After the last quest, we decided to stay in Damiya for a while. There wasn’t much we could do back at Simar until the builders were ready to depart.

Plus, it seems like Fiora wasn’t that keen on returning to the island anyway for some reason.

We were now staying at an inn around the outskirts area, since it was the cheapest and we were still waiting for the guild to report back.

In the meantime, I’ve been visiting the artisan’s district sometimes to talk with the carpenters and builders that would be making the home, mostly to hammer out the details.

I originally intended to go by myself and leave Fiora playing in the room, but she was adamant about going with me so I ended up relenting.

She has become a lot more active these past days compared to how she was before, especially after getting the drawing materials. 

I guess it was a good idea to have asked her about it.

At the moment we were making our way through the streets of the city towards the artisan’s district. I had a pretty long discussion yesterday with the carpenter about the procedures with the furniture they are making for our new home.

When we left, the guildsman said he would be working on some design options for us to pick, so we were on our way to check on that.

The path between the inn we were staying at and the artisan’s district happened to pass by one of the city’s open square spaces where people usually gathered in stalls to sell their wares or where itinerant actors would set up shop and do public performances.

On most days, the place was filled to the brim in the early morning and movement slowly dwindled as the day went on.

However, the place was unusually bustling despite being well past noon and the crowd gathered there seemed to be quite rowdy.

There were also quite a few armed guards enclosing the place, more than what I’d usually see.

I gestured to Fiora to walk closer to me and slowly made my way to the closest person to ask about the gist of the situation.

“Ma’am, what’s all this?”

“Oh~” The stall lady I asked was a bit startled, but answered anyway. “Ah, the Princess’ ship arrived just this morning on the harbor. It seems she decided to restore the old practice of itinerant courts.”

“Huh… that’s the first time I heard about that.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know since it’s been decades since the last time an itinerant court was held, but it’s basically when the rulers of Zara travel around the isles, passing judgement on local judgements by themselves.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting…”

“Right? That’s why people gathered in such a crowd today!” She said excitedly. “Though it’s kind of bad for business, at least I can have a good view of it from here.”

I turned to Fiora and asked. “Want to rest a bit here? I’m sure the carpenters can wait for a bit and this is as good a chance as any to take a look at this supposed tyrant princess.”

Fiora nodded without much energy, sitting down on one of the benches that were by the woman’s stall and pulling out her drawing tools.

I smiled wryly and turned back to the crowd, peering over the sea of people ahead. From where I was, one could see that they had set up an elevated platform with a long table on one side and a place where people could plead their case on the other side.

On the table, there were two pairs of men on the flanking seats and right in the middle was a woman with long flowing black hair and dark wine colored eyes.

“Curious, are we?” I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

“Ah, Livio.” It was the sailor from the previous quest we took, though now he was dressed with a more civilian like attire. “A little bit. I assume you’re the same, right?”

“Well, I couldn't miss the opportunity to see our dear princess, could I?” He smiled lightheartedly.

“I guess so…”

“Well, that’s not all the reasons I’m here for, though.”

“Hmmm?”

“Ah, nothing. Just mumbling to myself. That being said, I’ve already had my fill for today, so I’ll be heading off. Don’t stay awestruck like a statue the whole day too, friend.”

“Sure, sure. See you later.” I waved him goodbye with a wry smile.

After Livio went away, I decided to check on Fiora before we headed our way. It seems she had spent her time making a drawing of the princess. Though there were one or two unrelated drawings, like one of the bird she had drawn before but this time perched on a roof.

I wanted for her to finish her drawing before calling her and making our way down to the carpenter’s guild.