While Frieren was hovering in the air, carelessly, she relaxed her limbs in the air like a corpse falling.
"Why are there people standing there? Did someone cast a freezing spell on them?" she wondered, seeing the row of clothes on display.
The mannequins stood unnervingly still, and her eyes drifted to a familiar brimmed hat.
She descended a little, adjusting her hood, narrowing her eyes as if trying to sense even the faintest trace of mana.
She found a place to settle
Then she sighed as she descended to the ground.
There was nothing, only silence, cloth, and the eerie stillness of the artificial forms.
Frieren gently pressed a finger to her lip, tilting her head. "Humans have become so strange… placing unmoving figures here like offerings," she murmured, though more to herself than anyone else.
The stillness pressed around her, thick and unnatural, far too lifeless even for modern humans.
She placed her hands on the stand, moving them slightly toward the figure. "Hey… could you tell me where to get a hat like this?" Frieren asked, her face straightened.
But the mannequin didn't move.
She sighed. "Did they preserve them somehow? Humans used to do that. I read about this practice centuries ago," she murmured, her gaze never leaving the body.
A faint ripple of mana flickered at her fingertips, an instinctive reaction to the corpse-like stillness before her.
Her ears twitched once, catching only the distant hum of passing cars, nothing human or alive from the figure in front of her.
She leaned in ever so slightly, examining the blank eyes painted onto the mannequin's face.
A subtle frown tugged at her brow as she brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, more puzzled than alarmed.
Then she just stood there. It didn't work, she thought.
I should get it myself then. Frieren's hands reached for the brimmed hat.
It's tall, she noted, mildly impressed.
She simply sat on the sidewalk and placed her hands on her cheeks for a moment, observing.
"Maybe I should wait for them to wake up?" she thought, and opened her book again.
She started drawing the mannequin; the ink glowed faintly with every thought she had.
"It's not like I'm going to tell you 'don't move'… because you're already not moving," she whispered to the mannequin as if it would really listen.
A businessman passed, and seeing her completely absorbed in her drawing, pretended not to notice as he slipped a bill beside her. "Go get something to eat," he said gently, adjusting his necklace.
Frieren blinked once and turned her head to him. "I have to concentrate again," she whispered.
For her, it didn't take even a single extra glance at the body, she had already memorized it for the drawing.
She tapped the page once, letting the ink settle in soft pulses of magic.
People passed by like drifting shadows, none daring to step too close to the strange girl with ancient eyes.
Once she finished, she let out a faint smile. "Frozen body… how curious," she whispered.
Afterward, she put the book inside her cloak.
"Hide yourself," she whispered, and the book answered with a faint rustle.
The book fluttered slightly, giving a gentle puff to her cloak.
Then she stared at the bill beside her. "A letter?" she thought, pulling the paper with both hands before lifting it toward the sun, watching as light revealed two faint images on the paper.
Frieren stood, brushing a bit of dust from her cloak.
I should get it myself then. Frieren's hands reached for the brimmed hat.
"It's tall," she noted, expression unchanged.
A small pulse of mana formed around her legs. "Just this time… no one will notice," she murmured.
But once the mana completed its form, a voice called from behind the display, "Hey! How can I help you?"
Frieren's shoulders stiffened the instant she heard the voice, her spell faltering like a candle pinched out too soon.