Since my reincarnation, I had seen nothing but the walls of the orphanage. So I greeted the day of our long-awaited walk with enormous enthusiasm.
According to the rules, orphanage residents were allowed to leave the orphanage to visit the city. The only condition was to manage to return before curfew. Otherwise, there would be trouble. But we, of course, weren't going to break the rules. We only wanted to take a walk.
The capital of the empire, the city of Acropolis, was truly enormous. And it amazed with its diversity.
Only now did I fully and finally realize that I was in an era of medieval Europe. To see with my own eyes what I had previously seen only in the sets of historical films was truly incredible.
Paved streets of gray stone. Houses with tiled roofs. Craftsmen's signs swaying in the wind. The smell of fresh bread from bakeries, mixed with the smell of horses and smoke. The voices of merchants, the clink of coins, the sound of wheels on stone.
It was as if I had fallen into another era.
Only...
"...Hazel, it's better if you take me by the hand," Amalia asked. "There are many people here, so you might get lost."
Well, I was never against taking this divinely beautiful girl by the hand. So I gladly did it.
"...Erica, give me your hand too," I asked.
"What? Why?"
The villainess frowned and warily stared at me with her red eyes.
"Didn't you hear? You might get lost too."
For a moment Erica puffed up as if she had been insulted by being taken for a small, dependent child!
But I considered it fair. Of the three of us, she really was the youngest.
"Who said I would get lost?" she grumbled. "That will never happen!"
Nevertheless, despite all her grumbling, her small palm still imperceptibly slipped over and grasped my own.
I chuckled quietly and squeezed Erica's hand tighter.
Thus, the three of us, holding hands, walked together across the city square. From the outside it might even look ridiculous. Nevertheless, I didn't care about public opinion. I simply enjoyed the time spent with friends.
After a while we reached the market square. There were many stalls and small shops here. It was my first time at a market, so I looked at all the goods with great interest.
And in the end something caught my attention.
It was a small stall with cheap jewelry.
Yielding to an unconscious impulse, I couldn't pass by.
I turned to the female lead and demandingly held out my hand:
"Amalia, give me some money!"
Since we were orphans who had grown up in the orphanage, of course we had no money of our own. At least Erica and I definitely didn't.
But Amalia was a completely different case.
Since she led an active social life in the orphanage and often helped the caretakers with various tasks, she had her own savings. It was small pocket money that the caretakers gave her for help.
In other words, compared to us and the other children of the orphanage, Amalia was a real rich girl!
Well, and since I had the luck to be her friend, I intended to take shameless advantage of it.
In other words, today I was going to properly empty Amalia's purse.
The female lead of the novel smiled and without unnecessary questions handed me her purse.
"What exactly are you going to buy?" she merely asked.
"Ah, this! Doesn't it look cute?"
We walked up to the jewelry stall, and I pointed to the goods that interested me.
They were bracelets made of cheap stone, but at the same time very cute. I bought three such bracelets, one for each of us. Red for Erica, blue for Amalia, and yellow for me.
Thus, these bracelets suited us perfectly.
"Here, put these on."
I handed them the bracelets I had bought, and I had already managed to put mine on.
"Thank you, it looks cute," Amalia smiled and put her blue bracelet on her hand.
Meanwhile, Erica hesitated before taking hers.
Generally, ever since we had come to the market square, she had looked not very pleased. Especially when she saw Amalia take out her purse with money and hand it to me. It seemed that at that moment she was ready to even burn a hole through it...
I didn't know what that reaction was connected with. Well, in any case the young villainess still seemed displeased by something.
"I won't wear this nonsense!"
"Really? Why?"
"This bracelet looks stupid, and I don't want to wear something like that!"
Ah, really. Hadn't she been crying in the library quite recently and looking so defenseless? Now it seemed like simply an incredible memory.
The fluctuations in her mood were too radical. From a harmless rabbit to an enraged little dragon, truly only a couple of moments could pass.
But meanwhile... what was wrong with this bracelet? As it seemed to me, for its price it looked very decent!
"Stupid? Well, fine..." I muttered in confusion. "If you don't want to, then don't wear it."
"..."
"I just thought it could be a symbol of our friendship. But if you don't agree with that..."
Nevertheless, before I could finish, the red bracelet was sharply snatched from my hands.
"Fine, if you insist so much, then this time I'll make a concession for you..."
I couldn't hold back and smirked when I saw Erica awkwardly pulling the bracelet onto her small and thin hand.
"I'm very grateful to you for this," I responded with a playful intonation, after which we went on.
After that we walked around the city for several more hours. And, of course, we got very tired during that time. So we decided to go into a cafe to have a bite to eat and rest.
We went into a cafe that looked the simplest and most suitable for our budget. The interior inside, though simple, was cute. When we entered, we discovered that it was a cafe that sold pastries and desserts.
Yeah, who would have thought that ordinary commoners in our time could also afford something like this?
Just twenty years ago, sugar and products made from it were inaccessible to common people and were considered a privilege only for nobles. That was because sugar was extremely expensive and was imported into the empire from a distant country. Nevertheless, after the Paladia Empire managed to establish its own production of sugarcane, the situation improved significantly.
Sugar fell in price and became much more accessible even to common people.
How good it is that I live precisely in this time. Despite the fact that I was a commoner, I would be able to feast on these sweet desserts!
Entering the cafe, we chose a cozy table by the window, where a pleasant view of the city opened up. On the table lay a card with the menu, so I decided to immediately choose what we would order.
"I don't like sweets very much. So I'll just have whatever you order," Amalia said with a smile.
"All right. And you, Erica?"
Nevertheless, the girl was a little embarrassed before answering.
"I... I'll have chocolate pudding..."
"All right," I smiled. "Then I'll make our order now."
So, I decided on the choice. Caramel dessert for Amalia, chocolate pudding for Erica, and strawberry pastry for me. After I made the decision, I called the waiter.
A young man with a rather pleasant appearance and manners came up to us after a few seconds.
"Hello, we're ready to order."
"Yes, I'm listening attentively."
The waiter was about to lower his gaze to his notebook to write down our order. But before that...
His gaze involuntarily slid over the three of us and in the end stopped on Erica.
At that same moment the waiter's grimace twisted in horror and disgust.
"I... I won't serve devil's spawn!"
He shouted this to the whole cafe.