Chapter 1255: 12. Exchange

“It's really lively......”

On the street as evening approached, people came and went in an endless stream, and it was actually even noisier than during the day.

Muen and Hamreign, who had put on simple disguises, arrived at the event venue the old man at the inn had mentioned and discovered that this originally spacious road had long since been occupied by all kinds of vendors. Cries of hawkers rang out without end, while children's laughter wove through them like a gentle breeze.

At the entrance to the street, a sign had been placed forbidding carriages and demonic beasts from entering. Lights made with special mechanisms had been raised high into the air, sparkling like scattered starlight. They only required a small amount of magic power to illuminate the entire street, making them far more economical than expensive magic stones.

“Have all human cities already become this prosperous?”

Hamreign stood at the entrance and looked inside. The setting sun that was about to sink in the west reflected in the depths of her eyes, making her golden pupils seem to glitter, dazzlingly bright.

It had already been several hundred years since she had entered a human city and carefully observed it. Although the knowledge she had learned through books and various channels had not fallen behind the times, no book could describe the scene of reality itself. Looking at these noisy people, Hamreign felt as though she had returned to the ancient streets of Tars eight hundred years ago.

“How could that be? No matter what, this place couldn't possibly represent all human cities.”

“Is that so? Then this really is the place with the most people......”

“Belrand's festival celebrations and events are much livelier than this. No matter how you look at it, Daigby is only a small city.”

Muen smiled faintly."

Earlier, he had coaxed some more information out of the old man at the inn and learned that although Daigby had already lost its value as a military supply transfer point, ever since the demonfolk disappeared, a wave of exploration and development of the Abyss had risen among the various countries. After all, although that place was barren, it still contained quite a few extremely rare mineral deposits and special demonic beasts.

Therefore, this place had once again become a transit base for the many adventurers exploring the Abyss and had not lost the prosperity it had enjoyed in the past. Even the event before them had originally been held to commemorate a hero named Trakat, who more than a hundred years ago had single-handedly repelled invading demonfolk and protected this city. Now that the demonfolk had already disappeared, as one of the few forms of entertainment available to the many adventurers from outside, the event was still held as usual.^

But no matter how prosperous it was, this was ultimately only a small city. It was completely incomparable to great cities like Belrand or Saint Blancfazesiya. The festivals in those great cities were what truly deserved to be called seas of people.

Seeing Miss Dragon looking so “inexperienced with the world,” Muen was even thinking that whenever Liya happened to go out for a stroll, he should bring Miss Dragon along to take a look and let her experience what it meant to not even need to walk by yourself because the crowd would carry you forward.......

“Only......a small city.”

A small city, yet it seemed to allow Hamreign to see a corner of the prosperity Tars had once possessed. Although in many respects it still could not compare at all, it had already completely exceeded her expectations of the human world./

“Miss Dragon, didn't you already enter Belrand back then? And you're still surprised by this place?” Muen asked in confusion.

“At that time, I didn't dare look around carefully at all. I didn't even spread out my perception. If I don't deliberately restrain my dragon's might, it will frighten many people.”_

Hamreign carefully thought back. She really did not have any detailed impression of that city that had looked so enormous. Back then, she had broken through that city's Grand Barrier in an extremely short amount of time and gone directly toward Muen. As for the details of that city......she had not even managed to take another look.

“So that's how it was......”^

Muen nodded: “Then when we reach Belrand this time, Miss Dragon, you'll be able to look around carefully.”

“You'll take me sightseeing?” Hamreign asked aloofly."

“......Of course.”

Muen froze for a moment, then smiled: “If you want, I can take you through every street and alley in Belrand. How did that sentence go again? We did make an eternal promise to be......”

“Companions.”

Hamreign continued: “We are companions.”

“Right, companions.”

After hearing it so many times, Muen had long since become accustomed to those two words. He merely gave Miss Dragon's bright golden pupils a casual glance before leading her toward the street where the event was being held.

Muen could sense Miss Dragon gradually restraining the final trace of dragon's might around her, completely reaching the point where even a true powerhouse would have difficulty noticing anything unusual. Only after strengthening the disguise magic surrounding her body did she cautiously step into the area where that street was located.

The appearance she had disguised herself with at this moment was very ordinary, and entering caused no disturbance at all.

“Eat first, or play first?” Muen asked.

Using coming out to eat as the excuse, Muen felt that he really did want to eat now. After all, throughout this entire journey with Miss Dragon, aside from that barbecue meal with the Notata Tribe in the middle, he truly had not eaten much proper food.

But once he truly stepped into the bustling human world he had not returned to for a long time, Muen immediately felt that his eyes were almost overwhelmed by everything around him.

On the stalls on both sides, all kinds of little objects were displayed in dazzling abundance. Adventurers from different places had also brought cultural exchanges from their respective regions. Apart from objects in the Empire's local style, Muen even saw white bear masks in the style of the northern snowfields, as well as delicate and exquisite crystal ornaments in the style of the south.

Hamreign also seemed to be attracted by them, especially those glittering things. Despite being a dignified calamity dragon, she actually looked like an elementary school student on the way home from school, completely unable to move her eyes away.

“Hey, boyfriend over there, your cute girlfriend likes them so much, aren't you going to buy them for her?”

The stall owner, wearing the expression of someone who had encountered an easy mark, enthusiastically came over.

“Don't talk nonsense, we're only companions.” Muen rolled his eyes.

“Oh, companions, got it, I understand. Another new kind of fun you young people have come up with, right? Don't worry, I won't expose your role-playing.” The stall owner smiled ingratiatingly: “So, buying?”

“Buying.”

