stayed here. If there was no such concept here, then it would be rather troublesome.
Well… he will let Kai think about it.
Shen Yu quickly shifted his attention to the passing cute couples, who were giggling along in their own little world, the noise from the bustling street shops very loud. Kai gestured to him that he needed to be quiet, to which Shen Yu nodded hurriedly. The people here didn’t seem to like elves, so it was better for him to not talk too much.
Upon reaching a food stall, he realized that they were here to eat. And maybe get some directions to a local inn.
“What do you sell here?” Kai asked with a soothing voice, his face and demeanor changing to uphold a very mysterious air about himself. He looked to be some noble with a powerful backer, just crossing a town in passing. This upright personality made the stall owner instinctively humble himself.
“Ah… s-sir, I, this humble one sells Darushi and Kuaza, they are freshly prepared with fruits and herbs.”
“Oh, looks very neat, is it very sweet?” Kai smiled at the stall owner, who stared at the handsome young man with awe, and the stall owner wasn’t the only one who was bewitched by the stranger, even the guest eaters and neighboring stall owners glanced his way with a noticeable hint of interest.
Shen Yu took a quick glance at that charming face, which was smiling brightly like a sunny sunshine, a slow enacting shiver ran his spine as layers of goosebumps erupted on his arms and neck. This fake Kai was really…
“This is indeed a little sweet, but not too much, even a little sour.” The stall owner gestured to his own dishes, slightly hesitant whether the customer would run away if he didn’t like sweets. But contrary to his prediction, the young man gave another big smile and pointed at his sweetest selection, “Pack two of each, add some more herbs in it.”
As Kai spoke to the stall owner, and chatted idly about recent news and rumors, Shen Yu found himself being the center of attention as well, since several naughty children pointed at his ears and hair in astonishment, and many women and men took in his unkempt appearance with secret skepticism.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“…sir, if I may ask, is this your slave?” a bold voice entered Shen Yu’s ear as he looked up to notice a stall customer pointing at himself, his face showed an obvious wonder as his eyes withheld some unknown emotion. His temperament was very humble, and he seemed to know something about the two of them, looking very deferential.
“He is Vinir, my companion. I found him in the deep woods, injured, so I took him in.” Kai smiled as he glanced as Shen Yu, “He wanted to leave his tribe due to some inner scuffle…” Kai added thoughtfully, very benevolent, “so I don’t like it when others are rude to him, we just had an unexpected encounter with a lady before, she poured dirty water on him and I was not too happy with her…”
“Ah, no wonder he smells…”
“Our town can be a little mischievous…”
“Sir, don’t mind her too much, all here are good people.”
Kai nodded, looking very patient and gentle, “I know, I don’t think everyone is the same, but would anyone here know anything about the forest? My master is specifically worried about this area.”
When the others heard he had a master, they all looked at each other with hidden thoughts, Shen Yu felt that they were a little more restrained than before.
“Ah, sir, you don’t know then, recently, the dark elves were seen leaving the forest, it scared us to death,” one of the stall owners commented with some fear in his eyes, “although we don’t have any grudges, and they haven’t attacked us, but a few light elves…” he paused as he stared at Shen Yu, “certainly not him… but, like him, there were some light elves who attacked us merchants when we were crossing the forest track. Because of this nobody is inclined to go outside these days, we fear something bad is happening inside…”
A few of the other stall owners nodded in agreement as some women and men hurried to tell their tale.
In the end the conclusion was that both light and dark elves, even several other creatures that resided in the forest, were in-fighting, and because of this, the humans were suffering.
“Thank you for telling me, I will also share this news with the upper echelon and bring it to their attention.” Kai said calmly, “I also want to ask if there is an inn around here where we can rest, it has been a long journey. It would be good if we are not disturbed.”
“Ah, that would be around…”
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[41.3 Trillion Viewer Count]. [Barrage Heat: warm]
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[Patriach_Isabella: Although the tale was interesting, I am not sure if this is entirely true, didn’t we see those black elves taking a step back when Shen Yu and Hunter arrived at the town gate?]
[HormonalNixie_White: The people look innocent to me, although they attacked Shen Yu, this bunch didn’t seem very rude? And that lady also only splashed some dirty water… not much of a bully I guess.]
[HaebeBlack: Shen Yu was attacked with only a little bit of water so it’s okay I guess… NOT! You sweet dumplings think that those people would have stopped attacking Shen Yu and let him be after that? No! It was just a testing round, don’t you see the group unity in this town, they were only deterred when Hunter attacked them back. And these people have something going on with them, they certainly aren’t as innocent. Humph!]
[Kanon_Is23: Upstairs, I agree with you, but can we not look at everyone with scrutiny, I think they are not evil, certainly not white lotus kind, but definitely not a devil.]
