5th Tekulach of Ausiriel Year 1237

Christine's POV

Man... It's definitely worth tagging by with May and Bel yesterday! Who knew that Bel would be such a good cook~

Not to mention... With her there, I am finally not in the spotlight! Being an idol sure is tiring~ the fans would just keep coming for autographs. Thank whatever god is there in here that made this possible~

I mean, this is the first time I go out without disguise yet still not been surrounded by people wanting something out of me. This means I could just go shopping without worrying too much! Not like I have much to buy anyways. Though if anything, I am kinda saddened by the fact that I can't really go anywhere other than follow those two.

It is definitely worth seeing Bel's flustered face though or should I say, the various face of Bel when she literally got bombarded with so many things, ranging from muscle brains wanting to fight to greedy pigs wanting to use her ability to assist them, to even a few morons that even tried to propose to her. Man, even though my wish for a laidback life in an isekai isn't really working, at least some of the tropes are~

And I am glad that most of the annoying trope doesn't happen ON me! After all, who the hell wants to be the center of attraction of fights~ certainly not me!

As I finally woke up and prepared for the day, I felt that something is missing. Or should I say smell that something is missing?

Normally when Bel cooks, I could even smell the cooking in my room, yet it's not there today. Aw, I was expecting to eat her food~ she really cooks good food, well at least better than the rest of the gang. Not like I know how people normally cook here. Haven't really gone outside to eat in a restaurant yet~

While going down the stairs, I can see that Bel's room is still closed. Well, as in locked close. Even though we normally would close the door, we rarely do lock it as the security in this town is very good. At the very least I haven't heard of a case of theft or rape yet. It kinda doesn't really fit the isekai theme but I won't object to it. I am a girl now so no rape cases are a good thing for me.

" Oh Christine, you finally woke up!" Lucy said as she continue to eat her breakfast. 

" Yeah, morning to you too. Who is the one cooking by the way, cause I am sure that it isn't Bel who is cooking today." I said as I sat down next to her. It seems like today's breakfast is your typical stew huh. While I know Mikael's food is still tasty, Bel's cooking is definitely way better.

" Yeah, speaking of which, is Bel's room still locked? Her room is locked when I came down." Lucy said as she uses her spoon to eat some of the veges.

" Well, she still is, any idea why? Maybe she is feeling tired after an entire day of work?" I suggested. Well, not like I would actually know if she worked that hard or not. I only accompany them when it's eating time. The rest of the time I am just going through shops near where they are. Need to be near the bait in order to be effective of course~, rarely, someone took away all the attention from me, after all, ~ well not all, there are still some that found me but at least it isn't a flood anymore, just a small trickle.

" Here you go~ I hope mine could still satisfy you~," Mikael said as he gave me my portion of the soup. So he also knows his food cant beat what Bel normally cooks huh. That is nice. Normally isekai persons would be dead set in their own ability and despise us outsiders. Well, even if we are outsiders before, I am already in this place for a few decades already so I guess I already blend in~

While corrupting them with Earth culture such as idols.

As I and Lucy continue to eat, the rest of the gang (save Bel) slowly comes out to eat. With Petrasha being the last one somehow, which is weird considering normally she is the second if not first to wake up.

" Urgh morning... you guys never went to check on Bel?" Petrasha said as she sat down. Did she sleep late last night? I could see that she is extremely tired...

" Her door is locked so we don't want to interrupt her," said May, and Amy just nodded along. 

" Well then, after some talking with her. We are going to go back to Heartforge today. So after breakfast, we are going to go out and get all the supplies needed for the one-week journey. *yawns* When is she waking up, she should help me take some stuff... Mikael, give me some extra meat please." Petrasha told us as she gave Mikael her order.

" Why though? I thought we are going to stay here for a few more days? Well, I will tell the old man later about this but can I have a reason?" Lucy said as she finishes her bowl of stew.

" Ask May, Amy, and Christine, they know what happened," Petrasha said as she slumped onto the table. Wait... me? Er, I wasn't with them all the time!!! Er...

" All the time when we were just even going to the orphanage, there will be people coming towards Bel, whether its to challenge her into a duel, to get her as a mascot for their own trading company, a member of the guard, or even to propose, not to mention some people literally asking Bel to become their chef after tasting her food. It was literally hell..." May said tiredly. Wait really? All of those are happening?

" Yeah, the proposal aside as me and Amy immediately helped Bel to reject that, the rest is a bit hard as some of them especially those asking for a duel can be very annoying. Me and Amy are not really that combat active so we couldn't help block all of those who wanted a duel. While Bel is enough to even one-shot them, it is still annoying..." Amy added. Sh1t... and I was just taking advantage of it to do my own stuff?

" Well, that figures... I also have this kind of reaction when I first reach here, well Bel-" before Lucy could even finish her sentence, May interjected.

