Chapter 30: Shopping With a Smile
After this, we were able to spend the rest of our meal in calm.
Allister received the oatmeal he wanted, which strangely made him extremely grateful toward me. Cynthia also received what she wanted, even if I could notice she still looked disappointed from not having received her ice cream.
Similarly, Clair mocked Cynthia for having such a dirty meal, as she called it, contrary to her who had an extremely simple meal of yogurt of skiddo milk, with some sliced berries of multiple kinds covered with combee honey. She did seem shocked that there was even honey in the food, but she also refused to change it despite being proposed to...so I don't understand why she even complained in the first instance.
Of course Cynthia didn't appreciate her judgement and said that if she needed to follow such a strict diet just to still look as ugly, then she might as well eat like her.
Clair wanted to reply, but once, a quick frightened look toward me was enough to make her drop the matter.
I really don't…appreciate? Is that the word? Well I'm not sure I like this look…it was the same people threw at me when they saw me…and also right before trying to beat me.
…I hope she will stop looking at me like this eventually…at least that it will be replaced by a look of neutrality…or just disgust if possible.
Those who look at me with disgust only walk away from me while throwing some words, at least these don't hurt me.
Then there was Mina who seemed happy with just a berry salad with some apple sauce of a dipplin versed on top of it. She didn't speak much during the meal despite clearly loving to do it with how much she spoke to me earlier. Instead, she just brought out an empty canvas and started to scribble it with a pen.
As it was probably private, I tried to not look upon it despite my curiosity…I hope it was not a drawing of me as a monster…I think that Mina looks very friendly and nice…so I wouldn't want her to hate me.
Then for the newcomer, there was Sabrina who hadn't uttered a single word since the moment she came, no matter how much Cynthia tried to speak to her. Well it is probable that she just answered inside their head, as they all seemed to understand what she meant, despite being very brief about her information.
It seemed that she commanded herself just two tranches of bread with absolutely nothing on it, or beside it, so I can guess she wasn't very hungry.
I don't think that I will be able to become her friend, she doesn't even seem to trust me at all, nor anyone around us. And my current plan is to make everyone trust me so they can consider being my friend, then maybe try to trust them myself.
Finally, there was Bea who seemed the most energetic of everyone here. She stood right beside Allister and she was the one who talked the most with Cynthia during the meal. Weirdly, I expected that this would cause Cynthia to appreciate her more, but she seemed more worried about her than happy. She didn't even show this toward me, so I wonder what caused this reaction from her.
For her plate, it was filled with multiple kinds of pokemon meat, like some lechonk jambon, tepig bacon, some swinbun sausage, and finally a chansey omelette. I'm sure there was more than that, like some sandwiches, but she ate them so fast I was barely able to identify their content.
I did learn right after that apparently, this isn't some actual pokemon meat, but a replicate made out of vegetable material that can only be found in Sinnoh. Apparently this is where the economic strength of the Goldwin clan came from, as they can monopolize this resource…well they could if Volo permitted them from doing so, but apparently he is giving away this resource for free in almost infinite quantities. But it was still necessary to make a deal with them anyway, so their economic strength still soared to the sky…even if apparently they have some internal problem right now. All that to say is that despite testing like a pokemon, having the same texture and nutriment of meat, this was not pokemon meat.
Anyway, it is not like it was possible for humans to eat pokemon meat, they were fully charged with pokenergy after all, which is basically an extremely spicy and unsuasible spice for the human body. Well that's what I've read in a rare book I was able to receive after my progenitor threw it at me.
…Then I wonder why there are still people hungry in the world. Wouldn't it be easy to fix it? They can't be that greedy, well at least not more than Volo…right?
But that was everything worth mentioning about our meal, as now we all left the cafeteria and moved to…
"Mi. (Don't you forget something?)
What do you mean?
…oh right, I forgot to mention that all of our pokemon were also fed with some amazing food, it looked weird to me, but according to Pandora it tasted amazing.
I tried one too, and it did taste good, but everyone, and I mean everyone, even Sabrina, looked at me with concern when I spoke about my opinion on it.
Apparently, I shouldn't eat pokemon food…what a weird habit this world has.
"Kyu? (What about you?)"
Eh? What do you mean Pandora?
"Mikyu? (What did you eat?)"
Don't you already know what the answer is?
"Miyu. (Other than my food.)"
…I ate a vegetal soup that tasted absolutely nothing, with some white cube that tasted absolutely nothing, with some green onion, that tasted absolutely nothing…and it was hot…which is bad…so I was forced to wait for it to cool down, which forced everyone else to wait for me. Making me a bother, once again!
