"Hello, sir... may I help you with anything?"
Laine pushed the door and walked into a shop selling clothes where an old man with graying hair, dressed in a gray cloak, greeted him from behind the wooden counter.
"Hmm... Iâd like two fitting garments, just something ordinaryâI can change into them here, right?"
"Of course, please wait a moment."
After sizing up the customer, there was a slight gleam in the shopkeeperâs eye. He nodded and stepped out from behind the wooden desk.
"Youâre not from around here, are you?"
As he searched for the right size clothes that would fit Laine, the old man casually asked.
"Yes, I just arrived in Turingen today. Are you running this shop by yourself, sir?"
Laine didnât conceal the fact that he was an outsider and curved his lips into a smile. It had to be said, Turingen was quite welcoming and hospitable.
"Yes... I didnât think much about it when I was younger, and now itâs just me left... Haha, donât mind an old manâs complaints."
They chatted casually, and soon, suitable clothes were picked out. Laine wanted them quick and fitting, not custom-made.
He paid for his purchase decisively, exchanged the savings of two unlucky fellows for the robes on his back without hesitation, and left the shop empty-handed.
Following the stream of people aimlessly forward, Laine walked for a while before turning into a secluded alley and stopped after rounding a corner.
Tap tap...
Tap tap tapâ
Bangâ! Find exclusive stories on empire
He knocked the tracker to the ground without changing his expression. Laine took a lookâa burly young man. Was this like a gang member from the olden days?
No matter what it was, he found a purse on the man. Laine weighed it lightly; it looked like quite a sum.
"Indeed, Turingen is quite welcoming and hospitable."
In the cities on the fringes of this era, still only less than a hundred years old, for an ordinary person to live to old age safely, without descendants to help and even able to run a shop... it was only believable if they had some skills; otherwise, no one would buy it.
The old man must have mistaken Laine for a wealthy aristocrat of some sort... but Laine couldnât be bothered to track him down now; he had other things to do.
"The three essentials of reincarnation; now the second one, âwhere am Iâ, is halfway done. Aside from my current circumstances, I need to understand what happened in the past."
"Fortunately, Athens is quite progressive in this respect...
They worship Athena as the Principal God, calling her Lady, Queen, Female Overlordâthe more formal titles are âLord of War and Victory, Monarch of Knowledge and Wisdomâ, so much so that Athens has always been keen on spreading the Goddessâ Faith through the dissemination of knowledge, even once creating what could be seen as the prototype of a âlibraryâ at the behest of the church."
"Itâs just that the entry barrier is high," kicking the middle-aged man unconscious on the ground, Laine expressed his satisfaction.
He would read while others paid for it; that seemed quite fair.
He didnât finish off the man, not out of kindness, but simply because he didnât feel any Magic Power or Sacred Power from him, proving the man had no connection to beings capable of casting spells.
In such a case, it was natural to let the line out long, hoping for a few more instances like thisâso that he wouldnât have to worry about money for a while.
...
Note 1: Because I canât be bothered naming, I simply chose from existing real-world names. Turingen is actually a state in Germany and the Wila River does exist there, but itâs just a name, the same applies to Hergolan Bight.
Note 2: Ancient Greece naturally had its own way of addressing strangers, but it would seem strange to readers, so letâs just assume itâs a translation issue.