NOVEL NEXT Yona couldn’t handle spicy food.
It had always been that way.
Even before falling into this world, she couldn’t take spicy food, and after landing here, she had fewer opportunities to even taste it, making her resistance to spicy flavors even weaker.
Moreover, since Kapatia Port is closer to the south, it’s a hot area with quite a bit of spicy seasoning.
The sauce sprinkled on the sandwich Yona ate was one such example, and it was very spicy as well.
“Ugh, ugh, ughhh…!”
With tears and snot pouring out, Yona was coughing as Amira panicked and searched for something to drink.
“Uh, um, Saint, what do we do…?”
“W-water…!”
Yona was also desperately looking for something to drink while streams of tears flowed down. It was bad enough to be crying, but having snot and drool dripping from her mouth was just disastrous.
“After eating something spicy, you should drink milk.”
Someone grabbed Yona by the waist and pulled her close. Then, they held a wooden cup to her mouth, and as soon as she received it, she gulped it down.
The milk soothed her mouth, which felt like it was on fire, and it went down her throat like a refreshing balm—so delicious and creamy.
“Ugh, ugh… Ahh, ahhh…”
“You’re such a klutz for not being able to handle spicy food.”
Yona finally looked at the person who had pulled her waist. A handsome man with black hair was smiling, and in the moonlight, his white teeth sparkled.
“…Alex, why are you here?”
“I figured you’d be like this.”
Yona took the handkerchief Alex offered her and wiped her mouth and then her eyes.
“Ah, ahhh!”
Yona wriggled again as her eyes felt like they were on fire.
*
“So, you went out to buy snacks?”
Yona and Alex were sitting side by side on a bench. The bustling noise of the night market was quite pleasant to hear. It felt like the kind of sound that creates an atmosphere of people living their lives.
“Right. You’ve never been abroad, have you? When you go somewhere new, you always think about home-cooked meals.”
Alex smiled and looked at Yona. Amira had brought an ice pack, and while Yona tilted her head back with it on her eyes, she scoffed at Alex’s comment.
“You’re quite clever. Where did you come up with that? Impressive!”
The truth was, she heard it from Kaiyak. But Alex didn’t mention that fact; sometimes, it’s better to keep some things to yourself.
“How long have we been together? You should know these things by now. Don’t you think?”
“That’s true. I guess you’ve grown up, our bald head.”
Though he felt a twinge of guilt, he figured this wouldn’t be a problem. Alex chuckled, apologizing to Kaiyak in his mind.
“The princess treats you very well.”
“Well, it’s because I’m the lord of Vervaria.”
Yona gently set the ice pack down. After rinsing away the burning sensation in her eyes with milk and washing it off with water, and despite the remaining heat, the ice pack was helping, and she felt a bit better. The ice pack was melting, leaving just some water sloshing around.
“Snake beasts were originally dedicated to the snake god. I guess Vervaria has its own local beliefs similar to that.”
“I see. Then it makes sense for the princess to personally take care of you.”
“That’s right. What about Rubina?”
“She’s with the Alebians.”
Hmm, Yona let out a shallow sigh. Just thinking about Rubina made her heart feel heavy.
“How about we take a walk?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
It was a rare night market outing. Yona stood up quickly at Alex’s suggestion. Her saint’s robe slowly transformed into a nun’s outfit, and the Sacred Barrier settled on her arm as if it had always belonged there.
“Tomorrow we leave, so I can have some fun tonight, right?”
“That’s the spirit.”
Alex grinned and got up, following Yona.
It was a brilliantly bright night. Even though Evian had the typical northern climate, it was fascinating how the weather had suddenly changed in just a few days. With winter passed and late winter settling in, the chill was hardly noticeable.
The bustling energy of the people made the whole city feel alive. Walking through such a lively street put Yona in a good mood for the first time in ages. It was like stepping into the Adventurer’s Guild of Evian with everyone chattering away and setting up their stalls, each with their own story.
“This place is really lively.”
“Right?”
Yona accepted the skewer that Alex offered. The whiff of smoke mixed with a hint of something that smelled like soy sauce and a weird fishy odor tickled her nose.
“Is this fish?”
“Yeah. They said it was fish. I heard the name but forgot.”
