After the contest was finished, Feather directly went to retrieve her winnings.
Although there was no prize for the first place, was there anyone else who would bet on her? So she expected her winnings from the bet shouldn't be too shabby.
The host wanted to stall the winner and interview him or make him do something humorous for the crowd, but Feather was so annoyed by being hungry, that the aura she emanated made the host change his mind. The host had no choice but to entertain the crowd himself. He quickly redirected people's focus to the dancing everyone was expecting after the eating competition.
Bucket nudged Buddy when he saw Feather going their way: "Isn't that your chap? Why is he so voracious? Didn't you say he was a noble? Do nobles has some trouble feeding their kids?"
"I don't know. He may have snuck far away from home. And, you know, if his appetite always this great, I assume even richest nobles would have troubles feeding this one." both men were astonished by the way the competition had gone.
:::::
The winning from the lottery was not small.
As Feather was the only one who had betted on herself out of lots and lots of people, she got over a hundred silvers. Even for some mages, that was a considerable sum, not to say about commoners, who could live lavishly for ten years if they had such money.
After getting her money, Feather went to look for an inn.
She never intended to stay in the town, but spending over two months in the cave made her reconsider. What she needed now was a good bed to sleep. The crystalline floor of the cave wasn't exactly the most comfortable bedding.
As the next town was several days travel from here, Feather thought it was apt to rest before going anywhere.
Strolling the streets, she came across one particular shop, which gave her an idea.
Starlight several times reminded her to be especially careful about her hair.
And now she was standing in front of a beautician shop.
The sign on the front of the shop had a beautiful rainbow-colored tress and a comb on it.
:::::
The shop was brightly lit inside. The manager lifted her head at the clinking of the entrance-bell but was disappointed after seeing the visitor. She could say at a glance that she won't be able to sell anything to him.
The visitor was a poor boy. The manager swept her glance over and ignored him.
'What is he doing here? Is he lost?' she thought.
At that moment the bell at the entrance ringed once more, and another customer went in.
'Now, that's more like it,' the manager thought.
The newcomer was a grandly dressed lady.
The manager immediately went to welcome her.
"Lady Tan, welcome! Thank you for always patronizing our shop. What would you like to get today? I should say, just earlier today, new stocks were delivered to us. The Gold Association's newly developed mousse and hair coloring pastes. If you remember, there have been rumors since last month, and they have finally arrived. Mr. Gold assured me that the ones in this batch are particularly good and won't wash out for up to a month."
"Aah… Young Master Goldheart is as eccentric as ever. Why would I want to wear the same color for a whole month?" actually, Lady Tan wanted to say 'stupid' instead of 'eccentric' but she didn't dare. Those of the higher positions in society had rights to be stu… khm, eccentric. No one would have the nerve to call them that even behind their back much less to their face. She only dared to envy but not voice it.
"Oh, this is not the only thing about it. It's much more colorful and doesn't require to wash off your previous color. Very convenient," the manager said.
"Well, if you praise it so, it must be at least decent," Lady Tan said. "Let me try it out."
"Here, wait a moment for me to get master Sci to come down," the manager invited Lady Tan to sit on a sofa, while she herself went to the second floor to get the master hairdresser.
:::::
Feather looked at everything quietly. She wasn't accustomed to the rules in such places, so Feather just waited for the manager to free herself, so she would be able to ask for what she needed.
When the manager finally came down from the second floor, she first assured the lady that the master would come down in a moment and then turned to the boy still stupidly standing there.
"You are still here?" she was extremely displeased with the boy. Didn't he have anything better to do than stand at the center of the shop and gaze around? "Go somewhere else don't disturb our customers!"
"Why are you wasting your breath, just throw this little sh*t away," Lady Tan commented from the sofa.
Feather mentally gasped. Being disregarded was nothing new, but being looked at with disdain was the first for her.
"Actually," she meekly said "I would like to buy some of the stuff you have here."
"Buy?" Lady Tan waved to the manager to not interfere and started to interrogate the boy. "Do you even know how the money look?"
Feather didn't know how to react. She never before in her life met with such unreasonably aggressive behavior.
The only aggressive people she had ever met were her family guards. That was characteristic of their profession. Still, that was easily resolved, as all she had to do was beat them up at the training ground. She had the capacity to do so.
In fact, many of the family guards who had a chance to spar against her took a liking to her afterward. All fighters had a weak spot when it came to talented kids.
But she couldn't just beat up this lady before her. Well, she could, but it wasn't in accordance with her intention to stay inconspicuous. If she were to go fight every person looking at her in a wrong way…
Facing this oppressive atmosphere, she wasn't afraid, she was at a loss.
So she decided to ignore the lady.
"I heard you just got very good hair coloring pastes? Is there one of a brown color? I'll buy everything you have in stock."
"We can't sell you everything even if you had money. Which is obviously not the case." the manager gave annoying boy cold shoulder.
"It's alright, I'll buy from you at a double price."
When Feather said this, both the lady and the manager gasped with astonishment.
"Quit boasting! As if a little beggar like you will have such money!"
In the response, Feather fished out of her pouch a golden coin which rendered both women in the store speechless.
"Will this be enough?" she asked.
"Absolutely enough, young master!" manager's attitude made a complete 180-degree turn at the sight of money. "I will get someone to deliver your goods right away."
"Just give it to me directly," Feather said.
The manager didn't think to oppose anymore, so she swiftly brought out packages filled with the pastes. Feather put it into her spatial purse. At this point, she decided that the flashier she was in front of these two the less they would want to admit to anyone that they had this small incident.
And just as she expected, after she left, the women unanimously agreed that they would never tell anyone about their meeting with this strange young master.
:::::
Feather found a small inn to stay the night.
The inn was tidy and clean despite being small.
The owner was a bright man. He didn't have prejudices as long as the client was able to pay.
Feather paid a silver for two nights. The price was a bit high, but the accommodation was deserving.
Then she asked the owner to send hot water to her room.
The room was well-lit, there were a big soft bed, a chair, and a table. The windows were screened by curtains so the client would not be disturbed by anyone peeping from outside.
In a moment a girl came holding a large wash-basin filled with hot water.
Feather waited for the girl to go away and went to the basin. Next to the basin, she found a piece of soap. She washed and took out the coloring paste. She smeared her hair with it and waited for a while.
After washing the paste away, her hair turned bright brown. Now, no matter who wanted to find her by the description her family put out they would not be able to.
After that, she blissfully went to bed and fell asleep even before her head touched a pillow.