Chapter 71: Awkward carriage ride

Frost took the empty coin purse from her hands and placed it within his robes, not refilling it.

Maya pouted a little in response but wasn't that bothered, she already managed to buy everything she wanted anyway.

Her eyes then drifted to the large, covered weapon on Frost's back.

"Hoh! Looks like you spent some money too young master." Not waiting for Frost's permission, she wrapped around him and removed the cover revealing the shiny glaive underneath.

Maya didn't struggle with the weapons weight in the slightest as she twirled and inspected every inch of the thing.

"Hmm a peak 3-star weapon almost 4-star, impressive." She flicked the blade testing its durability before looking into Frost's eyes.

"How much?" She was curious, she knew the amount of money Frost had on him, such a weapon should have cost at least 6 gold coins or so.

'And he was feeling hurt over me spending less than 2, stingy.' She looked at Frost with accusation.

Feeling a little guilty under her glare Frost avoided her gaze, looking to the side.

'Wait why am I feeling guilty it's my money.' Realising he had nothing to be ashamed of he stared back at Maya with annoyance.

"3 gold coins." He replied while raising 3 fingers.

"3 gold coins? ….. what a bargain." Maya's eyes widened at Frost's response; she was impressed, he managed to get a really good deal. She smiled and handed the glaive back to him before giving a thumbs up for a job well done. His previous 2-star pykrete weapon was certainly good but wouldn't last long with Frost's rate of improvement.

'A weapon like this should last for the entire training year possibly longer.' After a year, her duties as a guardian would be over and Frost would be on his own. With him having a suitable weapon, his survivability would increase. She felt a mixture of pride and loneliness. Frost was quickly no longer needing to rely on her.

Frost missed the pain in Maya's expression and continued to regale her of his purchases as well as the many weird (useless) magic devices he saw.

"I got us a couple of adventurer backpacks filled with basic necessities as well as a couple of armour pieces." Frost pushed back his sleeves to show off his leather wrist guards before revealing his leather chest plate. He was quite impressed with their defence quality for the price, they also felt rather comfortable to wear even though the size was pre-set. He didn't expect them to completely protect him just prevent some fatal injuries and or from surprise attacks.

Like an excited child Frost then opened the heavy-duty backpack to show Maya all the nick knacks it came with as well as the magic scroll ice entanglement.

"Well, you certainly had a productive shop." Maya nodded her head in praise, everything her young master had bought was practical. Her items however were purely cosmetic; dresses, a necklace, shoes etc… none of which would assist in adventuring.

"I'm guessing the second backpack is for me." She looked over at Leo who was carrying the second backpack on his back. It certainly was adventurery but was lacking in fashion sense. She imagined herself wearing the large backpack with her small frame, she'd look quite comical.

'Nope not happening.' She rubbed the storage bracelet on her wrist loving it even more, she'd just store things in the spatial storage. It wasn't like there's anyone strong enough to take it from her anyway.

Frost bought the second backpack for Maya because he felt that they should hide her storage bracelet from people. While wandering through the magic device shops he managed to see a storage item for sale. Well, let's just say it was at a price people would be willing to kill for plus its storage capacity was much smaller than Maya's.

But if she wasn't willing, he couldn't force her, he could easily understand the disgruntled look on her face as she looked over at the backpack held by Leo.

'Oh well doesn't matter, in the end it'll just be more DP.' Frost no longer worried about being a target for greed, he'd just have to kill them and relish in their life force.

The group had now toured the entire 'money pit' apart from one area.

Leo looked at the watch on his wrist for the time. Another one of the semi useless magic devices that were available for purchase. Very popular with male noblemen and affluent merchants.

'4pm guess we should head off.' They still needed to visit the eastern section, but it'd be awkward to visit in the evening especially with the girls.

Leo looked up towards his companions

"If we're all done, should we head back to the manor?" With them having had a great lunch and their hands and carriage being full of shopping it was time they head back. There was still a lot of things to prepare before the sun sets and the operation begins.

"Eh?" Frost turned to face Leo, the sun was still high in the air and the operation wasn't until late in the evening.

'And there's still that section over there that we haven't seen yet.' Frost's gaze was drawn over to another popular section of the money pit which they hadn't accessed yet. Frost didn't know what kind of shops were there but considering the amount of well-dressed people coming and going it must be good.

"What about the last section of the money pit?" Frost pointed towards the area he was looking, he quite enjoyed shopping around and didn't want to stop quite yet.

Leo and Luna had rather awkward looks on their faces as Frost pointed with such curiosity. Leo sighed before explaining.

"That's the slave markets?" Leo spoke with a neutral tone; Leo wasn't adverse to the idea of slaves especially in the Furano viscounty but he himself wouldn't use them. In the Northrend empire ,slaves were legal but also more restricted than other countries. Slaves needed to receive a certain standard of care from their masters; they cannot be abused for entertainment and unless a serious criminal slave they must have the opportunity to regain their status of freedom. Different territories had different nuances on what they deemed as a certain standard of care. Furano's was quite high, with slaves being treated just below regular citizens and weren't ostracised or looked at in contempt.

