05-15 City Stroll
The following day, after breakfast. Jin and the others finally got around to touring the city.
The capital, Borgia, was built to have three districts. The royal castle is of course in the center. The residence of king of Elias, Blitzen Scala Elias XII and his ministers. It’s where the government affairs take place.
The second district, outside the nobles’ walls is the commoners’ district. Prosperous merchants, skillful artisans, and small stores aimed for the general public are there.
The third district is farmland spread around the commoners’ district. Among other things, the homes of agricultural workers and people who can’t live in the commoners’ district are there.
Presently, Jin, Reiko, Elsa and Reinhardt are outside the royal castle, traversing the noble district in a roofless carriage. The view is fine, with the only fault being that it’s a little dusty.
Aside from all the dust, for a while now Jin has been restlessly looking around as if everything was new. A country bumpkin, by all appearances.
“Oh, uh, there’s a lot of noteworthy sights to be sure.”
Comparing to Earth, should it be called a gothic style? Countless stone towers with distinctive sharp tips. The ornamentation seems to be a bit over the top.
Jin expressed his thoughts to Reinhardt who responded with admiration,
Prattling on and on like that, Reinhardt eventually noticed Eliza glaring at him, and he soon shut up.
Reinhardt said and gave orders to the coachman. The coachman skillfully maneuvered the carriage off the main street and around the corner, arriving in front of a tailor shop.
“Eh? But I don’t have any business at the tailor shop.”
Even so, Reinhardt brought Jin into the shop.
“Welcome, Reinhardt-sama.”
“Ah, I’m one day late. Is it done?”
The owner said and looked at Jin who was next to Reinhardt. Reinhardt nodded.
The owner took Jin to the back of the shop.
“Oh well, I guess I’ll go with him.”,
Jin said and went to the back of the store, unsure of what was going on.
“Hey. This is…”
Originally Jin’s attire had been like an average commoner’s: black trousers, a white shirt, and a beige vest.
Nitpicking aside, Jin was now wearing the fancy coat on top of his commoner’s clothing.
Reiko complimented. The coat was slightly purplish deep grey in color, length to just above his knees, and had a large lapel. It had decorated silver buttons, and a fancy ornamental “J” embroidered on the chest.
“It’s a gift. It’s the standardized coatwear for a Magi Craftsman. As long as you wear it, even other nobles wouldn’t act impolite in front of you.
“Even though it’ll be spring soon, since you’re headed north it’ll get colder, right?”
“Understood. Thanks, Reinhardt. It fits my size well, huh.”
“Now that’s taken care of, let’s finally start the real tour around town!”
Led by Reinhardt, without getting on the carriage they entered a jewelry shop two houses away.
In the jewelry store, in addition to the ever-popular precious gems the store carried jewelry with Magi Crystals, so both Jin and Elsa had something they were able to enjoy.
Unlike in the modern Earth, there were no showcases. Instead, there were lavish shelves where raw ore, unset jewels, and finished goods were lined up on display.
“Ah, this gem has a nice color to it. It’s just like Elsa’s eye color, isn’t it?”
It was a thumb-sized light blue stone, but when viewed in a different angle it looked a deep blue. It was of an elliptical shape, the so-called cabochon cut, which seemed suited for a pendant head.
Reinhardt murmured while peeking over Jin’s shoulder, and called for the shopkeeper to purchase the stone.
While talking, the shopkeeper put on a glove with a Magi Formula written on it and picked up the gem.
Without the glove with the Magi Formula on it, there’s no way to touch the gems on top of the shelves.
The price was 120 thousand Torr. Reinhardt took out the full sum and said,
Afterwards he carefully put the wrapped gem in his coat’s inside pocket.
The next place to visit was a Magi Tool store.
“Uh-huh. There’s some very exquisite products here, aren’t there?”
“There’s some similarities in the way they use Magi Formulas.”
If I’m not mistaken that’s the Magi Craftsman Beana was studying under, Jin thought. From beside him Reinhardt asked,
“Gladia Hampton? Umm, they make Tools fairly well, but there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly striking about them.”
“Rather than that, look at this. What do you think about it?”
“…”
“I think it’s a very good idea. Having a Magi Stone instead of a Magi Crystal function as a sufficient source of Magic Energy is a large achievement.”
“What the? Why the unusually half-hearted response? Look, it probably makes ice in this portion, which cools down the contents. When it’s done making the ice, it doesn’t have to run again until the ice has melted. How well-thought-out indeed. I’d like to buy it and take it home with me.”
“Really, what’s wrong? Anyway, why is the Magi Device installed on the top, I wonder? If it was on the bottom it would be much easier to increase the size if needed.”
Jin immediately responded, and Reinhardt was taken aback with a surprised look on his face.
Jin, realizing the jig was up, replied affirmatively.