Chapter 283: Overwhelming
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 283: Overwhelming
“Ah, it’s so beautiful.”
“Is that the best compliment you can give? Do you want to die?”
“You’re really testing the limits of my vocabulary…”
I didn’t expect things to escalate this far. To be honest, I’ll sound like a terrible person for saying this, but I had originally planned to just have a quiet dinner with Sera—no drinking—and then spend the night at an inn.
‘If I said it’s because they’re all going to come off anyway… Whoops.’
And so, that was how we ended up all the way at Roanmarie to buy clothes. I wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but I was just chalking it up to Theodora’s sheer momentum.
The problem was that there were too many eyes on us.
—Hey, hey, look at those women.
—Are you crazy? They’re clearly nobles. Look down before you make eye contact.
—The guy following behind them… he’s a bodyguard, right?
—Whoa… should I go talk to them? If it were me, I’d call him ‘husband,’ not ‘bodyguard.’
—Keep dreaming. Just looking at him, that bodyguard probably makes more money than your husband ever will.
‘How tragic. And here I am, the actual husband.’
I was being treated like a bodyguard for some high-ranking noble ladies, but to be fair, that was exactly what it looked like. I was trailing behind the three of them, loaded down with boxes and shopping bags full of clothes.
Truthfully, I could have just put them in a storage artifact, but showing a repentant attitude was my top priority right now.
“Yu-Yoo Eon. Isn’t it heavy? Should we… carry them together?”
“No, Sera. Not today. Today, Aven is our slave.”
“Yes… I am your slave, My Lady.”
“A-A slave…?”
Sera seemed to be rewinding a scene from one of the erotic novels she’d read in her head. With a shy smile, she leaned in and whispered softly into my ear.
“Shouldn’t you call me ‘Master’ then…?”
“What?”
Embarrassed by her own words, she covered her face and dashed ahead to join Iris and Theodora.
‘Good grief.’
I could understand Sera and Theodora acting out of a sense of compensation, but what was up with this person?
“Slave.”
“I’m not.”
“Why?”
“This whole mess is because of you.”
Iris was staring at me with a look that was clearly meant to provoke. Was it really such a fun sight to see me trailing behind with a mountain of luggage? Thanks to my animalistic reflexes, I was moving perfectly fine even with a stack of boxes twice my height.
“Oh, this dress is pretty. Sera, let’s go try it on.”
“S-Should we…?”
Sera and Theodora were having the time of their lives, conquering the clothing stores in Roanmarie’s massive shopping mall one by one. Meanwhile, Iris was swiping a Roanmarie credit card—I had no idea when she’d even made one—to buy whatever she wanted.
“Um… excuse me, miss? This card…”
“Yes?”
“It’s a bit of an old model, so I don’t think the reader in this store will recognize it…”
“Yes.”
Iris, who was incapable of normal conversation with ordinary people, immediately turned to look at me without a word whenever a problem arose. I didn’t know what she expected me to do, but I supposed I had to help.
“Please use this for the payment.”
It was a Roanmarie credit card I remembered receiving from Lady Renart. The check-like thing she gave me before was a hassle to use, so she had exchanged it for this.
“Yes! Payment complete. Have a wonderful day!”
Just like that, Iris nonchalantly snatched up the items bought with someone else’s money.
‘Wait, doesn’t this count as compensation?’
Since I didn’t know what Iris wanted, I had just been doing whatever she asked. If she was using my money to buy the things she wanted, wasn’t I already paying her back for her help?
Give me back my night, Iris. I’m in this state because of you.
“Aven! Aren’t you coming?!”
“Yes, yes, I’m coming.”
* * *
After wandering around the mall for quite some time, we reached a certain point.
“It’s the second floor.”
“Whoa… the second floor is huge too…”
‘This isn’t right.’
Amazingly, it turned out we had only just finished conquering the first floor and were now stepping onto the second.
“Uh… Dora? I was wondering if it would be okay if I put these bags in a storage artifact now.”
“What? If you had an artifact, why didn’t you use it from the start?”
If I’d known that would be her reaction, I really would have used it sooner.
“Yoo Eon… your hands are empty now?”
“Uh… Sera?”
“That means we can look around a bit more, right?”
“O-Of course… naturally.”
The fact that Sera’s limits had been released now that I didn’t look tired was a bit of a problem, but whatever. Surely we’d finish shopping by lunch.
“Hey, Iris. What do you think of this outfit?”
“It’s good.”
“Hmph, so you do have an eye for these things.”
