Chapter 133

Freedom Promenade: Day

"Yo, Ellis"

Ellis looked back after being called to inside the Masquerade Boutique and unintentionally burst out in a fit of laughter.

Standing there was one person wearing some bright red lipstick and an equally red dress. Another person was there as well wearing a black cheongsam with a couple dabs of mascara.

The only problem here was that their leg hair was laid bare for all to see.

"As I expected from you Buzz, Doug!"

Ellis and the Land Dragon Ellison tried to give their best replies while clutching their stomaches.

"That's the point, Ellis," Doug replied, wearing his cheongsam with pride.

As a couple of skilled adventurers, these two were very good about reading the air. Today everyone was taking the initiative and looked forward to cross-dressing.

"Ellis, am I beautiful?" Buzz struck a provocative pose in his dress on purpose.

"You two are the best! You have to go visit the Tea Room no matter what."

"Of course!"

The two of them were more than happy to show off to Aiful and Credia. The very fact that these two were willing to show off such a magnificent form to the women they love shows just how good-spirited these two old men really were.

Ellis and Ellison waved farewell as they saw their two friends off.

Katie and the Frost Dragon Ca.s.sius met up with Gatis and a couple other visitors from the village. The group consisted of Gatis along with the village vice-headman and his wife.

"Katie, I'd like you to show me around today gya. But first, who's that strong looking brother next to you gya?"

"I'll introduce you to this brother later nya. First of all, you need to try some steamed bread before we head to my house nya."

"What's that gya?"

"It's bread cooked using steam nya.¹ There are a lot of delicious ingredients in it nya."

Katie immediately took the group to Shin and Nonna's Specialty Steamed Bread Store.

"Ah, Katie, welcome!"

"Nonna, I brought Dad with me today nya. I'll take five piece of sweet bread and 5 pieces of sour bread each nya."

Nonna happily put the order inside a carry-out basket while Shin came out from the back and gave Katie a quick greeting.

After paying for the bread, Katie quickly guided the group of three back to the mansion, but when they reached the edge where many of the area's visitors were mulling about, she suddenly stopped moving.

"What's the matter Katie?"

"I'll be a bit nya. Sorry, just wait for me here nya."

Using the stealthy footsteps of a beast, Katie disappeared just ahead of Lily Garden. When the scream of a man resounded in the air, Katie reappeared, hanging up a naked man tied up with rope in front of the door. She covered the man in a bunch of red dye before tying a white ribbon on his nether regions.

"This is a Warren specialty we call scarlet laundry nya. This is what happens to any man who tries to break into Lily Garden nya."

Katie gave everyone an explanation for the scene as she placed down a bag filled with the man's clothes and luggage next to him. She then gave a thumbs-up to a member of the Adventurer's Guild who was waiting nearby. They gave them a 'Roger that' thumbs up back after a few seconds.

There hadn't been any other laundry hung out yet, so this guy was probably going to hang there for a while and serve as a greeting for the ladies. Already there was some women's yelling coming from here and there.

Haunted by the no-questions-asked actions Katie took, the three visitors decided to stay away from that building for the time being.

From there Katie guided all of them to the mansion's parlor.

"Dad, Vice-headman, Madame, be amazed nya!"

Letting everyone take a seat on the couch, Katie stood beside the man who looked almost exactly like her. After a {Reset Body}, the man disappeared in an instant. There was some rustling inside the crumbled clothing in front of the surprised audience, and Katie pulled out a white m.u.f.fler from the heap. Holding it in hand, she then proceeded to introduce it to everyone.

"This is the Frost Dragon Ah-nyan nya."

"Yo, Katie's Dad, I'm Ah-nyan. Katie's contract dragon. Nice to meet ya!"

Gatis and the others stared stiff at the Dragon Maiden as she told them how she made a contract with a dragon and explained she would now never be able to be with a man.

"Well, let's leave the matter of Katie and I be. Just keep in mind that we'll give Dad's village priority in protection if something ever happens."

It was a line that left Gatis unable to say anything in response. Luckily cat beastmen all have minds like flower gardens, so after Katie pa.s.sed around the steamed bread to everyone, the topic was able to smoothly transition to those instead.

Around that same time Frau and the Phoenix Dragon Brause were a step ahead of any other customers and enjoying the Tea Room's new interior after their remodel.

That first day right after they had gone shopping in Ceramics.

All the teaware that the girls had bought during their shopping trip in Ceramics was sold to Nicole at the Merchant Guild. Everything was sold at the same price it had been bought only for Aiful to buy it all back, this time with the Merchant Guild taxes and fees included.

"These are some unique items this time, so it's fine for you to decide to sell them for whatever you decide," Nicole spoke to Aiful as he sorted through the teapots that were to be sold, but his hands suddenly stopped for some reason. He picked up a nearby pale, sparkling blue cup and saucer pair.

"Over here, you bought them at 15,000 ril, but how much will you be selling them for?"

Before Aiful could answer, Frau jumped in, giving Nicole her own answer.

