Chapter 300 already, woohoo! Hopefully many more to come!
As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*****
Crossbell City.
8:00AM.
Times Department Store.
Second Floor.
Several store fronts could be seen scattered throughout the entire floor. The center of the second floor had a wide gap, which revealed the first floor. More stores could be seen on the ground floor. The stores down here offered general goods and imported foods from all countries alike, Erebonia, Liberl, Calvard you name it. The second floor offered a more higher-end variety of clothes and accessories or miscellaneous goods that were hard to come by. Many collectors like to come here.
This was the largest department store in all of Crossbell City. Most of its citizens often did their grocery shopping here. if they were part of the central and eastern blocks. Crossbell's western blocks had more targeted general good stores, which allowed its people to shop there instead of here. At Times though, many of its goods were often bought at competitive rates compared to the other stores, so coming here was well worth it. It also allowed people to buy items in bulk.
Toward the second floor at an accessory shop, four figures could now be seen standing in front of a branded glasses display. One was a violet haired boy wearing a brown leather denim jacket and pants that matched it, He was presently thirteen years old, but would be turning fourteen at the end of the month. Next to him was a lilac-haired girl who was around ten years old, a couple years younger than the boy. She had her hair tied up in a single ponytail, letting it flow down the back of her neck. She decided to bring along her St. Astraia's school uniform, and a cute black beret sat on top of her head.
Next to these two was a scarlet-haired boy in a lavish and flamboyant attire, a dark violet suit with red highlights. He wasn't in school uniform right now, but he was currently enrolled at Jenis Royal Academy, as was the girl beside him. She appeared to be sixteen to seventeen years old, a year younger than the scarlet-haired boy. She currently wore the standard uniform of Jenis Royal Academy, which was a white-pleated skirt covered by a purple vest. This outfit signaled that she was also a student there.
The violet haired boy, who was of course Naoto, was currently looking through the glasses selection. His golden eyes definitely stood out from the normal crowd, and he figured getting some glasses to hide them was the best thing. He could go through his list of Accessories, but he didn't have a need to. Naoto had the money, so why not splurge a bit?
"Can you bring this pair out?", I asked, pointing at a thin-frame pair that was slick and modern. Its lens was pitch black, but not too black. It could hide my eyes away. Underneath this pair of glasses, I saw the price tag, and it read labeled 30,000 Mira.
Lechter whistled, seeing me not even bat an eye as the woman clerk took out the glasses for me. She had a wide smile over her face. It was obvious she could tell that I came from a lavish background.
"Sheesh, I wish I could flaunt thirty-thousand mira around like that, Young Master. How big is your wallet anyways?", Lechter replied, placing his hands over his head in a relaxed manner.
"Young Master?", Lucy asked with doubtful eyes. She didn't expect to hear such words escape out of Lechter's mouth.
"I told you not to address me like that, Lechter.", I spoke back in a stern voice.
"Now I'm even more curious. That isn't a title used for someone of your stature.", Lucy mused.
"I figured it'd be best to go by the other you if you're trying to stay low-key here, Young Master. Otherwise, why bother dressing up in this stylish leather jacket?", Lechter asked.
"The other you?", Lucy asked, gaining interest.
"Fair point. The mayor should have already been notified of my presence but it would be best to remain low-key like Lechter said. I can tell you about it sometime, Lucy. I have noble blood in me.", I replied, nodding my head.
Lucy's mouth dropped in surprise hearing that.
"You're a Noble?", Lucy exclaimed in shock.
"Now do you believe me, Lucy? I've been tasked to stand by Young Master's side to make sure no harm comes to him.", Lechter responded. The moment it was heard that I was a Noble, the clerk's attitude became even more polite as she suddenly spoke out to me. Now it made sense as to why such a person
"Here you go, Esteemed Guest. Would you like these glasses wrapped or as-is?", The clerk asked me.
"As-is will do.", I answered, smiling back at her. I took the black-framed branded glasses, and placed them over my eyes. The view around me turned dim, but it was still easy to look out of. Doing a motion of my hand, I dropped the frames down a bit, revealing my eyes to the three.
Recalling a certain scene from Avengers Endgame, I asked the key question to them.
"How do I look?", I asked.
"Like a million mira, Young Master!", Lechter immediately replied. Lucy rolled her eyes at Lechter's words while Sherryl giggled.
