They were led to the town of Sodomia, the land complete opposite of the posh and pristine Elysia.
The houses were dilapidated and shouts can be heard everywhere. There were also many sick and malnourished Commoners begging on the streets.
Cermin went to hand them some coins, but Ronin grabbed his hand. “Don’t, Your Highness. They have money, look at their shoes. It’s all an act until they aim a knife at your throat.”
The prince only then realized the crooked grin and the hidden snickers that some of the beggars had, and how must of them kept their hands behind their backs or in their pockets.
And they really do have good shoes, just dirty. Some even looked brand new and from fine material.
“Your friend is smart. He can live and survive here just fine. Sodomia looks terrible, but not as bad as some places in Himmelgard.” Joyful Salope explained.
“We flourish from the body selling business here. Seducing gullible rich men or trying to gain their sympathy before we betray them.”
(Like a certain someone.) Zeuxis grinned, and Ronin just gave him a look.
“I see…. So it’s like the red-light district.” Cermin muttered to himself.
He saw half-naked ladies being chased by men while laughing. There was drinking and revelry in every house they passed by, it was almost like all of them were pleasure houses.
He was familiar with places like this. Places that were hated by society but loved by its clientele.
Because after he broke up with his fiancee, he was stuck in these places a lot. Getting drunk with friends and hooking up with girls.
This was where he found the Shimeifen ticket in the trash can.
Ronin learned this for the first time after being his system for so long. Well, he was not really surprised. It was in-character for Cermin.
What he didn’t expect were Cermin’s thoughts about his own perversion and depravity.
“When you get the first time, it’s hard to know when the last time will be.” He said sadly. “So I understand why these ‘gullible rich men’ would be fooled.”
“The girls and the drinks make you forget the most. They are the best way to get amnesia, and just ignore the real world for a while. Once you get a taste of both, you can’t stop.”
Joyful Salope turned to him with a knowing expression. But it wasn’t judging him.
It was a look of sympathy.
“I didn’t expect you to be someone familiar with the nature of these places, Your Highness.”
He scratched his neck. “Well, I frequent these places. Somewhere far away. So I know what makes them so appealing, sometimes you just want some good fun even when it’s dangerous.”
Ronin eyed the women waving at him and making gestures, then scoffed. “I don’t get the appeal at all.”
‘Zeriav’ suddenly spoke. “I’m a priest that is required purity of my god, so I don’t either. These people are too engrossed in their loneliness to see that they are mice being entrapped by kittens.”
“Haha! That makes sense.” Cermin nodded. “But the kittens are just so pretty that it’s hard to resist.”
Being surrounded by this, he was finding it hard to resist just getting someone and relaxing a bit after what just happened these past few days.
To forget.
Forget how he abandoned his safety for the sake of his friend and others, thus abandoning the family he came to know the past 20 years of his life.
Forget how he had killed someone, even if that someone was a daemon.
And most of all, forget the memories that were resurfacing more and more in this world.
He had managed to bury them deep into the crevices of his mind thanks to his harem. But now that he doesn’t have a harem and can’t distract himself with romance and sex…
It was getting more difficult not to think of him.
Ronin did not say anything. He had always disliked when Cermin was getting moody like this and he can hear his thoughts.
So, he went to ask Joyful Salope. “How farther is your house, Madame?”
“Not too far… Just past this block.” She pointed to a narrow alleyway. “Right over there. Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.”
“We can buy some more food if I sell some of my jewelry,” Cermin said. “I think I saw a pawnshop just now.”
Ronin nodded. “I would handle it so you don’t get tricked by the wrong prices, Your Highness.”
Zeuxis had come to like observing the both of them while acting like the quiet priest like this. He asked like a nosy neighbor:
(So how did you come to be close with the Prince of Scirocco anyway? The last time I saw him, he was running away as fast as he can after using our ancestor’s pole to hit pies.)
