The next morning, we commenced the plan accordingly. After we prepared ourselves, we'd return to our "designated" rooms and went outside as the Rashad family. We would take the spacious table and sat just like a real merchant family, enjoying the breakfast.

And shortly after that, Mom and Meredea's figure could be seen. Seeing that the dining hall was quite crowded, Mom and Meredea noticed the empty spaces at our table, enough for them to join in—that's how the scenario works, and then, they would join us.

We would chat for a while and got friendly enough that we wanted to take walks together—as we have the same destinations, sightseeing to popular sites in Chinosato City.

...At least, that's what other people should be thinking when they saw us.

Well, not that it really matters, I mean, Mom and Meredea aren't wearing their robes, and we are not that flashy. We can just walk the streets while most people would ignore us and continue with whatever they are doing.

Now that I can take a closer look at the people here—most of them have dark hair color. Some even have small horns. Since this city is next to the Oni country's bordering town, I guess it can't be helped that the people here have mingled with Oni.

I never really see Oni or halfbreeds with Oni when I was Reinst, given I lived in the Western area that's closer to Elven country.

I feel like I'm observing a totally different culture here!

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***

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"Let's play shadow tagging: police and prisoners version!"

When we came to the nearby park, I could see some small children—eeh, they are around six to ten years old. They formed a group of around 10 people and seemed about to play a game. Shadow tagging, eh? The one where one person shall be "it" and must step on others' shadows? But what's it about police and prisoners version?

"Eeeh, what is police and prisoners version?"

Oh, a child seems to be as confused as I am and stated her confusion.

"Ah, you're new here, so I guess you don't understand how we do it?"

"Let me tell you, one person will be the police or "it", and the others will be the prisoners, with one being the leader of prisoners. The police should chase the other prisoners and step on their shadows. Once stepped, the prisoner should not be able to move! And the leader of prisoners shouldn't get caught as having him getting caught means an instant loss for all prisoners. At the end of the game, when there's only the leader of prisoners, he would get the privilege of facing a shadow-stepping showdown with the police. It will be cool!"

Now, that's an interesting version of shadow tagging.

I noticed that Rupert—"my mother" came back with ice creams and gave me and Altaire one each.

"Eeeeh, Mommyyyy, I wanna ice cream, too! Gimme oneeeee~!"

"..."

Gale—as Robert, the eldest son, demanded his share of ice cream, only for Rupert to throw a sharp glance at him.

Their interaction is funny.

Dad said that the ice cream I'm eating is this town's famous matcha ice cream. Hmm, it definitely tasted better than the matcha ice cream I've ever had.

"Okay, so... to decide who's it... hey, who can do [Dark] magic?"

I almost choked on that remark.

Will they simply bully the Dark magic user and decide that they are "it" even when they don't want to?

...wait no, this is Chinosato... but why did he throw that sudden question?

"It's me!"

...I definitely didn't expect that cheerful and boastful answer, but the little boy with a bandage on top of his nose jumped in the middle of the circle and raised his hand proudly.

"My top affinity is Dark! Hehe!!" He announced happily.

...uh?

"Eeeh, that's cool!"

...what?

The boy that proudly announced himself as a Dark magic user got praised by the other children.

...A dark magic user, being praised and admired?

I was exasperated.

Although I know this is a town where interactions with Oni often happen—but I didn't expect this kind of treatment.

I thought that other people would still be judging to those who are closely related to Oni... given the fact that Naraka, the Oni country is more hostile compared to Cielle, the Elven country.

"Are you surprised, Murphy?" Mom, who's sitting next to me, silently asked.

"Uh, uhm, yes..."

"This is Chinosato city. Most of the people really admire [Dark] magic, given the influence of the neighboring Oni country."

"I, is that so...?"

Those children didn't even think that having a dark magic is a nasty thing. Instead, they gave the same reaction that my acquaintances as Reinst had, upon finding out that someone's got light magic affinity.

It's as if...

As if the standards between the West Area and the East Area are completely reversed.

Could it be that some people are still inclined to support Naraka despite their hostility?

As a former West Area civilian, it's something I can't really fathom.

Could it be that I was also biased?

"Then, I will be the leader of the prisoners, as I also have an affinity to [Dark]! We are allowed to use shadow manipulation for the showdown of police vs leader of prisoners, right?"

Another boy with a small horn on his forehead raised his hand.

"Whoa, perfect! Let's get started!!"

"Are you interested to see the last showdown?" Mom asked.

"Uhm..."

Honestly, I am a bit interested in this version of shadow tagging that I have never heard before.

"It's okay, let's stay here until their shadow tagging match is over, then," Dad said, he seemed to be listening in on us.

--while Rupert is still bickering with Gale.

"...go and buy your own ice cream, won't you? R-o-b-e-r-t, my dearest eldest son?!" Rupert smiled—an icy smile.

"But I want Mommy to buy it for meeeeeee!"

Those two are amazing.

Their acting is very good, I wonder why haven't they become actors already?!

"Wow, that's interesting. Ah, well...," Alt-nii jumped from the bench after gulping down the cone of his ice cream.

Before I noticed, he ran full speed towards the other children.