Bells chimed as Elanore, Laela, and a floating cauldron entered the clothing shop. Even if Ella didn’t know proper etiquette for going into places, she vowed that if she started her own country, pots flying behind people would be normalized.

  As for the girl working at this particular establishment, her eyes widened on seeing a floating cauldron with bat wings, and she let out a gasp. Though, like a seasoned customer service expert, she fixed her face into a smile.

  “Good afternoon, ladies. Welcome to Mammoth Fabrics.”

  Elanore strolled up to the desk before glancing around a bit. She noticed that most of the clothes displayed were in colors such as brown, orange, black, or white. There were no pink designs to be seen.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have something of this color, would you? I am mainly looking for any kind of clothes for my friend here, but what about something with pink?”

  The woman maintained her smile fit for dealing with troublesome customers. “I am sorry to say, but we have nothing pink right now. I could surely make something of that color, but it will take at least a day. As for your friend...she is a beastman?”

  “Not quite a beastman,” Ella said. “She is actually a wyvern who transformed into a humanoid figure. Pretty cool, eh?”

  “I...I see. A wyvern turned human…”

  Elanore nodded. “That’s what she is, but that’s not who she is. The who matters more when determining outfits.”

  “And um...who is she?”

  “I am glad you asked,” Elanore said with a fangy grin. “Between you and I, I don’t really know who she is, but…”

  “But?”

  “But I have learned a thing or two about her. For example, she shares my love of energy drinks. Moreover, she is a hoarder after my own heart. Though, I have to say that her hoard was rather disappointing compared to my previous one.”

  “Mistress!” Naela shouted. “I can hear what you are saying, you know? There is no need to pretend like I am not right here. How can you even say that your previous hoard was so great if you don’t have it anymore?”

  The woman behind the counter top started laughing at their interaction. “You two sure are characters. I must say...At first, you two frightened me, but you’re the most interesting people to step into my shop this week.”

  Elanore smiled and placed her hands on her hips. “That’s right. It’s only natural that I would be an interesting character. If I spent all of that time grinding to become someone uninteresting, then that would make me a laughing stock.”

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  The three others stared at the vampire as if they were unsure what she was talking about, and the wyvern spoke.

  “Mistress, you already are a laughing stock. You don’t need any further reasoning to become one.”

  Elanore frowned, her face forming into a pout, but the woman behind the desk placed her hand between them.

  “While I am glad that I found some interesting customers, I don’t need you two arguing in my shop. Wait right here.” The woman walked to the side and lifted a little wooden platform, allowing her to squeeze into the main section of the store. She gestured at a clothing rack full of dresses. “There are lots of outfits here. If you want something more plain, we can provide. We do get orders from outside sometimes, after all.”

  Elanore’s mouth opened. “Are you famous?”

  “This store is famous in the kingdom. A lot of outsiders are interested in the clothing of the wealthy, so they come here to check it out. Speaking of wealth, do you have the coin to buy stuff? Things here aren’t exactly cheap.”

  Elanore pulled the five remaining silver coins from her pouch. She’d already converted the others to her own Ella coins, so she showed the unconverted. Each of the coins glinted, and the figure of an aged man reflected on their surface.

  The store clerk smiled. “These are old mint coins, but they are in good condition. Where did you find them?”

  “I took them off a dead man in the forest. His body rotted away, but these coins remained.”

  “The forest? Are you talking about Galimir Forest?”

  Elanore nodded, remembering the few things that repeated such a name in her status menus.

  The clerk seemed even more shocked by this revelation than the one of Elanore traveling with a wyvern. However, like a true customer service representative, she composed herself again.

  “May I ask your name? I am Helena.”

  “I am Elanore, but you can call me Ella. These are my friends. Naela the wyvern and Pot...the pot.”

  Helena smiled and asked for one of the coins. She held it up, so that she could see its face. “This is truly a genuine mint of the old King Kelomon. I see these sometimes, but they are never in as good condition as this.”

  “Ooh, and how long ago was that king? Is this some kind of ancient coin?”

  Helena shook her head. “It’s not that old. It’s about 67 years ago when he died, so the date of this one could be between 654 SR, or it could be 702 SR.”

  “I see...and what year is it now? What is this SR thing?”

  “Well, the SR stands for Synnaria’s Resurrection. It’s when the goddess came back from the dead to bless humanity. The current year is 769 SR.” Helena stared at Elanore oddly for a second. “You are a vampire, aren’t you? I heard stories of such races, but I never saw one in real life. Mythology says that you’re supposed to be at my throat right now.”

  Naela shook her head. “This delusional one doesn’t even drink blood. She only consumes mana crystals. Yuck!”

  Helena put her hand up before Elanore could make another quip in response. Then the clerk handed the silver coin back to the vampire. “I am glad you are not at my throat, and I am not one to give my clients a dishonest bargains. Be they vampire or wyvern. If you give me some idea of what would work for the wyvern, we might have it in stock. Thankfully, most things are in your budget, but if you want a custom design, I will need a better offering than 5 silver. I hope you understand.”

  “Dang, is this silver not as valuable as I thought?”

  “No, it’s valuable. That is certain. However, it’s more common than you might imagine. These coins are still distributed through the kingdom. If I had to say, one of them is worth about 2 of our current silver coins. The ones in your condition, may be worth as many as 3. If you do the math, that puts you at 15 silver coins. It is a fair price for a whole outfit from our shop.”