Rise of the Devourer

Book 3: Chapter 3 — Shopping

Noah walked around the store, his hands full with bags of clothing as he followed behind Aurelia and Snow. He wasn't sure why he had expected shopping for clothes to go any differently in this world than it would in his own. His expectations had been quickly shattered as Noah became little more than a baggage carrier.

Snow would occasionally look towards him with sympathy, as she was dragged around by Aurelia, who was excitedly running around finding all sorts of clothing to dress her up in.

They had been at it for hours now. Aurelia had first dragged Snow to a salon, getting the girl a haircut, shortening it till it was just around her neck in a bob cut. Afterwards, they had begun looking for some accessories, which had taken far too long, before Aurelia had settled on a ring with a small spatial storage inside of it for Snow.

"Here, hold this," Aurelia said, handing Noah Snow’s newly bought cloak before taking the girl with her into a dressing chamber to try out some more clothes. Noah sighed, resisting the temptation of just chucking all of the items he currently carried into his cosmic vault. He had tried to disturb them before, and the store owner had not taken kindly to his actions.

Aurelia had explained later that stores in more developed cities like Heartillia tended to have a larger adventuring population, making spatial storage items fairly common, and as such, most stores had wards in place to prevent theft. But obviously, certain abilities could still bypass those, so store owners typically kept another spell to tell them if any kind of space magic was used within the premises of their shops.

Noah nodded. The system made sense, but the funny thing to him was how it wasn’t because of the spell that the shop owner at the previous place had caught him, but because he had willingly gone to the reception and taken the items out. Which had only further shown him that his abilities could now break past wards. Or at least could break past most of them, which only made it all the more difficult to resist using his abilities.

With great power, comes the great temptation to fuck around with it.

With a click of the door's handle, Aurelia stepped out from the changing room, walking in front of Noah before she twirled around, showing off her new orange and yellow dress. "How do I look?" she asked.

Noah hummed to himself, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. "Surprisingly, like a normal person and not someone who could punch my head off. Quite a shocking transformation indeed."

"What does that mean?" Aurelia said, punching his shoulder hard. He knew she had put effort into it because he actually felt some pain.

"Ouch," Noah said in mock hurt, rubbing his shoulder as Aurelia pouted. The woman turned, glancing towards the dressing room. "Come on out, Snow, don’t be shy," she said.

A second later, Snow slowly stepped outside as well. The girl wore a white shirt with a black skirt and leggings, and black and white shoes that accentuated her horns and tattoos instead of hiding them. A blush covered Snow’s face as she stepped out. "This feels strange."

"No, it doesn’t! It looks great on you, right Noah?" Aurelia said, looking towards Noah, her fists ready by her sides if he dared disagree.

"Yeah, it looks great. You look like an entirely different person than when I first met you. The clothes suit you," Noah said, being truthful with his compliment. If he had seen her like she was right now back when he had first met her, he would not have recognized her at all.

"Really?" Snow asked, gaining some more confidence as she looked down at her own clothes.

"I told you it looked great! Alright, now let’s try this one," Aurelia said, showing the dress she had picked, ready to drag the girl back in with her.

"Uhh, what about Noah?" Snow said, half in panic.

"Me?" Noah asked.

"Yeah, will you not buy anything?" Snow asked.

"She’s right, you should definitely get some new clothes while you’re here. It’s unlikely that we will get the chance after we are in Drakonias. What’s the point of going on adventures and earning a lot of money if you don’t ever spend it," Aurelia said.

"Having fun on their adventure?" Noah replied. "Also, what’s wrong with my current clothes?"

Aurelia glanced Noah up and down. "Well… it's not awful."

"What do you mean it’s not awful? These look great," Noah said, looking down at his rather simple clothing. He’d never spent much time considering what he got, and most of it had been from the spares within the guild.

"Do you really think that?" Aurelia asked.

"I do. It’s comfortable enough, that’s about as much as I care," Noah replied.

"You are even more hopeless than Snow. Come with me, I’ll get something for you," Aurelia said, handing the dresses she held to Snow before grabbing Noah’s hand, and dragging him over to the men’s clothing section. He glanced back at Snow, who took a sigh of relief at having diverted the woman’s attention away from her, before whispering a sorry towards Noah. Noah let himself be pulled along, as Aurelia began to grab different clothes one after another.

This is starting to feel an awful lot like a date.

