Reincarnated! A Tale of the Sorceress Amaya

We arrived at the imperial plaza and disembarked our carriage. There was a parking spot next to the park where the driver would wait. While we told him it was unnecessary he insisted he could not simply return to the palace. I hoped he brought a book or something to keep him occupied. He also took care of the horses of our guards. It felt odd walking around with the soldiers following us but I tried to ignore them.

We started by exploring the imperial plaza. The most notable thing was the fountain in the centre. A ten metre long dragon statue stood on a pedestal. Its mouth was open and aimed at the sky, a stream of water emerged from it. The water then fell into the large basin surrounding the dragon. The statue itself was covered in scales made from blue gems. The eyes were golden. The other parts of the fountain were made from black marble with white streaks. The gems sparkled nicely in the sun.

The plaza also held statues from former emperors but I found them less impressive. There were a few trees and benches next to them. On one side of the square you could see the park. It looked nice and inviting but we would go there later. First we decided to explore some shops in the area.

This was a rather expensive part of the city and the stores reflected that. They were lavishly decorated and the staff wore designer clothing. Most things on offer were magical in some way. Why buy a simple diamond ring when you could put an enchantment on it?

I looked at an expensive ring on display and shook my head. “Why would anyone pay this much money for a smoother skin enchantment? It’s just an illusion anyway. You would not feel a difference.”

“Most people’s skin is not as nice as yours.” Lucy answered. “I have never seen you use makeup because you don’t need it. That is not the case for most women. They spend a lot of time to make themselves look pretty and a lot of money as well. Good cosmetics are not that cheap either. Further, with an illusion you have the option to change your looks quickly. You can easily match your day time dress and simply switch your ring for the evening gown.”

I never really thought about that. Lucy made a good point. It would even allow you to change your hair or skin colour. While I had not seen anyone with unnatural colours what would stop people from becoming blue or green? Or was that socially not acceptable? Then it hit me, my eyes could see through illusions. It was possible that people used all sorts of crazy illusions and I just never noticed them. While there might be magic powerful enough to fool me, or simply outright shapeshifting, I doubted people used that for cosmetics.

“You know, we should make glasses that see through illusions and sell them outside a fancy ball.” I suggested with a smirk.

“I doubt you would be the first one with that idea. I would not be surprised if the highest nobility went back to simply using makeup just to avoid that.”

I sighed. “I suppose you are right.” So much for my fantasies about a prank. Oh well.

We continued our walk and looked at more shops. Besides jewellery, clothes and bags were also popular products. I wondered how many bags people would buy in a world with storage artefacts. Then again, a bag might just look cute. And nothing stopped it from being a magical storage as well.

We did not buy anything in the end but it was an interesting trip. Also something rather mundane compared to fighting and politics. Our guards drew less attention than I expected but we were not the only ladies with an escort. I suppose it might be normal for the rich to have protection.

“This looks nice, why don’t we have a coffee?” Lucy said while pointing. The place she suggested had some lovely outside seating next to the plaza. They had small round tables made of coloured glass with metal legs. Each table was surrounded by four metal chairs with plush cushions.

My eyes lit up. “Excellent idea Lucy!”

She laughed at my enthusiasm. I ignored her amusement and chose a table. The place was not very full so we could sit without any direct neighbours. Despite the sun the metal on the chair was cool to the touch. I had no idea if it was a special metal or simply magic. While the question was somewhat interesting, coffee was more important. A waitress brought us the menu and I browsed the selection. Lucy was still smirking.

While there was no iced coffee on offer they did have ice cream desserts. I decided to order a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and regular coffee. Lucy asked for a strawberry milkshake. I looked around as we waited for our orders. It was a lovely day. I hoped it would stay like that.