“I wonder what kind of meat this is?” Ella said, biting hunks of meat out of the roadside kabob they’d purchased while waiting to get into the city.

Calvin took a piece and chewed. The meat was a bit gamey, but not intolerable, and the spices were honestly more potent than anything he’d experienced in his fifteen years as a farmhand, which was exciting.

It actually felt like they were on a vacation.

“Tastes like ungulate,” he said, nodding wisely.

“You’re full of shit,” Ella retorted.

“That is also true.”

Something Calvin hadn’t considered before coming to Boles, was the sheer overwhelming amount of Warped monster parts used in everyday life.

The country had some of the most isolated, Warp-dense country in the world, Spawning a huge quantity of exotic monsters, which made it an absolute treasure trove for adventurers, who ventured out into the wilderness to hunt for a big payday. A single phoenix corpse would be bought by rich nobles for its weight in gold.

With this wildlife, Boles made some of the most iconic gear on Marconen.

The flying cloak Kala had gotten for her birthday, the life-saving buckler, and the phoenix feather armor Ella’s opponent had been wearing had all come from Boles.

It was by this same token, however that, each Bolesian city was forced to raise sturdy walls around themselves to discourage monster attacks. It also made communication and warfare between the bolesian city-states difficult as individual messengers would often be attacked by monsters, and even armies had their share of difficulty negotiating both the terrain and the wildlife.

Calvin had put his palanquin down outside the city of Jianshin, the closest of the three city-states to the border of Juntai.

Nobody Calvin cared about was being hurt by Bolesian encroachment on Juntai forests, and he wasn’t on a strict deadline, so he decided to take it easy. They had looped around to the north, parked the palanquin out of sight and joined the crush of pedestrian traffic entering the city.

The people entering the city didn’t look like men and women with the bored face of people on business, nor did they have wagons full of produce.

They had the tired, anxious look of someone who doesn’t know where their next meal was coming from. They had family heirlooms strapped to their backs, and children holding their hands.

Refugees. Calvin thought, frowning. More than a few of them.

When they reached the gate, they were predictably stopped and pulled aside for questioning.

Calvin was wearing fine leather armor above silk, and Ella was wearing a form-fitting two- piece hide outfit that proudly displayed Calvin’s Sigil. They were well fed, well rested, obviously rich, armed, and likely dangerous.

In short, they stuck out like a sore thumb among the shorter, hunched over Bolesian refugees in drab homespun.

“You two, come here,” A guard called to them, motioning to get their attention before waving them over.

Calvin shrugged and approached.

“For. eign. er Do. You. Under. Stand. Me?” The man said, speaking slowly and motioning to his mouth.

“I know the tongue, yes, but my companion doesn’t,” Calvin said.

“That refined dialect…is High Bolesian.” The man said, taking an involuntary step back and gazing at Calvin with confusion.

“Who taught you our tongue?”

“I’m not sure.” Calvin said with a shrug. “Presumably he or she was rude to the wrong girl.”

“What does that…” The man rubbed his neck. “Well it’s not important. Let me see your I.D.”

Calvin pulled three Nem stones the size of his thumb out of his pocket and dropped them in the man’s hand.

“I left it in my carriage,” Calvin said.

“I understand.” The man pocketed the bribe with surprising smoothness. “You can get a temporary I.D. with the registrar. What is your purpose in visiting our city?”

“I’m from Gadvera, I’m touring southwestern Boles on political business, but today I plan on taking her shopping before we find a place to sleep.”

“It’s a dangerous time to be touring Boles,” The guard said, shaking his head. “But to each their own.”

The man glanced up at Ella and blanched somewhat. “I also have to ask, is your ogre under control?”

“My ogre?” Calvin glanced at Ella, who glanced between the two of them without comprehending.

“Usually, they wear a collar to show they’re tame,” The guard said.

“Is my crest not good enough?” Clavin asked, pointing.

“I’ve heard that’s recognized in Gadvera, but we’re a bit more…conscious of possible monster attacks. Please understand.”

“What’s up?” Ella asked.

“They think Genosians are monsters, and should have a collar to prove you’re not gonna spontaneously turn violent.”

“What!?” Ella demanded, shaking her fist. “Genosians aren’t violent! I should punch him in the face for that!”

Calvin gave her a deadpan stare until she finished her bit and broke into a razor-toothed grin.

Ella pursed her lips thoguhtfully. “What kind of collar?”

