"Hey Kima..." I waved lamely towards her, my awkwardness only overshadowed by her frustration. Allura was rather quick to stand, her staff depositing itself in the corner of the room once more as she quickly rushed over and hugged her woman.
Watching this display I couldn't help but do the same to my two. The moment lasted a while as Shuna melted into me whilst Milim let out content murmurs. Finally Kima and Allura sat down opposite us once more as Shuna tried her best to straighten her beautiful, if crinkled, dress.
"So, who are you? Why are you here?" Kima's voice sounded like boulders scraping against one another, her feminine vocality coming in the soft tone in which her vocal cords rumbled. Scars were visible close to her larynx that lead me to assume that they were the cause for this unfortunate rumble.
"My name is Silviana, this here," I gestured to Shuna, "is one of my lovely wives, Shuna." Shuna extended her hand out languidly, trying her best to retain poise despite the obvious shit-faced condition she was in. "And, this lovely bundle of murmurs is my other wife, Milim." The dragon mewled in her sleep, scrunching herself into a ball and cuddling further into my stomach, her position having shifted from the previous location I had placed her.
"Sorry for her... They both got drunk at the party last night." Shuna blushed whilst raising her tea up to her mouth, attempting to hide her embarrassment.
Luckily for my cute little wife, Kima didn't seem to care about the current state of her or her sister. A grin tugged at the corner of my lips whilst Allura chuckled softly into her dainty hand, her irises filled with a mirth thinly veiled behind a trained professionalism.
Kima waved me off as her rumbling voice reverberated out once again, i swear I could almost feel the tea-cup shifting in my hand... "Don't worry bout that, everyone needs to get shit-faced every now and then!" Allura shifted from cordiality to complete seriousness, her eyes hawkishly staring down her wife... Kima almost flinched under the intense glare, nervously laughing the moment off before continuing. "Anyway! Answer my second question."
Whilst sipping on my tea I rolled my eyes, the antics of the two quickly reminding me of some times I'd had with Shuna when she was under the curse. I had to stop a scowl from surfacing at the reminder of that fucking asshole's spell... I placed down my tea and regarded the stalwart little paladin. "We are here to attend a gala in Emon. In fact, we are dignitaries from the nation of Tempest."
She blinked quite a few times, the arching of her head to the side and a touch upwards allowing me to understand that she was checking in with Allura. The blonde wizard simply shrugged, her expression shifting into helplessness and resignation. Shuna chuckled into her hand whilst Milim accidently kicked a hole on the couch which I had to quickly fix; an issue that was easy considering the Repairo spell that I had within my arsenal.
"Okay... That's a rather convincing reason..." Kima acquiesced to our presence it had seemed, that was until she asked her next question... "So why are you here?" I had to stop myself from groaning at her interrogation, even Asmodeus wasn't as cautious with me!
"We got shit faced. They didn't wake up in time. I teleported us randomly into Emon... Easy as that really." Kima frowned before sitting up straight. She was close to beginning a rant if her posture and body language was anything to go by. That was, until Allura grabbed her shoulder and whispered something in her ear, which soon made her droop and slump backwards into the couch. She was folding her hands over one another, her face scrunched in a hint of exasperation.
Allura picked up conversation after her. "Sorry about that... She can get over protective when it comes to our home and of course me..." I smiled at her beseeching tone, she was certainly the diplomat between the two.
"Don't be silly, I crashed your place. She has every right to question me." Kima nodded and grinned wickedly, sending Allura a triumphant glance that made the woman roll her eyes and huff somewhat.
"Also, I understand her. As a wife, I can certainly say that I am protective of my three! I mean, just the idea of them getting hurt makes me want to flay whoever did it alive." Kima nodded righteously, sitting up and leaning forwards with a hand extended.
"We're going to be best friends!" We clasped our hands together in a 'handshake' that extended up to the forearm. "I believe we are." Shuna and Allura began laughing melodically as Milim finally snapped awake from her slumber; my assets having been dragged across her face as i leaned forwards for the 'handshake'.
"WHOA! What a way to wake up!!!" Milim shouted that out so loud that I wondered if all of Emon could hear her... Which didn't help the mental image that just formed within my mind in relation to 'ways to wake up'.
...
An Hour Later...