What she thought was meat turned out to be fish. She didn’t know what kind it was, but if it was being sold, it must be edible. Yona hesitated just before taking a big bite of the skewer and turned it around to inspect it, checking if there was some red, spicy-looking sauce on it.
Watching her, Alex chuckled.
“I told them to keep the spice out. Don’t worry.”
“Really? Good job!”
But if he asked to leave out the spice, didn’t that mean it used to be spicy? With that question lingering in her mind, Yona took a bite of the fish skewer. The fish flavored with a soy sauce-like dip was surprisingly good. Must be a coastal thing.
“So what else did you buy?”
Chewing the fish, Yona looked back at Alex. He was staring intensely at her as if he was critiquing a masterpiece, and once their eyes met, he jumped a bit.
“What are you getting so startled about? Do I have something on my face?”
“Uh, uhm. You do.”
“Really? Where?”
Alex hesitated for a moment. This was his chance to deliver the killer line he heard from James.
“Uh, beauty smudges.”
“…What?”
The moonlight was so bright that Yona’s face crinkled up in disbelief. James had laughed heartily and boldly claimed it worked on his wife, but Yona’s current reaction was anything but pleasant.
“…What did you just say?”
Her voice was unusually sharp, laced with complicated emotions, and Alex realized he had messed up.
“What’s on my face?”
“…Uh, never mind. I see now it’s the sauce…”
“Hey, can you just say it straight? Who taught you that nonsense?”
Yona glared at Alex with droopy eyes.
“What kind of weird stuff did you learn? How am I supposed to react? Was it that stupid Kaiyak lizard that taught you?”
“…Don’t do that. Why are you saying such weird things?”
Seeing Alex fumble and stammer, Yona lost the urge to press him any further. But, there should be some fun in teasing. Looking at him, all thoughts of teasing flew out the window.
“Sigh… Seriously, what a strange thing to learn. Let’s go. I’m thirsty.”
Yona started walking ahead, and Alex fell in step behind her. The moon was slowly being covered by clouds, dimming the light that had illuminated the city.
Lucky for them, Yona had no idea her ears were bright red. And neither did Alex, following closely behind.
“This is delicious.”
Yona exclaimed, holding a fist-sized fruit in her hand.
Yona gasped at what was in her hand.
It was a fruit, but not one to bite into. Instead, it was a fruit with the top part neatly carved out.
The flesh wasn’t particularly tasty, but it was a strange fruit filled with juice in the empty space surrounding the seeds, making the fruit itself serve as a drink by exposing the juicy part after carving off the top.
It was refreshing and sweet.
There was a sweetness to it, alongside a bit of tartness.
“Wow, this is super delicious!”
Alex seemed to enjoy it too, licking his lips as he downed the fruit juice.
“Let’s check that out too. With all those people gathered, it seems like there’s something fun going on over there.”
Yona gripped Alex’s arm, urging him on.
Her cold touch felt like it jolted Alex awake.
“Uh, okay… let’s go.”
He was half-dragged along by Yona.
There, at the night market, a fun activity awaited.
“What’s that?”
A tall shelf stood next to a man who appeared to be the owner.
On the five-tier shelf were all sorts of items, from cheap cloth dolls and dishes to poorly made weaponry, and armor that seemed old but had somehow retained its shine.
Across from the shelf was a long table, about three times the length of an adult man, with a plate of darts sitting on it.
“So if we throw the darts and hit the target, we get that prize?”
Judging by its appearance, that seemed to be the case.
“No, I think it’s not just about hitting; you have to knock it down,” Alex chimed in.
Even he could see that simply hitting the target wasn’t hard at all.
And it was all too clear to Alex.
The so-called ‘prizes’ on the shelf were secured with nails so subtly placed that it was barely noticeable, so merely hitting wouldn’t be enough to win one.
“Ladies and gentlemen, step right up! Now’s your chance with no challengers in sight! Just knock it down, and the prize is yours!”
A man with an impressive mustache was calling out to the crowd.
It seemed there had already been numerous challengers, as none of the items on the shelf remained untouched.
“Is there anything you want?”
Alex boldly asked Yona.
Having lost some points for his previous weird comments about her beauty—at least he thought so—he figured it was worth trying to compensate for it now. He was confident enough to handle that kind of ridiculous challenge easily.
“Well… if I had to choose, maybe that?”
Yona pointed at the edge of the third shelf.
