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The old man with a white beard looked at me and decided to speak.
“Ahem… New to the city? There is a fee to enter for non-citizens, it is one fifty coppers for each person, children can enter for free.”
“Coppers… Alright… here.” I said, I paid the man 150 coppers, there were coins that counted for 10 copper coins, so I only had to give him 15 and not actually 150 coins.
“Alright… you can pass.” He said. “Make sure to wear something warmer, lady, you look like you’re freezing with such a pale skin…” he said.
“Ahahah… T-Thanks for worrying…” I said, as I waved my hand and walked away with everybody else.
“Well, that was weird now…” said Emeraldine. “I wonder if they had some suspiciousness that you were not really even normal demi-humans… I don’t know if Vampires are widely accepted here… Nor dragon people, even less a ghost…”
“I think Vampires are not accepted…” said Lucifer. “After the Demon King died, they turned drastically eviler over time, and their leaders had terrorized innocent people from all around Midgard… It is also pretty much widely known that they’re the masterminds behind some illegal organizations and the church treats them as the evil of the world that must be purged… Well, I blame them for doing such stupid things.”
“I-I suppose Vampires are not that well accepted…” sighed Partner. “Oh well, still better than being a skeleton! Or a zombie… or a ghoul… or… a half-vampire? I wonder what’s next for me?”
“Probably a True Vampire as you’re now a Lesser Vampire.” Said Lucifer. “Anyways, we are entering the big city so let’s not talk about these things or people might catch our conversation.”
“True.” I said. “Well, here we are! The Duchy’s name is… What’s the name of this damn duchy?” I wondered, as I decided to ask a local.
“Name? They call this place Snowfall because long ago a giant avalanche fell over here.” Said a man, as he walked away after answering me.
“Ah… Quite the name.” I said.
“Yeah, it is indeed quite the peculiar name…” said Lucifer. “Anyways, maybe we should move towards the shopping district and see what the shops there have to offer. Don’t forget what Darfu left on a note, Maria.”
“I won’t! I won’t! Don’t worry about it.” I said while winking back at him.
“Though I wish we could walk a bit more around the place. Can we?” asked Emeraldine.
“Yeah, I want to explore the place.” Said Partner.
“Well, sure, let’s go around for a bit.” I said.
The entire duchy was almost completely paved, and mostly all houses were made of stone, gray stone, which was covered in snow, however the interior seemed to be made of wood, so the stone was probably a protective outer later for the houses.
There were chimneys literally in every single house, and they were all leaving a lot of black smoke into the atmosphere… But I can’t blame the people, it’s pretty cold in here.
We walked around the streets, finding more and more people walking all around, it was a very busy place despite being in the middle of such desolate frozen lands, it was quite a beautiful place to be in, and although there was certainly something gloomy about the place, it was still a refreshing stroll.
In our way, we ended entering into the market district, where we first found people selling frozen fish that froze naturally, actually, and also all sorts of frozen meats too which also just froze naturally, so I guess these people never deal with discomposing food.
They got cattle animals in sheep, cow, buffalo, and wild boars which they domesticated, and they had big herds inside of the walls, there was a big chunk of the territory that was just for cattle and also large greenhouses they had made and supported with a lot of magic artifacts that produced greens all year long.
“Look at this fish, Master!” said Partner. “It is gigantic, and frozen into a whole block of ice!”
Partner pointed a big fish resembling a tuna that was frozen solid into a cube. It looked like it could be a nice meal if we could grill it or even use the meat to make a tasty and warm fish soup… well, it is big enough that we can make a lot with it.
“This is today’s biggest catch, lady!” said an old fox-kin man. “Only for you for five silver coins! This thing can feed you for half a month!”
“Wow, five silver coins… That’s a bit expensive…” Said Emeraldine.
“W-What? But it is a giant ass fish! What price do you want me to put it for?” asked the angered fox man. “This fish can literally feed you for days!”
“Okay, calm down, we buy it.” I said, as I gave the man five silvers.
“Ohooo! Thank you for the preference, dear customer!” said the fox man while happily grinning, as he moved the fish to me.
“S-So how are you carrying it?” he wondered.
“I got spatial magic.” I said.
“Huh?!”
FLASH!
The fish suddenly was sucked by the void of my inventory, and disappeared.
“T-The heck?! By Skadi! I’ve never seen a magic like that…!” he said. “I-Impressive…”
“It helps at storing stuff… Anyways, we are buying all of this fish too. That big shark as well… Did you fish it in the coast?” I wondered.
“E-Every fish?! And yes! I fished in the coast! L-Lady, do you really mean it?!” he asked.
“Yeah, we got a big family to feed.” I said, as I gave the man some gold coins.
“That should pay for all of them, right? Keep the change.” I said.
“T-Thank you so much! Please take away all my fish!” said the fox man, smiling and jumping around happily.
“Yipee! I’ll buy my daughter something tasty today! Thank you!” said the man.
I quickly sucked all the fish into my Inventory and moved on.
“You really made his day.” Said Lucifer. “But don’t you think you’re bringing too much attention?”
“Eh? Ah… I guess? I just want fish.” I said. “Also he said they fish giant sharks in the coast, so maybe we could get some food from there too.”
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