Soon, Brian and Libitina settled themselves into the donkey cart and headed towards the market.
"So…you're Libby?"
Brian asked cheerfully. His cheeks held a dimple as he smiled.
"Yes, you can call me Libby. You are…Brian?"
"Hey, you must have heard my sister call me. It's been a few days since you appeared out of nowhere. If you don't mind, where did you come from?"
A sparkle of curiosity shone in his eyes as he titled his head towards her. Although Libby had not talked to many people in the shop and was still very shy, she observed that underneath Brian's bandana was dark curly hair similar to Briar's, and her impression of him became better.
"Well…actually, I am not sure. I got lost. I saw the lights in town and travelled here. I don't remember much."
"You…don't remember much?"
"Well, yes, aside from my name and some personal information, I think I might have lost my memory."
"Oh, wow, I am sorry to hear that."
Brian scratched his cheek awkwardly and cautiously asked, "Well, what are you planning to do now, your plan thereafter?"
"…We will see how things go from here, I guess," Libitina looked down at her fiddling fingers. It was not as if she had a plan. Brian respected her intention to discontinue the discussion and became a tour guide for Libitina, as he enthusiastically pointed out special monuments and historical buildings in Enzak that he thought might interest her. Libitina excitedly linked the monuments and buildings with her knowledge of the Enzak storyline.
'There's the church where Alistair and Marianne had their first hero-save-the-damsel drama, and that's probably the ice-cream shop where Yurian had an ice-cream smashed into his face by a kid…I wonder if I will be able to meet the characters….and if I have any role to play in their lives…'
...
"Hey, Libby, move the pork first, the bones are at the back," sniffed Brian as he followed the butcher's wife to the storeroom.
Libitina nodded, "Oh, okay."
They had finished buying the potatoes from the general shop, so the butcher was their next location. But when the butcher pointed at two rows of ceramic rectangular pots covered by a transparent film, Libitina was stunned.
"These?" Libitina frowned. Were meats stored in ceramic pottery here?
Creasing her eyebrows, she slowly hauled the pots into the cart one by one. Her arms started shaking after she managed to lift the second pot of meat onto the cart. As she finished pushing the second pot of pork onto the cart with difficulty, she wiped her forehead.
'Oh, is no one going to help a poor weak girl move these heavy pots?' Maybe Enzak was either a place of true gender equality or generic apathy.
'Well, it is interesting to think about these things, since I'll need to survive here,' she pondered absentmindedly as she started to drag the third pot towards the cart. 'I will need to be more careful if they discriminate against females, the poor or the weak. After all, there are so many stories where only the rich and powerful have human rights in these cliché otome world designs. Odin and Briar are most likely unique existences...'
Suddenly, a horse's cry travelled to her ears from the street and Libitina whipped her head around to the source of the noise.
A magnificent golden carriage pulled by six white horses sped by her view and her pupils retracted.
At the driver's seat, sat a young blonde man who held the carriage reigns nimbly as he drove the horses forward. In the heat of the moment, his eyes sparkled like jewels when the sun's ray hit them at an angle, displaying the vigour that was as strong as a sprouting seed in its moment of flourish. Drops of sweat flowed down his healthy wheat skin and for a second in time, their eyes met.
Libitina's eyes widened. Wasn't that Yurian, the third capture target from the Moon Princess III?