Mankind's First Secret

With the phoenix on her shoulder, Freya's mood about this store improved quite a bit.

Then she looked at Dante and saw him examining an old pocket watch that was sitting on a shelf. The pocket watch was black like obsidian and made of a strange glass-like material, but it was not brittle like real obsidian.

Dante picked it up and pressed the button on the top, which opened the lid of the pocket watch. When it opened, Dante saw that the inside was filled with a strange white sand. The time dials were made from red glass, with clear glass behind the dials showing the white sand contained within the pocket watch.

The pocket watch looked old but well-made to Dante.

Dante decided to test this watch out since his favorite color was black.

He turned the knob on the top a bit to the left to charge the pocket watch. When he did so, the noise outside the store suddenly stopped. Looking around himself, Dante discovered that time seemed to have frozen around him. He could no longer hear the noise of the poor and disenfranchised from Diagon Alley.

Moving the minute dial on the watch to two minutes in the past, time began to reverse around him.

Then, a black kitsune appeared, lying on Dante's neck, using him as a pillow. He noticed that this creature appeared to look like a fox but with an all-midnight black fur coat and a white frost-tipped tail.

Dante, surprised, looked at this creature and smiled in amusement. This was not the first time such a creature had tried to get close to him. But this time, Dante decided to allow it. He was retired, so there was no need to make things too difficult for this middle-aged fox demon, a female one to top it off.

"A kitsune hiding in a pocket watch. You must be able to control time just like a Time-Turner, but I bet you can do far more than that."

At this point, Freya walked over to Dante's side.

"Did we just get caught up in time magic, honey?"

Dante looked at Freya and her new pet phoenix, then smiled, saying, "Yes, dear. I just found a living Time-Turner in the form of this fox demon kitsune."

Freya narrowed her eyes when she noticed that this fox was a female, and not only a female but also an extremely powerful kitsune on top of that. She could probably take on a human form if she pleased.

But Freya paid it no mind. If other females wanted to crowd around Dante, they were welcome to come. Freya knew she would always maintain her position as the number one woman in Dante's heart.

"My, how cute that you found a little sly fox on our first day here, Dante. You don't waste any time finding new things to play with, do you?"

Dante smiled guiltily, then played the statement off as playful banter. "Freya, we should pay for these animals and leave. We have places we need to be."

That's right, Dante just employed one of mankind's oldest secret techniques to handle a woman: when in an awkward situation with a woman, change the subject.

Freya smiled, then simply nodded, saying, "Fine, let's go pay. We have what we came for from this store, but I think you benefited more than me this time. So you win this round, Dante."

Dante was confused for a moment, saying, "Freya, since when are we playing a game?"

"Dante, life is a game; that's what makes it fun. As for this match, you win today. But I will win tonight."

Freya walked past Dante and up to the counter of the store. Here, she saw at an old man in wizard robes with a hump on his back. The man came off as a typical scam artist to Freya.

Little did Freya know that her assumption was completely correct. None of these items were supposed to possess any actual creatures. This entire store was just a money-making scheme for Gary Jones. He was your typical unbathed and broke wizard who opened this store with stuff he found at the local magical junk pile, a place people throw out useless and broken magical junk.

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