Charlotte had an incredibly uneasy expression.
Rather than not trusting the man leading us, it was more like… his method of guiding us was just downright… odd.
For example,
“Ladies, look here. This man lost his left hand in a tragic accident at the factory not too long ago. Isn’t it heartbreaking? So unfortunate, isn’t it? Without someone’s help, he’ll surely struggle to make ends meet. Hey, John, show them your stump!”
As he said this, a guy named John showed us his severed left wrist. Aside from the sewn-up look of the stitches, it was a smooth wrist.
“How about it?”
Then Charlotte gave the man a complex look, and I quietly placed a few silver coins into a can in front of the man. His face lit up like a light bulb, and the man’s expression brightened immediately.
As we walked down the street, it was like a theme park attraction where people appeared in line one after the other. Kids, who looked like they smeared soot on their faces, came running at us with arms wide open, while a hunched old woman stood holding an empty basket.
Then the man introduced these people as poor souls again, and I distributed a few coins to those pitiful beings.
This was happening over and over.
“Uh, Sylvia?”
Charlotte spoke up, clearly uncomfortable.
“Isn’t this, like… viewing people as zoo animals?”
“But this is how these people survive.”
“…Like this?”
“Because it’s a business selling happiness.”
“…Happiness?”
Everyone thinks their life is unfortunate. There’s always someone above you, and no matter how wealthy someone is, there’s someone richer above them, then the nobles, and then dukes or royalty.
And even royalty often feel jealousy towards other royalty around them in this world. The world I lived in was no different.
And while targeting such people, one shows joy even while receiving ‘a small amount of money’, creating a sense of relief, thinking, ‘Ah, I’m still doing much better than those kids.’
Of course, that ‘small amount’ is actually a lot of money to these people, enough to fill their bellies for a day.
“…”
Well, it seemed Charlotte didn’t quite comprehend my words.
“Ah, you folks are lucky!”
The man pointed ahead excitedly, perhaps thrilled to see me tossing money around.
“Look, the alley saint is over there!”
“…”
Upon hearing that, Charlotte quickly pulled her hat down. It seemed she didn’t expect the man to actually lead us to Leo.
Saint of the alley, huh.
In the original story, Leo didn’t have such a grand nickname.
But it made sense. While he could talk to street people, they had no further interaction; if there were NPCs begging, unless the game developers provided a ‘donation’ option, you could only hear their predetermined lines.
In fact, there were often times there wasn’t even that.
But this world was different from those games. If you gave a person any stimulus, they’d react somehow.
“Thank you.”
I told the man and pulled my wallet out again.
Then I took out the remaining bills from my wallet and handed them to the man.
“We’ll manage to find our way out shortly. This is enough guiding for now.”
“Eh? Are you sure? This is a back alley, and the police don’t come around here…”
As I shoved another thick wad of pound notes at him, the man looked flustered.
“It’s okay.”
When I waved my hand again, he nodded and accepted the money I offered.
“In that case, I’ll make sure to inform everyone in the alley. We can’t lose customers like you ladies. Please make sure to visit again next time!”
I nodded, and the man quickly took his leave.
“…Really.”
Charlotte wore a face filled with many things she wanted to say, but ultimately, she just let out a long sigh.
She must have realized that the money was necessary for orphans without parents, men without hands, and old women unable to work to survive.
From what I knew, at least that man wasn’t a purely bad person among the thugs of this era. He was the ‘righteous thug’ responsible for the livelihoods of his hometown people, often appearing in Japanese games or comics. He never appeared in the main story and didn’t have any associated side quests, but you could tell from the interaction lines.
Having received such a large sum, he would surely share some of that with the people we just saw.
“Well then, Charlotte. Shall we go?”
As I said that, Charlotte nodded.
We were quite far from Leo now. Sophia was already getting close to Leo.
We moved our feet slowly, trying to get into a position where we could see well what Leo was doing.
*
“Wow….”
Sophia seemed to exclaim in admiration. Her eyes were sparkling, and her face was oddly flushed.
Anyone could see that she looked like a girl in love.
Sophia… Well, even in the original work, she wasn’t particularly good at acting. Those psychopathic behaviors were just done because she thought so. I didn’t know what happened in just a year to change her character so drastically.
Or maybe she just didn’t have time to change her personality after meeting Leo so soon?
Anyway, judging by appearances, he was an incredibly good-looking character. In the original work, Sophia’s personality softened due to Leo.
“It’s not that great. All the clothes are hand-me-downs, and the bread is ordered in bulk from the cheapest place nearby.”
Leo said with a shy smile, but Sophia shook her head.
“No, it’s amazing. No matter what, how many people would pour all their pocket money into helping others? Even wealthy nobles don’t go that far…”
True.
That’s really commendable.
Especially impressive was the fact that he didn’t boast about that to others.
Perhaps this was the very reason Sophia was immediately captivated.
While she said she became a knight of the Papal State because she loved killing people, she would furiously get angry if someone insulted the Goddess.
In contrast, here was Leo, genuinely doing charitable deeds that the Church emphasized, which might make him seem different.
Plus, he was good-looking.
He probably had a nice body? It was suspiciously a game full of bath scenes, with female characters wrapping themselves with towels below the chest, while male characters like Leo only covered their lower bodies. And Leo’s body was filled with lean muscles.
Of course, it was a game that had quite a number of female fans.
“Can I help too?”
Sophia proactively approached Leo and said.
Initially, she was just following him because she liked him, but now it seemed she genuinely wanted to help with that task. Of course, I couldn’t be sure as I didn’t have the ability to read people’s minds.
“…”
Charlotte, watching the two from the corner as they turned the alley, wore an indescribable expression.
“Seriously… pathetic.”
“…”
“Ah, I’m not talking about you or Leo or Sophia. I’m just saying I feel pathetic.”
As she said that, Charlotte squatted down, letting her long skirt fall to the ground, getting all sorts of dirt attached. She didn’t seem to mind it much.
“People who casually follow and tease those who engage in such noble acts…”
Hmm.
It seemed she had been feeling skeptical about royalty lately.
And it made sense. She probably didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment since coming here.
After all, she was just fifteen. If she claimed she achieved something, that would be a curious thing indeed.
“Not knowing isn’t an excuse, is it?”
“You can’t say that just because a princess didn’t know.”
Charlotte grumbled.
“A kingdom can crumble because of one thing it didn’t know.”
“That depends on the time and place.”
I cut her off.
“There’s a big difference between not knowing about breakfast and not knowing that you lost a battle. And no one could know everything, could they?”
Exactly.
If that were the case, would I have gone through so much trouble and turned back time?
“…”
But it apparently didn’t resonate with Charlotte.
I thought for a moment and grabbed Charlotte’s arm.
“Sylvia?”
“Well then, let’s go and help.”
“Uh, if we do, Leo will find out that we were secretly following him, you know?”
Sophia had also been secretly following us.
But rather than that, I found myself wanting to tease Charlotte first.
“Then I’ll just call you Charlotte from now on.”
“Is that really okay!?”
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