…happy now? I just narrated to you again how much of a failure I am…I can't even eat things right…
"Mimi, ryku…myrikumi? (But for once, you lived…wasn't it wonderful?)"
…That what we call living?
…it seems like a lot of…worthless things that combine each other to be as worthless as before…
"Luciel?" I was distracted from my thoughts by my shoulder being gently snuggling. "What is he saying?" It was Allister, who despite seeming more confident since Bea arrived, still preferred to hide behind me…which meant I won!
…oh right! The question! "He was asking what I was eating despite clearly having seen it."
"Oh…did he wanted to eat it?"
Hmm, good question.
Did you?
"Mimiyu, myru. (Of course not, you just said it was tasteless.)" Pandora responded with a silent snickering between his speech.
"He said he didn't find it eatable." I said while trying to suppress my grumble.
"Really? Well I guess it makes sense, this is more considerate more of a medicinal soup, apparently it helps give back a lot of energy and heal your body, but it tastes really bad in return."
"Bad? But I tasted absolutely nothing?"
"Really? Then the chef must be really good."
…oh…so he actually did his best to make something disgusting at least being eatable…for me?
…why do people bother about me so much here? What do they want? Didn't they already get the island?! I know it was written in the contract they would take care of me, but when they said that I expected that they would take care of me by feeding me one berry per week while isolating me deep into a basement until even the law forgot about me.
It wouldn't even take too much time anyway…what are they planning then?
No…it shouldn't be important, right now the only thing that matters is to try to enjoy living.
So I should only feel happiness for the rest of the day!
…wait, how does it feel?
…well I suppose today is the best day to answer this question.
After some more walking, we finally reached a giant metallic white sliding door, that was separated in half, as the academy logo was placed right in the center.
The commercial district was right on the other side, and to access it, we had to scan our meltan against a scanner to open the door.
The moment it opened, a wave of fresh air hit us, but it wasn't too cold, just enough to make us feel more at ease. But the light emitted by the room forced me to put my umbrella in front of me to protect me from the rays.
The reason soon became apparent to me, as the commerce district was actually shaped as a giant circle with eight distinct shops on each side. However, my problem situated itself above the center, as a giant orange rock with several pointy extremities resided there and emitted powerful sun rays toward us.
And under the sun, was a fountain with multiple statues of aquatic pokemon spitting water upon the basin of crystal with a strange pattern of oval yellow shape at the bottom. The art was probably made out of the hand of an expert as each pokemon depicted looked almost real. There was one exception however, and that was the pokemon standing at the top, where all the water was directed to, looked extremely blurry, as if the creator had no idea how it really looked. So presently it only looked like a droplet of water with a leg and a brilliant smile.
Around the fountain were some seats and a wooden table that invited us to sit there to relax after a long day of shopping.
"Only eight shops?" Cynthia exclaimed in confusion as she looked around the room with heavy judgment.
"What…what the problem with that?" Allister questioned, and I also agreed with him. It was true that the eight shops weren't that impressive by themselves, but what was important to note was that each of them was selling different merchandise! Usually, we were lucky if among the twenty self-proclaimed merchants were selling something different than berries. But this school had eight of them, and they were absolutely gigantic too!
Cynthia looked at Allister strangely, before arriving at some sort of conclusion as she showed a calmer expression. "I'm not sure how it goes in your hometown, but usually there are multiple shops inside a mall in order to create competition in the industry. So that's why I find it weird that the academy that flaunts so much money doesn't even follow this principle."
Allister nodded as if he understood the reasoning, "…I see…do you know why they would limit themselves then?"
"I sincerely have no idea." Cynthia responded with the same confusion as earlier.
"Aren't you supposed to be from a clan of merchants? How do you not know the answer?" Clair snarkily remarked.
Cynthia's expression fell before looked at Clair as if she wanted to rebuke her argument, but she turned her head away while grumbling. Probably because even she could admit that Clair had a point.
"Then they must simply have battled until only one company emerged as a winner, giving them the right to sell their products here!" Bea confidently answered, but she was only met with the gaze of incredulity from the group.
"Isn't it because the competition comes from being able to sell their merchandise here in the first place? Every company would want to have the right to place their product there, as the simple fact that it was deemed of high quality by the academy in the first place would make for excellent publicity." I try to give an answer more believable than the one of Bea, making the group look at me in curiosity, with the exception of Sabrina who simply stayed fixed on the fountain. "This academy wants to from the next generation of elite, isn't that right?"
