Chapter 14: City Outing (1)
"Hey, look over there, are they celebrities?"
"Wow... I've never seen them before"
"Are they a couple? They looked perfect for each other"
Annoyed by the amount of attention they were receiving, Rayford quietly sighed. The moment Laila refused to cover her appearance, he knew this would happen.
"Are you enjoying this?" (Ray)
"Hehehe..." (Laila)
Seeing her cling to my arm with an innocent face, the annoyance from before melted away. Unconsciously, a gentle smile formed on my lips.
Our actions naturally drew more attention, the boys mostly gave jealous gazes while the girls were divided into two main actions, some of them scolded their male partner for eying Laila while some squealed and blushed as they look in my direction.
Lightly ignoring their reaction, I focus my gaze on Laila.
"So... Where do you want to go?" (Ray)
"Let's visit the mall and go shopping" (Laila)
After hearing the word 'shopping' Rayford slightly flinched.
"I want to look at some clothes" (Laila)
"Right..." (Ray)
Because of the special connection we have, Laila was able to read my mood, but she decides to ignore it. With a playful smile, she grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the teleportation hub.
"Let's go shopping!!" (Laila)
As I watch her cheerful smile, I felt like my soul gradually healed.
===
"Woah... as expected of a futuristic setting, the mall is vastly different than ours" (Laila)
Seeing her looking around in amazement, I silently agree with her.
To describe the area, most of the stores are equipped with holographic functions displaying their product. We could sometimes see an advertisement floating around bade from the combination of light magic and technology.
As we were about to walk around, Mina suddenly appeared beside us.
"Before you go have fun, use this first" (Mina)
After saying so, she handed us a headpiece each, The object she gave had a similar shape to a wireless earphone.
"What is this?" (Laila)
"This is an augmented reality device or ARD for short, it is used to help navigate through the mall, show item prices, and the location of various facilities and stores in the mall. With this, you won't get lost in this giant building" (Mina)
Looking at the object with interest, Laila quickly used the ARD Mina gave.
"Ohh..." (Laila)
As soon as she wore it, she sighed in amazement. Turning her gaze towards me, she rushed me to quickly use the device.
As soon as I equipped it, my vision started to change. I have to describe what I'm seeing, It's like seeing a floating menu on games. On my top right, I could see a mini-map displaying the mall structure, there is also a search option to guide us to our destination.
The area was listed neatly according to its category and location, for example, if we want to go shopping for food, we could filter out everything other than food by pressing a single button. after choosing which restaurant we want to go to, a line will appear and guide us toward the shop, similar to how games guide players to the quest locations.
"This is convenient" (Ray)
After a while, Mina gave us each a black card with a golden dragon pattern.
"Here is a black diamond card, with this you two could buy anything you need without limitations" (Mina)
Staring at the black card with interest, I raise a question.
"Do you think it's a good idea to give this to a five-years-old? judging by its function, this should be a very rare card, there will be no problem right?" (Ray)
"Probably? I was told to give this on this type of occasion" (Mina)
"Did mother give this to us?" (Ray)
"No, it's the lady's father, Duke Kayne, he told me to use it when you two need to buy something" (Mina)
"... is there really no limit? Isn't this just transferring the cost directly to the duke?" (Ray)
"You're probably right so..." (Mina)
Hearing my question, Mina turns her gaze toward Laila.
"Well... it'll be okay as long as you don't go overboard, but the lady..." (Mina)
"Don't worry too much about Laila, even though she looks like someone with a shopping disease, she is incredibly picky, she can spend a full 3 hours choosing cloth without buying anything" (Ray)
"Just in case, don't lose the card" (Mina)
"I'll keep that in mind" (Ray)
Satisfied by my answer, Mina concealed herself and disappeared into thin air. The concealment technique she used was so excellent to the point that I had to focus all my senses to detect her. Silently, I gave her a thumbs-up.
"Now let's go shopping" (Laila)
With an excited face, Laila dragged my arm and ran off toward a nearby shop. While getting dragged, I took her card and placed them in my bag.
===
"You're back? Did you explain the card properly?" (Anna)
"I told them that the card has infinite money in this mall" (Mina)
"..." (Anna)
"What? It's true isn't it?" (Mina)
Instead of answering, she smacked Mina's head with the hilt of her sword.
-tak!
"Ouch! Hey that hurts... What did I do wrong!?" (Mina)
"You forgot to explain the most important thing about the card!!" (Anna)
"What do you mean?" (Mina)
Sighing at Mina's confused face, she start to explain the card feature
"That card can only be owned by the direct line of the imperial family" (Anna)
"What!? I thought it was the same as my black card!" (Mina)
"No you idiot! The one you have is for <SS+> combatant! Sigh... I should've been the one to explain instead of you" (Anna)
"Ugh... it has the same color though..." (Mina)
"Sigh... The prince probably noticed something about the card. So go quickly and tell them about it" (Anna)
Without answering, Mina instantly disappeared.
====
"So using this card will expose our identity?" (Ray)
"...I'm sorry for not explaining properly, I thought it was the same as my card" (Mina)
"How did you mistake things like that? If you use the card you should've known" (Ray)
"Well... I never used my card before..." (Mina)
"..." (Ray)
Hearing a very Mina-like answer, I inwardly sighed. Even though I expect something about this card, I didn't think it was that overkill.
"Instead of thinking back on our past mistakes, we should move forward. So how about we just use a normal card" (Laila)
"Right, you could use my other card instead!" (Mina)
After saying that, she handed us two golden cards with a red dragon pattern.
"This is a card I got when I reach <S+> rank before. With this, there should be no problem" (Mina)
As Mina was about to hand them her card, Anna appeared and smack her head from behind.
"Ack! Hey!" (Mina)
Seeing her holding her head with slightly teary eyes, Anna sighed and turn her gaze toward us.
"Put this chip on your card" (Anna)
As she said that, she handed us a small chip the size of a rice grain.
As we place the chip on our black card, the card changed its color to the golden one that Mina tried to give us before.
"From the outside, you two will be perceived as a <S+> combatant when you use this card, but the function will stay the same as your original card, so go have fun" (Anna)
"Can't we change it into a lower rank?" (Ray)
Turing her gaze towards Laila which she responds by tilting her head, Anna opened her mouth
"Trust me, this will prevent flies from coming" (Anna)
Understanding the meaning of her words, I silently accepted the card.
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A/N: Sorry for the late upload, my school graduation exams are coming soon, so... yeah. Please understand my position.
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