The rain in Tobesk is much gentler than that in the port city. The rain that lasted for a day greatly weakened the polluting fog that shrouded the city, and at the same time made the city's air fresher.
Summer is a sultry season, but when traveling in the summer rain, you don't feel any heat at all, nor do you feel the excessive humidity like in the rain in Lengshui Port City.
When Shade knocked on the door of Miss Louisa's rented apartment downstairs while holding a paper bag and an umbrella, rainwater fell from the eaves into huge umbrellas, and the landlady who opened the door looked a little unhappy.
It’s not that we don’t welcome the tenant’s guests, but we are blaming Shade for disturbing us for the second time today. All the people living here are women, and the landlady does not welcome men to visit frequently, which is also a requirement in the rental contract.
Miss Louisa was even more surprised when she saw Shade. The skirt she was wearing was still the same as when they met in the morning. It seemed that she had not gone out today because of the weather:
"Xia De, haven't you set off yet? Is there anything else you want to explain?"
"No, no, it's not that I didn't leave. I'm back now. Look, I brought you a souvenir."
When he arrived at the living room on the third floor, he handed over the freshly dead fish in a paper bag. The smell of fish was very strong.
"Meow~"
In the midst of the cry, the cat that was originally standing on the windowsill pounced. But little Mia didn't want to pounce on the unlucky fish. It jumped from the window sill to the chair, from the chair to the table, and then took advantage of the table.
After hugging Shade's arm tightly, he didn't let go of his paw at all.
He said "meow~" several times in a voice that seemed aggrieved, for fear that Shade would leave it behind again.
"It lay on the window sill almost all afternoon, looking at the street outside the window."
Miss Louisa said with a smile, and then looked at the fish with disgust:
"Shadow, why do you think I have mastered the skills of handling fish? I will never handle such troublesome things. But this fish looks very good, did you catch it yourself?"
After asking, he looked at the fish suspiciously:
"But... it's very fresh, and it seems to be sea fish. Where have you been?"
"Well... this is a very long story, please allow me to keep it secret for now."
In fact, I don’t want to reveal the secrets of my house for the time being:
"I'm really tired today. I came here to pick up Mia. I have to eat when I get back. Miss Louisa, thank you very much for helping to take care of this cat. I hope it doesn't cause you any trouble."
"This cat is very well-behaved, but haven't you eaten yet?"
The blonde girl asked with concern and stood up from the sofa:
"Since you got a big fish, why not eat the fish together? Your cat and I haven't eaten either."
"Don't you know how to handle fish? Oh, I can't either."
"So we went out to eat. I know a very good restaurant that allows guests to bring their own ingredients. Also, I think your cat will also like to eat fish, but be careful not to get the thorns stuck in it."
"Meow~"
Mia probably didn't hear what the blonde girl said. She was held in Shade's arms, squinting her eyes and concentrating on rubbing her face against Shade's clothes.
"Speaking of which, I forgot to ask this morning, why did you think of suddenly going on a far journey?"
Miss Louisa went into the bedroom to change her clothes for going out. Shade sat on the sofa without moving. The two of them talked through a door, but this was completely different from talking to Miss Carina through the door. Talking like this with the blonde writer
, it only made Shade feel friendly and trustworthy, but at that time, he was just nervous when talking to the big witch whom he was not familiar with.
"Reason for going out..."
Shade thought for a while and did not tell him about going deep into the ruins to face the silver-eyed man. This matter was very dangerous, and there was no need to involve Miss Louisa. He held the tea cup in one hand and touched the cat with the other, and said to the tightly closed
The door said:
"It's just a sudden thought. As you know, ring magicians can sometimes have wonderful inspirations. I recently had the inspiration to take a long trip."
"Of course it's good to have inspiration, but you must also be careful of the traps brought by inspiration, Ring Warlock..."
She paused, and Shade's overly sensitive hearing allowed him to hear the sound of the closet door being opened.
"The inspiration of a ring magician sometimes does not come from what he thinks of, but from something that reminds him of something."
Miss Louisa continued to teach her experience through a door, her tone was a little lazy:
"So, you must think carefully before doing something, but you can't be timid because of it."
He heard the clothes hangers in the closet clinking against each other, heard footsteps, heard clothes being thrown onto the bed, and then heard the drawstrings of skirts being untied...
The picture broke into his mind, and Sha De blushed:
"Oh, Miss Louisa, let me borrow the bathroom. Little Mia's paws need to be washed. It has already left two marks on my clothes."
"Okay...I remember, aren't its paws very clean?"
