Side Story 2.19
He had a face that failed to understand why they were laughing at that sight. He did not know what part of a trained bird hopping around and saying the words it had memorized was enjoyable. But when Esther, who was clinging to his side, laughed softly, he decided it didn’t matter.
He didn’t laugh because the parrot was cute, but because Esther laughed at the parrot, he placed meaning on this performance.
The performance continued, and each time the two animals showed various tricks in perfect harmony, people sometimes exclaimed and sometimes burst into laughter while clapping. The final greeting ended with the parrot taking off the monkey’s hat and stacking it repeatedly on the trainer’s head.
Watching the parrot and monkey perform their tricks, Esther burst into bright laughter along with the other people from the Southeast.
“Now, now, this is the end of our Mari and Nora’s performance! Next time we meet, we’ll show you an even more interesting sight!”
When the trainer finally finished the performance and held out his hat, people tossed coins into it. Esther didn’t know what to do. She didn’t have any coins. So, after hesitating, she nudged Karzhen and asked if she could give some coins.
Karzhen still didn’t understand why the people were responding so enthusiastically, but because Esther was delighted, because she laughed, he thought that was the highest value of the performance he had seen. So he shrugged and tossed in a whole heavy pouch filled with gold coins.
At that weight, the performer momentarily staggered, and even a gasp could be heard from among the people. It was a sound that meant his fortune had been made.
“Th-Thank you! Thank you, milord! I don’t know what to do with myself!”
The performer, who had earned enough money from a single show to live and eat wealthily for a year or two, bowed deeply to Karzhen and Esther and said they could feed the two beasts directly if they wished.
Karzhen looked reluctant, to the point of wanting to ask why he should feed the man’s beasts, but Esther’s face flushed as she asked if she really could. In the end, he had no choice but to take the bag of feed from the performer and hand it to Esther.
“Was her name Mari?”
“Yes, the parrot’s name is…….”
“Mari! Mari! My name is Mari! Now I’m hungry Mari!”
It was just as Esther took the bag and cautiously approached the parrot and the monkey. Esther burst into laughter again at the parrot’s behavior, which had cut off the trainer’s words just like in the performance.
“And his name is Nora! Nora! He’s also hungry Nora now!”
Following the parrot’s words, the monkey waved its hands as if in agreement. At the sight of them wanting food, Esther opened the bag.
Inside were small pieces of dried fruit and nuts. Esther, picking one up, had a slightly nervous face. It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen such performers in the Kingdom of Donova, but she had never experienced something like this herself.
Animal performers made their living from animals, and to them, the animals were like family, so performers only allowed those who paid a lot of money to feed the animals.
Thus, while nobles could have such experiences, it was too much for a commoner like Esther to enjoy. But to think she could experience it like this. With nervous hands, Esther slowly held out the food to the parrot.
“Ah!”
It was then that the parrot, which had been opening and closing its beak as if smelling the food, snatched the fruit from Esther’s hand and ate it up. Seeing that, the monkey began to shake its hat as if asking for some too. With sparkling eyes, Esther this time handed a walnut to the monkey.
The monkey skillfully took it and quickly gobbled it up. Seeing that, the parrot used its legs to take off the hat the monkey was wearing and held it out to Esther. As if to say it wanted more as well.
Esther burst into a peal of laughter, the corners of her eyes curving. Karzhen watched the scene in silence. He had long ceased to feel any value in things like a pouch of gold coins. Since Esther had laughed out loud several times over that one thing, it was enough.
Karzhen waited until Esther had finished feeding the two animals and said her goodbyes. They continued to wander the city afterward, but unlike at the beginning, the atmosphere had become appropriately soft, and Esther roamed the marketplace actively without her usual signs of nervousness or dejection.
It wasn’t just things that reminded her of home; she looked at Gharyam’s cotton fabrics printed with strange patterns and tasted wondrous fruits that couldn’t be seen in Donova.
The place where her footsteps stopped again was the stall of a Gharyam local selling flowerpots. Esther discovered a pot with a round, cute-looking cactus planted in it. The merchant jumped up and said with a smile.
“You have a discerning eye. The flower of that cactus has a very lovely scent.”
“Do cacti bloom flowers as well?”
When Esther asked with wide eyes as if she hadn’t known, the merchant burst into laughter as if she were saying something obvious.
“Of course! Though there are types without flowers, there are so many cacti that bloom!”
“To make it bloom…….”
Esther asked hesitantly. She liked this cactus. It had sharp prickles, but it was round and cute.
“What must I do……?”
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