Duchess Isabella Lilly looked at the old shopkeeper with her cold eyes before she looked at the shopkeeper by her side who had placed his order.
He had gotten a lot of stuff from the herb store and had not nit-picked like others did. It likely meant that he did not care about price and such.
'Truly, he's a higher being. Only those people see past the momentary value that is money and take things based on their quality.'
However, even if that was the case, the Duchess knew she needed to interfere before the shopkeeper paid too much. She wanted to make a good impression on him after all.
"Shopkeeper, why don't you take a look around the shop? Maybe you will find another herb you might want to take back?"
The Duchess suggested and the shopkeeper nodded before he left to look around.
Once she was alone with the old lady managing the shop, she gestured for her to pay attention.
"Duchess Isabella, is something wrong? D-Did I make a mistake?"
The old lady asked in an almost fearful voice and the Duchess immediately reassured her.
"You did nothing wrong. But I do need you to do me a favor. From now on, put everything that man buys at half value. The Isabella family will cover the other half of the cost. He's someone we need to be on our side."
The Duchess told the old lady and the old lady's eyes widened.
She had never seen the Duchess speak these words, even when the person on the other side was the Emperor. That could only mean one thing—the guest she brought with her was special.
'Maybe he's not a human, just like our fae Duchess.'
The old lady thought before she vowed to do her best.
"Do not worry, Duchess. I will do as you asked me to. Please, do not worry about a thing."
The old lady assured the Duchess and just as they finished talking, the shopkeeper came back.
______
There were so many interesting herbs around me that I wanted to check out. But my budget did not allow me to do that.
In the end, I had to be content with what I bought and I headed over to the old lady and asked her for my bill.
She came back with the herbs as well as a bill that felt suspiciously small.
My first instinct was to ask her whether she had packed half of what I asked for. But then I saw the bags and I could tell that it was not the case at all.
"You are our Duchess's special guest, so this is a special gift for you. Please, accept our generosity."
The old lady told me and I now understood why everything was half the price of what it was written on the sheet.
'Wow-! I suddenly saved a lot of money because of this. Should I go and buy more herbs-? Maybe next time.'
I had saved money and had I known that this would be the result of coming with the Duchess, I would have packed more herbs.
But I did not want to be ungrateful and pack more herbs. I still needed to maintain a good impression on the Duchess.
And I could always use the remaining funds to spend at the 'special' market that she was going to take me to later.
"Pack the herbs and have them delivered to this address later."
The Duchess told the store owner and she nodded before we exited the store. With this, my biggest errand was already done and all I needed to do was enjoy myself.
[Ding! 5 faith points earned.]
The message came suddenly, but at this point I had stopped caring what made it ding in the first place.
Both the Duchess and I entered the carriage once more and the guard kept glaring at me the whole time once more.
And then, the door closed and I could see the guard no more.
No conversation took place between me and the Duchess and I took out the small phone from my pocket that never seemed to run out of battery.
The Duchess looked interested in my phone, but she never asked what it was.
I passed my time looking over the list, and discovered that there were more pages on the list than simply items.
There were skills, and even things I had seen in games. There was even a search feature that helped me out a lot.
But no matter how many items I saw in the store, there was nothing that allowed me to head back home.
At least, not yet.
'It seems like the store updated when I had more faith points. So if I keep collecting more, can I eventually head back home?'
That thought kept me going, but over time, even that was beginning to feel like a distant thing.
Did I truly want to go back home? What even waited for me there? A tired life and stress of making ends meet?
Wasn't this world better in that regard? Sure, it lacked entertainment but I had books and a shop to run. Boredom was not going to kill me like modern capitalism would.
I was still a slave to money and faith points, but I was a little less a slave because I did not have greedy and corrupt seniors and co-workers.
"Duchess, we have arrived."
The guard told us and I paused my thinking. The Duchess gave me a cloak to wear and she pulled her hood up as well.
"Shopkeeper, I am sure I do not need to tell you the rules of this place because they likely won't cause you any trouble. But I still feel obligated to tell you—please do not tell anyone your name, even if they ask. And do not pay anyone anything or take anything unless I am there with you."
The Duchess warned me. The tension in her body told me that she was serious about her warning.
It seemed like she had a reputation to maintain and my actions would reflect on her. So I needed to be careful as to not embarrass her.
"I understand. I will make sure to pay attention."
I told her as I wore my hood and picked up my bag.
She gave my bag a weird look and I waited for her to ask me to leave it behind.
But that was something she never did and she just allowed me to follow her into the crowd.
The guards stopped just before we entered the Dorset and they looked at me with anxiousness and envy.
I followed the Duchess, not paying attention to the people standing behind me and before I knew it, I felt the world around me shake and transform into something new and ancient at the same time.
There was tension in the air and I just had a feeling that something had happened.
"Welcome to the fae forest, dear shopkeeper. I hope you find something to your liking here."
The Duchess told me and I had a sudden feeling that I had chewed more than I could swallow. What should I do now?