Ardus stirred from his sleep, he slightly stretched his arms and looked at the sleeping beauty sleeping next to him. He softly patted her before he got off the bed.
I should properly prepare a bit of food, well I am not that good at cooking but let's see.
Ardus walked over to the pantry and opened it only to see a pittance, Oh yeah there isn't any food present in this damned house. His lips slightly twitched before he decided to buy some food.
He walked near his cupboard and took out his clothes. A black vest with a matching suit, trousers that clung tightly to his legs, a halved top hat adorned his body.
"I feel like one of those bastard princes in those Victorian dramas," Ardus muttered softly as a wry smile clung to his face.
Ardus quickly went near the table and took out a wad of cash from his wallet, and folded it neatly before stuffing it into his breast pocket.
Ardus didn't want to bring his wallet without him because he felt that his chance at being mugged was sky high. The Feysac Empire wasn't as safe as the Loen Kingdom, robbery and assault was common here.
If you weren't a wealthy person, a noble or a well respected person the law didn't protect you. For this reason, Ardus brought the bare minimum with him.
With all of this done, he placed a key into his right pocket and brought a dark brownish paper bag along with him and quickly walked toward the door.
His shuffling footsteps slowed down from a brisk pace until it eventually stopped. Ardus stood by the door as his mouth curved into a frown, he had forgotten something.
After a few moments of deliberation, he walked over to the table and quickly scribbled a few sentences before placing it on his side table.
He pressed down on his hat with his right hand and pulled open the door before leaving.
The corridor during the day was not dim as it was during the night, beams of sunlight poured into the hall illuminating the area.
Ardus quickly went down the stairs and left the apartment before taking in the brilliance and warmth of the sun.
Even though it snowed heavily during the night and cold wind blew heavily, the day had a bit of warmth to it, unlike its counterpart. The street was clean and tidy with only a few pieces of trash awash on the street.
The previous him had been living in a well off neighbourhood so basic cleanliness was kept but in a low income community, the street being emboldened with filthy water and screen junk isn't uncommon.
"Come and try our delicious roasted fish!"
"Hot and fresh oyster soup. Drink a bowl in the morning and feel invigorated all day!"
"Fresh fish from the port for just ten kopeks apiece!"
"Muffins and eel soup make the perfect combination!"
"Conch! Conch! Conch!"
"Vegetables freshly plucked from the farms outside the city. Cheap and fresh!"
"...."
The mobile hawkers who sold vegetables, fruits, meat and hot food shouted across the street, as they hoped to beckon the pedestrians to buy something. Some of them would stop and carefully compare before purchasing. Others would impatiently wave their hands as they had yet to find work for the day.
Ardus walked on the paved pavement, a stark contrast to yesterday's which was filled with snow and bludgeoned by hail. The city workers were worthy of praise, in one night they had shovelled everything away.
Ardus took a whiff of the air that was infused with a sweet aroma of freshly baked bread that left him satisfied. But his mind told him to hurry away, in such a populated place there were bound to be thieves.
Furthermore this neighborhood wasn't without its fair share of poverty, people lost their jobs very commonly here. Their only hope to remain in one of the better off neighbourhoods was to somehow pay their share, causing them to resort to thievery.
He proceeded forward until he reached a point where the crowdedness around him restored to normal. He straightened his back and raised his head to look down the street.
There was a vagrant accordionist busking. The melody was sometimes pleasant, sometimes fervent.
Beside the accordionist was a group of malnourished children who listened to the music and moved to the beat, trying their best to accomplish their self choreographed dance. Their faces were filled with joy and happiness as they danced to their heart's content.
An indifferent woman passed by, her skirt was kept tidy, and her skin flourished but even with such luxuries she was still deadpan.
Her father had married her off to a wealthy man after losing his job, he needed to keep himself afloat until he could find another method of income. Such marriages weren't uncommon in Feysac, her dreams of becoming a dancer in nobles' banquet slowly vanished. She was the embodiment of 'A bird trapped in a golden cage, is still caged'
Seeing those children dance freely made her see herself from a decade ago.
Ardus overtook her and turned to another street and stopped at Mysciren Mart.
The owner of the mart was a sixty something granddad named Myer Mysciren, from Ardus's memories he had been living in the community for decades without even a single eviction. His head had a few grey strands but other than that, he was completely bald. He wore a genial smile as he helped the customers pick out their desired items.
"Mister Mysciren, could you please hand me a dozen eggs and eight pounds of rye bread, a pack of bacon, chicken, beef and dried fish. On top of that, add half a kilogram of lettuce, cabbage, carrots and beetroot, and to top it off a kilogram of rice."
"Oh. Ardus, it's been a while since I've seen you, what have you been up to?"
"I was out for a work trip up north, I just came back." Ardus answered vaguely.
Myer started packing all of Ardus's food, and he sighed. "You are a hardworking lad, you will surely have a good wife."
Before his lips curled up, "You've turned eighteen now right, and I have heard a few whispers here and there that you're catching a lot of people's fancy." Myer slightly teased.
Ardus just responded with a dry smile, unsure of what to say. He had to admit that the original Ardus was a genius, he had crafted a genial and hardworking persona to display in public. While he racketeered, smuggled drugs and embezzled in secret, this way even if somehow his crimes were exposed, no one would believe it he had the court of public opinion on his side.
After that all he had to do was win in court, which was easy for him as he had contacts with a few famous and popular lawyers. He had understood that the Court of public opinion was what truly mattered, even if one wins in actual court. They would in the end be scorned upon and disregarded by the public until they were forced to commit suicide.
Myer packed his order into the brown bag he had brought. He stretched out his hand and said, "One Feysilver and forty kopek."
Without saying much, Ardus carefully took out his notes and handed one over to him before throwing in seven bronze coins.
Ardus took hold of the brown bag and hurried his way over to his home.
"..."
Ardus cracked two eggs and dropped them into the pan which crackled with oil, almost immediately the eggs turned white as they started searing.
Ardus sprinkled over some pepper and salt as he waited for it to cook, after a few moments he took off the pan from the stove and slid it into the white plate which had two pieces of bread on the side.
He hurried over to the saucepan and turned off the stove as he put the baked beans and placed them at the edge of the plate
He then brought out a second plate and placed the beans near the corner, he placed the empty pan near the sink. Before he turned his attention to another pan which was cooking sausages.
"Hmm, needs a bit more time." He flipped them over and pressed them down, he then broke another two eggs onto the previous pan. His arms darted around the kitchen as he slowly grilled the sausage while adding spices to his eggs.
Ardus heard a few steps coming from the corridor, he gave a quick turn to see it was Maia who wore his cream white shirt with denim jeans. "I made some breakfast, help yourself." He gestured to the plates before he turned back and finished up.
He quickly placed two sausages onto Maia's and his plate before he placed it in the basin together with the pan, after he emptied the eggs onto his plate.
After a short rinse Ardus sat next to Maia and ate together.
____
A/N - Hello my followers, your favourite author is back!! Anyways how's the chapter, did you like it. This whole novel was inspired after I watched Rising of The Shield Hero and then recently I watched a video that pointed out a few flaws in the anime, one of which was that Naofumi basically groomed Raphtalia.
Looking back, I kinda agree that was basically grooming 😭 Just like that one of my comfort animes was gone.