I was about to switch into one of the outfits until Nicotris stopped me.

“Wait. On second thought, keep wearing your armor for a minute. Let’s go to an enchanter’s workshop first, we need some basic enchantments on your new clothes.”

“Huh? The mage robes I get, but what kind of enchantments would I need for regular clothes or basic adventurer outfits?”

“Enchantments are useful in a number of ways. The Fair Maiden specializes in aesthetically pleasing and comfortable clothing, but that doesn’t mean a few convenient enchantments can’t be added. Things like a dress that slightly adjusts to your size and boots that tie their laces for you are relatively cheap and quick to get. Shouldn’t take more than a gold shekel and ten minutes to add quality of life enchantments like that to the stuff we got you.”

“Huh. That’s neat.”

Melita returned from the back with a small piece of paper.

“Here’s your receipt, Lady Sept.”

Nico took out her coin purse and began pulling out a number of coins.

“How much did this all cost?” I wondered absentmindedly, but Melita was happy to answer.

“Your bill is four platinum shekels, two gold shekels, nine silver shekels, and six copper shekels.”

A shocked gasp came out of my mouth as even Ati’s eyes bulged at the preposterous figure. Nicotris handed out the coins casually, clearly used to paying figures like this often.

“Nico, what the hell?! Did you just buy me clothes for a king’s daughter?!”

Nico rolled her eyes.

“You outrank kings and their children. You’re the equivalent to the daughter of a country’s patron god. And no, this kind of clothing is standard for regular nobles and wealthy merchants; it’s not as outrageous as you make it out to be. Now come on, we’ve got places to be.”

Nico took a third of the bags Ati and I were carrying and left the establishment without a care in the world.

***

We carried the clothes back to the group of large buildings surrounding the adventurer’s guild and entered a building that was divided into a bunch of enchantment workshops with a big hallway connecting them all.

We entered through the front door of one such workshop, which was named ‘Menkara’s Enchanting Services.’ A bell rang, and a bored looking foxman who was sitting at the counter and fidgeting with a brown mana core turned to us.

“Welcome to my workshop. I am Enchanter Menkara, as you may have been able to tell from my shop’s name. How can I help you?”

“We’d like you to enchant a few pieces of clothing for us, if you don’t mind.” Nicotris said.

“Sure, sounds good to me. How many pieces of clothing and what enchantments do you want?” he asked.

“Two formal dresses, three adventurer outfits, five mage robes, two pajamas, and five regular outdoor outfits. For the regular clothes, I’d like you to add minor size adjustment enchantments. For the adventurer outfits, minor durability. For the mage robes, minor mana regeneration boost. All seventeen pieces should also have minor mending added to that as well.”

The foxman recorded it all on a piece of paper near him, then asked another question.

“Are you supplying mana cores, or do you want to pay for some I have in stock? Rank E mana stones should be sufficient for this.”

“We’ll pay for mana cores you have in stock.” Nico said.

He finished scribbling then asked us to lay the clothes on the counter.

“Could you also enchant one of the adventurer outfits first? We’ve got to drop of my friend’s armor at a nearby workshop, so we need her to wear one of those instead.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Sure thing. It’ll take a minute for a regular outfit, and about fifteen for the rest of them. The whole thing should cost you eight silvers and four copper. Hmm?” The foxman looked at my armor for a second before his eyes widened.

“Is that armor made from a Tyrant Gorilla’s leather? That’s pretty rare. And expensive. Though nothing’s ever too expensive if it keeps you alive, if you ask me.”

I chuckled.

“I didn’t pay a copper for these; I hunted the gorilla myself and had someone I know make it into armor.”

Menkara’s intrigue turned into surprise.

“A little girl like you? Seriously? Well, if you’re telling the truth, then I’ve clearly underestimated you. What did you end up doing with its mana core?”

“Eh? What mana core? Rank B monsters have mana cores?”

The enchanter’s surprise turned into shock.

“Of course they do! Every creature from rank F and above has a mana core! Where did you think a creature stores its mana?! Did you just kill the gorilla and leave its core there?!” he said in outrage at the waste.

“Umm… Yes?”

He sat down in his chair.

“Unbelievable…” he sighed, then took out an adventuring outfit and began to enchant it.

Nico put down shekels on the counter as Ati explained a little for me.

