18 — The Slightly Dangerous Town of Le Pied

I descended Montjuc Hill hand in hand with Mr. Fisalis, feeling a strange mix of excitement and embarrassment (no, strike that—it was all embarrassment!). What with the nice weather, though, it felt just like a leisurely stroll. That’s right—a nice, platonic outing!

We walked along, admiring the scenery as we went, and before long we had arrived in Le Pied. The main street was bustling with foot traffic and carriages.

I can get a better sense of the energy and activity in this town right now than I could when I passed through in the carriage yesterday. There are wagons piled high with crops going up and down the streets, people carrying heavy-looking shopping baskets—perhaps on their way home from the market—finely dressed men and women, and frolicking children.

“It’s so crowded.”

For someone like me, who’s never been anywhere besides the capital and my family’s own territory, everywhere I look there’s something or someone interesting and completely new. Our territory never had this kind of energy. This must be what real affluence looks like, I thought dejectedly.

“Yeah, it is. Le Pied is the main city in the duchy, so most of the crops and mineral resources from this area that aren’t sent straight to Rozhe are collected here first. Oh, and try not to gawk so much. It’s dangerous.” That being said, Mr. Fisalis squeezed my hand as if to say it was okay if I kept gawking around like that, and he synchronized his steps with mine. It was embarrassing for sure, holding hands with him, but it did actually make me feel a little more secure.

“By crops, do you mean, like, those fruits from the southern territory you sent me?”

“Yeah, of course,” he nodded.

The fruit he sent me while he was deployed. Oh, yeah—I didn’t understand the message he sent with it. And then neither Rohtas nor Father Fisalis ever explained it to me. ...What’s that you say? I should find out for myself?

No sooner had I thought that than an uneasy feeling washed over me.

Could I ask Mr. Fisalis about it now? I wondered.

“Mr. Fisalis? About that fruit—it was some sort of message, right?” I asked him, trying to sound casual in order to satiate my own curiosity. Yup, totally nailed it☆

“Hm? Oh, yes, I suppose it was. But I’m kind of glad you didn’t understand it.”

Ah ha! And now he’s trying to give me the slip!

Sure, he smiled back at me, with his trademark grin, but the way he replied—like it wasn’t worth talking about—makes me feel like it is, in fact, very much worth talking about!

“But Father and Mother Fisalis, and even Rohtas... everyone who was there knew what it meant, so it made me feel a little left out.” Heck, I did get a little sulky over it.

“Oh, I see. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way; I apologize. Well, it’s not too complicated. It’s basically means ‘the rat’s in the bag.’”

“Ah, okay. Father Fisalis mentioned something like that, I think.”

“Right. The fruit inside the sack represented the enemy; the sack itself was our army, so the sack full of fruit meant that we had the enemy surrounded with no chance of escape. I wanted to let you know that the war was nearly over, but an obvious letter might not have passed inspection. Plus, by sending the message that way—as a sack of fruit—even if Aurantia happened to get a hold of it, they probably wouldn’t realize it was anything more than a simple bag of fruit. That’s why I decided to send the message that way,” Mr. Fisalis explained breezily.

“Oh... so there was a deeper meaning...” Well, that explains it. Color me dumbfounded. He can probably tell by my face that I had no clue what it meant.

Mr. Fisalis laughed and added, “It’s a historical tradition, but not one that’s widely known. I’m not surprised you didn’t know.” He didn’t put me down for not knowing, but now my poor study habits had been exposed.

I’m really just not cut out for formal study, though...

“Um, I-I’ll be sure to read up on those stories for next time!” There, that should smooth things over for now.

“I think there’s a book on that topic in the manor library back in Rozhe, if you’d like to read it. Rohtas can get it for you if you let him kno— You know what, I’ll get it out myself once we get back.”

“You don’t need to do that for me! I’ll just ask Rohtas when we get home.”

“But I really don’t mind.”

“Don’t be absurd! I’ll find it myself.”

As we were walking and arguing over how I would come into possession of that history book, we came to a plaza with a number of eateries and shops. The whole place was alive with townspeople doing their shopping and merchants doing their selling. And by that, I meant we’d arrived at...

“A market!”

“Yup. Want to go have a look?”