[JusticeInformer_WhiteBlack: Uwu~ They are both so cute. I also love the way Hunter changes face like changing clothes.]
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After listening to the directions provided by the locals, Kai bade them farewell, bringing Shen Yu to a clothing store not far off, his hands full with baked goods that they would eat once they found the inn.
The clothing store was also full of women and children, they were waiting in line to take a look at the fabric of the new arrivals in town, and there was a lot of loud noise inside the store which made the environment very rickety.
“Yes sir?” A manager asked Kai as soon as he saw him entering the store, maybe it was the presence of someone with influence that led to the manager spotting him right away. His eyes were bright as he meticulously introduced some new and ‘high quality’ fabrics. All of them were rough looking and pretty cheap, so the manager must have increased the pricing, because Shen Yu saw Kai frowning at him.
“Ah, we can lower the price, no worries, but do you like this?” the store manager asked, pointing at a white shirt with slightly different design, and fuller sleeves, “the lace pattern is something you won’t see very often,” he added meekly when Kai stared at him with his deep dark eyes.
After a small stalemate, the manager obviously gave in first, “W-We can make more adjustments if the size isn’t right, no extra cost.”
Kai nodded approvingly, “Two shirts and two pants, his size,” he pointed at Shen Yu who was behind him, the manager had to lean sideways to see the small elf, “give him new boots too, or is there a different store for that?”
“No, no, no, we have it all here, from inner garments to outer ones…” the manager slowed down towards the end, looking at the crowd which was starting to stiffen from a certain foul smell.
He hadn’t realized where it came from before, but right now, in the enclosed space, the source of this smell was difficult to miss.
“…this sir,” the manager looked at Shen Yu with some hesitation, as if he feared the elf won’t understand his meaning, “please come with me to the side, it is too crowded here.” He was very likely trying to get the smelly elf away from the crowd, so as not to disturb the other customers. He was only tactful about it due to the presence of this distinguished scholar who seemed to know every little thought running through his head. What a hard stone he stumbled into!
Kai nodded towards Shen Yu, giving his approval, his face not even tightening when he gently pushed the elf forward, “I am right outside, you select what you like, I will pay so don’t haggle.”
Shen Yu nodded in agreement and followed the manager to a distant corner inside the store, there was little crowd around here, so he relaxed a little. Still, he found that changing location was just a ruse, because all the bargaining women and their kids, even the counter personnel, where all looking his way, staring at him pointedly and whispering something to themselves.
“Is this good?” the manager asked cautiously, his hands shaking a little but his face remaining perfectly passive, it took all his years of practice to keep a straight face. In tales, elves were often depicted as forest monsters to scare children, but right now, that awful smell was enough to make him tremble. He didn’t have the mind to guess why a deep forest elf would tag along with a human… or if that young man was a human.
Shen Yu didn’t respond to what the manager said, but instead, he pointed at a small set of pants, which were shorter and ended at knee length. “This one and that one too, I like both, but change them to black,” he motioned towards another floaty set of trousers with a baggy look to it, the design had some modern aesthetics.
Maybe it was the clarity with which he spoke or the way he spoke it, the onlookers were stunned for a while and the manager was no different.
Looking at the shocked expression, Shen Yu smiled inside in glee at having rendered someone speechless, did they think he was stupid?
Just then, a boisterous laugh came from inside, as a strong and towering man with ruddy cheeks came to the counter, his eyes taking in the little elf who was very eloquent and human like.
“This little master, forgive this owner’s people, they are still training under me,” he said with a chirp, and dragged out a pair of shorts which were bound with leather belt and frills, “will you try this one, it might look good on this sir.”
Shen Yu looked and frowned, “But aren’t they too short? Only young boys wear such pants.” Shen Yu wasn’t scared of this brawny stranger who took over the manager; he was rather wondering why the man thought he would look good in some skimpy collection…
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[A/N] – Thank you for asking about my well being, I am doing fine now, and things are looking up a bit. Again, thank you for reading and commenting!
well looking forward to more chapters then 🙂
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
I find that kinda amusing.I really am liking this story now that I got back to it.
I will wait to see what happens next in the upcoming chapters.Have a wonderful day Author-san.
🙂
Thanks for the chapter! I vote to get Shen Yu a bath
… well, it’s not like you WON’T look good in this … Skimpy collection… Giggling
So cute! Can’t wait to see which clothes he ends up buying (・∀・)
Thank you for the chapter ❤
I want him to take a shower before he changes into those clothes eheheh
Not sure how Kai would feel about a skimpy Collection. On one hand he gets to see scantily clad wife. On the other hand EVERYONE gets to see scantily clad wife.