" No, it's way more. From what I heard you would only get less than dozen a day, but yesterday alone there must be at least one hundred or so people wanting to challenge her! Ignoring the fact that even while Bel is cooking there are still people wanting to challenge her! Plus the merchants and the town guard also don't bother you because you got your old man's protection! While Bel just has us which doesn't really even help at all!" May yelled. Well, for sure is that when I just reach here, Lucy could be just your average hunter with good hunting ability. She doesn't really stand out from the rest in terms of visuals and also the feeling she gives. 

" Why do you think I could live in here for so long without problem? I have my own hardships too you know..." Lucy groaned. Yes yes, you sure did, not as big as me who can't even understand any single word from the locals though...

" Shut up... if I knew this is going to happen I would literally disguise myself yesterday..." a voice suddenly said next to us. I am not sure whether it's a he or a she as he is wearing a cape that literally covers everything from top to bottom. His voice also sounds kinda neutral so I am not sure either. But the weird strange thing is I don't sense any mana inside him...

" Who are... wait is that you Bel?" Petrasha said.

" Who else do you think I would be... I can't stand facing that many people like yesterday..." Bel said as she took off the hoodie revealing herself except without the horns... I just realized that her wings are gone too!

" Wait where are your horns and wings? Why are they gone?" Amy said loudly.

" SHHH! I don't want any attraction! I could hide my wings and horns! Why do you think I survived living with humans for the past year or so!" Bel said as she reforms her horns and wings... with the wings literally tearing apart her hoodie... damn impressive... this is like some world-class disguise... imagine if I could do that, maybe I can go out normally?

" No, it won't help you, Christine. This is just hiding my draconic features. My hair and heterochromia eyes are still here. So if someone knows how I look they would still know it's me." Bel said as she stared at me, sending shivers down my spine... scary...

" Pl- please stop staring at me Bel..." I plead her as she hides her wings back and her hoodie somehow repaired itself... another of her skill I guess...

" Well sure, only if you tell us what you were doing when we are literally getting flooded by people~," Bel said as she continue to stare daggers into me... while also slowly eating her stew... wait when did she even get it??? More importantly, how did she even know what I am doing!!!!

" You know I could sense people just by their souls alone. And since we are from Earth, our souls are different from the people here. So...

What

Exactly

Did

You 

Do" Bel said. Sweat pouring out like the freaking Niagra falls now...

" Buying things and doing some window shopping on the stalls..." I said quietly...

" Any gifts for me?" Bel said in a quite frightening voice... 

" No.... sorry..." I replied quietly again...

" Alright, anyways, I have gone and read some of the enchantment rune magic from your old man Lucy, and what I put on here is a high tier cognitive disruption rune. So unless they know me, they wouldn't know that I am here~ well at least that's what the book said." Bel nonchalantly said that... damn... I just felt like I lost at a hundred years of life span...

" Well if you say so... still why the rush to go outside though..." Lucy asked.

" Maintaining this rune is frustrating! I have to keep rewriting this stuff unless it degrades every day! Even the one I have now would only work for a few days at most! This thing is not freaking invincible y'know? If it is then it is already mass-produced for every important person already!" Bel said as she continue to drink her stew.

" Alright then... I will go with Bel as she has her inventory, the rest of you go together as your inventory space probably isn't as large as Bel's one and we could just finish this faster. Urgh... once we go back I have to work a lot again..." Petrasha told us as she finishes her stew and begin to write a list of stuff for us to write. Petrasha... even if you say the last sentence in a very low voice, we could still hear it...

To be honest...

Nothing really happened while we are going to buy the stuff... At least not much out of the ordinary.

Without Bel being my bait I kinda still get my originally daily life of having some people chasing me here and there. But it has gotten better as time pass by, which is further improved by what happened yesterday. I trust that most people would rather go and find a rare draconian than an idol from a city far away. Idols aren't that popular yet after all.

At the end, at least for my group, I am not sure about Bel and Petrasha, nothing happened. So we just get all of the stuff that we wanted to buy and just go back. I wonder why is Petrasha buying this many stuff though, it is just a one-week journey yet she just bought so many stuff that it feels like a one-month trip... oh well, not my money anyway. 

With this my stay in Lucy's hometown ended fast again... it's a good thing I set up my base at Heartforge~ Imagine attempting to create an idol company in a place where you don't even go often~ I wonder if the rest have finished their job though, the long period of absence would probably cause some reputation effect on us but I have the plan to counter it~ I will never stop conquering this world using the power of idols~ 

And hopefully anime... I wonder how did that anime ended... well, it's not like I cant expect the ending. That anime is full of isekai tropes, tropes that somehow don't really fit into this world. I was expecting more typical isekai tropes to be honest~

But oh well~

Benokelvin

I feel like I keep taking long breaks only to post a single chapter or two... which is bad... 

Anyways enjoy this chapter! A Christmas special is also coming within hours posting of this chapter too ;333333