After I knew that I would be spending a lot of time still questing and traveling and had my money situation sorted out, I could make informed decisions about what I should or shouldn't buy.

First, I needed an entirely new set of armor. I got one that was better than my old one, and I offered to get my friends some as well, but they each opted for only repairs and stronger enchantments.

Because my arms were now slightly shorter, I had to get a new bow. It wasn’t a major issue, but as long as I had the money to spare for a new one, it should be taken care of. With my increased strength, I was able to draw more weight, so I got a bow that was lighter and a little smaller, and made of an enchanted material that made it far stronger than it looked.

As for arrowheads, I was tempted to get ones that were enchanted or made of a much stronger metal, but opted not to. It simply wasn’t practical to buy those unless I knew I would be hunting a specific monster that would be slain more easily with a specific type of arrow on hand.

I restocked on consumables and travel food, and I was finally ready to do the real shopping.

Considering how much I traveled, I couldn’t burden myself with an entire wardrobe, but with all the necessities taken care of, I then spent a lot of time with Allamyne just browsing various shops. I eventually settled on a long, black dress that flared out and a cute shirt and skirt that went well together.

Unfortunately, makeup wouldn’t exactly work on someone who was transparent and green, but that also wasn’t something I particularly cared about. Yeah, I wanted to try it, because it was a stereotypically feminine thing to do, but that was it.

I had a similar problem with my “hair”, until I figured out I could just will it into a different style. It was still an actual part of my body, and lacking any individual strands, but I could simulate that somewhat by giving it a texture similar to hair. The broad strokes of a texture, anyway, as anything with more detail was too intricate to maintain.

The biggest problem I’d had was figuring out what looked good against vibrant, clear green. Allamyne, being bright red, had a similar problem, but she’d grown up as a woman and surrounded by lots of other people with the same skin tone.

Even other green people, such as Mallok, had a much more muted tone of green. I was feeling quite out of my depth, but at least looking at things was still fun and gave me some ideas.

After she helped me pick some things that I did like the look of, I enthusiastically dragged her back to the inn just so I could put on my new clothes, much to her amusement. It was a new experience for me—my first ever dress—but I didn’t care. I was excited! I could finally wear something I actually liked!

Sanor was off performing somewhere, which meant Mallok was watching him from the audience. For as tough as he looked, he sure followed the bard around like a puppy. Now that we knew they were together, it was obvious he was simply lovestruck.

Speaking of love, I may not have any personal experience with romance, but I was feeling certain that the looks Allamyne was giving me didn’t seem like she was looking at me as a friend.

I’d never even considered being with someone before because I was bogged down by too much, but now…? She was definitely attractive and I liked being around her, but I had no way of knowing if I actually felt something for her in that way.

Well, if I’m wrong about her, I don’t think she’ll hate me at least. She has no problem with Sanor and Mallok.

With it just being the two of us for the rest of the night, and with her not wanting to be drinking two days in a row while also drinking alone, we chose a quieter place to eat dinner.

We got some fruity alcoholic drink, though we weren’t trying to get really tipsy out of it. I was just enjoying the flavor. I’d never had a drink like this before because apparently men aren’t allowed to drink things that actually taste good.

Maybe I would actually have cared for drinking if I didn’t get weird looks for trying to order things like this in the past. I guess I’ll never find out, seeing as alcohol doesn’t affect me anymore.

After eating, we continued to just sit and chat for a while, then moved to walking around. The area we went to was always bright and busy no matter the day of the week, so there was plenty to see. The others were probably somewhere around here as well.

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When things began winding down, I decided to go for it.

“Hey, Allamyne…”

“Hm? What is it?”

So do I explain that I don’t really know what I’m doing, or…? Fuck it, better do it before I can talk myself out of it. “Um… Would you want to go out? Like, on an actual date?”

She gaped at me in surprise.

Shit!

“I was going to ask you out! I didn’t expect you to beat me to it!”

It was my turn to gape at her. “Wait, what?”

She laughed. “I started thinking about it just a few days ago, but I thought I should let you get used to yourself first.”

I chuckled. “I guess that makes sense. I’ll admit that I don’t have any experience being with someone, but it just felt right to ask you out.”

She smiled and hugged me, and not in just a comforting way, but also because we both just wanted to hug the other. “Me neither, but we’ll figure it out. But aaaah, you’re just so adorable that it was killing me to wait.”

