The horrible picture becomes increasingly tense. The burly and violent men close in slowly, raising their clenched fists. And just as it was about to get bloody-
"Yeah, yeah! Of course we know who you are, foreigners! Who do you think you are kicking us out like this?! No matter what, this is our country no?" a brave shout is heard from the crowd.
The violent foreigner shakes, startled.
A look of surprise shows on the faces of the crowd before the words processed in their heads.
The patriotic words immediately rouse the spirit of the citizens. No matter what, this is their country and their territory. No outsiders should be able to do what they want here! They slowly start to walk forward, completely in contrast to the shirking away from before.
A frown immediately appears on Lotus's family's faces. To think these weak, dirty peasants would dare?
"Yeah! This is our country!"
"We have the right!"
"Leave us alone!"
"Get out!"
The men and women of the country shout, stepping forward and enlarging the gap between the foreigners and the victim.
No one knew who started the grand words, but four.
The little boy covers his smile and laughs, as he looks at the patriotic citizens.
The three girls look at him in surprise. Why would he do that? And to think he had the courage for it!
'Amazing,' Violetta thinks, 'These citizens under tyrannical ruling; it seems that they still have some patriotism in them.'
She pats the soft, fluffy blue hair with a smile.
As the commoners step forward, the foreigners step back. Nevertheless, they pinch their noses and throw insults condescendingly.
The people still step forward. To them, it did not matter what insults and slandering they threw at them. Why? Because what they say has no weight behind, and everyone knows that those statements are false anyways.
Seeing the unwavering intent of the people of the Jun Empire. Lotus's family stops wasting their breath.
The leader of the group, a red headed old man looks at the riots with a darkened expression. Livid, he waves his sleeve and swiftly turns around and walks out the door. The annoying blonde boy gives a look of disgust at the shopkeeper and the man, then turns out the door too. Following the two, the rest of them leave the shop. As swiftly as they came, they left.
The mobs and crowds soon disband and everyone starts to go back to their own businesses and tasks.
After a few moments, it was very hard to imagine someone almost got hurt at that scene.
Violetta also turns back to her goal for coming to this hall. She walks around the herbs shop, perusing the shop.
Then, she turns over to her companions.
"Delta, what did you want to buy?" Violetta curiously inquires.
Delta replies, her eyes still wandering the shelves, "Ah, I was thinking of buying parsley and basil if there are any here, since I usually eat with those herbs instead of the other spices they have in this country."
Suddenly, The man who was almost injured walked up to them. He looks kindly at his customers.
"Sorry to disturb your talk. I overheard your conversation. I'm Shopkeeper Li. Our shop does have imports of parsley and basil, however it's behind the counters because not many people buy them," he explains.
"Hm, no wonder I couldn't see them around. Please lead the way," Delta replies courteously.
Violetta nods, "I'll come along too."
As the shopkeeper leads the way behind the counters, Violetta quickly turns back to notify Kate and Chris.
"You two, just stay here for now. You can browse."
They nod, obediently before walking towards the other parts of the shop in search of anything they like.
Meanwhile, Delta and Violetta follow the shopkeeper behind the counter and in through the back door.
They arrive at an even larger hall than the front shop. It almost looks like a grand library, but filled with herbs and herbalists instead of books and librarians. There were even shelves on the second floors filled with personnel and workers hurriedly organizing the imports.
"Where do the chrysanthemums go?"
"Do you have the ginger?"
"That way!"
"Grab some cinnamon for this please!"
"Do you have the illicium verum?"
"What illicium verum?"
"From the big order duh!"
"What do you mean?!"
Although it is relatively quiet up in the shop at front, the staff and storage area in the back are blaringly noisy.
The shopkeeper leading them in gives them an embarrassed look.
He slightly bows, "I'm sorry it's quite noisy here in the back. Please follow me."
"We don't have any illicium verum!"
"What do you mean?! How can we not! This is an order from a big shot, you know!"
"Then tell me what the heck this illicium verum is!"
"How should I know? I'm not even in charge of some herb like that!"
Violetta looks at the pair who were bickering, and now kneeling on the ground panicking about the herb.
"What should we do? It's an order from the Demigod Society, you know! They have the biggest authority, even greater than the Emperor!"
"We'll get fired and even worse if we don't do this right!"
She pauses her steps and raises her eyebrow at the familiar name.
"They can literally wipe us off the map with their power!"
'That demidog has that much power? It seems like magic is more powerful than I thought. I wonder how it would fare against a nuclear bomb… wow I wonder if atoms and molecular theory stuff applies to this world. ... if so I should try to make a nuclear fusion...' her thoughts start to wander and 'evilly' brew...
She watches the two poor herbalists as they kneeled, or jumped around, in pure panic.
"What should we do?!" they screamed inwardly.