“So, where should we go first?” Emilia asked curiously.

“Clothes shop?” Tetra asked curiously.

“An accessory store?” Sonia suggested.

“A weapon shop?” Asked Silvera.

At her words, everyone turned to look at her with a strange expression on their faces.

“Sil, did we come here to have fun or prepare for battle?” Tetra asked curiously.

“Oh. Oh…!” Silvera said, coming to realise what she said and smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. In that case, how about we go to the clothes shop?”

“I think so too,” agreed Ondine with a smile. “We should start there.”

“Sounds good,” agreed Lakshman, and they began walking towards the centre of the capital where all the stores are located at.

Upon their arrival in the busy street, heads began turning to glance at them. Some even had a double take so as to be sure they did witness a man walking alongside multiple women on his either side. As such, they began murmuring words that Lakshman could not but help hearing as he walked alongside his wives on that busy street.

“Wow!”

“Did you see that?”

“A man in the middle with ladies all around!”

“They are all so beautiful!”

“Seriously attractive!”

“Are they his friends? Or…?”

“Maybe they’re his girlfriends!”

“Maybe they’re his wives!”

“The guy is attractive too!”

“So handsome~!”

“I want him to me by husband!”

“That’s what I call a star being surrounded by flowers!”

Upon hearing such murmuring and whispers circulating around them, his wives giggled as they found them humorous.

“Wow. You guys are attracting a lot of stares,” commented Stuart as he observed the situation like a spectator watching a game.

“I can feel a lot of stares piercing in me,” muttered Lakshman while keeping a look of coolness outwardly, “and they’re mixed. Like some good… and some bad.”

“That would be the men giving you angry looks while the women are giving you looks of wonder,” stated Stuart with a chuckle. “If it were anyone, they’d probably run home to their parents scared from all these stares but for you… it’s probably nothing new.”

“You make it sound like I’m used to such stares.”

“Aren’t you? You’re the Phoenix Titan. Surely you’ve run into people that would give you cold looks and all.”

“I… suppose that is true,” admitted Lakshman with a sigh, remembering the many different looks he had to put up with when he was dealing with the administration of the Floria Kingdom.

There was only one time that he had received many stares filled with hatred and it was the time when he worked hard to abolish slavery and set those enslaved free. The stares he received were mostly from the nobles that hated what he was doing but there were also merchants, managers of the slave market and so on. After all, he was taking away their most profiting business from them and they could not do anything against him because of his status.

“Instead of dislike, I only feel pity for such kind because they couldn’t touch us while we can run them over all we want,” commented Asura inside his mind. “I just wish I was awakened at that time to see their squirming faces.”

“Sadist,” thought Lakshman, causing his past-self to let out a loud laugher.

Like that, they made their way through the street until they arrived at a fancy looking clothes shop. There, they spent quite a bit of time choosing and trailing the different clothes they offered. First they went through the women’s clothing for the ladies while Lakshman watched and gave his remark on whether the clothes they selected suited them or not.

“How about this?” Silvera showed her husband while an assistant held the dress for him to see.

“Mmm…” said Lakshman slowly, looking at it up and down. “A bit frilly and too light.”

“Ah, frilly, ah? Okay but I think the colour’s good?

He shook his head and said, “Dark colours suit you better, especially since they will complement your silver hair.”

“Oh. Alright,” she said, blushing a little and turning to address the assistants.

“Lucky, over here,” called Sonia, and he headed over to her. “How’s this?”

She showed him a flashy red dress with a lot of designs, which made him look baffled while Stuart squirmed.

“What the heck am I looking at?” Stuart asked uncertainly.

“A dress,” whispered Lakshman while continuing to look up and down at the dress.

“I know that,” Stuart retorted, “but what I mean is; the design! It’s too… how do I put it…? Odd. That’s it. It’s too odd looking.”

Lakshman nodded lightly as he whispered, “I feel the same.” Then he addressed her with, “This red colour looks good for your silver hair but… the design. I don’t like it.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah. No worries. Let’s keep looking,” said Sonia, unperturbed with a bright smile and spoke to the assistants.

“What about me?” Ondine asked as she walked over to him.

He turned to her and was amazed by what he found her trying out directly. It was a dress stitched in dark colours that had shiny appraisals to bring shine to it, which complemented her long blue hair her glimmering blue eyes. In a sense, she was extremely beautiful to the point that he was momentarily at a loss for words.

Ondine was fidgeting with her hands and looked embarrassed while she waited for his answer. Seeing that his childhood friend was stunned, Stuart coughed and nudged him on the back. This made Lakshman come out of his transfixed state and cough before smiling as he gave her his complement.

“This is an amazing piece of dress, Ondine! It fits you perfectly!”

His compliment was received with her eyes widening as well as her face turning bright red with embarrassment. Upon hearing his complement, a few of the other ladies that were eying Ondine slowly came over and began speaking to her about the dress and its details.

While they were immersed in their talk, Lakshman backed away and began looking around at the others. It was then he spotted Emilia at a counter with two assistants trying to please her by pulling dress after dress out to show her.

He made his way towards her and asked upon arriving, “Not finding anything to your taste?”

“Uh. No. It’s not that,” she said, glancing up at him and then down at the dresses laid on the counter.

“Then what’s the matter?”

She hesitated for a moment before stating weakly, “They’re… They’re just… expensive.”

“Oh. That’s not a problem. We’re not on shortage on money,” he told her with a smile.

“It’s not about that,” she began, but he placed his forefinger on her lips to silence her.

