Stigma Effect

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It was just past noon. The sun was rising above the horizon, and a warm breeze blew. The wide streets were crowded with stalls and crowds lined up in time for the festival.

There were many people passing by, but the Princess’ knights surrounded the Princess and Yuriel, so they were able to look around the street without colliding with other festival goers.

It looked like a small shield had been erected around the Princess.

Yuriel asked Baraha about everything she saw.

“Baraha, what are they selling over there?”

“I do not know.”

“What about that?”

“I do not know.”

“Do you know anything about this festival… ?”

“… nothing. Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve been out on the streets during a festival.”

Yuriel’s fingers pointed to different parts of the street, but the answer he gave was consistent.

I don’t know, and a withered expression that looked like a dead tree.

Baraha’s answer was enough to disappoint Yuriel, who was expecting an explanation. The Princess approached Yuriel, who lowered her head with a sigh of disappointment.

“You can ask me if you have any questions.”

The Princess smiled and said. As if to answer anything, a generous tone turned towards Yuriel.

“What were you curious about? Is it there?”

“No, not there….”

The Princess deliberately pointed to another place and asked a question softly. Yuriel hesitated and shook her head.

“Then where?”

The Princess asked softly.

“It’s over there….”

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Yuriel, who was hesitating, raised a finger and pointed to the stall. She was afraid to ask the Princess, but she was more curious.

“I wonder how these things are sold in places like this. It looks expensive….”

What Yuriel pointed to was a small model. At first glance it looked ordinary, but if looked at closely, the models hanging on the stalls were not ordinary.

In the fountain model, water spouted like a real fountain, the clock tower model had a moving clock and ringing small bells.

They looked expensive to sell on the street. Things like that were strewn all over the street as if it was natural.

The Princess explained in a relaxed tone.

“It’s a thing made out of core fragments. Not the important ones. After a few days, the power is gone and the object will not move. These are things that will only be sold to ignorant children during festivals.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And what else do you want to know?”

“Ah, I wonder what kind of festival it is.”

Yuriel relaxed at the Princess’ casual explanation and asked another question .

There were many people passing by. She was relieved to think that even the Princess would not be able to easily do harmful actions such as using an aphrodisiac on a street like this.

“I was thinking that it was a flower festival because it was spring. But seeing how the streets are decorated, it doesn’t seem like a flower festival…. What festival is it?”

When Yuriel asked with her eyes shining, the Princess rolled her eyes and grabbed Yuriel’s arm.

The Princess walked towards the stall and held a model of the clock tower in her hand.

“Hey, you shouldn’t take it like that. You have to pay before you take it.”

The stall owner said, surprised. As soon as the Princess moved, the knights who followed her surrounded him, who showed signs of nervousness.

Even so, the stall owner stammered and insisted that his desire to receive money came first.

The Princess lifted her finger and one of the knights paid the stall owner.

The Princess, who had not paid attention to the actions of the stall owner and the knight, approached Yuriel with a small clock tower.

“It’s a festival that announces the usefulness of the monster cores. Wouldn’t it be like magic to be able to move it with such small fragments? It is a festival held to look back on how much we benefited from the monster cores.

The Princess broke the clock tower and showed the inside as she explained. As she said, black shards were inside the clock tower. The clock tower stopped moving when the small fragments the size of a fingernail fell to the floor.

The Princess looked down at the tower that had stopped moving and began to wander the festival streets in earnest.

“Come on, come this way. Yuriel. There are so many interesting things you can do with the monster core. There will be a lot to see. The things developed at this festival are also useful in real life, so it’s a lot of fun to watch them.”

People who were pushed by the body of the knights in the middle due to the Princess who wandered through the streets had an unpleasant face, but when they saw the target the knights were escorting, they tended to step back.

Yuriel wondered if they withdrew after knowing the Princess’ face, or if they withdrew in order not to offend what they saw as a lady of a noble family, but she did not have time to ask any questions.

The Princess didn’t pay any attention either, as if it was natural for them to avoid her, and she was not hesitant to drag Yuriel through the streets. The Princess’ attention was focused on Yuriel, Baraha, and the festival.

