There Is No Place For Fakes

Philomel and Jeremiah crossed the road and headed for <Rainbow Cookie Shop>.

However, difficulties arose again.

“I’m sorry, Noble Lady. Currently, the only menu available at our restaurant is apple pie.”

“… Do you have anything but apple pie? Any kind of small cookies perhaps?”

“I’m really sorry. We have run out of materials.”

Indeed, there could not have been enough ingredients in a store that only flies fly. If it doesn’t sell anyway, it will go bad quickly.

After reluctantly ordering apple pie, the two sat down at an empty table.

“Apple pie is enough.”

Philomel smiled lightly at Jeremiah’s consoling tone, but she couldn’t help feeling bitter.

Apple pie wasn’t a bad dessert, but it was too ordinary to treat Jeremiah, who was dragged out to the central square.

Fortunately, there are no customers in the store, so there is nothing to offend Jeremiah even more…

“There’s not too much without it.”

The only guests were Philomel and Jeremiah.

Suddenly, Philomel was afraid of the taste of apple pie.

‘Please, it should be delicious. Otherwise, Jeremiah’s good feelings will be over forever!’

Philomel closed her eyes tightly and cried out earnestly inwardly.

Soon after, the sweet smell of apples tickled the tip of her nose.

“The apple pie you ordered is here!”

Looking at the grilled lattice-shaped pie, Philomel swallowed. Come to think of it, it was such a popular dessert but she, as a princess, had very few memories of eating it.

“Let’s try it.”

Philomel cut the pie beautifully and put a piece on Jeremiah’s plate, and then one on her plate as well.

“I can do it with my own hands.”

In an overly sweet scent

Jeremiah hesitantly lifted the fork but put it down without tasting the pie. 

‘Apple pie isn’t too sweet. I’ll have to try it first and let you know how it tastes.’

The moment Philomel hurriedly took a bite of the apple pie, her golden eyes widened in surprise. 

‘It tastes better than I expected!’

First of all, the texture of the crunchy apple was excellent. It seemed like they used fresh fruit. If you don’t care, the taste is so sweet that your tongue hurts, and if you eat it with black tea, it goes well together.

“It’s good to eat. Jeremiah, you should try it too!”

“Okay?”

That was when Jeremiah stretched out his hand toward the pie with a look of hope.

But suddenly, a loud rumbling sound resounded through the quiet room.

The shabby door was thrown open roughly enough to break open, and the three men entered.

“Hey! When are you going to pay the rent?” I know how much it’s been pushed back so far!”

A man with a stern look in the lead shouted.

Then the owner of the bakery who served Philomel and Jeremiah the pie earlier shivered and answered.

“I’m sorry! Could you give me a little more time? The money is not ready yet…”

“When will that bastard get his money! You know it’s no fun if you keep doing things like this, right?”

Clank!

Then the man kicked the cabinet next to him resulting in the tableware falling to the floor and breaking.

“Oh! Please stop it! Please stop it!”

The owner wailed, but the kicking did not stop. The men’s group just watched and giggled.

“He let you operate in an unauthorized building and this is how you pay his grace back!”

Philomel roughly grasped the situation from the little information that their conversation provided. 

They were thugs collecting rent from the surrounding merchants. It seemed that this shop had been doing things without permission, taking advantage of the fact that it was an unauthorized building.

‘If it’s an unauthorized building, it can’t be protected by the government.’

The owner, unable to watch his furniture get destroyed further, grabbed the man’s legs and hung on.

“Please! If you destroy all of this, how are we going to do business?”

“What a pain! Let go of me!”

When the man’s kick was directed at the elderly owner, Philomel unconsciously tried to stand up.

“Stop.”

However, Jeremiah dissuaded her with a cool attitude.

“But…!”

“What can you even do in this situation?”

“Even if it is an unauthorized building, private place rent collection and violence are serious crimes. If you report it to the authorities…”

“Don’t you think it’s strange that this building operates at all? Of course the government officials know about it, they are in on this.”

