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While I did call it noble-style, it’s not like we have attendants following around. Although we couldn’t avoid having someone to drive the carriage for us, we were able to prevent having maids or butlers attending to us.

The carriage being used right now is a specially made carriage for the Iglesio household and, who would have thought of it, it has cushioned seats!¹ The moderately soft seats are pretty wide and its interior design gives an air of almost too much extravagance. The small window connecting to the driver’s seat has sound insulating shutters installed, a design that puts privacy in mind.

「Now then, my lady. Where shall we head first?」
「Nn, I shall leave it on your hands.²」

To my playfully exaggerated words, Urania played along with a giggle.³

「Certainly. In that case, Hans, please go as planned.」
「Certainly, my ladies.」

Hans is the name of the driver. When we first met the middle aged man, I was like, 「are you sure you’re not Sebastian⁴ or something?」, as he looked extremely fitting of it with his swept-back white hair and beard combo. In actuality, while he’s wearing driver clothes today, he also looks pretty good in a butler’s suit.

I originally wanted to call him with honorifics, but he refused it. It seems like nobles and commoners are mixed among the servants, with Hans being a commoner and the maid Reina being from the house of a Yellow Peer. While I don’t really think he needs to be too polite with someone like me, but since sorcerers are special existences in this world, in addition to the confirmation that I’m going to be officially associated with the Iglesio family, it seems like that’s just how it is. Well in Hans’ case, it seems less about his birth but more about his professionalism⁵ instead though.

The carriage, as driven by Hans, smoothly departed without any strong shaking. Although it’s a given that a well-maintained town road is more stable than a bumpy highway, Hans’ driving skills must be pretty good too. This is the steadiest ride I’ve had since I came into this world, it’s really great.

「Nh, so Lily, where are we going?」
「Mm? Let’s see, since it’s our long awaited date, why don’t we go for some window-shopping then?」
「Window-shopping?」

Yeah, I guess it’s not a common term in this world. Still, the place we’re first heading to is pretty appropriate for it. Gateskeep is, as we’ve been told before, a town surrounded by four dungeons.

With it being that way, this means that the mana in the town’s surroundings are being absorbed by the dungeons, meaning monsters practically never appear around the vicinity of the town. Furthermore, since the dungeons are nearby, adventurers pursuing these dungeons gather to the town. Naturally, the Adventurer’s Guild here which manages these adventurers ended up being the largest one in the country and, as a result, the public safety in this town became one of the most distinguished within the kingdom.⁶

With it being a highly safe area, as well as being moderately close to the Royal Capital, it’s an ideal place for nobles that have turned over their preerage to their heirs, retired merchants, and other such wealthy people to move into after retirement. And naturally, in a place where those sort of people gather, products that are adequate to their needs gather in as well.⁷ For that reason, one street in the main road has become a dedicated arcade for jewelry shops, boutiques, magic item shops, furniture shops and other more high-class establishments.

「Now then, the carriage will be parked on the other side, so please take your time and enjoy yourselves.」
「Nn, thank you.」
「Okay. I think we’ll take some time here, so have a good rest too, Hans.」
「Very well, I will gladly do so then.」

Playfully shooting Hans a wink, it seems like he got the message. He probably knows that if he refused, we wouldn’t be able to get comfortable with taking our time. While I can’t say for sure if he’ll actually rest or not⁸, from the looks of it, it shouldn’t be a problem.

「Well my lady, shall we go then?」
「Nn, I’m in your care.⁹」

As I presented Urania my hand while bowing my head, she unhesitatingly put her hand on top of mine. Hans is looking at us with a gentle smile, probably intending to stay and see us off until we either enter one of the shops or he can’t see us anymore.

It’ll be a bit awkward if we leave him waiting for too long, so we entered the first shop that caught my eye. This shop, which had a colorful variety of accessories lined up in their storefront, is a branch store of a craftsman working in the Royal Capital.