As the Princess said, there were strange things all over the street. They were all moving because of the monster cores.

There were many items with outstanding creativity, but some of them could be convenient to use in daily life.

The Princess who was looking around the city said in a refreshing voice.

“Compared to the streets, the festivals in the temple are quite boring. Without the ritual to hand over the monster core, the visit would not have been worthwhile.”

“Princess…. Miss Ithaca came to the temple to participate in the ceremony?”

“Yes. The core will be handed over to the lucky person…. Wouldn’t it be fun to rob someone’s luck?”

“Yes?”

Someone else’s luck…. what?

The Princess was arrogantly saying that she was going to take someone else’s things. Originally, she had an imposing attitude as if she was going to find her own thing.

Facing the Princess’ attitude, who lacked common sense, Yuriel decided to pull herself on guard.

The friendly gestures and the festive atmosphere relieved the tension.

“By the way, Yuriel, is there anything you want? If you don’t want the monster core, I’ll bring you anything.”

Yuriel was able to come to her senses even more at the Princess’ voice who constantly asked if there was anything she wanted.

The core she had kept in her pocket came to mind and her spine became stiff.

She was afraid of how the Princess would react if she knew that Yuriel’s pocket contained that very core.

“If you want something, just tell me….”

That was then. A child pushed through the knights and rushed towards Yuriel’s. The knights couldn’t stop the little child from coming through.

The little boy, whose head barely reached Yuriel’s waist, moved his hand so quickly that she could not see it, and removed his body.

“Miss Ithaca!”

In the sudden situation, the knights approached, calling the Princess. The child who had rushed into Yuriel’s body had suddenly dug into the crowd and was running away eagerly.

It was a child with quick feet, as if he had been trained. Yuriel looked at the child’s back with a bewildered look.

The approaching knight bent their knees and asked the Princess.

“Are you okay, Miss Itchaca?”

“Can’t you stop a child?”

“Sorry.”

The Princess was holding Yuriel’s arm as she staggered after getting bumped by the child’s body. It looked like she was trying to condemn the knight, but the Princess turned her head to Yuriel first.

“Are you okay, Yuriel?”

“Yes. I was a little surprised….”

“I’m worried that there are missing items. The kid must’ve jumped in to pickpocket us. He must have come to see who the knights were escorting and wanted to make money.”

“Pickpocket…. Ack!”

Yuriel’s face became white as she followed the Princess’ words and felt her pockets. Even when she fumbled through her front pocket, she couldn’t find the box containing the monster core.

As Yuriel hardened with her hands in her pockets, Baraha tilted his head and asked.

“Did the things you brought with you when you left the room disappeared?”

Yuriel fumbled through her pockets and nodded.

Seeing Yuriel nodding her head with a pale tired face, Baraha said in a calm tone.

“If it’s not important, you better just forget about it. It’s not easy to catch pickpockets….”

“It’s a very important thing. I’m going to go find it.”

No matter how, she couldn’t figure out how he just took the box.

He didn’t seem to have touched any of the other items that were in the same pocket.

Yuriel looked back at the Princess and said.

“Miss Ithaca, I think I should just find that kid.”

“What is the missing item? If you tell me, I will prepare the same thing by tomorrow.”

It was impossible to tell the Princess that the missing thing was a monster core, so Yuriel kept her mouth shut and shook her head.

Baraha came over and asked Yuriel.

“What was it?”

“… The festival ceremonial core that Sir Shudmuel entrusted to me….”

Yuriel whispered softly into Baraha’s ear. Hearing the contents, Baraha frowned as if wondering why she had such a thing.

Baraha tugged at Yuriel’s long hair that was visible through the disheveled robes and muttered in a dissatisfied tone.

“Why did you bring something like that, huh? What was Commander Shudmuel thinking when he entrusted it to you?”

Unable to stop him from pulling her hair, Yuriel bit her lip.

Seeing Yuriel biting her lip without answering, Baraha said, looking back at the Princess while pulling Yuriel’s hair.

“I will have to go find it. I’m going with Yuriel, so please wait for a while….”

“Take my knights too. We didn’t protect you properly, so we should help catch the pickpockets.”

The Princess readily allowed it.