Hamreign directly took out several gold coins and said coldly: “There's no need for him to pay. I can also be considered to possess a modest amount of assets.”

“Ah, thank you, thank you, young lady, you're truly beautiful and generous, much more generous than that companion of yours.”

The stall owner was extremely excited and accepted them with both hands, but just as he brought those gold coins close to his eyes and looked at them, he actually froze on the spot:

“Huh? The style of these gold coins is a little strange.”

“Can't they be used to buy things?”

“Of course they can. The material is gold, so they are indeed gold coins. It's just that the patterns on them......these seem to have only existed several hundred years ago......” A trace of eagerness appeared in the stall owner's eyes. If they were antiques from several hundred years ago, then he could......

“As a gentleman, how could I possibly let my companion pay?”

Muen suddenly snatched those gold coins back and replaced them with a stack of banknotes.

The stall owner froze where he stood. The antiques that had already reached his hands were gone. He was just about to get angry when he discovered that a hand had gently landed on his shoulder.

“You sold an entire night's worth of turnover all at once. You're happy, right?” Muen asked gently.

“H-Happy, of course I'm happy.”

The stall owner's entire head was covered in cold sweat.

Most of the people who could set up stalls here were adventurers short on money. His strength was not weak either, but at this moment, he did not even care about his little stall anymore. Stuffing the money into his clothes, he turned around and left.

“At least he knows what's good for him.”

Muen picked up one gold coin and examined it beneath the light. The gold material and luster were bright, seemingly not worn down by much passage of time, but the patterns on it truly did not belong to this era.

“I already said I would pay.” Hamreign was very dissatisfied.

Although they were close companions, the fact that her companion actually had to pay money to buy things for her made her very unhappy.

According to her understanding, companions supported each other, rather than one side taking from the other.

“Then just treat it as an exchange.” Muen flicked his finger, then caught the coin and tightly closed those gold coins inside his palm.

“Exchange?”

“I buy these glittering ornaments and exchange them for your gold coins. A very fair transaction, isn't it?”

“......”

Hamreign thought for a moment.

Mm, gold coins and ornaments. It truly was very fair.

Since that was the case, there was nothing left to hesitate about. She raised her hand with a gesture and stored all the ornaments inside her spatial storage.

Leaving only a few of her favorites outside to play with.

“You really do like these glittering things way too much.”

Muen couldn't help complaining. He still remembered the fleeting glimpse he had once gotten of Miss Dragon's stockpile. Those collections might far exceed the treasuries of many countries, but even so, Miss Dragon still liked these things just as much as ever, not even letting things from roadside stalls escape her attention.

“A collection can never be too large. Besides, this is a very good method for studying modern human culture.”

“Human culture? How can you study it through these?”

Muen was puzzled, and Hamreign did not answer either.

Just then, a young man and woman suddenly walked past them. The girl smiled brightly and asked the male companion walking beside her whether her hair ornament looked good.

The male companion smiled and answered yes.

For a moment, it was as though pink hearts were spreading between the two of them.

Hamreign turned her body slightly, seeming to strongly dislike that kind of atmosphere, but after thinking for a moment, she suddenly began picking through the ornaments. In the end, she chose a hair ornament decorated with a golden clivia flower and handed it to Muen.

“Mm?” Muen froze slightly.

“Help me.”

Hamreign pointed at her hair.

“Mm?”

Muen became even more confused, “You want me to help you?”

“Otherwise?”

Hamreign said expressionlessly: “There's no mirror here.”

“......”

Muen looked around. Indeed, there was no mirror. If she were not acting as a calamity dragon capable of comprehending and manipulating all kinds of magic, but merely as an ordinary girl, she would have no way to insert a hair ornament into her own hair by herself.

“Then......all right.”

Muen took the hair ornament and walked closer to Miss Dragon.

A familiar fragrance rushed toward him, mixed together with the smells of the surrounding environment, and for some reason, it seemed even more enchanting.

It was like a cloud from the heavens had fallen into the mortal world, no longer distant and illusory, finally something that could be touched with one's own hands.

Muen took a deep breath, suppressing his somewhat chaotic heartbeat, reached out and lifted that fiery-red long hair, smooth as silk, gently gathered it up, then inserted the hair ornament into it.

In an instant, the fiery-red long hair like a maple forest in October was decorated with golden flowers, breathtakingly beautiful.

“What's wrong? Is it strange for me to wear a human hair ornament?”

Seeing Muen frozen in place, Hamreign lowered her voice and asked. She rarely spoke in such a gentle tone, actually giving people the illusion that she might be nervous.

“No.”

Muen smiled and took two steps back, “It's just too beautiful. I was stunned for a moment.”

“Is that so? As long as it isn't strange.”

Hamreign habitually waved her hand, and magic condensed into a mirror. Using the mirror, she examined herself as she was now.

To outsiders, she currently looked like nothing more than an ordinary girl, but reflected in the mirror was her true appearance. That golden hair ornament could not really be called exquisitely magnificent, but it was like a tiny pivot......allowing her to completely blend into this human city.

This was different from the detached isolation she had once possessed. It was a very real kind of beauty.

“So this is what hair ornaments of this era feel like when worn.”

“Miss Dragon wore hair ornaments before?” Looking at that mirror, Muen's gaze became very deep.

“I remember telling you that I actually know human things very well. It's only that during these past several hundred years, I've had less contact with you.”

Seemingly noticing Muen's gaze, Hamreign still showed no expression, merely waving her hand quickly and shattering the mirror.

Her gaze drifted toward who knew where, and as though changing the subject, she suddenly said:

“Right, since you helped me, then I should also help you with one thing.”

“Mm?”

“We just said it. Help between companions is mutual. This is also an exchange.”