"You're indeed right lord Luciel." Clair made it her duty to answer my questions.
"Thanks, Clair, but that also means that everyone attempting the academy will soon become the most influential people on the planet, so if the company are able to sell their product here, they will be able to create a relationship with the student, and if everything goes right, they will gain sponsorship easily from them."
"Oh, that makes sense." Cynthia nodded calmly at my answer, making me quite pleased that I was able to give her access to a part of the truth.
"Sorry…is there a reason why we stopped moving? If yes…can I go sit on this bench?" Mina asked while covering her mouth to stop a yawn from leaving her body.
"Ah right! We weren't there to learn how these industry make their money, but to buy clothes!" Cynthia exclaimed in joy before searching for what shop was the one we were looking for, before settling on the shop that displayed an insigne with clothes.
"Eh, well at least they made it obvious." She said with an awkward smile before walking toward it.
I hope it will be worth living.
***
Eh…sooooo mannyyyyy preeeetttttyyyy flooooowwwwerrrr…
Sooooo maaaaannnnyyyy cuuuuutttttteeeee…pooookkkkkeeeemmmmooonnnn.
They all look so funny…oh! Is that Kitty! Come here Kitty, I want to fluff your fluffable tail!
Yes, come to mama!
Oh, how cute do you look with these big eyes, your cute nose, your face that looks exactly like the two pretty girls that have the opportunity to serve lord Natural.
"Yellow Harmdilo."
Oh! Yes Kitty, that is exactly how you are supposed to say my name! That wonderful! Let me hug you even more!
Eheheheh, snuggle snuggle snuggle.
"Wake up."
Hmmm? Why do you want me to wake up Kitty? Do you not like the snuggle? No you love the snuggle…and anyways how am I supposed to wake up? Are you saying I'm currently dreaming? Don't be silly.
"…would you be as kind as to take her pillow sister?"
My pillow…what are you talking about Ki…
"AH! I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAKE!" I immediately wake up in shock, just to see Anthea and Concordia looking at me with an exasperated look.
Both of them were standing just beside my bed, already fully dressed in their normal clothes, with their hair carefully combed, which contrasted the wrinkle on my clothes and my messy hair. "…I woke up too late didn't I?" I didn't even try to make any excuses and just lowered my head, ready for the sermon I will receive.
Indeed, as in exchange for keeping my mind for myself, I was asked to also become one of the maids for lord Harmonia. Of course he didn't word it like that, but I'm sure if I had refused his demand at first, then I wouldn't be able to refuse his second.
"I'm sorry for waking up too late." I immediately apologized, as despite all the excuses I could make, it was still my fault for not waking up at the time they asked.
To my relief, I could see their eye soften when they heard my apologies. "It's fine, lord Harmonia likes to wake up late, so your mistake shouldn't pose a problem."
"Not like he would mind even if it did cause a problem." Concordia added with a soft smile.
But before I could sigh out of relief, their gaze hardened once more. "But do not think this would allow you to neglect your conduct as a maid!"
"Indeed, even if they're is no need to, being ready before your master is simply the most basic aspect of your training!"
Ah…I spoke too soon.
"I promise I will try my best to wake up early tomorrow!" I promised them immediately, as my uncle always said that apologizing only works if they are followed by action.
"If you're truly sorry, then prepare yourself. We will meet in the kitchen so we can teach you how to cook for our lord."
I was about to agree until I remarked something weird about what they just said. "Wait? We're going to cook? Why don't we go to the cafeteria?"
"Because they won't be able to prepare the food exactly as our master cherishes." Anthea responded as a matter of fact, with Concordia nodding in agreement right beside her.
"But…how can we be sure of it?" I innocently asked, before immediately regretted it as both of the maids looked at me with an icy gaze.
"Do you dare say that our skills are below those of a common employee!?"
"Nonononononono!" I said in panic while moving my arm in front of me.
"Then speak! What were you trying to intend?!"
"It's just that this chef already prepared the food for him…didn't he?"
Concordia raised an eyebrow before gesturing to me to continue.
"So I just thought that he would probably be sad if he learned that a student wouldn't even bother eating his food because he thinks it wouldn't fit his standard." I tried to justify my way of thinking, and to my joy, they actually seemed to calm down and consider my proposition.
"You're not wrong…and most students would probably go eat there too." Concordia murmured.