“Yes!” Just standing out here and window-shopping is fun, too, though! I didn’t have that luxury before I got married. I only ever went to the greengrocer with a purpose! Ooh, there’s a fruit seller, and a vegetable seller...

I feel like I’ll see a lot of items here that we can’t get back in the capital. This place is so different.

No sooner had we set foot in the plaza than we were confronted with a noisy crowd.

“What’s that about?”

“Who knows?”

Looking around, I saw some people simply passing by with looks of disinterest, while others were approaching with rapt attention. Still others were standing around the crowd in a loose circle, watching from a safe distance. It definitely didn’t seem like they were enjoying a street show or anything like that.

What could this possibly be?

“That hurt, you bastard!”

“You’re the one who swung first!” I heard two angry voices say before the sounds of fighting erupted from the crowd!

What is this!? Are they having a fistfight!?

“M-Mr. Fisalis!”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. The guards ought to be here any second.”

There’s no way they’ll spot us in this crowd, so let’s get a little closer to the fight... was the absolute last thing on my mind.

I’m actually kind of scared!

Noticing that I was nervous, Mr. Fisalis put his arm around my shoulder comfortingly and pulled me closer.

“Someone stop them! They’re making a huge scene!”

“No, call the guards!”

“There’s no point—the guards won’t show up just for a fight! They’re busy with other stuff!”

The spectators noisily aired their respective takes on the matter.

Mr. Fisalis’ expression turned grim for a moment. We were watching the fight unfold from not too far away. “...What are the guards doing?” he muttered, his tone somewhat irate.

“I’m sure they’re hurrying on over as we speak!”

“Their post isn’t that far from here. In fact, I would expect them to have arrived right after this fight broke out...” he said, before murmuring, “Is this what Fennel was talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to try to stop them, Mr. Fisalis!?”

“No, but I will watch and see how it plays out. That said, if I deem them enough of a nuisance to the folks around them, I will be obligated to do something.”

A wait-and-see approach, eh? Is this part of the whole “inspection” thing?

Meanwhile, the fight continued. While I looked on, anxiously wondering what would happen, the assembled onlookers began yelling things like, “Enough already!” and “Troublemakers!” as they stepped in to stop them.

I peered nervously through an opening in the crowd, only to discover the pair at the center of the fracas had been restrained by the five or six men who’d jumped into the fray. They both had their arms pinned behind their backs.

“All right, boys, start walking.”

“Behave yourself, and you might just get off with a talking-to at the guard post.”

“Cripes, you just had to go and raise a commotion.”

And so they were dragged elsewhere, subjected to quite the earful all the while. The guards never did show up.

“...I’m happy the fight died down.”

“I’m glad the townsfolk intervened, but I’m not thrilled about the guards’ failure to arrive. I’ll need to inquire about that later.”

While I stood there, a woman relieved, Mr. Fisalis stood stony-faced beside me. I could almost swear he’d said that last bit to spur himself on. It seemed he felt the guards’ absence was a serious problem. And though I didn’t know what it had been like in the past, I did kind of want the guards to actively keep the peace, even when it came to petty little street brawls.

The ruckus having abated, the people who had gathered around went their separate ways in small groups. We decided to resume our market exploration. It was exactly what I’d imagined it would be from my quick glance around the place—while there were fruits and vegetables that could be found at the capital, there were also a fair few varieties I’d never laid eyes on.

“Wow, look here! This is the same fruit you sent me, isn’t it, Mr. Fisalis?” I’d come across the familiar-looking fruit in the shopfront of the fruit store that was being tended to by a plump, kindly old woman. It was a rich, ripe red, and shaped like a star. Even I’d remember such aesthetically pleasing produce. The fact that it was so sweet and delicious didn’t hurt either!

“Precisely so. They’re also from down south, and they’re named ‘stella fruitia.’ As they’re delicate and easy to damage, they don’t usually make it all the way to Rozhe. Were the ones I sent you to your taste?”

“I loved them! They looked so cute, and were delicious to boot. I could never forget them.”

“Then I’ll request they be served as dessert during suppertime.”

“That would be amazing!”

