We ate a quick meal as we were all excited to start exploring the area. All of us except Shadow that is who promptly went to sleep on one of the luxurious beds on the first floor. It was decided that we would stick together instead of splitting up. We still didn’t know what kind of monsters might be lurking around, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

As we reached the street, I couldn’t help staring at the large castle in the distance. It was closer than ever and a tempting target, but we couldn’t get ahead of ourselves. All in good time. We passed more inns and some restaurants before reaching the shopping district. I started toward the nearest shop when Lin held up her hand and we all froze.

She pointed toward an alley between two buildings, but I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly a long thin creature shot out of the alley toward us. At first I thought it was a snake but soon realized it was a giant centipede. It was probably as long as a car and extremely fast. Nix and Lin were still able to get shots off at it, but the arrows just bounced off its carapace.

Torg and Lux readied their shields while Ann and I both went with fire spells. The fire seemed to work as the centipede turned away from us. It didn’t leave however and tried circling around us. Lux wasn’t having it and yelled while launching himself at the creature with a giant swing of his sword. The sword cut the creature in half with a cracking noise.

I thought that was the end of the battle, but the centipede had other ideas. The front half writhed in pain before charging forward once again, leaving the back half behind. It went for the closest person in its line of sight which was Nix. She had a look of shock on her face while still managing to shoot her bow. The arrow hit one of its eyes.

The arrow sticking out of its eye didn’t seem to have much of an effect and she had to dive to the side, narrowly avoiding its massive pinchers. Torg was the next closest and took a swing, cleaving through its head. The centipede twisted and turned for several seconds before finally stopping. I let out a sigh of relief. Looking around, there didn’t seem to be any other creatures. The carcass might draw other monsters though, so Ann and I used our fire magic to burn it to ashes.

With that out of the way, we entered our first high class shop. The shop happened to be a high-end mercantile store. There were a lot of household items like silverware, plates, bowls, pots and pans, and other cooking supplies. There were also mirrors, paintings, some furniture, and even a section on magical tools. We had to secure the store first which didn’t take long.

Lux and Torg stayed by the door, surveying the street from the window to make sure nothing was attracted from the recent battle. I let the girls look around as I wasn’t too interested in the store items. I was sure everything was expensive, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I didn’t want to waste space in my bag.

I wasn’t quite sure what the magic tools were used for, but the girls seemed to know and even grabbed a few of them. I just shrugged my shoulders and waited for them to finish. Soon we were off to the next store. This one held all glassware. Even the girls weren’t that interested, so we didn’t stay long.

Unfortunately the next one we went in was a clothing shop. It looked like this would be all the exploring for today as the girls shrieked in delight and immediately started trying on clothes. Their reaction was more intense than the last clothing store which I guess had to do with the quality of the clothing. There was no way this would end soon so the male folk all found somewhere to sit down and patiently waited.

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As before, the girls gave me a fashion show, wanting my opinion on the fancy clothes they tried on. Honestly, I thought they looked good in anything but made the appropriate comments on each selection to make them happy. When Nix came out in sexy black lingerie I couldn’t help getting red in the face. The other girls quickly threw a blanket over her and ushered her back into the changing room, chastising her.

The incident seemed to give Ann and Lin an idea and they came out in sexy lingerie as well. Lux immediately made Torg turn his head away from the beautiful sight. My cheeks got instantly red again and I truly appreciated the sight of my nearly naked wives. As expected, the fashion show continued on into the afternoon.

It was late afternoon by the time we exited the clothing store. All the girls had stocked up on more clothing. They had tried to get me to model again but I refused. They still got me several sets of clothes they assured me would look good. I could only shake my head. Since it was getting late it was decided that we would return to the inn.

We didn’t run into any trouble on the way back and once at the inn, we started making our evening meal. After the meal, everyone retreated to their rooms to clean up and rest. The girls took turns bathing with me again much to my delight. The fashion show must have worn them out since we went straight to bed and fell asleep instantly.

The next day started the same, and Shadow was being lazy again so stayed put. We went back to the same area after having breakfast to continue hunting for treasures. I was still amazed that none of the shops were boarded up or had any evidence of looting. Also everything was in such nice shape that it was like the citizens left yesterday. It was kind of creepy actually, but I put that out of my mind to focus on the sweet, sweet loot.

Nix opened the first shop door of the day which turned out to be a mistake. The sign said Moxi’s so there was no telling what kind of shop it was. She shrieked and jumped straight up as a flood of disgusting giant roaches poured out onto the street. We quickly got out of the way, killing any that got too close. After the rush subsided, Ann and I finished them off with fire. Nix had managed to jump high enough to get onto the roof of the establishment. Beast folk were something else.

Nix jumped down and peeked inside only to pull back while covering her nose, trying not to retch. A rancid smell came out of the open door which I could smell from the street. I covered my nose and went to look for myself. There were a few tables suggesting it might have been a café, but the roaches didn’t leave much behind besides filth and detritus. We closed the door without going in and continued down the street.

Nix made Torg open the next door which it appeared to be a weapon shop, so he was more than happy to. Luckily there was no bugs or other creatures hiding inside. Finally, something I could get excited about. Ann took sentry duty by the door while the rest of us eagerly looked around. Torg and I browsed the large selection of weaponry while Lin and Lux went straight for the best items behind the counter. Nix went to look at the armor.

Everything was made out of rare monster and magical materials as to be expected from a high-class weapon shop. I could tell everything was worth a lot of money but didn’t have the experience to know how much. Torg showed a rare smile as he examined a large sword that was hanging on the wall. Even Lux seemed to be in heaven while he dug into the items behind the counter.

Lin and Nix weren’t as restrained, and both squealed with excitement at every new find. I gravitated towards the spears and wizard like staffs. Ann had told me about magical staffs improving your spells and making them more efficient thus using less mana but I had never seen any for sale. This store seemed to have a wide variety of them. I could tell we were going to be in this shop for a while.