The thought made him pause. He had not considered something like that at all since coming here, partly because a good chunk of his time had been spent surviving, and a good chunk more had been spent training, preparing for upcoming disasters. Now that the most immediate threats were gone, Noah finally felt like he could take some time to breathe. But the entire reason he had been avoiding doing this was that doing so brought up thoughts like this.

Dating someone… it felt like that would mean he was giving up on ever going back. Which he still wasn’t sure he ever actually wanted to do. He knew the option was there, and if he asked Zax for help, there was a good chance that he could actually go back if he wanted to. But he was pretty sure he did not. At least not right now. But somehow, the thought of building a new life in this world, or spending and sharing it with someone else also felt wrong.

He couldn’t pick which one he preferred. He enjoyed his new world quite a bit, but he also selfishly wanted to not grow too attached if he ever truly got the desire to return back home.

Might be too late for that… Noah thought, looking at Aurelia and Snow. He had definitely made friends here if nothing else, so what was stopping him from trying something a bit deeper with someone?

His eyes drifted to Aurelia, the thoughts taking root in his mind. He definitely wouldn’t mind; she was the person he had spent the most time with. From the very beginning, since he had arrived in this world, she had been the one by his side.

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The relationship somehow had always felt more like he was a child that she was responsible for, and had to educate about the ways of the world. But, after nearly six months, Noah had more or less adapted to his new life here and the dynamic between the two of them had shifted to be more or less equals.

She’s not a bad choice either. But… It would definitely be weird, and a little bit like dating your coworker. Not repeating that mistake again.

Noah tried to push the thought away, but it remained in his mind. He definitely wouldn’t mind having someone with whom he could truly share himself. But alongside the thought, Zax's words came to his mind. He was growing fast, too fast by normal standards, and if he reached a certain rank, he would be immortal. What if whoever he was with was not as strong as him? And would age normally?

Even Aurelia was starting to lag behind him now. He was almost certainly stronger than her now, though the difference between their skills and skill levels more or less put them on equal footing. But how long would that last?

Noticing his silence, Aurelia finally stopped going through the assortment of clothes, looking up at him. "Is there something on my face? You’ve been looking blankly at me for a while now."

Noah shook his head. “Nothing, I’m just thinking. About some stuff.”

“That’s not like you. If you don’t want to buy clothes, then we can do something else,” Aurelia said.

“No, it’s not that—I like the ones you've picked. You can buy them. I’ll pay you later. I just need to step out for a while for some fresh air,” Noah said.

Aurelia looked up at him, clearly wanting to ask more questions, but she did not pry, simply nodding as she walked towards Noah.

Noah sighed. “This is why I hate not having things to do.”

Using Arcane Step, he teleported out. Maybe he could find some monsters nearby to hunt for a short while with Bun Bun. That would probably clear his mind.

***

Damian Vexley, the quintessential rich young master of the city, strolled through the bustling streets with his usual entourage of other merchant kids who liked to follow him around whenever they could. A grin was stuck on Damian’s face, his mood extremely pleasant as he’d finally managed to get to level 50, only two years after his awakening, and his father had given him a handful of crystals to burn for his achievement.

“What are you planning to get, Damian?” Lyle asked.

“It’s not things that I’m looking for, idiot. Think of something better,” Damian replied.

“Uhh, food?” Brent replied, and Damian shook his head, wondering why he even bothered hanging out with these two.

“No, I’m looking to mess around and have some fun. This place is filled with a lot of Celestian women, it’d be dumb not to try.”

“Aren’t they really old?” Lyle asked.

“So what, Lyle? That only makes them better,” Damian said, snickering to himself.

“What about them?” Brent said, stopping in front of one of the clothing shops, as he pointed inside. Damian followed the boy’s gaze.

“Huh, what do you know? Those two are quite something,” Damian said, looking at the two women inside. One looked to be a bit younger than him, a strange girl with tattoos and two obsidian horns, and another that was older, closer to his age with auburn hair. They were an unusual pair, and something about them piqued his curiosity.

“Oh, never mind, there’s a guy with them,” Brent said.

Damian clicked his tongue. “That’s probably a clerk or something, look at the cheap clothes he is wearing.”

A moment later, he saw the women walk away, and his smile returned. “See?” he said, looking at Brent.

“Do you think those horns are real?” Lyle asked.

“Why don’t we go and ask?” Damian said, as he stepped inside the shop and sauntered over to the girls, his steps full of arrogance.

