Gaius left the Solaris Museum with a small stack of papers, full of notes he had taken down with Isabelle. His guess had been right; she was indeed interested in replicating Solaris’ unique view of the world…although Gaius couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed that he didn’t have such a thing going for him.

In fact, Isabelle was so interested in creating such an artefact that the rest of the exhibits couldn’t be used by the time she was done with the notes. Watching and helping her note down various aspects of Solaris’ heads-up display, which included the ability to talk to other people, to detect incoming projectiles and attacks and to map the local area, amongst other uses.

To that end, she had even asked if she could manipulate the video back and forth. That was probably a reason why the other exhibits ran out of power after a while, and it was only when that happened did Isabelle apologise and cease her research.

“With that much data gathered, are you able to make this heads-up display?” Gaius asked.

“Not as a standalone artefact,” Isabelle replied. “If I had to put it, I would need to manufacture a central unit capable of looking down on an entire area, and then make it able to simplify everything it sees into a symbolic representation. After all, I would need to send it into an eye accessory, like Kolya’s monocle or a set of glasses.”

“And that’s only for the map aspect, right?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure how Solaris is able to use his heads-up display to check on his body condition, or how he’s able to use it to communicate with others. And as for detecting incoming attacks…”

“Well, it is something made by the great gods,” Gaius replied. “And it’s not like you need to fit all these functions into a single artefact, right? The North has been leading in the way of communications for the past few years, for instance.”

Isabelle pouted, and then headed over to a nearby foodstall. Food stalls like these were now rather common, compared to the Seireiden of a few years ago, where one could only eat at shops. It was as if food stall culture was returning to Mi-Zu, as the atmosphere became less stifling.

He had a feeling that its return had something to do with Scorpio’s public address to the world, four or so years ago. He could remember a stall selling chicken skewers, a stall that proclaimed to be the third best skewer stall throughout the Five Lands, the South notwithstanding.

The stall in front of him right now, however, had proclaimed itself to be the best stall in the whole of the Five Lands.

“…The South not included,” Gaius verbalised the last bit of his thoughts out loud.

“What’s that about?” Isabelle asked.

“Oh, I’m talking about the sign here,” Gaius replied. “Do you remember the time when Scorpio made a public address to the Five Lands? There was a stall that proclaimed itself to be the third-best skewer store in the world…the South not included, of course.”

“Hoh?” The chef looked up from basting chicken skewers, and then grinned. “That was me back then. I was also in Seireiden when I heard about this huge Constellation event, so I put up my sign. After that, people came to challenge me, and eventually, I became the best.”

Gaius didn’t quite know what to say to that, so he made do by nodding in seeming appreciation, which delighted the chef. “Anyway, are you here for my signature roasted skewers?”

“Yes. Ten of them.” said Isabelle. “I’ll like to try out the best skewers outside the South.”

“That hair…well, I would like to see whether I can impress someone from the Republic.”

“What makes you think I’m from the Republic?” Isabelle asked.

“Well, the people of the Assembly don’t usually go around eating food from food stalls,” the chef replied. “Most of them prefer a more formal atmosphere.”

His reply did somewhat fit Gaius’ impression of the stifling Southern Assembly, but the subject matter expert here was Isabelle, who said, “That’s a rather sad stereotype.”

“It is?”

Isabelle nodded. “From what I can remember, food stalls are also quite popular in the outlying cities of the Assembly. Nobles often leave their homes in disguise to buy them too.”

Gaius had a feeling that one of these nobles also included Isabelle in their ranks, but he wasn’t going to expose her like this. If he did, she would probably rub his cheeks until they were all nice and spongy, which would detract from his suave appearance.

Sizzling sounds soon filled the air, and with it, an aromatic smell of roasted meat. The scent soon drew a few people over, and before long, a small queue of four people was lining up behind them.

“Do we get extras for drawing more customers over?” Gaius asked, a grin on his face.

“Well…” The chef flipped the skewers over masterfully, before sprinkling a handful of spices over the golden-brown meat. Chuckling, he gathered every single skewer and placed them into the bag. “Here you go. Some extras as a token of my appreciation.”

“Thank you,” Gaius replied, placing five silver coins onto the stall. “As a token of my appreciation too.”

The chef whistled. “Thank you kindly, brother.”

“You should consider coming down to the Great Divide,” said Gaius, before walking off. “Roasted meat and wars go together like sausages and butter.”

“They do?” Isabelle asked.

“Yeap. When I was at the East, we always got roasted food after a battle. Really perks us up, although I cannot say that it’s good for the body…or your palate.” Gaius let out a small sigh. “I wonder if I should consider that the good old days. I must be getting old.”

“Don’t think too much about that,” Isabelle replied. Taking out a skewer, she took a bite from it, and then offered it to Gaius. “Here!”

Taking a bite out of her offering, Gaius looked up at the skies. “There’s not really that much time left, is there?”

“We’ll do our best to enjoy it,” Isabelle replied. “Here, have another bite.”

“Fine, fine. You keep spoiling me, you know.”

“I wonder who’s actually doing the spoiling here, though…”