A large expanse of red clouds burned across the western sky.
The sun’s afterglow peeked out from behind the clouds, illuminating the narrow streets of Mann City and staining the world in shades of orange and red.
A husband and wife walked hand in hand, leisurely strolling through the market streets.
“Nolan, you’ve only been in Mann City for a few days, right?”
“Today is the second day. I was originally planning to—”
Nolan intended to explain his future plans to Vivian, but she interrupted him before he could finish.
“Then let me, Vivian, introduce Mann City to you!”
“I’ve been scrounging around here for more than half my life, after all.”
Vivian patted her flat chest, bragging without even blinking.
Over the past few months, there had been very few people she could truly talk to in her daily life. She had been living as a recluse, stuck at home, and passing the time by tinkering with crafts until she had practically become a carpenter.
Having transmigrated to this world, she no longer had roommates from her college dormitory to mess around with, nor did she have online friends in group chats to share memes with. Her desire to talk was overflowing with nowhere to go. She was nearly on the verge of bursting.
Now that she had the chance, she was going to talk his ear off.
Vivian excitedly pointed to a bakery on the street corner. She began to tell Nolan about everything she had seen and heard since coming to this world.
“That’s the Blood-Boiling Bakery. The owner, Blake, is an Orc. His bread is the best in all of Mann City, and it’s also the cheapest.”
“Even the rats in Black Rat Street who have no sense of taste would praise it after a bite.”
Then, she lowered her voice and whispered conspiratorially, “According to reliable sources, there is a scandalous gay romance between the owner, Blake, and the Lord of Mann City.”
“It’s truly scandalous and disgraceful,” Vivian said, shamelessly spreading rumors.
Nolan’s expression became complicated, but he eventually nodded seriously. He knew a thing or two about the unique hobbies of the nobility.
The two walked a bit further.
Vivian pointed to a closed vegetable stall.
“That’s Aunt Silo’s vegetable stall. She’s the one who gave us the carrots you ate this morning.”
“In the future, if there’s any vegetable you want to eat, come here and buy it yourself.”
Then she turned to the other side.
“That’s Uncle Ethan’s meat stall. He usually sells things he hunts himself, mostly venison.”
“And that’s…”
Vivian introduced the market stall owners to Nolan one by one. She had always enjoyed the atmosphere of this simple, everyday life.
However, these things were far too unfamiliar to Nolan. Having been born into nobility, whether it was buying ingredients or cooking, servants had always handled it for him. He had never come into contact with such things.
His life had been spent in the manor’s study, learning strategies to fight various monsters, and on the training grounds, sweating as he trained his body and swordsmanship. In his past life, his time was spent either subjugating demons or on the way to subjugating them.
For a moment, he felt a bit of envy toward Vivian. He envied her life—this ability to be one with the light of the ordinary world.
‘Maybe I should try to change a little, too.’
Nolan looked at the empty market under the twilight and lowered his head in thought.
—
Black Rat Street.
Vivian’s small house.
As soon as they pushed open the door, Vivian quickly turned into a bat. She lunged straight into her coffin and changed into her bear-patterned pajamas.
Nolan also removed his armor, revealing the shirt underneath. Then he went to the hearth and consciously began moving firewood. He was a bit clumsy with the matches, but after several attempts, he finally lit the wood.
The pine wood crackled in the stove.
The golden-red light filled the small house, and smoke drifted out through the chimney. Some of the smoke escaped through the gaps in the stove, floating against the back wall, which was already blackened from soot.
Time passed slowly in the firelight.
The two sat across from each other at the dining table. Today’s dinner was multigrain porridge—a thick porridge made by adding crushed wheat grains to boiling milk and finishing it with a handful of sea salt. It was a simple dish that even someone as bad at cooking as Vivian could easily learn.
Nolan’s porridge had several large chunks of carrots in it, and there was an additional large, olive-shaped loaf of bread in front of him. This was the bread Vivian had bought at the Blood-Boiling Bakery earlier today.
Nolan picked up the bread with some curiosity; he felt as though he had eaten this in his past life.