「Oh, what about this?」

Picking a hair accessory made with a feather design, I held it against Urania’s head. Since Urania’s eyes and hair are light blond, I chose a light blue accessory. Yup, it fits well with her one piece.

「Yup, it really suits you.」
「T-thanks.¹⁰」

Happily embarrassed Urania is the absolute cutest.¹¹ Generally, Urania and I don’t wear accessories and small stuff. Being adventurers that enter dungeons, we’re never sure when or where we’ll ever lose these things after all. Other adventurers think similarly too, so there are only a few people that wear accessories that aren’t piercings, necklaces, or rings.

「We can’t use it as adventurers, but students should have some opportunities to wear these stuff, right?」
「Nh, but it’ll be a waste.」
「Haha, don’t worry about just this much.」

Urania was holding herself back, but we’re going to need these kinds of stuff from now on. Besides, if it’s about the price, just that much isn’t a problem at all.¹² I immediately put the accessory I picked on Urania’s hair and chose several more accessories as well. These ones are going to be sent to the Iglesio mansion, so we aren’t going to be carrying any luggage today.¹³

After that, we went around and looked at the jewelry and magic item shops. As expected, the rings and necklaces are a bit out of our reach. While it’s not an issue if I consider the Iglesio family’s budget, I’m really hesitant on spending their money too much.¹⁴ Since there wasn’t anything that particularly caught Urania’s interest, we just stopped at watching for today.

What was troublesome, though, was the final boutique we stopped at this morning. The boutique was a purveyor of the Iglesio household and the people there, just like Reina and the other maids, were extremely fond of cute things, so Urania and I ended up becoming their dress-up dolls.¹⁵

Well, sure, there were a lot of clothes that looked good on Urania and it gradually piling up on the cashier table was fine and all, but at the same time, clothes for me started piling up as well. Most of it heavily leaned on the white, of course, and there was zero of the contrasting black clothes, none at all.¹⁶

「That was tiring…」
「Nn, tiring…」

In a sidewalk cafe, the two of us, feeling exhausted, are currently taking a break. We’ve also decided to eat a light meal here for our lunch. While I only ordered a smallish galette, Urania ordered both a galette and a sandwich.

Ever since I’ve started sucking life essence from Urania, my stomach’s food capacity has settled down. Well, rather, I’d say that it actually decreased. In the first place, Nightmares by nature can live as long as they have life essence, so only the bare minimum of regular food is needed to live as a human but, it looks like I really do just need the bare minimum.¹⁷

「Lily, is that enough for you?」
「It’s fine, don’t worry. The bare minimum should be enough for me.」

As I said so, I leaned my body forward and whispered something only she could hear.

「(Urania is the only one I really need after all.)¹⁸」

Urania flushed red and cast her eyes down.¹⁹ Honestly, I was thinking of giving her a kiss too, but since there are a lot of people around, I decided to give up on it.

1. Lyly: Ya~y!
2. Lyly: CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE
3. Lyly: Ah… cute
4. Lyly: Kek, not all butlers are Sebastians, lily. Honestly would love Alfreds more.
5. Lyly: Professionals have standards (?)
6. Lyly: That’s a damn triple ssr level pull there.
7. Lyly: And another ssr, the market of the rich with disposable money
8. Lyly: Well, yeah, he’s professional, probably wouldn’t rest anyway, just be out of sight, but hopefully he does
9. Lyly: Ah… the lady and the escort play… I never thought I wanted this
10. Lyly: CUTE
11. Lyly: True
12. Lyly: Riche Rich
13. Lyly: Uber delivery?
    Silva: Just a moment here… I thought they’re WINDOW shopping. You don’t buy anything when WINDOW shopping!!
    Lyly: Lol, you do when you actually have money and things you want to buy. Like how people say they’re just jogging and then there’s suddenly a tall boba tea when they go home (Totally not me)
14. Lyly: Understandable
15. Lyly: Classic
16. Lyly: Too bad, succubus really screams “Black! Tight! Maybe Leather!”
17. Lyly: Lewd is fewd
18. Lyly: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
19. Lyly: Cute