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Elaria
Elaria's day could not have started off more perfectly. She had a delicious breakfast, no twisted ankle, a few weeks off from the guard, a year of pent up urges satisfied, and the prospect of probably spending the rest of her life with a soon to be wealthy mage who was kind, handsome, and a dragon in bed. For a moment she thought she was dreaming, because nothing short of dragons busting into the inn could ruin her mood.
That's when Leo returned appearing troubled, his brow scrunched up and filled with concern. “Um, hey, so… I know who to talk to…” He started a bit sheepishly.
‘Hm? Probably someone from the academy right, most are stuck up and pricey, but it shouldn't be too bad.’ She took a swig of her mead.
“It's the healer.” He finished, causing her to nearly choke on her drink.
And like that, her mood was ruined.
“You can't be serious… With what you pulled in front of her, there's no way she'd settle for the whole escaped slave story. Hell she might just figure out what you are, she was already in the process of doing so.” She remarked incredulously after having a small coughing fit from her beverage.
“Well I need to learn runic magic if I want to start making any money, and Kesl says that's the only mage in town that he knows of. Still you're right, it'll be best if we go to her as a last resort.” He explained with a shrug that was far from assuring.
“Damn it. Let's go buy you some clothes and ask around at the market, maybe we'll run into a traveling mage.” She told him with a hint of irritation while gesturing for him to help start his job as her crutch for the day.
The jelly legged selarin was helped from her seat, an arm locked around Leo as she leaned on him while they started toward the exit. A smug expression crossed her face as she felt the jealousy of the inn's other patrons, which didn't escape the previously obstinate man’s notice.
The warm blooded human raised an eyebrow and hugged her a little tighter to get her attention, which worked way too well as she let out a small contented sigh from the welcomed body heat. “Did you know about the sound?” He probed accusingly.
She winced a little. “The rest of the rooms are empty during the lunch rush and I didn't think we'd be able to go for so long. I may have forgotten somewhere along the line…” She said defensively, but still privately found the whole experience as a major turn on.
A conflicted frown drew across his lips while he let out an exasperated breath. “As ego boosting as it is, I'm not looking forward to the rumors spreading across town...” He trailed off dejectedly.
She realized that such a rumor would not be good for his cover. “Oh, right…”
He groaned. “I just hope we can finish up at the market before it spreads.”
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Leo
The trip to the market was uneventful, say for the norm of being stared at along the way. Having been randomly brought to another world caused him to half expect some special event to appear, where he would have to save the town from destruction or some crap like that. Not that he would risk doing that though, attention-bad, and he has no level of perspective on the dangers that this fantasy world had in store for him. The more he learned about the new world he found himself in, the more he thought that getting noticed by someone with a modicum of authority would be a good way to get him killed, enslaved, or tortured.
‘The powers that be seem to dole out some pretty fucked up punishments to anyone attempting to rock the boat.’ He thought grimly to himself, because it wasn't like he could do anything about it.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
When they arrived at the market, Elaria directed Leo to the elven side, and told him that the elves sold clothing more often, and for different races. He thought that seemed a little on the nose, but dwarves dealing in armor and weapons wasn't much better.
They pretty much found that the first stall sold clothes, and he got his first good look at an elf, but did not expect the type in front of him.
If he had to be honest they looked less like the generic fantasy elves, just humans with pointy ears, and more like warcraft high elves. She stood just a foot taller than Leo, nearly as slim. She had very long ears that shot straight up, the tips just passing the top of her head. Her skin was fair, not pale though.
The eyes were a little larger than a human's, so were the irises, which were slightly transparent, blending into the sclera as they glowed faintly. She had no pupils, or what seemed like no pupils as it was the same color as the sclera, making it difficult to tell if she even had them. The sclera also seemed to be not white, but a very light shade of blue. Her face looked almost unnaturally soft and symmetrical, just hitting that too perfect threshold.
The elven clothier was very visibly confused at the sight of the shorter human, but Elaria stepped forward immediately and told him to give them some privacy as they worked out a deal. He stepped back as the two talked and browsed the racks behind the stall, but the value of everything was sort of lost on him for obvious reasons, which only served to bring his thoughts back to his lack of wealth and how exactly he would go about making some. He would definitely make money faster from reinventing things from earth, but what should he make?
‘A cell phone? A car? TV? No cant make things that scream hey I'm from another world! Maybe magical tupperware? Could sell it to a wide range of people, maybe even add temperature settings. Could start by selling some to Kesl. I wonder what kind of foods he can make? WAIT! I could maybe sell him some recipes, pizza, fried chicken, hell maybe even just grilled cheese. I could ask for a percentage of total sales every month, that'll definitely be a steady source of income, or maybe just free meals because some of their food is pretty bland… Loved the pancakes though.’ Eventually he was pulled out of his thoughts by Elaria calling him over.
The elf pulled out a tape to take his body measurements, although she might have been a little too thorough, not that he minded, elves were sort of a unique kind of fantasy for a younger Leo. He did note that the measuring tape wasn't mechanical, and that maybe he could invent one to sell.
When she was done with her measurements she went over the racks, pulled down a set of clothes, and motioned for him to try them on behind a standing curtain. The pants were a loose fit, dark gray, and felt durable while still being comfortable. The shirt was short sleeved, white and also a loose fit. It looked like it was made out of cotton, but felt way heavier than his normal t-shirt. The boots were leather, and crept halfway up his shin fully laced. He put on an over the shoulder leather bag that seemed like a foot in diameter. Lastly he put on a dark blue jacket, which had a hooded cloak sewn onto the shoulders. The cloak felt light and went down to just below the knees.
The clothes seemed to fit perfectly, and he walked out to show Elaria once he got them on. She seemed more than pleased with his appearance, judging from the warm smile that spread across her face. He went over to a standing mirror to get a better view of himself and was a bit impressed at the sight, because he definitely looked like he walked out of a fantasy/medieval convention, but the clothing was genuine and felt very durable.
They walked over to the elf who was talking to another customer, but the customer left after spotting the two of them. Elaria gave the elf two silver and forty copper, but there was something that seemed different about the merchant's expression.
The elf looked at him with a much deeper predatory glare than before, her ears perking up slightly as her eyes seemed to drink him in. “Oh, don't you look dashing, but somethings missing... Hold on.” She remarked before rummaging through a small pile of clothes.
Grabbing a very long dark gray scarf, she sauntered up to him, pressed her body close to him from the front, and took a slow care to drape it around his neck. Even though she could have just handed him the scarf, he wasn't going to dare utter a word after getting a face full of her chest.
Elaria was unamused to say the least. “We're not going to buy that.” She said with a mild irritation.
“Don't worry about it, this is on the house. I would be remiss if I left a man's wardrobe incomplete.” The elf responded in a sultry tone.
Leo thanked her and was going to mentally chalk up the behavior to the fucked ratio. He would also be a liar if he said that he didn't very much enjoy this little experience, mostly because she was an elf, which again, added a different kind of appeal given all the media back on earth.
A yell was directed at him from that overly sultry voice. “Come back again, Mr. dragon!” The call sent a wave of frustration over him, as everyone in town would soon know about his abilities.
*Mild Internal Screaming*
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