After breakfast I decided to take a little walk around.
I left Luna to do what she wanted to, she said she wanted to go hunting. I did kind of want to join, because I think she looks beautiful when hunting and fighting, but I decided not to impose on her break time. She'd already had to spend almost every waking hour with me over the last month after all.
So I went to the main street again. I obviously immediately went to a certain place.
Rickey's stand!
The. Best. Meat. Ever.
And I stand by that.
I strolled up to the special stand and saw Rickey, cooking like usual.
"Yo, boss! Got some extra for me?" I called out, seeing as how there was no line, which was unusual at this time of day seeing as how popular his stand was.
He turned around.
"Miz? It's great to see you back!"
"How could I stay away when the food's this good? I feel like I gravitate towards your stand everytime I'm on the street."
"Hahaha! You're too kind, I'm just a humble food vendor!"
He looked around cautiously before leaning in so no one else could hear.
"It's you right? The one who made the new soap business with the first prince's maid." He asked me.
I chuckled and gave him a wry smile.
"Haha, what gave you that impression?"
"You know how rare that name Miz is? Also, you always pay me an outrageous amount, I used to just think you were an aristocrat, but I see now that you're just a great merchant." He said with a large smile.
Honestly, impressive detective work.
"You won't believe me even if I deny it, so I'll just go along with it for now. Why do you ask?"
"I just wanted to thank you! My children have been so healthy lately and my wife is over the moon. She even gave me a reward the other day! It's been like 7 years since she last did that! Every single person around here is grateful for this soap! You have saved so many lives!"
He gave me a solid pat on the back and seemed truly happy. Then he leaned back so he wasn't whispering to me anymore. I decided to have a look around, and everything did indeed look better.
The people looked more clean, and there were smiles on their faces that I had never seen before, everyone seemed happy.
Is this what it's like to be a good person? I mean, I didn't do it to help people, but it still doesn't feel too bad…
Rickey finally finished cooking the meat and handed it to me. I went to pay, but Rickey stopped me.
"I won't accept payment, not after everything you have done for me, and all the extra money you paid me. Just take this one meal on the house at least." He cut in.
"Haa, fine. Just this once." I agreed, it looked like he wouldn't take no for an answer.
I took my food and started walking away, listening into the various conversations around me.
"... hear about the crown prince getting injured, what a piece of trash!"
"Ha! that's what the loser gets!"
"Did you hear that the person who made the new soap was the first prince's maid?"
"WHAT?! That's bullshit! There is no way some incompitent like him would have such a great person as his maid!"
"HA! Great person? The bitch is just using her connection to the royal castle to get the instructions of how to make soap and sell it! She didn't do jack shit!"
"Kekeke, Yeah, you're probably right. I bet this Miz guy just got her to steal the recipe so he could sell it and make money! Lucky bastard!"
"Right? Even I could do that! Look at all these people singing praises about a scammer!"
Maybe being a good person wasn't actually that great after all, I mean, people only thank and praise you when it's convenient for them. It seems it's all superficial bullshit that means nothing. Does that mean that good people are just attention whores? People who can't find validation for themselves in their own lives so they seek the praise of others to fill that void?
Who knows, but now that I'm starting to think about it, maybe I'm the outlier. No, haven't I done the same thing with Luna, and my mom?
This is all very complicated. Now that I broke free from the shackles of the past, I realize how much I missed out on. Not everything is ones and zeros, black and white, beneficial or not, and not everything people do is logical.
I controlled my own thoughts and listened back in.
"Did you hear that his highness Julian has a crush on Selena Renforth's little sister?"
"Yeah! Didn't she sleep with a bunch of guys too? Who would have thought one of the next queen candidates was such a whore?"
"Haha! Calling her the next queen candidate, do you not even realize, his highness Julian isn't the crown prince?"
"Oh, don't mess with me Calvin! We all know that idiot prince isn't going to become king!"
"Hahaha! Right! I heard the idiot prince also…"
I tuned out the people who were just circle jerking each other and slandering me, and listened to another group.
"Did you hear about the saintess healing the first prince? Apparently she collapsed!"
"Oh my god! Really? That's so horrible! I hope she's okay! She healed my brother once when he was about to die from his sickness, she is so kind!"
"Right? Right? She helped my grandmother once when she fell over and healed her even though we are commoners!"
"Oh, did you guys hear about the recent killings of nobles? All the lower rank nobles are getting attacked and killed by bandits! At least 4-5 have been killed!"
"Yeah, yeah! I heard that it's the Westrick bandits! Their boss is as strong as 1000 men!"
"I heard that recently Viscount Juxtun was killed and his wealth was plundered."
That name sounded familiar… Juxtun, Juxtun… nope, nothing comes to mind. Can't have been something important then… well he was probably in my faction or something because he is a viscount.
I ignored them and listened to another group.
"Did you hear that at the new ball for the nobles to celebrate the start of the social season there will be a big announcement?"
"Really? I wonder what it is?"
"Probably nothing important, just someone getting married or something."
"True."
"Also, did you hear about our princess who is in the Creckal kingdom now?"
"You mean the first princess Maya? What about her?"
"Apparently, her betrothed is only second in line to the throne, so she won't actually become queen."
"So? That has nothing to do with us."
"I guess, but I also heard that the Creckal Kingdom is on bad terms with the Lindenberg kingdom. I heard that the only reason they haven't gone to war is because of the demon lord."
"Well, maybe a hero will appear and kill him or something? Then they really will go to war and…"
I got bored of this as well and went to another conversation, all while chomping down on my meat.
"Did you hear about the captain of the royal knights? I heard that he finally became a grandmaster! And he did it at the young age of 28! What a genius! It usually takes people until at least 35-40 to become one, even if they train nonstop! Won't that make our military much stronger? We now have two grandmasters in our kingdom when you include Marquis Pute!"
"No you idiot! We still have nothing on other kingdom's, we might not be the weakest, but we still fall behind the Creckal and Lindenberg kingdom's, plus the Marlowe kingdom of the Demon's is stronger than any single human kingdom because the demon lord can control monsters."
Marlowe huh? Luna Marlowe, then. It's kinda cute. But I think Luna Nix sounds better…
Ahem anyway!
"... plus the princes in the Creckal kingdom are geniuses. I heard one was a great magician and one is a grandmaster swordsman!"
"Wait, what even is the difference between a master swordsman and a grandmaster swordsman? Can't you already use aura when you become a master, what's so great about a grandmaster?"
"Uhh, one's better at it?? I guess? I don't know bro, I'm not a master swordsman!"
"Hahaha, true, I remember that one time you tried to swing a sword and cut your foot because it was too heavy! HAHAHA!"
"SHHH! You promised to keep that a secret!"
I tuned them out again, they'd never learn about the fact that grandmaster swordsmen have a personal aura as it's a secret of sorts.
Then I heard a loud shout.
"There is a carriage being attacked by bandits just out of the city!"
Hmm, sounds a lot like it's not my problem. What is it with me and people being attacked by bandits recently?
"It's the Veara dukedom's carriage! Someone help, the B rank adventurers party isn't enough! They have mages!"
… Fuck, that sounds a lot like it IS my problem now. If it was anyone else other than the Veara's then I'd leave them be, but I can't just do that now.