“Emi, today is our time to have fun shopping and such. Don’t restrain yourself because of your usual standards.” Then he looked at the assistants and said, “I want my wife to have the best dress that matches her perfectly.”

“Yes, sir!” They replied almost immediately.

Nodding at them, he put his arm around his wife and pulled her closer towards himself by saying, “Now, don’t look at the cost and check the dresses that you like. I mean it.”

A blush appeared on her face and she looked embarrassed as she muttered, “S-Sure but… let me go. E-Everyone is… watching.”

“And…?” He asked her smoothly, drawing her towards him a little closer. “What about it?”

“It’s… It’s…” she began hesitantly while looked very embarrassed to be so close to him in public. “It’s… embarrassing…!”

He was amazed by her cute reaction, making him feel very willing to play with her a little. So, he leaned towards her ear and whispered, “In that case, how about I give you a kiss to compliment your feelings?”

Her eyes shot up in alarm, and her body became tense and rigid. Then she noticed him chuckling and realised that he was playing with her, which made her punch him lightly in the chest with a single word, “Silly,” and looked back at the counter as she asked, “Sorry for the trouble but show me the dresses again.”

“Of course, madam!” The assistants said energetically, and they proceeded to do her bidding while Lakshman watched with happiness.

They stayed for more than two hours for everyone to get a pair of clothing to select and purchased all of their selected clothes. Once Lakshman deposited all of their purchased items into his Item Box, they exited the premise while sighing wearily from trying out clothes continuously and feeling a bit fatigued.

“I feel thirsty,” said Silvera with a sigh.

“There’s a store near here that sells cool refreshments,” said Tetra, glancing around.

“I think so, too,” agreed Emilia, glancing around as well to check for where it was.

They began walking along the street and it took Tetra and Emilia a few seconds before figuring out where they were and they began leading them towards the intended store.

“How do the two of you know where it is?” Lakshman asked curiously.

“Well, I am the one that does the grocery shopping and Tetra often joins me,” explained Emilia with a smile.

“While we come here, we tend to stop by the store to get drinks and pack some for the others as well before returning home,” added Tetra eagerly.

“Oh! So that’s the place you two keep getting the drinks from?” Silvera asked curiously and when they nodded, she grinned happily.

A few minutes later, they arrived outside a medium-sized store with the heading, “Stylish Mangos” that made Lakshman remember the store that had visited when he was still in his first year at Astral Academy. Now, the storefront made him feel as though it had become very famous over the years without his notice.

Smiling, he and his family walked through the entrance and were greeted by a welcome crew.

“Welcome, sir and madams.”

“Please have a seat here.”

“Thank you,” responded Lakshman to them kindly.

After being guided and helped to sit in a nice spot near the front of the shop, the people came and handed a booklet for each of them. It was the shop’s menu on the products they had and everyone went through them slowly to see what varieties there were. Unable to find anything that seemed interesting, they looked towards Tetra and Emilia to decide.

“Try something that stands out to you,” advised Tetra, but since the others had no idea how the other flavours tasted, they relied on the two to choose.

While the orders were being placed, Stuart leaned towards his childhood friend and asked, “You were pretty good at being a playboy with Emilia. When did you learn such skills?”

Lakshman was surprised when he was pointed out by him, but he smiled and replied coolly, “What can I say? Experience from the past.”

This made Stuart pull his head back and give him a look that read, “What the heck does that mean?”

He did not know that Lakshman had fused with his other spirits from his past lives and assimilated all of their power as well as their memories and personas. As such, the skill to impress the ladies and woo them was something akin to a skill he had acquired from one of his past lives, where he was a degenerate that would cheat on his wife from the Phoenix Clan while playing with other women.

Honestly, Lakshman himself was very disgusted by the kind of life he had led at that time. Even if it was due to the warped mentality formed by the Twisted, a curse become a lifeform to destroy him from within, he hated himself for it. However, he felt it was acceptable of him to use such skills to be romantically intimate with his wives since all he had been doing was focus on duties, training and battling.

After ordering, they waited for several minutes before the drinks came. It only took them a few sips from the straws that they provided that made everyone there to become surprised and proclaim the deliciousness of the taste. It took them several minutes of blissful silence of enjoyment before they recovered and started planning on where to go next.

“So, where to next?” Lakshman asked them curiously.

“Well…” began Sonia uncertainly. “I’m not sure.” She finished with a sheepish smile.

They chuckled before Ondine said, “I just got this feeling that maybe we should wait for the other four to come and join us. What do you think?”

She was referring to Venezuela, Erza, Cantia and Sumara joining them later in the day. Lakshman agreed with a nod of his head although he was unsure of what to do in the meantime. He had a feeling that they would be tempted to also make purchases at the stores if they went there even if it was just for window shopping. Such was the strong lure the shops, their assistants and the environment had on the customers that go there.

It was then that he noticed that Emilia appeared to be thinking about something and asked her, “What are you thinking, Emi?”

She looked up at him in surprise for suddenly being called out but smiled nonetheless as she asked, “I was thinking of a place to go to but…?”

“But what?” He asked curiously.

“It’s just… I don’t know if you’d like to go there,” she admitted uncertainly while looking slightly nervous.

He blinked in surprise before chuckling and asking, “In that case, let’s go.”

“Really?” She asked, looking surprised.

“Why not? I doubt you’d take us to a dangerous place, am I right?” He asked, being confident about his wife.

She stared at him in amazement before she smiled with great happiness and said, “Alright. Let’s go there.”

“Great,” he said with a smile, and they all rose to their feet. “By the way, where exactly are we going?”

To this, she glanced over her shoulder at him and winked while smiling as she said, “It’s a secret.”