“Can it be aesthetic?” Calvin asked.

“Nobles oftentimes use more artful collars for their pets. It’s more symbolism than anything else.” The guard nodded.

“Any kind you want,” Calvin said.

“Durable emerald silk with gold spidersilk embroidery and studded with cut Nem stones, just a little tight.” She replied immediately.

….Calvin stared at her.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

She’s obviously been considering that for a while.

The poor girl’s fashion-starved.

“We have temporary ones for tamers that you can use,” the man said, walking behind his desk and rummaging through the contents for a minute until he found an Ella-sized one. It was made of crude cast iron, opened and closed with a creak, and had a simple rusty lock at the back. It was uneven, and sported flaws and imperfections that would surely rub a neck raw.

“No thanks, I’ll just make one now,” Calvin said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out six Nem stones and a vial of undifferentiated matter from his belt.

Multi Split

Calvinian Summoning

52/54 Bent remaining

Calvin targeted the silks stored in the Grimoire that matched Ella’s request, then made a swarm of thumb-sized knick-knacks.

In front of the man’s wide eyes, they piped the undifferentiated matter onto the bent construct, creating wads of real silk fiber. They cut off the construct and spun the silk into a fabric in a matter of seconds, cutting and shaping it perfectly for Ella’s neck. They embroidered a series of stylized wasps in spider-silk around the edges, then sewed it together seamlessly around Ella’s neck before cutting the Nem and studding the opalescent material into the wasp’s eyes.

It was a work of art, probably worth more than the gate guard made in a year.

And it was designed so that Ella could rip it off whenever she wanted.

They both understood the benefit of going with the flow, but Calvin wasn’t going to put her in something she couldn’t get out of anytime she wanted.

Calvin manifested a mirror in his hand and passed it to her.

“Oooh!” Ella said, turning her neck this way and that, studying the way the fabric conformed to the shape of her neck. “I like it!”

“Good enough?” Calvin asked.

“…I wish you a safe and pleasant stay in Jianshin, Elder,” the guard said, bowing.

***Later***

Calvin and Ella received a lot of stares as they walked through Jianshin, and Ella stared back with fascination, while Calvin could feel his energy being drained by every look.

It didn’t help, either, that he was literally viewing himself from every point of view that watched him. In a crowded city like this, it was almost like he was at the center of some kind of sight-bubble, all roads leading to himself.

Calvin wasn’t the type that got energized by attention, despite his knack for attracting it.

Gaze Into the Abyss did come in handy though, as he was able to pick out a few spies who had been been intently following him since the second city block, and slapped the hand of a pickpocket away from himself without even sparing the man a glance.

From his glimpses of their stalker’s clothes, the man wasn’t poor enough to be a robber. The powers that be of the city probably already knew who he was and why he was there, and had sent someone to keep an eye on him.

If I had someone walking around my city with the equivalent of a backpack nuke, you’d be damn sure I’d have someone follow them around.

Well, as long as they’re not trying to kill us, I really don’t care, Calvin thought.

“Oh, look at this!” Ella exclaimed, dragging Calvin over to a merchant’s stall full of curios. There was a hemispherical object with a small depression in the center, seemingly made of bone or ivory resting on a similarly bone stand. Above it a single fork was spinning in midair, supported by nothing.

There was a bolt of deep red silk, brass trinkets, bones and fangs seemingly still imbued with the strength of the creatures that had owned them.

Some of it seemed like Guar-shit to Calvin. There was a finger-length fang that was supposed to make you heavier and increase your mass, but what it actually did was impose a mild paralytic effect on the bearer. It was too small to be used as part of a weapon, and nobody wanted to buy it for themselves, so the merchant had told an outright lie in an attempt to move it.

To be fair, anyone who survives going on an adventure while wearing that is probably pretty freaking tough.

True.

Calvin found one of the firestarters he’d always wanted when he’d lived in a hut, made of Firebeaver teeth. The ivory was about as long as his thumb and had a leather strap through the top of it to wear.

Calvin’s interest in it was more academic nowadays, though.

I wonder how it only works on wood? Calvin thought, holding the cool ivory in his hands.

Maybe it gives off heavy microwaves that only penetrate wood? Interesting thought, if you could refine that ‘selective effect’ mutation from it.

Calvin bought the Firestarter then his eyes were drawn to a bug in a clear glass container that encapsulated it.

It was standing on top of a fake glass branch, its wings unfurled and trembling with the beat of its nonexistent heart.

