“I saved you when we first met,” Herscherik reminded him.
“...Well, I gave you some intel after that. We’re even.”
“And after that, I showed you where the paper was. That would have taken you a lot longer to find.”
After some back and forth, Kuro surrendered. He had figured out that Herscherik wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He pointed out one of the several rifts in the barrier where Herscherik could pass through.
The passage was behind a building that housed laboratories and archive rooms. Under the shade of a tree, there was an old underground aqueduct that had fallen out of use. The entire thing was neither noticed nor maintained by anyone, and this little tunnel was tall and wide enough for a child to walk through without crouching down. The end of the aqueduct was obstructed by metal bars, which easily came off on a hinge when Herscherik turned the specific mechanism Kuro had mentioned. Herscherik slipped through the barred gate with ease. The water in the tunnel seemed to have dried up decades ago, so Herscherik didn’t notice any moisture or odor. He turned the same mechanism on the metal barred gate on the other end of the tunnel, which was also shaded by a tree. Just like that, he’d made it out of the castle.
No afternoon classes today, and I told Meria I was going to the library. I’m in the clear.
If Meria decided to look for him, he would tell her that he had been playing hide and seek or had been holed up in his secret lair or something.
He had made his way into the castle town for the first time.
Are these prices lower than they were in Japan...?
Herscherik compared the prices on the items for sale with those from his previous life. The cabbage-like vegetable before him, for example, was sold for ten bronze coins a head. The pile of clothes labeled “clearance” at the front of the apparel store were 50 bronze coins a piece. Under the theory that a bronze coin equated to about ten yen, a hundred yen for a head of cabbage would have been a pretty good price in Japan.
But the castle buys them for two silver coins a head. There might be some markup for delivering them to the castle, but twenty times the market price is too much.
It was easy to imagine that the exorbitant profit was ending up in someone’s pocket. Just as Herscherik was sinking deep into his thoughts, a ruckus erupted from within the crowd a short distance away.
“Again?” the shopkeeper of a nearby general store asked a passerby.
“Yeah, looks like some constables are making up another ridiculous charge.” The passerby frowned. “The constabulary and the commerce guild have been butting heads, lately. That poor lady at the fruit stand... Her husband’s not there today, so they’re ganging up on her...”
Without waiting for the passerby to finish his sentence, Herscherik began to jog toward the center of the commotion. After squeezing his tiny body through the crowd with much effort, Herscherik emerged on the other side just in time to see a basket of apple-like fruit spilling onto the ground.
“Stop! Please!” a woman cried.
Herscherik turned to the voice to find a woman arguing with a few men in front of a tent that housed various fruits. She was a very healthy-looking and attractive woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. Her reddish-brown hair was tied in a braid, and the tan arms peeking out of her sleeves looked well-worked and ready for heavy lifting. Even so, her figure still sported feminine curves, giving the woman a particular allure that was in complete contrast with the queens Herscherik had met in the royal quarters. The woman looked flustered, surrounded by three constables.
“You know you can’t display merchandise outside of the designated areas, miss.”
“I haven’t!”
“We saw you doing it.”
“That’s what you keep saying! Where’s your proof!?” the woman shouted.
The three men snickered amongst themselves. “Where’s your proof that you haven’t? It’s best to ask for a witness in cases like this. Is anyone here willing to testify that none of her merchandise was displayed outside her allocated space?”
The constables surveyed the crowd. Everyone just averted their eyes and fell silent. No one wanted any part of this.
How clichéd...
Herscherik let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. He didn’t expect to encounter such a two-dimensional yet still repellent melodrama.
The constabulary was the governmental department tasked with keeping the peace within the country. As Herscherik understood it, they were the equivalent of a police force. Anyone in the crowd would have let out a sigh at the corruption on display from these constables if they could have. They were supposed to protect the citizens, after all. Still, no one in the crowd spoke up. Most seemed to feel sorry for the woman, but they didn’t want to put themselves in danger.
“We wouldn’t mind talking this over at headquarters, you know. Now, if you show us a little remorse...” With a vile grin, one of the constables gave his comrades a look before sticking his hand out. It was clear to see what form of “remorse” he was looking for.
Making a threat and demanding a bribe...?
Herscherik couldn’t take it anymore. He shuddered to imagine what the people thought of their royal family when the constables, who interacted with the commoners more than any other group of government employees, acted like this. “Each of you are the face of the company,” Ryoko had often been told at her job. A good interaction between a single employee and the company’s customers and vendors could build trust and generate profit. The opposite was also true; the attitude of a single employee could drag a company down. These constables were representatives of the government. How could the country earn the people’s trust when their agents acted this way? Moreover, people like this had always made Ryoko’s blood boil.
“Hello, Miss! I’m back!” Herscherik jumped out of the crowd as he threw back his hood, revealing a well-mannered and friendly smile.
The sudden outburst of a child’s voice halted the murmuring of the crowd. They were all staring at the little kid who looked as picturesque as a fairy straight out of a storybook. They noticed his blond hair that shone like a ray of sunshine, and his gentle, sky blue, gem-like eyes. He really did look exactly like some sort of fairy who had come to announce the arrival of a blooming spring. Everyone in the crowd noticed his clothes and concluded that the child was of noble birth. Most would have believed if someone had told them that the child was a girl, if it wasn’t for the hem of Herscherik’s trousers sticking out from under his poncho. No noble’s daughter would have been caught wearing pants. Still, some in the crowd might have mistaken him for an adorable girl just judging by Herscherik’s sheer beauty.