Fifteen servings of pasta sat in the cold winter air, signifying what?
Everyone knows that pasta is best enjoyed hot. Once it cools, it becomes tough and sticky, and the texture is quite unpleasant to eat.
Soon, the pasta had completely cooled down, turning upside down in temperature. The little beggar felt it with his hand and then happily covered the boxes again.
"Heh, could he be an idiot?"
"What the hell? Is this beggar trying to show off that he has money?"
"That might be possible. Beggars are always looked down upon, right? Maybe he wants to tell us that being a beggar can be a profitable job, haha!"
"Hahaha, would you like to become a beggar then? Every time I see you, I'll give you a silver coin!"
The voices discussed in the shop were initially soft, but as they noticed that the little beggar did not react to the mockery, they grew louder.
At that moment, the little beggar might as well have been deaf to their words, showing no reaction and just busying himself with packing the boxes into the bag.
But clearly, the little beggar wasn't packing the bag correctly. The bag could hold fifteen boxes standing up but now only fit five lying down. The beggar looked a bit confused, he lifted his head, glanced around the shop, and then his eyes landed on a large tote bag. It was a large tote bag. Usually, it was given to customers with orders of more than twenty items.
The little beggar got off his chair, his hopeful eyes looking at the tote bag and then at the shop owner. The shop owner, thinking the beggar might really be a fool, casually threw a tote at the beggar, telling him to leave quickly.
The little beggar quietly picked up the tote, stuffed the remaining boxes into it, held the baby girl, and left the pasta shop with the fifteen servings of food. But as soon as he left, those seemingly foolish eyes turned as cold as frost. He glanced around and then quickly ducked into an alley next to the street, starting to modify the props he had acquired.
The blood pupil witnessed all this and suddenly snorted,
"Hey, human kid. What are you really up to?"
The little beggar didn't answer, just staring at these two bags.
"Don't want to answer, huh?"
"…"
The beggar was busy with his hands for things he got.
"Kid, it seems our communication isn't very good. I have completely served you as my master. Shouldn't our close relationship be free of suspicion and defense? Isn't it too tiring?"
The little beggar didn't look at the creature with blood-red eyes; he was trying to fit the boxes into the bag. After trying for a while, he slowly said.
"You aren't a fool...you should know what I'm doing."
"No, you are wrong there, kid. I can't actively read from your mind the information you don't want me to perceive. In other words, I have no idea what you are thinking right now."
"…"
"Hey, hey, hey, are you even doubting my heartfelt words now? Well, if you don't trust that, then I can't communicate with you."
"…"
"Shit, boring."
It seemed that provocation didn't work on the little beggar, so the sword could only continue to watch the beggar work with the tools he just got. Gradually, it began to understand what the little beggar was intending to do.
"Ha! kid, intriguing. This is really amazing! I'm expecting…"
Half an hour later, the little beggar came out of the alley. In his left hand, he carried a large tote bag, and in his right, a common bag with a torn corner, revealing half of the box of the pasta store. Oddly, the baby girl who was with him before was gone. (Let's guess where she was)
It was lunchtime, and the crowd on the streets was getting smaller. The little beggar moved towards a busy intersection. He looked at the line of people and the guards searching them, then took a box of macaroni from his large tote bag and approached someone.
"Mister, want to buy some macaroni? It's tasty."
The man, who was really hungry from waiting, turned and saw the grubby beggar offering a box of macaroni. Though he was put off by the beggar's looks, his hunger won, and he took the box…
"It's cold?!"
Opening it, he found the macaroni sticky and cold, which killed his appetite. He shoved the box back at the beggar, turned away, and ignored him after that. Although he noticed that the beggar had another bag filled with boxes of pasta, the bag which had a torn bottom corner, revealing half of the pasta box from the shop, must also contain totally cold food.
The beggar's first attempt to sell was a flop. He closed the box quietly and tried the next person in line. He kept trying to sell, but after a while, he'd put these boxes back into his large tote bag and take out another to sell.
No one bought it. The people in line looked down on him, and some, annoyed by the long wait for the exit checking, even yelled at him.
"You idiot! You think we'd buy this cold leftover stuff at full price?!"
One man swatted the macaroni from the beggar's hand to the ground. The beggar just looked at the macaroni now mixed with snow, bowed his head, took another box from his tote bag, and approached the searching guard.
"Sir, want to buy some macaroni?"
The guard had seen the cold macaroni and waved him off without a glance. But the beggar kept on, pulling out another box and persisting.
"Sir, my macaroni is delicious, lots of sauce. It's still great even cold."
Since the beggar was close to the exit, according to the regulation, the guard had to check him. After the guard searched several layers of the boxed macaroni in his large tote bag and discovered that they were all cold, inhaling the disgusting smell from the beggar, he totally lost his patience and looked down on the beggar.
Although he noticed that the beggar still had a common bag that had a torn bottom corner, revealing half of the pasta box from the shop, he didn't inspect it. Since it was a torn bag and showed the bottom content inside, how could it be used to carry babies?
"Fuck off Fool! Cold food now? It's not summer! No one will buy it!"
Afterall, how can they believe that an idiot child was related to these missing babies and the kidnap of the princess?
Failing to sell anything, the beggar seemed sad. Still, he tried to hand a box to a guard. But the guard pushed him away, focusing on searching the other people in line. The guards were disgusted and stopped looking at him.
Now, with the exit behind him, he saw the guards weren't watching and focusing on him anymore. They were busy with others. He put the box back into his large tote bag, holding another bag that had a torn corner a little more tightly, and turned to leave the city, but just then…
"Wait!"