“Yeah, true...hold it! Quit dodging! Lanze, you totally said something to big sis Lacey, didn’t you?!”
“Hyuk hyuk.”
“What kind of laugh is that?!”
Allen had completely stopped being formal with Lanze and was behaving true to himself. While he thought of Lanze as a respected adult, he just wasn’t showing it in his attitude. After all, Lanze had always acted like this. He reacted blithely to Allen and would always slide around whatever grievances he brought up.
“Look ahead, Allen, we’re almost at the capital. Hold tight to the reins, if you would, please.”
Allen was accompanying Lanze in the first place to help with his business. His expression swiftly changed. “Got it.” He nodded firmly before preparing to put on his robe.
After a few of these visits to the capital, Allen had learned that Lanze was using every method at his disposal to sell Lacey’s products. The first time, they’d transferred the carriage and all its cargo to another person, but on some days, they just went right on through. Today they were just delivering. Allen and Lanze handed over the goods to another merchant and received money in exchange.
“We don’t have to sell all of it directly. Selling it ourselves does yield greater profits, of course, but we’re selling our time as well. Keep in mind that there are many methods of selling.”
“Okay.”
With that said, the reason Lanze had so many options to choose from was probably that he had lots of connections. This wasn’t something Allen could imitate anytime soon.
“What will you do? I’m going to go look at cloth to bring Miss Lacey. It’s the same place that I brought you to before. Would you prefer to roam around the capital today? I believe it could prove educational.”
“I guess I’ll do that, then.”
“Then let’s meet back in front of the inn when the sun is directly overhead. We can get lunch at the same time.”
“All right.”
“Be careful not to get lost.”
“I won’t!”
So Allen shot back, but he actually was a little nervous. He’d been born and raised in Plume Village, so he wasn’t used to the sheer number of people here.
After watching Lanze walk off, Allen decided to first learn the roads. He started by checking out the nearby streets and beating them into his head. He repeated this painstakingly to an almost unnecessary degree.
Allen had learned lately that this kind of work unexpectedly agreed with him. He could easily memorize numbers, faces, and even things he had been completely unfamiliar with before. He just hadn’t noticed this because he already knew everyone in Plume Village.
While he did this, he also observed the city folk. They certainly seemed more sophisticated than the Plume villagers and seemed to be more conscious of certain things like their clothing. The street stalls hollering to attract the notice of customers, signs on shop fronts, and the people who stopped to look at them all gave Allen ideas.
Maybe I’ll remake the sign I made for big sis Lacey. Appearances really were important.
Although Lacey’s workload was consistently increasing, she had lamented that she wasn’t getting any more clients. Remembering this, Allen decided on what he’d do once he got back.
Around when Allen started to feel like it was time to go meet up with Lanze, a large, familiar man came by. When he saw the sword buckled at the man’s hip and the coat of arms on his breastplate, a shiver ran down Allen’s spine. It was the soldier who’d had a sneezing fit after Lanze wrapped a shawl full of pepper around him.
Allen wore a hooded robe over his clothes whenever he was in the capital. He prayed that the man would pass him by and made himself as small as he could. But when he saw him, the man let out an acrid growl. “Hmm?”
Allen wasn’t a mage or anything of the sort, so he couldn’t change his face. He’d tried to be extra cautious, but it had backfired and he’d ended up looking more suspicious instead.
“Hey, you... Hey!”
The second the man spoke to him, Allen broke into a run.
“Wait!”
Of course he wouldn’t wait just because he was told to. There were a few other soldiers out on patrol, who the man called out to and drafted one after another.
Allen could feel his heart in his throat. Oh crap, oh crap! These people were the “greatest danger” that Lanze had talked about. Allen glided through the city streets.
“Catch him! Whoever catches him will get a reward!”
Allen was no criminal, but in no time, even citizens were getting involved in the chase. Everyone was startled as they watched him run by.
He recalled what Lanze had told him on the road about how Lacey’s magic artifacts were hard to come by, and thus certain parties were using more desperate measures.