"So if they learn lord Harmonia isn't going there, they will think he is snobbish. Which could harm his reputation." Anthea nodded along and even started to look at me with pride. "Wonderful that you were able to think so far ahead for the well-being of our lord."
I…I didn't think this far ahead…and why should he worry about his reputation? Couldn't his power just allow him to force everyone else to like him?
…oh! I get it, it must be because he's just a good person! He wishes that everyone loves him by their own willingness. I'm sure it was just a mistake on his part to make me think of him as the master I must serve no matter the cost.
I briefly looked at my shoulder before smiling.
Right, how could I think that he could be evil, he was willing to suffer just to heal me, no one who is ready to do that can be a bad guy. He must just be really awkward socially…
…then if I'm supposed to become his maid, then I might as well try my best to serve him to the best of my capability so he can become a better person.
And then maybe, the splendid prince will slowly fall in love with his lowly maid and bless her with the sparkle in his eye!
We newfound motivation, I stood up from my bed while making sure Kitty was comfortably installed on my shoulder.
"Hmm, it seems you realized something, that great." Concordia remarked, while being unknown to my scandalous thought.
"Also, don't think that because we agree with your idea you will be free from your cooking session. As if the food served by the chef is simply uneatable, then we shall stay with the original plan." Anthea added with more seriousness in her voice.
"Don't worry! I actually love cooking, so I am more than willing to learn." I responded with a smile before taking my outfit from the chair I left it on before going to sleep last night. "Also, I'm just proposing, but what about we try to help Natural find more friends?"
They scowed at the proposition, leaving me in confusion as I slipped on my poncho over the white camisole I just slept in.
Noticing my confusion, and maybe even my dread that I made a big mistake, Anthea explained to me the reason for their reaction. "Our lord would indeed be interested in making more friends, but sadly too many people would be interested in taking advantage of him."
I froze for a moment, as I completely forgot that being a king meant much more than just the title and the right to stand on a shiny galarian rapidash.
Poor him, someone as innocent as him must suffer from a lot of manipulation from people who want to profit from his honesty…no, he is still a king, so he must have been taught how to recognize the pattern of people manipulating him. But it still wouldn't be a nice experience, as it would just lower his trust in others.
I threw a quick look at my new partner before understanding the situation better.
"So we must first do some analysis on the personality of everyone before allowing them to stay close to our master? Is that it?" I asked to confirm my guest, who was immediately confirmed with them nodding.
But despite receiving the confirmation, I still found it wrong. "What if instead of limiting his options to only the people who are nice, we make everyone nice so he can have as many options as he wants!" I proposed ambitiously with a big smile on my face.
It also seemed as if Kitty understood what I meant as it bombed its torso to be as confident as me.
Both Concordia and Athea looked at me with surprise before looking at me with pity. "It very commendable what you are proposing, and it exactly for this reason that our master decided to choose you…but…"
"…but not everyone wants to be a good person. Like the Gloom Archon for example, as a normal esper, I'm sure you also detected his innate selfishness, didn't you?"
My confidence broke as I looked at the side with hesitation, as I deeply remember the fear and malice I felt deep inside him. No matter how much goodwill I was able to produce, I still wasn't able to see a single scenario where he would act as a good person.
But this reaction allowed Concordia to receive her answer. "It seems you indeed did, then you must understand that there no chance someone like him decide to have any good intention toward anyone. He will probably only use everyone surrounding him, lying to them and manipulating them just to serve him without any care about their well being."
"Happily, we won't have to worry about this fiend, as he was killed by the War Archon."
"Are we sure he is dead?"
"If the lord says he's dead, then he must be dead."
"Oh." I murmured, still not entirely convinced of the explanation…I suppose it is because I still lack faith in him.
"It seems you don't understand, while we must follow our master's every desire, it is still our duty to remind him if he is wrong, we must not always approve of what he wants, especially if it can cause him harm." Anthea elaborated. "So in this case, we do not trust him blindly, but we trust his opinion because among everyone that was in the room, only the Ethereal Archon could make a judgement as efficient as Lord Harmonia."
"Indeed, should I remind you that our master is the Nature Archon, even if his capacity is more directed toward healing, it is still easy for him to detect if someone is dead or not."
I nodded absent-mindedly, but deep down I only felt a sense of regret. Despite knowing that he didn't have an ounce of goodwill inside him, I'm sure that with enough time, I could have redeemed him. And maybe we could even have been friends…
…and no one deserves to die like that…not even him…
No…anyone who is able to smile shouldn't have to die in any kind of way.