A shabby Sacred Barrier was sitting there.
The Sacred Barrier Yona was currently using was a top-grade one given to her by Ceres, and though she had hoped to find something else, the situation hadn’t allowed for it, so she was still stuck with it.
“Sacred Barrier?”
“Yeah. I want that,”
was likely to be her thought of not wanting to walk around wearing something given by Ceres.
Alex thumped his chest confidently.
“Alright, just trust me.”
“This is a bit weird though.”
There were five darts on a plate, and it cost three coins to play.
Even though that was about the amount of an ordinary meal, he had already spent three coins.
Yona thought this was odd too.
The darts Alex threw definitely flew straight, but it seemed like they lost momentum just before hitting the target.
“What’s weird about it? Maybe I just misjudged my aim or didn’t control my strength right.”
Picking up one of the last two darts, Alex chuckled.
Yona puffed out her lips in a pout and grumbled at him.
“What’s this? You said you’d be trustworthy.”
“Well, the big turnaround usually happens at the last moment. Keep an eye on it.”
Alex took a deep breath as he aimed the dart.
Looks like there’s more going on here than just what’s fixed.
There was already a feeling of something shady when he threw the first dart.
It was a waste of time trying to find out what that trick was, but he roughly figured it out now.
‘So, there’s something that can throw off the trajectory…’
While Alex was taking aim, Yona wasn’t just sitting there either.
【Isn’t it a bit much to summon a Demon Lord for this, Saint?】
‘Shut up and just watch. It’s important, right now.’
Alex’s pride was on the line.
That didn’t need to be said out loud.
Alex slowly wound back his arm with the dart in hand.
The tightly gripped dart shot forward with a powerful swing of his arm.
The dart, flying straight toward the Sacred Barrier Yona wanted, seemed okay at first, but gradually lost momentum as it flew.
As it touched the Sacred Barrier, it just barely brushed it and then fell without hitting anything.
【You’ve put some tricks in play here. This is barely even worthy of being called a trick.】
‘As expected, right? Is there a way?’
【Would there be no way?】
‘Right? Right?’
Thinking she had found a solution to the problem, Yona called out to Alex.
But before she could, Alex was already picking up the dart, and Yona was like, “Uhhhhh…” trying to get his attention.
“Yona, watch closely. Tricks can be met head-on with straightforwardness.”
Alex wound up the dart again.
His bicep and shoulder started bulging with muscle, and Yona couldn’t help but look away unexpectedly.
Her heart raced for some reason, feeling completely embarrassed.
“Huuhyaaaah!”
With his battle cry, Alex threw the dart with all his might.
– Thwack!
The sound of the dart flying was ridiculously loud, sending Yona’s hair flying around.
And riding that tremendous noise, the dart—
Hit the center of the third shelf,
And broke the shelf in half.
– Crash-!
– Boom!
– Rattle-!
The shattered shelf.
And the items on that shelf couldn’t withstand the shock and started to spill out.
“Owner, give it all to me.”
Alex said with a relaxed smile, spinning his arm around.
And the owner just stared dumbfounded at him.
“Why? You broke it all. Now hand it over.”
The grin on Alex’s face was unusually bright.
*
“Is that straightforwardness?”
“Yup. It’s straightforwardness.”
“I swear you’re just an ignorant fool…”
Yona scolded Alex while fiddling with the Sacred Barrier.
Determined to collect all those items, Yona grabbed hold of Alex’s collar while only bringing back the Sacred Barrier.
This was a ridiculously cheap Sacred Barrier.
The feel of it was rough at her fingertips, and honestly, the emblem engraved on it was so low-grade it made her wonder if this was even a Sacred Barrier at all.
Yet, she continued to fiddle with the Sacred Barrier, unwilling to let it go.
“Like it?”
You have no idea how cheap this Sacred Barrier is.
But looking at Alex, Yona smiled broadly.
“Yeah, I really like it. Thank you.”
“What’s this little thing? Just say the word anytime. I’m confident in my strength.”
“Oh really, are you?”
With the moonlight still obscured by clouds, it barely lit up anything.
It was getting late.
They needed to return to the Inn and get some sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s departure.
As Yona kept fiddling with the Sacred Barrier, she walked back to the Inn with Alex.
On her face was the happiest smile she had worn in a while.