The Furano house have always held an ambiguous view on the use of slaves, neither promoting it nor snubbing it. Leo didn't really want to visit the slave markets due to his personal position but if Frost wanted to visit, he'd guide him.

'Ah slaves?' Frost didn't know much about the slave trade, but he was born with some basic knowledge about slaves. The main thing being that they were bound to a master and could not betray or harm them while under a slave contract.

He looked back towards the slave markets. He didn't really have any need of slaves, or anything related to it and lost interest.

"If that's all that's there then never mind, I thought it was some high-class shops given the attire of the customers." Even though he probably lacked the funds to buy anything if that was the case Frost still would have liked to take a look.

Leo looked over to see the well-dressed customers understanding why Frost came to such a conclusion.

'Well, he's not exactly wrong.' Slaves were generally quite expensive to purchase and then there was the upkeep costs, only the wealthy would be interested in such prospects.

The group now agreeing to return to the manor left the money pit, heading back to the area where the carriage was parked.

"Edwin" Leo shouted and waved to the carriage driver who was resting on the driver's seat with a hat covering his eyes. Hearing the shout of his master, Edwin quickly woke up and sorted out his attire before nodding to Leo and Luna.

Edwin climbed down from the carriage and opened up the door for Leo and the group. Unfortunately, there was very little room left inside. Dozens of shopping bags had overflown from the luggage compartment and were now taking up half the seating space. There wasn't enough space for all four of them to sit.

Frost gave a questioning look at Leo, silently asking 'what do we do?'

In which he received a look silently saying, 'I don't know'.

Before they could work out what to do, whether to call for an additional carriage or for someone to sit next to Edwin the girls had already moved.

Maya and Luna entered the carriage and sat down innocently, waiting to leave, not even acknowledging the issue they caused. There was a little space next to Luna probably enough for Leo to squeeze in but on Maya's side.

Frost looked at the tiny space available, Maya's butt was a fair bit bigger than Luna's so Frost would barely be able to fit a single leg there let alone sit down.

Seeing Frost's gaze alternate between her and the tiny space she left, Maya smiled coyly. She stood up and patted the seat gesturing for Frost to sit down.

"….." Frost silently looked at Maya trying to work out what angle she was playing but she simply continued to pat the seat and smile.

Leo had squeezed in next to Luna, so they were just waiting on Frost. Not wanting to hold everyone up Frost sat down, the seat was still slightly warm.

The moment he sat down however, his lap was assaulted

"Oomph!" Maya plopped her ass down on Frost's lap without reservation, shifting slightly to get comfy.

"Ah that's much better." Maya leaned back into Frost's chest and looked up towards his mask with a big smile on her face.

Frost didn't know what to do and was frozen in place, Luna and Leo were giggling to themselves.

"Edwin head back to the manor please." Maya tapped the walls of the carriage telling Edwin to start moving.

Receiving an order Edwin pulled on the reins and began driving the carriage.

Frost however was in quite a severe predicament and a bright red blush adorned his face and neck. Maya's butt was placed right on top of his groin, it was soft and heavy. It didn't help that Maya was giving of a pleasant smell.

'She must have bought some perfume.' Frost was internally struggling while Maya shifted her butt from side to side, teasing him. She was taking full advantage even though they were in front of company. Her butt would hide any reaction anyway, so she wasn't bothered if he took a little advantage, in fact she welcomed it.

Maya giggled in joy as the carriage took them back to the southern zone.

The trip was quite long, and Frost could only keep a clear mind for so long, after 10 minutes he could no longer contain his body's natural reaction. Maya blushed as she felt the large protrusion squeezing itself between her cheeks, luckily her butt was big enough otherwise they would alert Luna and Leo.

'Damn that's big.' Maya licked her lips as the protrusion continued to grow and as it did, she felt butterflies in her stomach, slightly worried about taking on something so large. A significant blush grew on her face, matching Frost's.

Frost and Maya continued this awkward seating arrangement all the way back towards the manor. Eventually as the carriage pulled near the lord's estate, Maya squirmed gently to the edge of Frost's knees, relieving the tantalising pressure that was enveloping his weapon allowing it to calm down by the time the carriage stopped. There was however a rather noticeable wet patch on Maya's dress.

"We've arrived young master." Edwin tapped on the carriage and reported to Leo.

"Y…yes" Leo awkwardly replied in confirmation, no matter how well Maya hid Frost's reaction he and Luna could still see them wiggling and blushing. They may be young, but they weren't exactly children anymore, they had a pretty good guess at what was going on.

The moment the carriage stopped, and Edwin opened the door, Maya lunged out of the carriage and ran straight into the manor quickly saying.

"I need to use the restroom." The guards saw that she came with Leo and Luna, so they didn't stop her, giving her directions to the nearest bathroom.

Frost, Luna, and Leo were left dazzled, but they all seemed to understand and chose to ignore it.