***
"Alright Luciel, smile for the mirior!" Cynthia said with an excited gaze as she looked at me in my new outfit.
I tried to smile as gave the command, but it seemed as if she instantly regretted it as she asked me to stop right after, saying that my neutral expression made it more good-looking, but I knew it was a lie.
It was a completely white suit with a single black bowtie on my neck. Sincerely, the clothes were apparently made out of a leavany, which was basically among the top three of the best silk among pokemon as despite being not only very durable, it was also extremely flexible and soft on the skin. Also, colour was extremely easy to add to the clothes after this.
The other candidate is apparently frosmoth silk, which can produce silk that can change temperature to always make the wearer feel fresh. But it was also pretty fragile so not something to always use. Finally, the other candidate was apparently a state secret, but it was apparently the hardest thread among every pokemon, and like frosmoth, it could change temperature, except in this case it was to heat up the wearer. So I'm not sure I would like it even if they had any disponible.
Because of course they didn't, this silk was so rare that only the royal family had access to it, and it was used as an armour in case of any assassination attempts, as it was even more durable than steel.
"So, do you like it? Personally I think it goes very well on you, it makes a good contrast with you, with innocence and professionalism!"
She said with excitation, but personally I didn't see the same appeal as her. As the only thing this suit brought out was how ugly I looked compared to it.
"I think I don't look good in it." I murmured as if I was scared to speak out loud my opinion.
But to my relief, Cynthia didn't seem mad and simply nodded before going back into the shop to search for now clothes I could wear.
This gave Allister the opportunity to advance in the line so he could hand over to me another piece of clothing. "I…I found this one…I…I think you would look…cute in it…it's called a montsuki…" He showed me an elaborate outfit that was completely white, with a purple waistband that gave it a few colour while it was combined with the purple flower sewn on the sleeve.
As most outfit in this shop, it was convinced by an amazing weaver, yet I didn't show any other emotion as I stepped into the the changing zone.
This was how it have gone for several hours now.
At first, Cynthia was excited by how much selection there was, and she went into a shopping spree, until her smile fell when she saw the price for the simplest clothes available.
Just one pair of completely normal white shocks made out of tarantula silk cost 20 SP.
Upon verification of their own reserve, Cynthia and the other realized they only received 100 SP, making their desire to buy everything immediately calm down.
Well that what I thought until I mentioned that I had infinite SP, so I could easily buy everything they wanted, but for some strange reason, they refused my offer with a lot of hesitation.
…with the exception of Mina, who seemed happy to buy a pillow that cost 3500 SP…I didn't know pillows were this cheap…I wonder how much a bed should sell for? Probably one billion trillion SP, which seems reasonable for such an incredible creation.
So I just figured they just wanted to buy nothing, so I was ready to leave, but for some reason, they insisted that I still buy clothes for myself.
So for the last hour, I tried a lot of different clothes, and for some strange reason, only Cynthia and Clair bring me masculine clothes, and the others tried to bring me more feminine clothes.
…also, Allister was the only one who actually brought me any kimono or other Jhoto oriental style of clothing, the rest were always trying to bring me more leisure clothes, especially Mina.
But what they didn't know, was that I used the opportunity when they were dressing me up to learn more about him, to make my new plan work!
I had this idea the moment Cynthia said they couldn't afford anything!
With this, I would easily be able to secure them as my friends!
After finishing wearing the outfit Allister brought me, I left the cabin, just to meet the sudden blushing face of Allister when he saw me, most probably because he was trying to make himself stop laughing at how ugly I looked.
Well, at least it can't compare to how ugly I was when Bea brought me a red outfit, as I didn't even leave the cabin when our attendant already fainted out of fear, probably the fear of seeing me tarnish their clothes, especially when it seemed they didn't expect anyone to be able to really buy their clothes today. Apparently they didn't even expect any client at all as they were still organising the shop.
And it wasn't only her, as all my other friends also looked at me with deep terror when I left the cabin, to the point they completely stopped bringing me red clothes.
But right now, the most expressive expression probably came from Clair, as she looked quite conflicted. "I suppose if someone is worthy of wearing it, it would be him…"
…what does that mean?
…wait? Does this outfit actually look hideous for them, so it fits me perfectly?
Well… that's great, I really like this outfit, and if they think I don't degrade the clothes by simply wearing them, then I don't have to worry.
"I…I like them…I will take them."
Allister's eye widened even more as his blush reached his ear, but he slowly nodded while trying his best to avoid my eye.
Yes, he is probably trying his best to not laugh right now.
Totally.