"Hehe, you look good in anything, Big Brother. But you really do look different like this. Makes you look more mature?", Sherryl hesitated before asking.
"Right? I'm still thirteen but my growth spurts are already beginning. Just a year ago and I was a foot shorter than what I am now. I'll probably grow at least another foot in the next couple years.", I mused, wondering how much I would continue to grow. I had father's genes, and Giliath was quite the tall man. I wasn't around when mother was present, so I can't recall how tall she was, but I bet I would reach at least 6'5, or perhaps even 7'0 in height.
Lucy's eyes almost popped out of her sockets the moment she heard me drop my age on her.
"Y-You're only thirteen?", Lucy uttered in disbelief. Naoto was almost as tall as Lucy was, and was packing quite a bit of muscle to his body. Lucy didn't imagine that the boy before her would be so young!
"Haha, well I'll be turning fourteen within the month, but yeah.", I replied with a nod.
"That means no funny business Lucy. 'Sides, Young Master is taken. Already has that fiancé of his.", Lechter said with a playful grin.
"I-I am not like that!", Lucy immediately denied Lechter. She reached out with her arm and started to pull down on Lechter's ear. Lechter felt a pang of pain strike against his earlobe once Lucy started to squeeze it.
"H-Hey! That was uncalled for.", Lechter retorted back.
"Hahaha.", I replied, seeing these two start bickering again. It wasn't really that obvious in the games, but I think Lucy had a thing for Lechter later on. It was a shame Lechter was bound by the Intelligence Division's duty as the Ironbloods during the later half of cold steel. If he remained a student at Jenis Royal Academy without this fate, it was possible Lechter could potentially date Lucy.
Should I try to give the two a light shove?
"Thank you for your patronage, esteemed guest.", The clerk called out to me as she rang up my black-gold bank card.
"Thank you.", I said to the clerk. She remained polite but had a smile on her lips, keeping up her professional tone. It was then we heard a stern voice reach our ears, causing Lechter's and Lucy's bickering to end. Sherryl also had another laugh as she observed in silence.
"Hmph. We did catch wind of a couple of nobles coming to Crossbell considering it doesn't happen frequently. I didn't think you would come to the city so early. There's still an hour before I depart back to Leman.", A voice of an aged man called out to us.
"You really did come to Crossbell like you stated back in the call.", Another voice said, appearing to belong to a young boy. It was then we all heard a quick sound of shuffling feet as the four of us began to part ways from the shop we were at. It didn't take long before a small figure plowed right into me, reaching out for a big hug. Looking at this figure, I immediately spotted her blue hair. Her eyes remained mostly expressionless, but she took some effort to crack a smile. It wasn't fake either, I could see the warmth behind it.
"Welcome back, Naoto.", Tio called out to me with a heartfelt smile while she hugged me.
"It really is nice to see you again, Tio.", I happily responded.
We've had a few orbal calls over the orbal network, but it really has been a good minute since I've last seen Tio in person. We haven't seen each other since Tio was over to assist the connection tests back at Grancel Castle while Professor Schmidt and Professor Erika developed a prototype Enigma II device for me.
"Mmm.", Tio happily responded back, bobbing her head up and down in a cute manner.
"Well if it ain't Tio. How's life been treatin' ya ever since our shindig ended back at that resort in Calvard?", Lechter said, greeting Tio as he escaped Lucy's grasp.
"You went to Calvard?", Lucy uttered in shock again. She really was learning a bunch of new things about her so-called friend of the student council that she thought she knew. Just being around Prince Naoto alone had opened new doors for her, even if it has just been a couple hours.
"Sure did. You don't know about it cause it happened before we got acquainted with each other, Lucy. Was a few years back. Haven't seen the kiddo since then. Looks like life has been treatin' ya swell.", Lechter replied, seeing how happy Tio was. Her skin was still pale, but she definitely looks like she has been improving over the years.
"Uh-huh. It is nice to see you again, Lechter.", Tio said, welcoming the scarlet-haired boy. She was happy to see him again, but her expression remained mostly deadpan. Her gaze shifted from Lechter and looked at the lilac-haired girl. Sherryl smiled seeing Tio again. Unlike Naoto, Sherryl went on a long adventure with Zin, and hadn't come across Tio since she departed from Nemeth Island. Compared to Naoto, it has been a couple years since Sherryl had last seen Tio in person.