51 Ch. 33.5 Pt. 2- Exploring the City

We followed our nose about a block down from the inn where we had decided to set up temporary residence. What we came across was a small stall with boiling vats of oil and the distinct smell of cinnamon and sugar.

"Sopapillas, get your sopapillas here!" The vendor was yelling, which I could gather from his shouting was the food being made in front of us. I spotted shakers of sugar and cinnamon along with a large crate of what looked like tortillas I had before the new era.

"We'll take 2 each please." I kindly requested the stout and mustached elderly man, he had a rather kind smile on his face and his skin seemed to have been tanned from constant exposure to the sun and so had taken on the consistency of tanned leather. This only seemed to add to his charm and gave him the feeling of a distant but well-liked grandfather.

"Coming right up." With that, the vendor who I had learned was named Rico threw 4 tortillas into the boiling oil and quickly rose up into giant pillows. After a few seconds, he turned them over to reveal a nice brown and crisp outside, and not long after the starch disks were done cooking.

With practiced efficiency, Rico used his tongs to throw two a piece onto a plate before sprinkling a hefty amount of sugar and cinnamon onto the sweet concoctions. The sopapillas had deflated once they were taken from the oil, but the crunchy exterior remained and had us salivating just looking at it.

Without any prompting, I paid Rico 2 credits for the delicious-looking food and then left a few more credits as a nice tip for the kind man. Alexis couldn't seem to help herself anymore and began to dig into the sweet treats. I followed along and was not disappointed with our choice of food.

Even that didn't last long as Alexis took it upon herself to like the paper plate clean as if she was starving, I was beginning to suspect she had an even bigger sweet tooth than Mira. That was saying something too because my sister seriously had a secret chocolate stash that she fiercely protected. I once made the mistake of taking a chocolate bar from it and she chased after me with a frying pan once she discovered one was missing *shudder*.

I wouldn't be making that same mistake again, and I was also smart enough to realize that commenting on her propensity for sugar would do nothing for my immediate health if I angered her. They were both like dragons that hoarded candy and sugar of all sorts rather than gold, and I'm not sure which is deadlier, aside from tier 5's I'd probably rather face a dragonkin than face the ire of either woman protecting their confectionary stash.

Seeing as I was starting to actually fall for the girl standing in front of me, I silently made a mental note to purchase a large amount of candy to either bribe her or get on her good side. I'd have to ask one of the vendors when we get to the city where a candy store would be, I'd need to buy a lot too, it just might save my life someday.

"What are you staring at me for?" Alexis snapped defensively at me for staring at her for too long.

"Nothing, I was just wondering what stalls we should try next, or if we want to head towards the inner city to do some shopping." There wasn't really much of a choice in the matter for me, not that I was complaining, but we ended up trying three other stalls before deciding to start walking and exploring the new city.

It was both similar and very different from the North American Continental city in many ways. The layout and designs of the buildings, roads, and walls were all the same, apparently, the omnipotent god was lazy and used the same blueprint to make all of the cities. That was about where the similarities ended though, from the people and visible culture to food and clothing, it was as if we were in a new world.

Honestly, from what I had seen so far made me almost wish I lived here rather than up North. The people were friendly and inviting, and the food was magnificent from what I had tasted so far. People from my city were more out for themselves and were more wearily cautious of strangers, it was a survival of the fittest situation. Not that everyone in my city were evil or anything like that, but there definitely weren't as many smiles to be seen as there were down here.

These were just observations that I had made based on what I had witnessed, which was a small fraction of what made up the entire city, so I would withhold judgment until I had seen a significant enough portion. Alexis seemed to be enjoying the new city as much as I was, and I couldn't help but chuckle seeing the seemingly permanent smile on the usually surly and sarcastic girl's face.

....

Not only was the food here amazing, but the buildings and art seen around the city brought another sense of culture and flair to the city. There were many scenes of flowers, skeletons, and crops of all sorts as sort of murals on many barren walls around the residential districts. Not only was there a ton of art, but nearly all the apartments and houses were painted vibrant shades of any color imaginable. Even the individual apartments in a complex were colored differently.

Together the effect was of a rainbow collage of a various assortment of colors, I thought it was fairly interesting, but didn't put much more thought into it other than that it was pretty. There were many more summons out around town working in tandem with their summoners. Many ox or horse-like summons were being used for manual labor to haul cargo and carriages, and it seemed to be a sort of manual taxi service for the area, which was honestly a great idea considering how long it took to travel around the giant cities.

The conditions for the town might not have been as modern as the North American city, but it gave off a rustic and homely feeling where people seemed to be social and happy. There was a strong sense of family amongst the many residents, and even obvious travelers such as us were accepted by the people.

Around an hour and a half after leaving the breakfast stalls, we had come to the end of our leisurely stroll and came upon the inner city. In contrast to the rustic and old fashioned outer residential districts, the center plaza was incredibly modern and advanced, looking even more futuristic than that of our city. I was incredibly curious about this and decided to ask the next person we talked to in order to better understand the city.

One thing that seemed out of place was the large outdoor market and bazaar with many goods and food that were displayed to be purchased. It smelled rather amazing too, and since we had worked off any food we had eaten for breakfast, we decided to head that way and see what we could find to eat or buy for later cooking.

I knew we would need to go to the Summoner's Guild, but our stomachs took priority for now.