As Darius Moonlight, dating proposals aren't frequent. There's a clear reason for that: I wasted most of my time in brothels and scaring off noble women. Let's just say you need a certain talent to tarnish your reputation so much, and luckily, I have plenty of talent for that kind of thing.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I realized that this is the first time going out with someone, and my head is thinking what the hell to wear. Wait, first of all, where are we even going? No idea.
Normally, I just escape the palace on foot and wear whatever to wander around without a care. It seems everyone has these problems sooner or later.
What can you do? I sigh as I search for the most casual thing in my closet, but by my standards, from this world, my wardrobe is far from casual. The clothes are full of details, and some even have jewels on them, for goodness' sake.
I'll just grab whatever is least flashy and give my hair a light comb-through, just enough to be recognizable, so no one gets too close. A few dabs of random perfume from my desk and I'm ready.
It's already late afternoon, and you can see the sun setting on the horizon, disappearing behind the clouds. It's a beautiful view from the room, the whole city is coming to life as the sky darkens.
Thinking back, Moriah probably don't have the habit of going out? She lived cooped up inside, working, and only went out when she needed alchemical materials to return to her studies. A kind of sad life, I doubt she even has any friends.
I left the room with the sound of my boots muffled by the thick carpet in the palace corridors. Two guards at the door tried to greet me with that robotic bow, but a brief wave was enough for them to understand that I wasn't interested in formalities today.
I went down the stairs with an almost rehearsed tranquility. We're not in a hurry for anything, I'm calmer than ever. To me, this is just another one of those normal little getaways I've always made. If someone asks, I just brush off, saying about enjoying a night off, after all, even problematic heirs deserve a break once in a while.
Moriah waited for me at the main entrance, leaning against one of the columns and fidgeting with the fingers of her four hands. She had a dark cloak thrown over the dress, her hair was still a little messy from the lab, and a bored look was plastered on her face.
That is, until she saw this handsome guy right here. It was an incredible transformation from finding everything boring to suddenly the world gaining an absurd amount of colors. Is that the effect of my presence? If so, wow, I'm flattered.
I hide my hands in my pockets, trying to keep my posture as straight as possible, but honestly, the sheer exhaustion in my bones wants to knock me down after two steps. Relaxing is the best right now.
"I kept you waiting?"
"What? N-No, I was almost late myself..."
"Oh, so you rushed just so you wouldn't keep me waiting? I like that diligence in you."
My hand slides to Moriah's waist, pulling her close as we walk. The moth-woman gives a little tremble before resting her head on my shoulder, and her antennae almost kiss me on the cheek.
We walked towards the gates, and a pair of guards opened the passage for us, but there was no one there to pick us up.
"Where's the carriage?" she asks, looking up and down the street.
"There isn't one."
"What do you mean 'there isn't one'? Are we going to walk?"
"It's what normal people do, Moriah. Walk, use their legs, you know, those things with joints right below the hips?"
"I know what legs are..." She huffed. "I just thought you'd take me in a carriage to some posh restaurant."
"The idea was to go off-script and show you my favorite places. I thought you might like that."
She looked at me sideways for a moment, her eyes softened at the mention of "favorite places". Maybe she really does want to know more about me and will even accept something like this.
"As long as you don't drag me to any tavern that smells of fermented urine and orc sweat, it's fine. I don't like places that are too crowded and noisy, they make me dizzy..."
"Deal."
We started walking, crossing the palace gates as the city's first lanterns lit up. The sky slowly showed some stars, tinged white between purple and orange, while the city began to buzz with the natural urban activity of a large commercial center.
Children running from furious mothers, merchants shouting last-call promotions, street performers displaying harmless magic in exchange for coins… in other words, life unfolding in its rawest, most disorganized form.
For some reason, when I see things like this, some nostalgia appears on my chest. It must be because of my past reincarnation, when I worked until my bones ached and went out for a walk when my head was too full to think straight.
It feels good to see the world go on while you face life. I don't know about other people, but I was never alone walking in places like this, seeing families having fun and all. Some people are much worse off in this world, and for some reason, knowing that I can live in a quiet place calms me.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my companion.
Moriah was walking and analyzing everything as if she were in an open-air laboratory, like seeing a bunch of bizarre experiments in test tubes.
"Do you walk here often?"
"When I need to breathe. The palace, with all those gossiping, suffocates me."
"I didn't know heirs walked in such a... mundane way."
"Most don't. I'm a statistical error."
She lets out a short laugh and then shakes her head. Her cloak brushed her ankles, and she didn't seem exactly uncomfortable, it was more like "cautious", afraid someone might come and steal everything we have. I admit I am, too, but my body has gotten so used to walking in this place that it's more likely I'll trade punches with some random guy in the middle of the street.
"Where are we going?" Moriah asks, squeezing my arm tightly when a gang of kids zips past us.
"I'm still thinking about it. Normally, I don't even carry money..."
"Darius, it's very irresponsible to walk around without money! Hah, how are we going to eat anything with you doing that?"
"Ah, relax, I have an idea."
My clothes always have some expensive detail, like a little piece of precious jewel engraved on a button or strings made of gold. You don't even need much force to tear it off properly, so I just pull one of the buttons off without much care, showing it to Moriah.
"See? Just give them one of these, and they'll accept!"
"Darius, your clothes...!"
"What about them? I can buy new ones, it's not like I need anything complicated."
I shrug, heading straight for a stall selling a type of fried potato snack... I think they're french fries, that's what the appearance suggests. I tap the button on the counter, calling the owner with a snap of my fingers.
"What's up? Can you get us two portions?"
"Ah, Darius!" The vendor's face immediately lit up. "It's always good to see you. Paying with a button this time?"
"Yeah, I'm broke as always..."
"It impresses me that someone like you is broke every single time."
The vendor lets out a scratchy laugh and asks his son at the grill to prepare two portions as requested. A moth-woman with the face of a shocked Pikachu freezes by my side, trying to understand how this scene is unfolding.
I can only shrug without a care because, honestly, this is one of the most normal occurrences in the world for me.
"Still, it's great to see you", the man continues, putting the button in his pocket. "How are things with your father? Is the Duke's health good?"
"Man, that fossil keeps giving me a huge headache as always, but at least recently it's been bearable. Seriously, you can't even tell when he's affectionate or not, I'm scared!"
"Just spend more time with your old man, every father loves doing something with his son. Hahaha!"
He punches me in the shoulder, and it hurts like hell. Damn it, now I regret giving him a button. He hands us what I asked for, and I wave goodbye, enjoying the weird fried potato bits. They were probably made with the help of fire magic and a healthy amount of oil.
As for Moriah, she seems to have a hard time eating. She just takes little bites, it must be because it's too hot or... damn, I feel stupid! She's a moth, of course, fried or similar things wouldn't sit well in her stomach!
Let's go find something sweet, with honey or whatever.
"Darius, are you always like this with commoners?" she asks, having stopped eating.
"What? They're people just like me, I don't need to treat them differently."
"But you're the son of Duke Moonlight."
"So what? They're like me, like you're no different from me. A person can have three arms, four arms, antennae, wings, horns, a tail, a person can be poor, rich, I don't care. They're people to me."
"I see..."
A small smile appears on Moriah's face. What I said was pure common sense, so why did she like it? I know there's a lot of prejudice because of class differences, but to me, that's a huge bunch of nonsense.
Oh, a stall with something sweet, just what I wanted!
"Come on, let's go, we have all night!"
I pull Moriah by the arm, she's surprised and almost drops her food, but she regains her balance as we pass through the crowd.