He’s right. Usually, the tyranny of the gangsters in the neighborhood takes place under the connivance of the officials. Philomel knows it, she knows, but still. 

Jeremiah continued, slowly mashing his pie with a fork.

“It’s not like you can do anything about them right now, and it’s best not to interfere in other people’s affairs. Even if you saved the host this time, do you think they won’t come back here again?”

“…”

“It’s something that will happen someday, anyway. If you can’t take responsibility until the end, don’t intervene.”

Philomel bit her lip, not saying anything.

His comments were overly cynical but pointed right to the problem.

There was nothing that Philomel, who was neither a princess anymore nor held any title, could do. Even if she mentioned the law, they wouldn’t listen, and it would be considered fortunate if she got out unharmed. 

Crucially, Philomel wasn’t even kind enough to help others without any countermeasures.

But is it really meaningless to help others just because, as he said, you can’t take full responsibility?

Philomel said weakly, for some reason wanting to refute.

“… Jeremiah also helped me when I was about to be pickpocketed.”

“It just cleaned up the trash that fell in front of my house.”

Jeremiah poked a piece of pie with a fork.

“Anyway, I’m not in the mood for a conversation. Let’s eat quickly and leave.”

An anticipation that could not be hidden was seen in his sky-blue eyes. The pie looked delicious to his eyes, too.

It was then.

Plash!

A shoe flew out of nowhere and landed on Jeremiah’s plate.

“Oh, my.”

The apple pie was smashed under a dirty shoe.  

Philomel looked in the direction where the shoe came flying and saw that only one foot of the man who was assaulting the owner had no shoes. The shoe appeared to have come off while kicking the owner.

One of the man’s companions came up to Jeremiah and leaned a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry about this. He avoided him because he didn’t want to get hit… Oh, my God, you can’t eat the pie! But you know you can’t get a refund, right? Because the money here is ours.”

The fork in Jeremiah’s hand bent with a groan.

“…You want to die.”

“Huh! Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to-?”

Bang!

The man was unable to finish his speech because Jeremiah threw him against the opposite wall.

After that, it was a breeze.

“You, you bastard! What are you doing? Who do you think we are working for…?

Jeremiah also dealt with the man who hit the owner as fast as the wind. It was a feat accomplished not by magic, but by Jeremiah’s fists and kicks.

In particular, the flying kick movement was artistic beyond being superfluous and clean.

“… How dare you do this? Do know who we are, man!”

Jeremiah, who easily dealt with the remaining one, dusted off his clothes.

“Philomel, are you hurt anywhere?”

Philomel answered as she came out from under the table.

“No, I’m fine.”

When the pie was ruined and Jeremiah’s eyes were dyed red, she had already fled under the table.

Philomel smiled slightly as she looked at the chaos in the room.

“What was that, Jeremiah? You told me not to interfere.”

“… that was a personal revenge.”

“All right. Let’s count it that way.”

“It’s not intervening…”

At that time, the last man who had fallen staggered to his feet.

He was a man with a nervous appearance and a small physique.

“Assaulting a good citizen! I will report you!”

Jeremiah sneered.

“In the Empire, it seems that those who act violently in stores are called good citizens.”

“It’s not a violent act! As we said, they are operating illegally in an unauthorized building, so we were just giving proper guidance. Go to the government office and ask!”

“You must have not been hit enough.”

“Hee-ik!”

Philomel stopped Jeremiah from approaching the man.

“Wait a minute.”

“Why?”

“I have something to say.”

Jeremiah crumpled his face at Philomel’s words, but took a step back.

She sat down on the floor and stared at the man, who trembled and pursed her lips.

Before philomel could say anything the man started to blabber.

“Ooh, we were just following the law. If you look at Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Imperial Commercial Code, unauthorized buildings…”

Unlike the other two, who just used their pure strength, this one seemed to use his brains more. 

Philomel quietly agreed.

“Yes, that’s right. Certainly, Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act states that it is illegal to operate in an unauthorized building.”

“Yeah, yes! Knowing that and knowingly doing this…!”

“But there are always exceptions.”

Philomel’s small but determined voice echoed quietly.