“What is this?” Calvin asked.

“Time bug. Lives exactly twelve hours before it vanishes, laying an egg which matures for twelve hours before hatching. Doesn’t need food or air. People like to use them to tell time underground,” the shopkeeper said disinterestedly.

Neat.

“What about this?” Calvin asked, picking up a brass tube the length of his thumb that looked like jeweler’s lens.

“Navigator lizard eye. You can see the sun no matter what’s between you and it.”

The sun was directly above them, so Calvin covered it with his hand.

Using the eye, he was able to see a phantom circle through his hand.

I think it can see high-frequency wavelengths. Neat.

“This?” Calvin said, pointing to a rather large piece of bone that looked suspiciously like a ball and socket.

“Drill devil hip. It turns better than any axle made by man and has a minor acceleration effect. Nobles use them for their chariots or mills.”

“This?” Calvin pointed to a tin full of little red beads.

“Babbleskipper livers. They filter out everything but pure water. Adventurers like to bring them along to prevent dysentery. Paranoid nobles like using them to avoid getting poisoned.

“That?”

“Nopper testicles. They make women ovulate.”

“Like…by eating them, or…”

“Nope, just hold them on her person, closer to the goods, the better.”

Calvin shook his head, nearly overwhelmed at the selection of trinkets available, from lightweight bone handles to floating eyeballs that tracked enemies independently.

“How does it know who’s an enemy?” Calvin asked, peering at the eye that was flickering around inside it’s glass prison as if it were still looking for something.

“You replace the solution it’s suspended in and add about a teaspoon of your own blood. Tricks the eye into thinking you’re the dodger.”

“If a dodger always knows where enemies are, how do you get the eyes?” Calvin asked.

“It’s not easy.” The merchant said, pointing at the price tag under the glass vial. The price tag would have been a punch in the gut a few years ago, but it was manageable now.

“How about this?” Calvin asked, pointing to a tiny furred sack that might hold a single coin.

“Hoarder cheek,” The mans said, puffing out his cheeks. “They’re rodents that can carry nearly a gallon of material in their cheeks. People like to use them to carry water. They don’t reduce weight though, so make sure you use a strong strap.”

Hmmm… Calvin thought, rubbing his chin. There were a wealth of Mutations he could strip out of these creatures with Abyssal Alchemy, and he had no reason not to do so.

I can totally justify this as an expense to Murak as long as I distill a useful Mutation out of it that can make us a profit.

“Calvin, come look at this!” Ella interrupted Calvin’s musing, tugging at his elbow. Calvin resisted her superior strength by holding himself in place with Beli-Ma. The nine invisible hands surrounding him didn’t require purchase to exert their force, so Ella was left scraping her feet on the ground as she tried to pull him away, despite her superior size and strength.

“…I’ll take everything here,” Calvin said, waving at the entire table. I can sort through the things he hasn’t explained yet later.

The merchant blinked.

“Everything?” He gave a nervous chuckle. “I mean no disrespect, but you couldn’t possibly…”

Calvin opened the satchel on his side and brought out two Glimmer. The large bars of Nem clacked softly together as Calvin set them in front of the merchant.

“Wrap ‘em up for me, would you?” Calvin said, as he let himself get tugged away.

****

Ella dragged him to a tailor on the wealthier side of the city that showcased several Bolesian dresses in the window. Bolesian dresses were nearly the opposite of Malkenrovian dresses and loose juntai drapes.

They were made of several layers of thick embroidered silk that pressed in and conformed to the body of the wearer, especially the hips, stomach and chest, with a slit along the side allowing the women to walk. Some of the dresses were so profoundly well fitted that they seemed to be painted on.

“That!” Ella said, bouncing on the balls of her feet and gripping his shoulder while pointing at one of the skin-tight dresses.

“Consider it done.”

An hour later, Ella emerged from the shop in a vivid green dress that stoked the imagination. The purple skinned Genosian gave a languid spin as Calvin gawked.

The silk hugged her hips and conformed to the shape of her booty just enough that he could see exactly what was underneath, but still wanted to see more.

The dress was tight around her muscular waist, and Calvin could make out her abs through the fabric. His eyes rose to take in the top squeezing her generous chest up, nearly spilling out into the air.

“What do you think?” Ella asked, her former clothes and a few more pairs of dresses in a bag by her feet.

“…”

“Calvin?” She asked, frowning.

“…Damn.”

Ella seemed pleased.