After leaving Illtimina's armor at the armor shop, we strolled down the main street of Medis.

　There are a lot of people walking down the main street.
　Occasionally, horse and dragon carts pass by, and people avoid them in a hurry. In the midst of all these people, Ms. Illtimina kept holding my hand to keep me from getting lost.

(There are so many people here.)

　Stalls lined up on both sides of the road, and I could hear the sounds of people talking, footsteps, and many other sounds.

　It was a different world from the tranquil and quiet forests of Aldoria.

(I've finally come to a place where people live, haven't I?)　

　That's a sobering realization.

　It wasn't just the sounds, there were all kinds of smells in the city. A little, a lot of breathing in through my nose.

(Yeah, is that the smell of roasting meat?)

　This one smells like booze.
　The iron-like smell is probably from a nearby equipment store.
　The sweet smell is some kind of candy.

　The only thing in the forest was the blue smell of plants, so it was fun to be surrounded by those colorful smells.

　Coo.........

(Huh?)

　My stomach rumbled, probably because I smelled food.
　Illtimina said, "Oh? I laugh.

'It's almost lunchtime, isn't it?'
Uh-huh.
I'm just getting hungry, too. Let's get something from the stalls, shall we?

　Thank you for the kind follow-up.

　Blushing a bit, I nodded and headed with her to a nearby stall.


　◇ ◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇


　Like a festival fair, the main street is lined with many stalls.

'Where shall we go?'

　Mr. Illtimina leaves the decision to me.
　I point to a single stall that smells like delicious meat from earlier.

That's the one I want.
'Is this a fio sandwich shop?　Okay, let's go.

　Fiosand?

　With me nodding my head, Illtimina-san, who held my hand, walked towards me.

　The one running the stall was a beastly sister. She has habitual red hair with curly horns like a sheep.

　When she noticed us approaching, she flashed a happy smile.

'Welcome, what can I get for you?'

　The woman at the stall tapped her hand lightly on the board with the words on the storefront.
　It must be a menu.

'There's a lot to choose from. Which one would you like to have, Marle?
..........

　But I didn't have an answer.

(Yo, I can't read...)

　The letters that look like the alphabet are probably written in the common language of the Albac continent. But I have no idea what it means.

　It seems that this Marle's body can speak the common language of Albac, but cannot read it.......oh my.

"...Merle?

　I'm silent, and Mr. Illtimina looks at me suspiciously.　
　I give up and honestly confess.

"...I'm sorry. I can speak, but I can't read or write........
'What?　Is that so?

　Iltimina, you look very surprised.
　It seems that the stall lady is the same way.

'Does this one surprise you?　That's very unusual nowadays. Didn't you go to school or something?
Yeah, yeah. It's a long story.
Okay. Okay. Well, life happens. Yes, that's just the way it is. But your sister can read, can't she?　Then you should read it to your brother.

　No, he's not my brother........
　But Illtimina-san nodded widely and smiled gently.

''I understand, Marle. Then, this Illtimina sister here will read you the menu, right?''
..........

　Illtimina, you're having a little fun, aren't you?
　Then she indicated the menu on the board, one by one, with her white fingers.

'This is read as 'Fio sandwich'. It's a common dish in this region where the meat of the beast called fio is grilled and served between two pieces of bread. If you sandwich it with your favorite herbs, it takes on a different flavor. Next up is the "Fio Lar sandwich". It is a fioral sandwich with the addition of a cheese called lal. After that, we'll have the Fioral Eau de Sandwich--

　She spent quite a bit of time explaining the entire menu to me.

　The sister at the stall nodded with satisfaction at the sight of her good friend and sister-in-law saying, "Mmmm.

　I didn't know which one was best for me, so I decided to ask for the "fio sandwich," which seemed to be the basic form. By the way, Illtimina asked for the "Fioral Sandwich".

'Here you go, wait a minute,'

　The lady at the stall slaps a steel spatula on the griddle.

　Once the oil is spread on the griddle and the red meat is thrown into it, and the sauce is also poured over it, the smell of the fragrant meat burning spreads. Ah, yummy.........
　Cut the center of the burnt bread and put the freshly made hot, juicy meat on it, and the "Fio sandwich" was complete.

Here, be careful, it's hot.
Thank you.
That's five Rid. And the Fioral Sand is a six-ride.
Lido...?

　At my words, Illtimina-san, who was trying to take out a coin from the leather bag, stops moving.

'No way, Marle...?
Well I don't know the unit of money, either.
..........

　Two sisters gave me a look at the unfortunate child.
　Oh, my shoulders are so narrow....

　The lady at the stall sighed and put a small red coin in her palm and showed it to me.

Here's a one-digit coin. Here, this is the smallest unit of money.
Oh, that.
Yeah. And next this blue one is the 10 Lido coin.
"Uh-huh?
So, this white thing...
Okay, 100 Lido, right?

　The lady at the stall, she looked surprised, then laughed.

'You're right,'
Yes.
The next one is going to be a 1,000 Lido coin, but we don't have that at the moment.
It's right here.

　Huh?
　I look over and see Illtimina taking out two coins, one silver and one gold, from her leather bag purse.
　The silver coin is placed in my hand.

(Wow, it's heavy?)

　It's heavier than it looks.

"This is the 10,000 lido coin. And this is the 10,000 lido coin.
Whoa, whoa, whoa?

　The gold one was much heavier.
　The lady at the stall rolled her eyes and stared at my palm.

'You're rich, aren't you?'
Well, that's something.

　Mr. Illtimina's expression remains clear.

　But I see.
　Somehow, I understood the money.
Assuming that the price of a "fio sandwich" is about 500 yen, maybe, but 1 lido is about 100 yen.

　So, the 1,000 lido coin in my hand is 100,000 yen, and the 10,000 lido coin in this hand is

What.........a million yen?

　My hands rattled and shook as I realized the shocking truth.

'Mr. Illtimina, I'll give you your money back.
Oh, yes.

　Accepting the two coins offered to her, she tucks them into the leather bag and then tosses them into the pouch on her waistband haphazardly.
　Eh.........?　Handling, messy.....
　I wonder if she thought the same thing, and the lady at the stall looks worried.

"You'd better watch out for pickpockets, wouldn't you?
Don't worry. I've broken those people's fingers many times before.
..........
..........

　We fell silent and looked at each other for some reason, me and the lady at the stall.

　And so we started walking down the main street again, with the stall lady laughing at us and saying "every time".

　Hum..........muggy.

Yes, it's delicious!

　The fio sandwiches tasted a bit like a spicy hamburger. Yes, the aroma of spices that seemed to come through my nose was so nice.

　As we were eating it with a hoot, Illtimina gave a small smile and

Huh. Here, Merle. There's sauce on your cheeks.　

　A white finger strokes my cheek and she takes it to her own mouth as if it's natural and flicks it with her tongue. Wow, I'm embarrassed........

　As I turn red, Illtimina-san smiles gently at me.
　Then she changes her expression a bit.

Merle?　About reading and writing...
Uh-huh.
Would you like me to teach you how to do that, if you like?

　Oh, it's okay!

After all, there is no harm in learning to read and write for the future. No, in fact, it's a necessity. If you like Merle, that is.
Yeah, yeah. I want to learn, too!
'Phew, I see. Then let's start tonight.
Yes, Dr. Illtimina!

　Wow.
　I'm overjoyed at this unexpected development.

　Illtimina-san smiles with some satisfaction at my appearance.
　And then she opened her mouth and crunched down on the "Fioral sandwich" that was in her hand, looking delicious.