“Vampires have to wear pretty clothes.”
“Is there a law for that?”
“Yes.”
Theodora looked at me as if asking if that was true, but I didn’t know either. Iris was the only vampire I’d ever met.
Come to think of it, Count Dracula and most of the vampires I knew from stories did dress quite dapperly. Though most of that was from works of fiction.
“Apparently so.”
“How strange. If you can’t dress well, can you not be a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“Heh.”
That sounded like nonsense. Did that mean a vampire who wanted to become human just had to walk around in rags?
“If you can’t dress well, it’s execution.”
“Aha.”
Well, dying is a bit much.
‘Vampires are strict.’
For a while after that, we thoroughly scouted the second floor of the massive department store as if we were clearing a dungeon. I followed behind, carrying the bags and chiming in on their chatter.
“B-But… is it really okay to buy this much?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s fine. Aven is paying for everything.”
“Dora…?”
“Don’t worry. He has tons of transport requests right now. He just needs to clear… about seven more.”
“Hmm…”
As I pondered that for a moment, Dora nudged Sera in the side and asked.
“Sera’s heart was so hurt, she’ll need a gift to feel better. Right?”
“B-But… I’m worried it might be too expensive…”
Sera hesitated, glancing at me. Since I didn’t know exactly how much we’d spent so far, I couldn’t give her a definitive answer. Seeing Sera hesitate, Dora began to whisper something into her ear.
—It’s fine. Aven makes 300 gold per transport mission.
‘Is that true? Even I didn’t know that.’
Seeing Iris swipe my credit card for expensive items, I figured I wasn’t short on cash, but if it was that much, I had nothing to say.
In the first place, all of this was work that Theodora had brought to me using the Golden Glove Syndicate’s credit. It meant that my ability to earn money was all thanks to the Lymain family.
“Sera, buy whatever you want.”
“T-Then… just within a reasonable range? Ehehe…”
Inside the department store, Theodora, Sera, and Iris changed their outfits four or five more times. Iris changed relatively less, and most of her choices weren’t much different from the black dresses she usually wore.
‘Is this what Princess Maker feels like?’
To be honest, it was a pleasant sight, so I didn’t really mind. In the past, my body might not have been able to handle the energy of these lively young ladies, but now that I was used to fighting for dozens of hours at a time, it wasn't a physical problem.
Instead, I felt a slight lack of mental strength, but I treated it as training and worked hard to keep up the conversation.
“Oh, let’s go there next! Sera, you always keep your hair tied back, don’t you?”
“Huh? Oh, that’s… because it might be inconvenient while working…”
Sera let her hair down when it was time for bed, but otherwise, she usually kept it neatly tied up. A woman’s impression could change drastically just by changing her hairstyle.
“I cut my hair short because of the pain of heartbreak. Sera, your hair is long… so there are a lot of styles you could try.”
“I-Is that so?”
And so, over the course of thirty minutes at the hands of a hair designer, Sera’s hairstyle was transformed. Iris said she wasn’t interested, and Theodora was already perfectly styled.
“Um… how do I look… Yoo Eon…?”
“Gah!”
“Yu-Yoo Eon?!”
“It’s so bright I can’t open my eyes. Sera, please hide some of that beauty.”
“Uugh…!! Wh-What are you saying?!”
The way she turned bright red all the way to the tips of her ears was a masterpiece. I suppose this was what happiness felt like.
Just letting down the hair she usually kept tied and adding a few waves changed her impression this much. Before, she had the vibe of a beautiful country girl, but now she definitely looked like a lady of a noble house.
“It suits you perfectly, Sera.”
“I’m glad…”
Well, if Sera was happy, that was all that mattered. I knew her feelings had been hurt, so if this could change her mood, I was willing to follow her around for days.
‘Actually, maybe not days.’
After that, we stopped by another clothing store to try on various things. Some time passed after Sera went into the fitting room.
Just as I was starting to wonder why she wasn’t coming out, a voice came from inside.
“Ouch…!”
“Sera?!”
With my excellent hearing, I caught the small sound she made. Paying attention to even the smallest details like this was how a husband earned his keep.
“Sera! Are you okay?!”
“I-I’m fine! I think it’s because I let my hair down, it got caught in the corset—”
Riiip!
I yanked back the red silk curtain, and Sera’s figure was instantly revealed.
“Sera—oh.”
“Ah.”
Gulp!
Such overwhelming mass that the corset was barely visible.
‘Certified by the Approval Association.’