Shade didn't answer, but walked quickly to the bathroom. The bathroom was far away from Miss Louisa's bedroom, so Shade couldn't hear the sounds he shouldn't hear.
The bathroom in the apartment where the female writer rents is smaller than the bathroom in Shade's house. The steam pipes are not buried in the wall, but go directly through the wall and cling to the wall, making the interior area of the bathroom look smaller.
Already.
There is a strong smell of spices in the bathroom. This is not because the perfume has been spilled here, because the Shade family bathroom actually has a similar smell. The sewer system in this era was not very perfect, so in order to prevent the strange smell
It appeared in the bathroom and spread throughout the house. Poor people used orange peels, and people with a little money would get some low-quality spices and put them at the door of the bathroom or at the sewer pipe to cover the smell.
He stretched out his hand to turn on the gas lamp and walked straight to the sink without looking around. There was a bright mirror in the middle of the metal frame, and the faucet under the mirror was brass with a series of numbers stamped on the side. It squeaked again.
Turn on the faucet, and the clear water will gush out a few streams at first, and then flow out normally from the faucet:
"When did my hearing get so good?"
He was still blushing a little, holding the cat in one hand and looking into the mirror, while sweeping the other hand under the faucet to create the sound of real water being used.
[This should be the unimportant characteristic of thaumaturgy - echoes of the past, which slightly improves your hearing level. Otherwise, how do you keep catching footsteps in the busy city? 】
There was obviously no one behind him in the mirror, but the sound still made Shade think that the woman was lying behind him, whispering softly in his ear.
He looked at the mirror and carefully touched his shoulders with wet hands, but he didn't touch anything either inside or outside the mirror.
The woman chuckled in Shade's ear, as if she was laughing at his behavior at this time:
【But why were you blushing just now?】
"Why are you saying I'm blushing?"
He asked rhetorically, looking at himself in the mirror who obviously looked like a Westerner, and waved his hand to the mirror. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he also laughed at his stupid behavior.
"Meow~"
Mia the cat noticed Shade's movements, squirmed in his elbows and stood up, and then waved its paws at the small orange cat in the mirror. After seeing the cat in the mirror also waving its paws, Mia the cat said to "
It" made a threatening sound.
Foreigners are not good at cooking, so they spend most of their time looking for cheap restaurants around Saint Teresa Square.
This time, the restaurant Miss Louisa took Shade to was a so-called high-end restaurant. Fortunately, it was not very high-end, otherwise they would have to change their clothes before entering.
The restaurant allowed you to bring your own ingredients, and the chef was very knowledgeable and recognized that what Shade brought was a common sea fish on the West Coast called 'Orlick'. Although it was already dead, it seemed that it had not been dead for long.
"Don't worry, this fish of yours will not be wasted."
Shade still remembered Delarian's poor eating standards, so because of the chef's confidence, he was worried that he would see terrible meals like "fish head pizza" next.
Unexpectedly, I ended up enjoying delicious fish soup and butter-fried fish with Miss Louisa and Mia.
They sat at a table against a wall hung with landscape paintings of lavender fields and windmills.
Miss Louisa noticed that Shade was worried. During the meal, she tried to find out what he was doing, but was blocked by Shade in the end. So in the end, she just hinted that she could ask her for help if there was anything, but Xia De
Virtue really didn't want to involve Miss Louisa in that trouble.
But overall, the dinner was quite pleasant. Miss Louisa talked happily about the recipes here, and Shade talked about the interesting story that he went to attend an academic report last Friday and met Professor Manning by chance.
As for Mia, out of consideration for the cat's health, Shade did not share the fish soup with it, but the restaurant's chef specially separated a piece of meat with clean fish bones from the big fish. Mia, the cat, was eating her own
Before the meal, I probably wouldn't have time to pay attention to Shade.
You had to pay for the ingredients you brought with you, but when leaving, Shade just put the tip under the plate and didn't pay anything else, because Miss Louisa said she wanted to put this meal on the account as before.
And when they were holding an umbrella in front of the restaurant in the rain, and Shade was about to send the blonde girl back to Quill Street, Miss Louisa said that she didn't pay for this meal either:
"Lecia is such a regular customer. She often sneaks out to eat here, so just charge it to her account."
The two of them walked together on the rainy street, the cat curled up on Shade's shoulder. The gas streetlights were dim in the rain, and the three full moons were obscured behind dark clouds. Judging from Miss Louisa's nonchalant tone, she
It's not the first time this has been done.
The relationship between her and Princess Lesia Cavendish, whom Shade has not met yet, seems really good.