A large business needed an even larger patron in order to succeed. Plume Village was a small settlement and had nowhere near enough power to oppose a noble. It would be completely at their mercy. That was why he couldn’t let himself get caught.
“Over there! Gather by the south gate!”
“Just how many people are in this city?!”
More people had gathered at the soldier’s command.
Allen’s breath was terribly hot as he let out a curse. His limbs felt heavy from running around so much and his heart felt like it was on fire.
But...
“Good luck!”
Although Lacey’s jaw had dropped open in bafflement when he’d first told her that he was going to start helping Lanze out with his business, now she was cheering him on again and again. She’d said it again before their latest excursion, and there were a lot of things he wanted to say back to her, like “Why are you always so fierce about it?” or “I’m just doing what I want to, it’s got nothing to do with you.”
But each time, he held his tongue.
He secretly swore that with the energy she was giving him, he’d find something that would help her move forward.
“Hraaah!” The voice telling him good luck resounded powerfully deep within his heart.
“Eek! What are you doing?!”
“Sorry!”
Allen jumped over a stack of cargo on the roadside and apologized to the person he’d startled. He took a sharp right, then a left. He kept making sudden turns, twisting through the crowds.
He’d naturally become very good at tag after chasing his frisky brothers so much. His running speed was the real deal. Allen consulted his mental map. He’d assiduously beaten the streets into his head for just an occasion like this.
“What the— Damn! Why’s he taking this route?”
“The little scamp’s an escape artist!”
“Sorry, but today’s my first time!” Get a better grasp of your own city! Allen internally ridiculed them.
“Get around him and cut him off! He’s just a kid!”
Allen wasn’t about to just let that happen. He envisioned the city’s layout in his mind.
The city isn’t flat.
It was just like Lacey’s insulated thermal bags. They were drafted from ordinary pattern paper but came together into a three-dimensional shape.
Allen kicked off a window frame and ran up a wall. He jumped up onto a roof, prompting the men below to cry out frantically.
Nobody could catch up to Allen. He had all the flat and vertical paths stored in his brain. Even banding together, the soldiers couldn’t overtake this average boy from the rural countryside.
As he breathed, the air that was coming in through his nose felt unusually cool.
What a relief. He’d made it. He’d lived up to her faith in him.
He was about to burst out crying and tightly bit his lip. Just then, a strange jolt hit him. It felt like something had been thrown at him and bumped him lightly, but he couldn’t see anything.
“Over there!”
“Waaah! Damn, they’re way too fast!”
∗ ∗ ∗
Although Allen thought it peculiar, his priority was getting away as fast as possible. He met up with Lanze and they immediately left the capital.
As the horses raced, he checked the robe he’d been wearing, but there was nothing on it. Still, he was nervous, so he discarded the robe by the side of the road.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lanze.”
In hindsight, he should have acted more confident when the pepper man had laid eyes on him. There were plenty of people around the capital wearing similar clothes to Allen. It was his suspicious movements that had given him away.
“It’s my fault for leaving you by yourself. I’d rather compliment you on outrunning them. There have been vile rumors about a noble lately—I believe it was Lomigos. He’s been forcibly buying up goods from our customers, which is quite the nuisance,” Lanze said, then added in a murmur, “It may be time to stop trading in the capital.”
Allen frowned as he listened. Turning to look over his shoulder, he could see the capital growing smaller in the distance. For some reason, although the city had seemed so big, grand, and impressive when he first came to it, he didn’t think so anymore. That’s not important right now though. He faced back forward.
The horses’ hooves scuffed against the road as they moved onward.
∗ ∗ ∗
Lacey restlessly paced back and forth at the village’s entrance. Forward, backward, and then forward again.
“Miss Lacey, I think they should be here soon, but it’s possible they’ll be late. I’ll tell Allen to drop by your mansion as soon as he gets back.”
“Th-That’s not it, Mr. Kargo! It’s not like I’m terribly worried or anything, I just, ummm, was getting some exercise so that I’ll be hungrier before I visit Mr. Cedric’s restaurant!”