Noel leaves the inn with Arnella and Mastema.
In her hand, she holds Ahavain’s wallet.
“Well then, shall we go?”
When Noel says this, the three of them start sightseeing around the area.
“By the way…”
Noel looks at her clothes from front to back and grips her skirt.
“Well, this outfit is pretty revealing. It’s fine since I’m wearing pants underneath, but…”
“The texture feels really nice, so the clothes themselves are quite good,” Arnella comments as she slightly lifts the edge of her skirt, revealing her thighs and the pants beneath.
“Is that so? I quite like it. It’s easy to move in,” Noel replies.
“Mastema likes revealing clothes, doesn’t she?”
“It’s not embarrassing for me to show skin like it is for humans.”
Saying this, Mastema pinches and pulls at her clothes.
“Still, Ahavain is as extravagant as ever,” Noel observes as she looks at the wallet.
It’s not just generous; it’s at a level where he doesn’t seem to care about money at all.
What would happen if he dropped it or spent it all?
Of course, neither Noel nor Arnella plan to do so, and they intend to be careful not to lose it.
“He really uses it freely. I was truly surprised by the magical train,” Noel adds.
“I think the incredible part is that no matter how much he spends, he never runs out of money,” Arnella replies.
“What a strange thing to say. Of course he wouldn’t run out of money,” Mastema interjects, having been quietly sucking on some candy.
Noel and Arnella tilt their heads in confusion.
Mastema’s words are too vague, leaving them completely baffled.
“??? Oh, I see. Humans can’t see the consequences of being human. Right,” Mastema finally realizes why Noel and Arnella don’t understand.
“It’s the Golden Rule. Simply put, it’s a standard for how much money circulates in a person’s life.”
Mastema crunches her candy and tosses something made of milk and sugar into her mouth, savoring its sweetness. It seems to be called caramel.
Although tricky to make, it’s easy when you’re in a magical powerhouse.
“Ah, she’s exceptional. With her nature, she probably won’t have to worry about money. I was surprised at first; I even suspected she had a contract with Mammon.”
Mammon, the demon who loves money more than anything and grants gold to his contractors.
He is one of the demon lords, often striking deals with humans to collect souls and gold as payment, thus generating even more gold.
Mastema and Mammon have a neutral relationship, as their territories are far apart and the demon lord she serves avoids diplomatic interactions.
“So feel free to spend. The more you use, the more of that money will come back to you,” Mastema says, taking out some gold coins from the wallet to show.
Noel and Arnella look impressed.
“To be praised by a demon for how well money circulates is quite something,” Noel says.
“It’s clear that someone who rises to the top adventurer in the empire is special,” Arnella adds.
They chat cheerfully.
Although the two put on some act in front of Ahavain, they relax when he’s not around.
Even if Ahavain were to see this scene, he wouldn’t mind. His philosophy is to let them do as they please as long as they get their work done.
All around them are young people in black robes.
This likely indicates how many students from the magic academy are around.
They hardly see anyone dressed like Noel and the others.
It seems that although it’s not particularly rare, it hasn’t drawn the significant attention that Ahavain expected.
Mastema shoves some caramel into the mouths of the two.
“It’s sweet~”
“This is really delicious. The ingredients are… just sugar and milk? I wonder if Ahavain would be happy if I tried making it?”
“If you do, save some for me!”
Once they finish the caramel, they start browsing the nearby shops.
The selection here is completely different from that of the empire and very interesting.
Even in the store selling food, there are vegetables they’ve never seen before, and the store selling miscellaneous goods has brooms as a featured item.
Apparently, you can fly using magical power.
Noel and Arnella have some magical ability and can use simple spells, but even if they picked up a broom, it seems unlikely they could fly.
“Huh. Well, I can fly on my own, but… oh?”
As soon as Mastema grabs a broom, an overwhelming amount of magical power flows into it, and she glides into the air.
It’s a remarkable glide—there’s no time to stop her.
After soaring in the sky for a while, Mastema releases the broom, landing gracefully on the ground and catching the broom as it falls.
That part went well, but the end of the broom is completely wrecked.
It definitely had to be bought.
“To have to control not just strength but magic as well—how troublesome. Humans need to get stronger!”
Mastema laments the weakness of humanity and the fragility of tools made for them, but naturally, Noel and Arnella can only smile wryly.
It’s just that Mastema is far outside the norm.
They then stop by a café. It seems to be a combination of a bookstore and café where you can read bought books right away.
This country has apparently succeeded in mass-producing paper, making the price of books less than a tenth of what it is in the empire.
Mastema quickly heads deeper into the shop, grabbing as many interesting books as she can before swiftly checking out.
Even if they’re cheap, the quantity costs her several gold coins.
Then they settle at a table and start opening their books.
Mastema begins to focus on reading. Once she does, it tends to take a long time.
Noel and Arnella order drinks and snacks, opening a book that Mastema hasn’t read yet.
The two had been studying to acquire a high level of education at the slave trader’s, so reading books is no problem for them.
