Mortal Delights (1)

  The eyes of the townsfolk were consistently watching us no matter how far we treaded. Vreena being here was definitely a contributing factor towards all of that, but the one who’d actually managed to captivate them was none other than Julia herself and the reasoning behind it was somewhat foreign to me.

  Apparently, Julia wasn’t human.

  There was quite a bit I’d learned after spending all those months gathering information about this world, and the existence of non-human species being here was one of them. Rakia was subsequently divided into nations based on who ruled where and which species predominantly occupied that region. Here in the human Kingdom of Ekin, humans were of course the dominant species that roamed these lands, but that didn’t mean other races couldn’t cross between these borders as well.

  That was supposedly the case for Julia, as she belonged to a race known as the ‘druids’. They had a stark resemblance to humans, but they weren’t humans themselves, in fact they were closer to the beings referred to as ‘spirits’.

  Druids supposedly had the strongest connection to spirits and the strongest elemental affinity for water amongst all the various races of this world. In addition to that they were also said to possess enormous mana reserves.

  She did in fact have a strong connection with metaphysical entities like souls. Even now, twinkling white orbs of light were gathering around her. I don’t know if she could perceive them as well, but the fading souls seemed unnaturally attracted to her presence.

  Since she was the mother of his body, then it naturally carried some of the same perks that came along with being part druid because a few of the faint souls were even gathering around me as well.

  In the past, souls fled in fear of my presence, but now they were hovering so close to me it felt like they could latch onto my body at any time. My soul being weak right now and this body being part druid had somehow managed to concoct this strange situation. I didn’t dislike it but the whole thing just felt unnaturally amusing for some reason, so much so that a smile had appeared on my face out of pure reflex.

  “Hm? Are you enjoying this Liam? You’ve been smiling for quite a while now.”

  “Yeah walking around like this is teaching me a lot.”

  Vreena raised her eyebrow but eventually dismissed my odd remark after a few seconds.

  “I see. Then make sure you get a good look around. You probably won't be here for much longer so you might as well take the opportunity to look around this old place.”

  Interesting. Apparently we were on some sort of deadline.

  Just a few steps later, a peculiar sight came into view. There was a large crowd gathered in front of a small stall by sidewalk. The people there were pushing, pulling, haggling and doing their very best to get to the front of the bulging mob like a group of wild beasts.

  “Ohh here it is! Excuse me, how much do these sell for again?” Before I could even finish my train of thought, Julia already made her way over to the stall on our right. Her decision seemed somewhat random given the state it was in, but the reasoning behind it soon drifted to my nostrils, riding the flow of lukewarm air.

  My nose twitched slightly, picking up on the fragrant scent that filled the air. I still hadn’t gotten all that used to having a nose, but this thing did have its uses. If it was the old me here, then even such a tempting smell would have completely passed me by unnoticed.

  That aroma, it was one I’d already been familiar with, it belonged to the human delicacy known as ‘bread’ but something about this smell was a little different. It wasn’t a complete one-to-one match with the fragrance I’d already familiarized myself with by way of Julia’s whims.

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  It was strange, despite not even seeing what sort of cuisine was giving off that tempting aroma, this body had already begun reacting to it. I could feel the subtle movement of my stomach syncing up with the fluid escaping from the corner of my drooling mouth. Needless to say, it was somewhat shameful.....

  ~GROWL~

  A bellowing sound came from my stomach, it immediately drew Vreena and Julia’s attention towards me, and after staring in silence for a while, the two of them burst into a stifling laughter.

  Every time this happened that woman — Julia somehow found it amusing.

  “Oh, that's rare Liam! You don’t usually get so fussy about food. Do you want to try this?” Julia asked, her eyes beaming with sparkles

  “....Yea I’d like to try it.” I responded gingerly before lowering my head in shame. For whatever reason, that somehow warranted another chuckle from her.

  Vreena ruffled my before stepping up beside me, her wooden staff firmly placed before her. That single action demanded the attention of everyone here, and as soon as the bundled crowd of people turned to face us, they immediately crafted two perfectly parallel lines in mere seconds. Quite the admirable feat given the spontaneity of their reflexes only kicking in just now.

  “E-Elder Vreena! What brings you here today?” A woman at the back of the line spoke up, the angst in her face was nothing short of conspicuous.

  Vreena heaved a small sigh before responding.

  “I know just how tasty these can get, but it wouldn’t kill you to just line up properly right? You’re putting the poor girl under a lot of pressure.”

  “Y-Yes I suppose we did lose control for a second there, my bad Emma.” She gave a small bow, not to any of us at the back of the assortment, but to the one standing behind the stall, looking out at us with a hint of satisfaction on her face.

  To my surprise, the one who’d been handling this rampaging crowd was curiously a small child— To be clear, she was bigger than me but still a small child nonetheless. The young girl was almost a full head taller than me.

  If I had to guess her exact age, it was likely around twice the age of this body.

  Dark brown hair that fluttered down her back, deep blue eyes that rivaled the clarity of the daytime sky itself, and a stature that cruelly surpassed my own. The girl before me—clad in a white apron that served to shield the blue dress she was wearing—gently wiped away the beads of sweat swimming down her face.

  “Welcome, Madam. What will you be having today?” she asked, her voice warm and inviting.

  Despite being slightly out of breath it was clear that she’d actually been enjoying the chaotic swarm that was only a few members short of completely encircling her.

  “We can wait, Emma. Deal with those people there first.” Vreena swiftly replied

  “Alright, I’ll be with you in a minute then.”

  Thus, Emma began tending to the orderly line formed from instinct.

  “Mother that’s not bread right?” I asked reflexively, finding it hard to tear my eyes away from Emma for some reason.

  “Oh Yea I guess you wouldn’t know about those. They’re called “Faerie Buns”, it's kind of similar to bread but its a lot tastier.” Julia was particularly zealous when it came to food—always willing to go the extra mile for the sake of her palate.

  “Is Liam not a big eater?”

  “No he really isn’t all that fussy about food. If I don’t sit with him to eat he’d probably just ignore his stomach growls for the entire day, its almost like he forgets that he needs to eat sometimes.”

  “I actually do forget.” Was what I’d wanted to say.

  “Hah! If that's the case then try exposing him to some of your druid cuisine.”

  “If only I had the ingredients....” my parent replied dejectedly

  It was one of her many intuitive response whenever things weren’t going her way.

  “Alright! It’s your turn to order.”

  Drawing our attention, the small girl beckoned us over with a peculiar hand motion.