‘A long time had passed since then. I don’t have time to tell you, and it’s not really important.’ Ronin said.
(If you say so. He is just your little pet sheep to fatten and then devour later….. But I want to remind you something.)
Ronin already anticipated it. ‘I know. I will never get attached to him—’
(Not that. That’s the least of my worries knowing how heartless you are.) Zeuxis chuckled.
(Sheeps can get drawn to fellow sheeps a lot and get lost. He might run away if you don’t keep him in a pen at all times.)
Ronin saw Cermin looking longingly at a tavern full of… suspicious sounds from women, and rushed immediately to Cermin’s side.
“After we have some mushroom soup, we should continue traveling, Your Highness.” Ronin whispered to him. “We need to get to Scirocco as soon as possible.”
“O-Oh… You’re right.” Cermin nodded, trying to pry his eyes away from his favorite type of place. “We’ll leave after we do that and exchange my things for some money.”
Joyful Salope had finally led them to her very tiny shack. It was just a very small house, unpainted and unfurnished, with some parts of the roof leaking.
“The storms and thunder from the rift took away parts of my roof.” She told them. “Please pardon that, Your Highness.”
“It’s no problem at all.” Cermin told her. He turned to the rift in the sky.
“Your place never stopped it’s business even with the disasters?”
“Of course. People are too drunk to even care that the world was getting destroyed.” She chuckled bitterly. “I would have continued working at the Red Miller’s Saloon too had it not been for my Filsen getting sick.”
She was carrying her tiny and frail child, patting his head. “I would do anything to give him a life better than this.”
Cermin then said. “Then…. Once we get to my kingdom, I can send for a Griffon to let you live there and get medication for your child. We’ll provide you with a new home and—”
“There’s no ‘we’, Yoru Highness. Your parents left, and perhaps several of the royal household and advisors too out of fear from the rift.” Ronin reminded.
“Because you were determined to go back, the whole of Scirocco will be yours to rule. Are you prepared for that?”
Cermin gulped. “Me? But…. I will have to solve the rift first, and talk to the gods….”
“Just reminding you. That’s what will happen once you become successful in your little quest to save Magecia. You may even be directly crowned king.”
Cermin only now realized the scale of the responsibility he had at hand. It was a bigger mess than all the other worlds he had combined, because there were too many unknown factors.
And he didn’t have his former System-chan to aide him.
‘See? He can’t even do anything without me.’ Ronin felt a sense of pride at this. ‘So how can he ever escape my grasp?’
‘I’m the one person that he could never abandon. He can’t get rid of me.’
(That sure sounds like you are obsessed with him and desperate to not get abandoned.) Zeuxis snickered in his mind.
Ronin just gave out the order. ‘Get out of my head or I will tear your head off.’
(Fine, fine. I’m just being a concerned elder brother, is all.) He said sarcastically, when in truth he just loves drama.
It was a trait that never went away even when he grew up. Though back then, he was the one who incited them.
But Zeuxis simply couldn’t resist when there’s a strife between people’s relationships, like Maellan and his father that day he hit him for wanting to be a doctor.
And now he was interested on what the outcome will be of Cermin and Ronin, enjoying the show.
They went and ate their mushroom soup, and waved goodbye to Joyful Salope. Before going, Cermin left one of his rings with her.
“We may take a while on our journey, so use this to supply your son with as much food as you can to help him regain his health. If it’s not enough to get a doctor, I will try to look for a way to send more.”
Filsen smiled at Cermin. “You are a true prince, Your Highness. Full of kindness and dignity. A perfect prince.”
“Haha, that’s not true. I’m not perfect, and have flaws like everyone else.”
And as they went to travel once more…..
This flaw was proven when he smelled an intoxicating flowery scent coming from a beautiful woman nearby.
Ronin was sure that the prince was just beside him, but after being momentarily distracted by the sound of shattering glass and dodging a bottle that got thrown on a window…..
The next thing he know, Cermin wasn’t there anymore.
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