Stupid compliments making me feel all nice and emotionally gooey as I am physically. At least she can’t see my cheeks glowing from this position.

“You too,” I awkwardly replied. “You’re also really warm and it’s nice.”

I could tell that surprised her, and I could only hope that she was blushing the way I usually do.

“Does my warmth make that much of a difference compared to someone else?” she asked. She broke off the hug and we began slowly making our way back to the inn.

“Mhmm. You have more than anyone else, and it’s just… comfortable.”

“It’s hard for me to imagine. But you get the same feeling around fire or anything else that’s hot, right? Including other people?”

“Yeah. Not other people, though. You’re one of the very few flame tieflings in this city, so you’ve got everyone else beat there. But being near you feels the nicest, not just because of the heat you give off, but also just because I like you.”

When she didn’t reply, I glanced over and saw that she was blushing.

“What is it?” she asked in response to my staring.

“Nothing. It’s just nice seeing you be the one blushing for once.”

“O-Oh.”

The conversation ended there, leaving me feeling pretty smug.

When we finally made it back to the inn, we hugged, then reluctantly parted and went to our rooms.

It feels like I’m saying goodbye to someone even though she’s sleeping just one room over.

———

The next morning, the bard and dual-wielder were hungover again, though not nearly as bad as the previous day.

Seeing both of us in a good mood, Sanor asked, “What’s got you two so happy this early?”

“We’re dating now,” my girlfriend(!) whispered conspiratorially, making sure no one overheard.

Sanor grumbled and fished out five coppers from his pocket, then dumped them in Mallok’s waiting hand.

I sighed. “What was the bet?”

“That it would take you at least another week.”

“Why did you think that?”

“You’re both inexperienced. You kept making eyes at each other, but not actually doing anything about it,” he paused, then added, “So how did it happen?”

Allamyne raised an eyebrow. “Was there another bet?”

He nodded.

“And it was?”

“I won’t say until you’ve told us how.”

“She asked me out.”

I smiled, feeling both proud of myself and also amused at their antics. Mallok was returning three copper to Sanor.

“Well?” I asked.

Mallok responded. “I thought you would just awkwardly fumble around until you eventually got together.”

I rolled my eyes. “I may not have dated before, but I’m not some kid with a crush.”

I’m not going to mention that I nearly didn’t do it. Being a quester has made it easier to take smaller risks like that in everyday life. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to ask her.

“Were there any other bets?” Allamyne asked.

Sanor nodded. “Did you kiss yet?”

I blushed at that.

“Uh, n-no…” Allamyne replied shyly, also blushing.

That made him look extremely smug as Mallok returned one last copper to Sanor. “I just knew that it would take you a while to work up to that. ‘Not some kid with a crush’ my ass.”

“Whatever you say, old man,” I replied, trying to make him feel outdated.

“That’s right, I’m old. So I’m beyond being too shy to even hold hands.”

Damn it, it didn’t work.

Allamyne and I both looked at the other’s hand but didn’t move to grab them. Doing exactly what he just mentioned would feel like we were proving him right somehow.

He just smirked at us.

I held my fist up to my face as if I was examining it. “Hmm… I wonder how hard I can punch now? If only there was a smug face nearby I could practice on…”

He grinned and was about to say something antagonizing when Mallok interrupted with a cough.

“We have something for you,” the orc said and pulled out a small crystal embedded into a base with runes and magic circuits around it.

“A sound barrier?” Allamyne asked.

“A barrier this size on a full charge will last about an hour, if and when you decide you need it.”

“Why would we need it?”

He looked at us incredulously.

“Oh,” she said, blushing furiously and causing her naturally red cheeks to darken, which then got me to understand as well and also blush furiously, causing my naturally green cheeks to lighten.

Sanor was trying hard to not laugh, but still managed to get out, “If we didn’t have one of these, our ‘sworn brothers’ story would’ve been uncovered pretty quickly.”

Allamyne quickly stashed it as if it were something to be kept hidden.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we’re telling you that you have to have sex this very night or anything. Go however fast or slow you need to.”

Allamyne squinted at him. “To think that you of all people could say something reasonable.”

“Don’t compliment him,” Mallok rebuked. “Reigning in his lofty ego is enough work as it is.”

“Maybe I just like making you work for me,” Sanor grinned.

Mallok sighed, smiling and shaking his head. “I know you do.”