“It can be really hard to find the core of a creature below rank B, since they’re small enough to be hard to see. The butchers in monster processing facilities have tools to find it more easily.”

“Then why’d we leave the rank B monster cores of other monsters we killed?” I asked.

“…You what?!” the shopkeeper asked again.

I wonder how Menkara would react if he knew we had a rank A mana core with us right now. Nicotris ignored him and answered me.

“Because they’re barely worth a gold shekel, and not worth our time. Mana cores become orders of magnitude more powerful on rank A creatures since they are only a step below the rank S evolution. And in case you didn’t figure it out, rank S creatures gain much of their preposterous power from their evolved mana cores. Evolutions, in a way, are as much about mana cores as they are about traits. This was all mentioned in class anyway.”

“It was?”

Nico closed her eyes in pain.

“I’ve no clue why I expected anything else out of you.” She grumbled.

“Hehe~” I smiled at her, delighting in her exasperation.

Ati, as usual, kept rather quiet.

“This outfit is enchanted with minor mending and minor durability, as requested. The changing rooms in the back. Did you need anything else?” The foxman asked.

“Thank you, that will be all. Come on, you two.” Nico said.

***

After dropping by Master Hanish’s workshop to drop off my armor and have Ati’s measurements taken, we went back to pick up my enchanted clothes and headed back to the guild. Inside, we found Nisos waiting for us.

“Hey, you three. Seems like you guys met up earlier. I like your new outfits, Kiara, Ati! Are your bags full of outfits too?”

“Yes, they are. We were just about to store them with the guild. Do you know where Jezibel is?” Ati asked.

“Oh, she was with me a moment ago, but went to speak to an acquaintance she knew. Oh! She’s back.” Nisos said.

“What took you guys so long? We’ve been waiting for about twenty minutes for you to come over.” A voice said from behind me.

It was Jezibel; the five of us are finally grouped together again.

“We were getting my new clothes enchanted. Anyways, what did you the tamer’s guild tell you?” I asked.

“They said I don’t actually need to do much, besides keeping my mouth shut about its rarity. It’ll hatch on its own in a month as long as I don’t put it in harm’s way, which should be the case if I keep it in tattoo form. I had to take a detour to get an appraisal blocking collar with a size fitting enchantment though.”

Nicotris interrupted us.

“Okay everyone, enough chit-chat. We can talk more about what we did after we finish registering our party and getting on our way with our first quest. You should also do the talking, Nisos, you’re the party leader.”

With no reason to object, we lined up in queue to a booth with a receptionist and eventually got our turn. It turned out that the same receptionist who helped us earlier was in this booth.

“Ah, it seems your party has finally gathered! Are you here to register in the Adventurer’s Guild?”

I waved and smiled at her as Nico nodded politely, but Nisos was the one to speak.

“That’s right. We’d like to register as a party.”

“That’s great! But you have to register as members of the guild individually before I can set up your party in our records. Please take these forms and fill out one each if you don’t mind!”

A minute later, we were all done and handed the papers back. The receptionist looked over the papers.

“Tameryian… Ms. Jezibel Hiram… Tyrian… okay! Now that your documents are filled out properly, let’s get to making your adventurer cards! Please take turns putting your right hand on the pedestal until I ask you to do otherwise, starting with Mr. Iphitus!”

The receptionist placed a steel pedestal on the counter, and Nisos did as she requested. A magic circle appeared on the pedestal for a few moments, and the sound of metal being cut quickly and cleanly could be heard beneath the counter for a few seconds. Then the magic circle faded, and the receptionist pulled a copper card from beneath the counter.

“Congratulations, Mr. Iphitus! You are now officially a member of the adventurer’s guild! Please keep your card on your person at all times so that you can access our member-only services and privileges. It will also help us identify you in the unfortunate event of your passing in the Unfathomable Abyss. Now, Lady Nicotris Sept, could you please place your hand on the pedestal?”

***

I stared at the copper card in my hand. It looked like a completely empty, blank card; until mana is channeled through it – in which case text appears displaying my name, adventurer rank, adventurer number, and some other miscellaneous information.

“Now that we’re done registering you as members, would you like to register as a party?” the receptionist asked.

Nisos nodded.

“Yes, that was our intention.”

“Very well! Now, please fill out these forms for me…”