"It's somewhat bullish, but we'll be selling stock for double their price, so 30,000 for those."

"That's a good call. Well then everyone, I'll be buying this tea set, so please act as if they've been reserved. There's no need to line this up in your store."

"Just a little give and take," Nicole told Aiful while wearing an evil-looking grin. "In my position, just reserving some goods is already very unfair. Doing so with these goods would be considered a major abuse of power, so I'm very thankful to receive your feelings."

Like that the formal procedures were finished, and all that had been left to do was to arrange the arrange the Ceramic teaware around the shop.

"Mother, you can open the shop now."

Credia called out to her mother who in turn unlocked the door. When she opened it up, Nicole was already standing there waiting.

"I couldn't help myself after all. I hurriedly came here to buy them."

Aiful wondered if he had rushed here immediately after the ceremony had ended. Nicole walked into the store with a smile, but his breathing was just a little heavy.

"This way please."

Aiful handed over the carefully packed cup and saucer to Nicole before a pair of usual voices boomed from outside the door.

"Aiful, Credia, two sets!"

Nicole was just about to head out towards the deck to enjoy a cup of tea when he almost dropped the teapot he had just bought. There were two monsters standing right in front of him.

"Buzz, Doug, I see it's business as usual for you two today as well!" Frau and Brause welcomed the two while clutching their stomachs.

"Ah, Ellis was also pleased in the same way when she saw us."

Aiful and Credia almost dropped the tea they were carrying when they saw the proud Buzz.

"Yo, are you that surprised by my beauty?"

Doug began showing off to the women.

The two took a deep breath, steadied their shaking hands, and bit back their laughter as they set down the men's cups. The cup Aiful set down in front of Buzz was made from hollowed out stone and felt rough to the touch. It exuded a tasteful texture. The cup Credia set in front of Doug had a greater height than normal and was coa.r.s.e to the touch being made from a mixture of different granules. It was a special item that was pleasing to both your sense of sight and touch.

"We prepared these thinking it would suit the two of you. How is it?"

Credia began to boast as her two customers stared at her with slightly surprised looks.

"If you like them, we'll prepare your tea in those cups from now on."

The men were able to understand what was going on thanks to Aiful's words.

"That's great Uncles, now you can leave your own cups here in the shop."

Frau's words caused joy to well up in the two. Slow but steady wins the race. Soon afterwards the two men were greeted by the Land Dragon Rchin who took his usual position that had become a special sight to those visiting the store.

The Tea Room was wrapped in a warm atmosphere, filled with everyone's large smiles and upbeat att.i.tudes. There was just one exception, a Gise who was staring at the Buzz and Doug group having missed his chance to place his own order.

Claire and the Chaos Dragon Crest were busy themselves checking the water supply and drainage situation with Flint at the newly built Ril Rush and Trans Happy.

"Master, it looks like we might have to widen the pa.s.sageway."

"Yeah, we'll check it again in the evening to be sure. By the way, how about having lunch together? Does Pi-tan have to eat anything?"

"No, I'm fine not eating. Although Claire, how long do I have to stay like this?"

Apparently Pi-tan doesn't like staying in Crest's form for too long. It seems that lifestyle of sleeping through the day as a Metal Eater was still ingrained in him even as a dragon.

"I think you'd be fine by now Pi-tan."

Pi-tan immediately used {Reset Body}, returning to his Chaos Dragon Fancy form, and climbed up on Claire's head. While putting away his crumpled clothes, Claire responded to Flint's invitation.

"Pi-tan'll be fine since everyone in the city already knows about him anyway."

"Yes, but I don't think this will be okay in another way though."

Flint's concerns quickly turned into reality. The two of them left to order lunch at the Steamed Kitchen and were instantaneously surrounded by the other customers. All of their aims were the same, the little Chaos Dragon sitting atop Claire's head.

With "Good day Pi-tan," and "h.e.l.lo Pi-tan," and "You look good today Pi-tan," coming from every direction, the citizens of Warren were all yearning to see him, and even the tourists crowded their table wanting to catch a glimpse of the loveliness. It was impossible for a person to calm down and eat. The rabbit girl Ravi was also getting caught up in the congestion, feverishly trying to make her way through to deliver the food.

Finally Mati and Labra came out form the kitchen.

"Pi-tan, come here nya."

"This way please Chaos Dragon."

Mati set up another nearby table while Labra set down a cushion. There was a quiet *patapata* as Pi-tan flapped his wings and moved over to the cushion.

In this way, the Steamed Kitchen became the temporary venue for a Chaos Dragon handshake event.

While the other four were busy working, checking on how all the stores were doing, Reeve was at the casino Ril Rush. The Storm Draogn Revatein had already dropped his human form, and as Su-chan in his Cute form had taken his place hanging over Reeve's chest. Together with Machel as their a.s.sistant, they were sucking up all of the bets made by the city's veterans.

The day portion of Freedom Promenade's opening day was going smoothly.