"... Alright, thank you! Have a great day!"

"You too, madam!"

Stepping away and placing the bag of flour into the basket resting in his other arm, the young man went over his mental shopping list again.

'Tomatoes, apples, carrots, oregano, flour... What else? Ah, I should see if the beekeeper has any cheap honey...'

It was a rather beautiful day, at least in Giuseppe's opinion. There were no clouds anywhere in sight to impede the warm rays of the spring afternoon sun, which were balanced out just right by the somewhat chilly wind, providing the perfect weather for his favourite shirt-and-vest combination. After some time spent dexterously weaving through the ever-shifting crowds of the rather busy market square, the man found himself awaiting his turn in a small line.

Although he did not at all mean to be nosy or rude, Giuseppe just so happened to idly glance at the open notebook of the woman ahead of him in the line. A proper gentleman should actively avoid looking at such a thing in the first place, but its contents were not so easily ignored once noticed. The yellowed pages were covered in simple, yet proportionally very accurate illustrations of various items, coupled with symbols Giuseppe could not recognise despite being rather confident in his literacy by now.

'Oh, a foreigner!'

The woman was human and wore practical clothes that did not stand out, so she couldn't have been from that far. Still, she seemingly needed a dictionary or guidebook of some sort, so it would most likely be right of him to offer some help.

"Excuse me, madam?"

But there was no reaction.

"Uhm, madam? Hello?"

Still, there was nothing. Was she deaf? In that case, she probably needed a lot of help. Giuseppe gently tapped on the woman's shoulder this time.

"Madam?"

"Hm?"

The plainly-dressed lass turned around with an expression that was markedly devoid of emotion, surprising the young man quite a bit. After meeting his eyes, the stranger looked down, seemingly at herself.

"Oh, right..."

As if realising something, she looked back up and continued speaking.

"... What do you need, sir?"

Could she hear, after all?

"Uhm..."

The young man cleared his throat fakely, masking his nervousness. A somewhat confounding start to the interaction, but no matter.

"Are you from around here? From Roble, I mean."

"I am not."

"I see. Well, did you need any help? I could translate text or, well, point out if you're being ripped off because you're not local! Can't say I've seen it happen first-hand, but I have definitely heard some stories. People these days, am I right? And in a wonderful place like Hoburns…"

The foreigner did not react at all... Or even blink. It was all very strange. Was she alright?

"No thank you, but you're kind."

"Oh, uhm, that's fine, of course! But are you alright? I hope you're not feeling ill?"

"No, I'm just fine. Thank you for asking."

Giuseppe expected her to turn back around after the exchange concluded, but it took the woman quite some time, during which she was staring at him with still-unblinking eyes. At this point, he was almost unnerved rather than worried for her. Were all foreigners this odd? Was she suspicious of him? A past bad experience with strange men, perhaps?

...

The emperor of the catfolk strode slowly through the lively streets, taking in all the details he could, eyes tirelessly seeking anything out of the ordinary, anything unexpected. Surprisingly, the city was indeed as orderly and diverse in species as the rumours claimed. The local peacekeepers mostly consisted of Death Knights and Elder Liches, both undead creatures of around level thirty to thirty-five. Alaart could also confirm the presence of level forty Soul Eaters, though their use as simple beasts of burden was quite baffling. As for the supposedly peaceful, tranquil, or even cheery mood; the emperor could not easily understand the expressions, body language, or smells of humans, and so it was impossible to confirm personally. He would simply have to rely on informants to verify that detail.

Upon reaching yet another stop on the day's long list of places of interest, Alaart stopped and prepared his writing supplies. Controlling these clawless human paws was a bit difficult, but far from something he couldn't handle. Before making a sketch of the statues, he would first make a few notes;

- Large statues of the king and queen.

- Appearance consistent with their other depictions.

- Origin of that staff he often bears is still unknown.

- Why always the eye cover on the female? Only heard rumours so far.

- Large feathered wings sprouting from the back of Neia Baraja. Supposedly she had been granted select racial traits of angels. Such things were impossible in the Era of the Yggdrasil. How was this done? Suspicious. Potential connections to the Great Leap? Consult records again. Confirm her appearance during the upcoming festival.

…

Hello! Lucy here. This was supposed to come out… almost two weeks ago? Oops. Well, it can't be a Lucy chapter release without random delays due to things I didn't foresee…

Welp, see you in the next one! Hopefully it's going to be soon, though I do have a minor surgery coming up in a few days.