“Hey there, beautiful ladies. You seem new here, would you like me to show you around?” he said, as the girl with the horns stepped away from him. Damien would’ve felt hurt at the reaction, but found the other one chuckling to herself, as his confidence was boosted once more.

“What do you say? We could have some fun together,” he added, throwing in a wink as he twirled some crystals around in his fingers.

The woman’s laughter grew a bit stronger now, as Damian’s growing confidence began to shrink again, while the other girl was practically hiding from his sight. Had he really grown that rusty?

“No thanks, I know my way around,” the woman replied, turning away.

“Oh hey, can I get your name at least?” Damian asked, walking closer.

“It's a bit rude to ask before you tell me yours, isn’t it?” the woman said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, of course. My apologies. I’m Damian Vexley, son of the owner of the Vexley Company. You have likely heard of us. My friends and I were about to celebrate my reaching level 50, and having such lovely women with us would only make the celebrations better.”

The woman hummed to herself, seeming a bit more interested. “Never heard of the Vexley Company, but congrats. Though I’m afraid we’re a bit busy.”

“Oh come on, don’t be so shy,” Damian said, walking closer.

“Hey, what about you? Wanna come with us? We could show you some fun places. Also, are those horns real?” Damian asked, reaching out to touch the girl's shoulder.

But before he could, something erupted in a dark smoke. A giant creature came out of nowhere, as Damian stumbled back.

“Shadow! Come back!” the girl shouted, as a giant wolf stood between Damian and her now.

“Wha- what in the world?” Damian shouted, shooting a mana bolt from one of his artifacts before he could think. The attack missed the wolf, rushing past as it struck the woman, cutting through the clothes she was holding.

The woman turned towards him, her eyes glowing. “Oh, you've gone and done it now,” the woman said, the remaining torn pieces of the cloth burning up as a powerful aura of rage burst around her, fire and ash swirling in a frenzy.

“Fuck, these two are crazy!” Damien shouted, turning around to run when he slammed into a wall, stumbling back.

A wall… wait, no. Damian opened his eyes, looking up to see a white-haired man with deep red eyes looking down at him. Two vertical slits in his eyes pierced his very soul, a spray of blood on his sleeves and face. On accident, his instinct kicked in to identify his threat, as he used the ability.

[???]

Damian’s blood ran cold as the man leaned in closer, and a menacing aura of terror washed over Damian. “Didn’t see you…” the man said, before reaching out with his hand.

Tears filled Damian’s eyes, as he stood and ran away screaming. He was never going to try and hit on random women again.

***

Noah scratched his head, watching the boy in front of him run away while screaming something incoherent. Shadow was standing out in the open, licking Snow's face as Aurelia took some deep calming breaths.

"What the hell happened here?" Noah asked, looking at the woman.

"Nothing, just some idiots. Let's go now," she said, turning towards the rather angry-looking shopkeeper, as she handed him some crystals, grabbing her clothes before making her way out with Noah, Snow, and Shadow.

"What- what was that?" Noah asked, confused.

"Nothing, it was nothing. Let's go back and grab our weapons now, I think we're done," Aurelia said, walking outside.

Snow sat on Shadow's back now, brushing his fur, as she glanced towards the two of them. "Shadow doesn't want to go back in. Is it fine if I keep him around?"

"Sure, he can stay," Aurelia said, shrugging, before glancing at Noah.

"Where had you gone? You have blood on you," Aurelia said, wiping the blood off Noah's face.

"Ah, sorry. Wait- you don’t get to do that before you tell me what happened," Noah said.

Aurelia sighed. "Alright, fine. Just some rich kid trying to hit on us, I ignored him but he was persistent so Shadow came out and he got spooked and shot a spell which may have made me lose control of my berserker ability for a second… and the rest you saw," Aurelia said, glancing away.

Noah looked at her in disbelief before laughter bubbled out of him. "Holy shit, so that’s why he? Oh my god, that's fucking hilarious," he said, clutching his belly.

Aurelia looked away, before eventually succumbing to laughter as well. Eventually, as the two settled down, Aurelia wiped tears away from her eyes.

"Alright, let's get out of here before we draw any more attention," she said, as the three jumped on Shadow. "And tell me where you went while we go back to grab our weapons."

"Uhh… so about that," Noah said, trailing off, as the three made their way through the city on the back of a giant void wolf.