n

n

n“M-master… this clothing…” Lydia was looking over at me with teary eyes.

n“What, do you not like it?”

nLydia shook her head, her ears almost flapping. “Not at all! Rather, this clothing is much too nice for someone like me.”

n“Lydia… you’re worth any cost to me,” I responded.

nLydia turned bright red, and it took the seamstress three times addressing her before she finally paid attention and lifted her arm as instructed. While I was waiting in my stupor, I wasn’t completely useless. I had gone to the seamstress and ordered her a couple of outfits. I said they were for a girl, but I didn’t specify a slave. She didn’t know Lydia’s size, but she came back with an assortment of outfits for me and was now taking the measurements. Lydia was doing the best she could as the seamstress commented on her nice bone structure.

n“I wish you had mentioned earlier that she is a Swordsman.” The seamstress said. “Unlike you, she’d do well to have some leather armor. She is fast and flexible, so I wouldn’t go for anything metal, but a decent beast hide would outdo anything I could do with clothing.”

n“Is that so?” I laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of my head.

nJust because I was a mage, why did I have to have less defense? Well, I had other jobs too. I could have White Mage and Hero equipped at the same time. Since that was the case, I was interested in leather armor as well.

nAfter some negotiation back and forth, I finally spent 2 gold coins on armor and clothing. She would contact the leatherworker herself and sort all these things out. It cost a bit more, but I didn’t like negotiating all that much. I mean, I still had Haggle and my hero status, so I got a 30% discount on this. It originally would have been 3 gold coins.

n{Merchant has increased to level 2.}

n{Upsell has been unlocked.}

nUpsell, huh? Well, if haggle allows me to talk down the price, then Upsell would allow me to increase it. That meant, when I sold items, I could probably sell them for a bit more.

nIt’d take a day for the leatherwork and stitching to be completed. I still took an outfit that didn’t fit her perfectly. Lydia was in the shop wearing a purple blouse and skirt with a split down the middle for riding a horse. She looked very cute in it, but it hadn’t been modified for her tail like the others would be, so she blushed as it rid a bit low on her back.

n“Wait… your robe has also been finished. As promised.” I nearly left without the most expensive addition.

nI was depending on selling this as a last resort if all else failed. Well, it was thirty gold coins in value. It was made of Shadow Rabbit fur and it would supposedly allow a person to move faster and hide easier. It was black in color when it was finished, which was odd because I recalled the rabbits being brown.

nI reached out and draped it around Lydia’s shoulders. She started to panic.

n“M-m-master! This is way too extravagant.”

n“I give this to you because it has to be you,” I said, not letting her hand it back. “You’re going to be protecting me from now on, alright?”

nLydia blushed. “Y-yes, Master.”

nWith the cloak on, Lydia had black fur across her back. She now looked part tiger and part panther. The effect was very adorable. I just had one more thing I needed to do before we headed out to Old Chalm. I wasn’t too worried about heading there later in the day. I had Portal to return us once I had been there once, and I had Return to take us home. Travel in this world was pretty convenient for someone like me.

n