Chapter 130: You’re Lucky I Have Money

Elinox glanced toward Ernest’s sunglasses before answering, "I’ve seen several people wearing them."

Zishan stared at her. "Where?"

"At noble gatherings," she replied.

Ernest nodded.

Zishan looked between the two of them. "Okay, so they’re popular among rich people. That’s different from saying they’re famous in the capital."

"Rich people live in the capital," Ernest said.

"That’s not the point."

"It supports my point."

"It supports part of your point."

Ernest seemed pleased enough with that to continue walking without arguing further, though Zishan was not done looking at the glasses.

"What do they even do? If they’re that expensive, there has to be something else besides covering your eyes," he said.

"The lenses reduce glare from light, the frame is reinforced, and there’s a small enchantment that prevents scratches. They’re also harder to break than normal glass."

Zishan stared at him for a while. "So you actually bought enchanted sunglasses."

"I did," Ernest replied, lowering his head to look at the young man properly. "What’s the problem with that?"

"And you paid that much for them because...?"

Ernest glanced at him from behind the dark lenses. "I liked them."

Zishan waited, expecting something else, but the man himself did not offer any other explanation. "That’s it? No other reasons?"

"Do I need another reason?"

Zishan focused his gaze on the sunglasses. "No, I guess not."

Elinox, who had been listening beside them, glanced at the glasses as well. "They do suit him."

Zishan turned toward her. "You think it suits him? Nah..."

Ernest adjusted the frame slightly. "I think they suit me too."

Zishan stared at both of them for another second before giving up. "Fine. Keep the sunglasses. I guess I can’t win an argument against an uncle and his niece."

Before Elinox could comment on his remark, someone tugged his hair from above.

Zishan lifted one hand and caught Ollie’s wrist before the boy could pull again. "Hey, don’t use my hair to get my attention. You can literally talk to me, li’l bro."

Ollie leaned forward from where he was sitting across Zishan’s shoulders and pointed toward the other side of the street. "Big Brother, look! They’re selling meat!"

Zishan followed the direction of his finger and found another food stall.

He should have expected that.

They had already stopped several times since leaving the estate.

Since Silvy could not come outside with them, Zishan had been trying to accustom himself to walking around without feeling the little dragon sitting somewhere on his shoulder or climbing over him whenever she wanted to see something. It had only been a short time since Silvy hatched, yet her absence was noticeable enough that he kept instinctively checking the space beside his head whenever something interesting happened.

Ollie had helped with that.

Not intentionally, he believed. The boy had simply asked for a shoulder ride before they left, and Zishan agreed because carrying a small child around the capital sounded easy enough. And yes, he had forgotten Ollie was much larger than Silvy.

Now, the boy was sitting across both of his shoulders with his legs hanging down in front of Zishan’s chest, pointing at every food stall that looked remotely interesting to the kid.

"You already ate," Zishan said as he kept walking.

Ollie shifted on his shoulders. "That was just bread."

"You had fruit before that..."

"That was earlier, Big Brother!"

Zishan glanced up at him. "It was ten minutes ago."

Ollie fell quiet for a moment, seemingly trying to remember whether that was true, unconsciously placing one finger on his lip. "Was it?"

Zishan sighed. "You’re hopeless."

’But I’m happy that this kid can finally act like a proper kid. If it had been left at the battlefield, I would have felt very bad for him...’

The smell of grilled meat reached them from across the street.

Zishan looked toward the stall again.

Rows of skewers were cooking over a wide metal grill, and the vendor was brushing sauce over them while smoke carried the smell across the road.

Ollie leaned farther over Zishan’s head. "Big Brother..."

Zishan already knew what was coming. "No."

"But I didn’t even ask yet," Ollie said, his voice in a pleading tone.

"You’re pointing at the barbecue. Obviously, you’d want to have one," Zishan replied.

Ollie looked toward the stall, then back down at him. "Can I have two?"

"One."

"Two."

"Why do you need two?"

Ollie placed both hands on top of Zishan’s head as though the answer should have been obvious. "Because I have two hands."

Zishan went quiet for a moment and finally said, "That doesn’t mean you need meat in both of them."

"It does!"

Zishan sighed and started walking toward the stall anyway. "You’re lucky I have money."

Elinox had already started toward the stall by then, making Zishan glance at her. "Where are you going?"

"I want one too," she answered and continued as though she knew what he was about to ask, "I didn’t know I wanted one until I smelled it."

Ernest followed them from behind, one hand casually adjusting his sunglasses.

Zishan looked at the three people around him and wondered how this had somehow become his responsibility.

A few minutes later, they were walking again.

Ollie had two skewers. Elinox had one. Zishan had one, too. And the big old man, Ernest, had refused.

Zishan did not care much about the money. He had earned enough from his military service and the merits he accumulated during his time at the Eastern Battlefield that buying food around the capital was not going to hurt him. Most of his daily needs had also been covered since coming to Olmost, so he had spent very little of what he earned.

He took another bite from the meat while Ollie ate above him.

For some reason, watching the boy happily chewing made his mind wander toward the Eastern Battlefield again. ’I wonder how Commander Holtz is doing and whether the Kingdom of Degenerates is still advancing toward that territory.’

He had been away long enough that the battlefield already felt strangely distant.

There had been the capital, the House Walker problem, Silvy hatching, what happened at the Holmes estate, Ethan Holmes, the Wyverns, his First Ascent...

So many things happened after he left that he had barely had time to think about the people who were still there. Commander Garran Holtz was still responsible for that area. The soldiers Zishan fought beside had not vanished.

The Kingdom of Degenerates certainly had not stopped being an enemy just because he was no longer stationed there.

’I should ask later. Ernest probably knows what’s happening there, and if he doesn’t, Elinox definitely should.’

Something sweet-smelling appeared near Ollie’s face.

Zishan looked sideways.