Opposite him, Vivian’s eyes were shining with a sweet, honey-like anticipation.
Nolan tore off a small piece of bread and dipped it into the thick porridge.
“Is it good?”
“I think it tastes bad,” Nolan answered honestly under Vivian’s expectant gaze.
“It’s too hard, too dry, too salty, and it has a fishy smell. It’s like the coarse food from the Orc tribes in the north.”
Nolan’s tone was steady, and his expression was calm. He was now certain that he had eaten this bread while fighting on the northern front in his past life. It was a favorite food of the Orc warriors. When he had fought alongside them, they had shared it.
—
Nolan finished the bread in a few bites. After all, during the long years of war against the demons, conditions were limited. He had tasted things far more absurd than this. Now, he could swallow even dried demon meat without changing his expression.
But as soon as Nolan finished speaking, Vivian’s cheeks puffed up with anger. She pouted her lips like a pufferfish that had just been fished out of the water.
Her kindness had been rejected like this. She was very unhappy right now…
The resentment rising from Vivian formed a heavy atmosphere around her that was almost visible to the eye.
‘My wife is so cute when she sulks,’ Nolan noted to himself.
But he didn’t dare show it, fearing he might get hit. He knew very well what kind of answer Vivian wanted, but he didn’t want to go against his heart for something so trivial. Besides, if he lied and said it was delicious today, Vivian would buy a mountain of it tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be digging his own grave and looking for trouble?
Nolan shook his head with a light chuckle. Then he picked up his bowl, finished the porridge in one gulp, and stood up to walk over to Vivian’s side.
He ruffled Vivian’s soft, fluffy hair.
“I’m sorry for disappointing your kindness.”
“But I’m not a vampire, and I don’t like that bloody taste.”
“I can’t give a dishonest answer.”
“Compared to that, I still prefer white bread with milk and dried fruit.”
“So, please forgive me, okay? Vivian.”
Nolan crouched down so that his eyes were level with Vivian’s. He gazed into her dark red eyes and apologized softly, asking for forgiveness.
‘Don’t suddenly get so close!’
Vivian’s cheeks flushed slightly. She was a bit flustered by Nolan’s sudden approach. She had no choice but to quickly lower her head and pretend to be focused on her food.
‘Why am I blushing when I’m a vampire? Am I not undead? It’s definitely because I drank too much blood yesterday; I must be feeling lightheaded.’
Vivian picked up her bowl and imitated Nolan, drinking the rest in one gulp. She put the bowl down and tried her best to maintain her composure and avoid losing her cool.
“I… I can forgive you, but you’ve failed that poor piece of bread.”
“You have to compensate it with fifty copper coins.”
Vivian pulled a random reason out of thin air, wanting a bit of small revenge.
Nolan was stunned for a moment, but then he actually took out his coin purse and handed it over, saying softly, “Please forgive me, Mr. Bread.”
—
Vivian wanted to say that she was actually joking…
But if you’re going to test me with this… then I’ll gladly accept.
“Fine, I’ll forgive you on behalf of the bread.”
Vivian seamlessly switched to a friendly smile, took the coin purse, and swiftly tucked it into her bosom. The previous unpleasantness was instantly tossed to the back of her mind and forgotten.
Nolan silently made a mental note of this scene.
‘So… you can please Vivian with money. If something similar happens in the future, like if I accidentally make her angry, I can choose to spend money to resolve the disaster.’
From that perspective, she was quite easy to handle.
With the little episode over, the two returned to their daily routine. They cleared the dishes together and then brought out two small stools to sit by the hearth and burn wood.
Vivian’s small face was flushed red by the bright firelight. She started talking about what happened at the bakery today as if to herself.
“Do you know how much a loaf of bread costs in the city now?”
Nolan, who was beside her, shook his head.
She held up three fingers. “A full thirty copper coins!”
“That’s enough to buy a high-quality steak.”
Vivian grew angry just thinking about it.
“And the price is still going up.”
“Who knows? By tomorrow, we might only be able to drink thin porridge!”