That was the sort of banal chatter we engaged in as we toured the various shops. As La Pied was relatively close to the sea, there were plenty of places stocking fresh fish, not to mention the meat vendors. I enjoyed myself quite a bit looking around at the assortment of foodstuffs on display, which so differed from what I was used to at the capital. The vividness of the newly-picked vegetables and fruits was only matched by the vigor of the still-jumping fish. And they all looked so fresh and tasty! I could only imagine what manner of sumptuous cuisine could be cooked up using ingredients like these.

I ought to have brought Cartham along! Come to think of it, the chefs at the villa must also be deft hands at cooking. Now I’m all psyched for the dinners to come!

“Mr. Fisalis, everything here sure looks so fresh and flavorful,” I remarked.

And then, it happened. Voices from up ahead:

“Thief!!” shrieked a woman.

“Who? Where!?”

“Where’d the cad run off to!?”

“Over there!”

No way, another disturbance!? The last one just ended! I mean, the town looked fairly peaceful at first, but I guess La Pied might actually be fraught with danger. So that’s why Fennel looked so worried when I said I wanted to take a stroll.

Mr. Fisalis swept me up into a protective embrace. Naturally, news of the thief had me ill at ease, so I clung to him. That was when a young man came running frantically toward us. Several other men were behind him, giving chase. The young man could only be the thief in question.

...But this was hardly the time to analyze the situation at a leisurely pace!

“Mr. Fisalis! He’s coming our way!”

“There’s no need to worry.”

The fleeing robber kept bumping into passersby as he approached. I couldn’t help but be intimidated by his bloodshot eyes and menacing scowl! “Ahh...!”

I could hear his labored breathing grow louder and louder, and see the cloud of dust his feet kicked up. The men in hot pursuit were shouting angrily.

Oh my god! He’s running straight for us! I clung yet tighter to Mr. Fisalis.

That very instant, Mr. Fisalis suddenly pulled away (with me in tow, obviously). As I’d been clinging to him, I was now behind him. He wasted no time sticking out one of his long legs, which worked its magic as the man tripped and tumbled over the outstretched limb!

“Huh!? ...Ah!! Oww!”

Given how fast the man had been running, it was no surprise that he couldn’t dodge Mr. Fisalis’s leg, earning himself quite the dramatic faceplant. The fruits he’d purloined also rolled out onto the ground. ...Wait, those are stella fruitias! The fruits we were talking about just a moment ago!

The thief must have taken quite a beating, falling on his face with that much momentum, because he wasn’t getting up. That gave his pursuers more than enough time to reach him. Sadly for him, he was summarily arrested.

It all happened so fast, no one noticed Mr. Fisalis had tripped him. Of course, it was better that he didn’t stand out. He was a big shot, after all! And I wasn’t about to trumpet what happened far and wide, meritorious deed or not!

Yet again, I witnessed a man bound and dragged off.

How weird. Did nobody call the guards, maybe? “Are the guards on break today or something?”

“Perish the thought! That couldn’t be! Failing to arrive the first time is one thing, but a second time? What in blazes are they doing?” he said, clearly peeved.

“Then I’m sure their hands are just full.”

“It never used to be like this... Looks like I need to inquire the second we get home, then.”

That soon? The urgency level has officially gone up a notch.

“I must summon the Captain of the Guard as soon as we return...” I heard him mutter. His expression was not amused.

I looked down at the ground by my feet. There lay the fruits that had scattered about when the thief fell over. I stooped down to pick some up.

“Thank you, little miss,” said a voice.

I looked up. The old lady I had seen at the fruit store stood before my eyes, and she’d extended a hand my way.

“They’re not fit for purchase anymore, are they?” I wiped a fruit I’d picked up using a handkerchief. It was damaged on the outside, albeit only slightly. It was probably perfectly edible, but no one would be willing to part with their money for it. They’re delicate fruits at the best of times! Why’d you have to go and do them so dirty!?

The old lady was placing the fallen fruits into the basket she was holding as she spoke: “There’s no helping it; I’ll just have to eat these at home. Things have been so dicey around town ever since the war broke out. The guards have all been sent to the south,” she sighed.

Mr. Fisalis was listening, and his face grew ever grimmer. He was in quite the foul mood now. The Captain of the Guard had better brace himself for his summons!

The thief having been hauled away, the market bustled with activity once more, and we resumed our stroll.