The city around us was marvellous! Carts and merchants streamed past in a blur of colours, species, cultures and clothes as adventurers wandered the roads. Milim and Shuna couldn't help but gawk a little at the foreign ideas and concepts. From robes that were used by street magicians to make dramatic poses to bakers using pizza ovens to cook actual pizzas... Everything was new to them.
After leaving Allura's tower, the chat eventually coming to an end when we finished relaying how we were usually travelling, we were directed towards Abdar's Promenade. Since the we had been meandering through Emon's cloudtop district, Central District and down to the promenade proper.
Milim had naturally been energetic beyond norm, her eyes lighting up into miniature stars as her draconic nature began taking a hold. Shiny items and objects attracted her as they hung within stalls or luxuriously designed shopping windows... Shuna, the fae that she was now, followed her in her explorations and more often than not ended up purchasing the items the dragon liked. This ended with me carrying all of their bags within the demi-plane as they walked from stall to stall, examining the goods and purchasing what they wanted.
This had repercussions that manifested in the form of every shop owner hawking their goods out for the entire world to see, just in the hopes that they could attract the rich ladies, us, to their little corner of the promenade. Both my wives were utterly swept away by the act of shopping however and failed to realise this. And so, for the next half an hour, we purchased fancy rocks, golden lockets and necklaces, jewellery that looked fitting for a Disney movie relating to a magic carpet and three wishes... Until finally, we stopped.
"Silvi, honey, could we just go into Gilmore's glorious goods...?" Shuna asked with such innocence and cuteness that I couldn't say no. Thus, we entered the store.
Within seconds the magic of the shop expanded before our eyes.
It was bigger on the inside for starters, the dimensions of the tent expanding to double its exterior measurements. Lighting was the next element... The entire establishment was mood lit, the soft and orange colours of the light pooling along the shelves causing refractions and glimmers to draw the eye. It was a genius sales tactic to abuse light's loving qualities in such a way. Speaking of colours... This place was a veritable roman bathhouse of vibrant hues. Reds mixed with greens and dark maroons. It was an assault upon the senses. Though, unlike an actual attack, the rugs and tapestries that included these amalgamations of colours actually made one wish to look at the shelves in preference. Another sales tactic it would seem...
"Whoa, this is bonkers!!!" Milim, undoubtedly, began running around whilst peeking in at everything within sight. Her hands ran along several magical items whilst Shuna tried chasing after her in an effort to stifle her excitable nature.
'I guess I'll have to create more gold soon...' The thought coagulated with mild frustration within my mind whilst an employee of the shop tried to stop Milim grabbing a set of armour that looked to be enchanted with defence runes and stealth magic.
"Miss! Could you please stop...!" The squeaky voice of the gnome employee reached my ear as my wife's laughter resounded soon after. She was enjoying herself at least...
Slowly I strolled past shelves containing potions, lotions, crustacean armours and a modicum of defensive rings. Nothing was really popping out to me. Yeah, they had some magical objects and some cool ideas, but they were, unique... And not in a good way.
Many of the magical items wouldn't do their best for anyone other than the one who made them. A rare few were actually harmful given a lack of magical power. Naturally the more lucrative products allowed others to use them and bond to them, but they were also flawed in several ways. My training in blacksmithing had started to benefit me as I could see imperfections and missed hammer strikes that lead to poor quality material. The base quality was so poor that it was obvious that the man who created these was not a craftsman and more simply an enchanter... There was nothing wrong with his goods perse, but they lacked the awesome quality of Tempest's enchanters and forgers as they knew Enchanting and Forging in equal measure.
Scoffing at my own sense of national pride in the country I'd help build from the ground up, I found myself standing in front of the gnome employee. He was a short little man, even for gnomes, and was openly glaring at me with his beady little brown eyes, his mop of black hair that looked poorly combed over and the pale, drawn, facial features of a long-lived gnome.
"Madam, if you could please...! Please... Tell your friend to stop..." He dropped the façade of anger and quickly begged for my aid as Milim pulled a metal hat from a shelf and proceeded to throw it like a frisbee, her magic pulling it back once it reach a certain distance.
I simply nodded whilst staring at my adorable wife.
"Milim, please settle down... I can buy you anything you want, so just tell me what you wish to buy." Her eyes gleamed greedily before cooling into a controlled sense of calmness.
"Mmm'kay! Me and Shuna want our rings soon!" I sputtered into a coughing fit as Shuna and Milim giggled, their voices hushing a moment later as they conspired with one another, secretly.
'I guess I'll have to make them rings, Arty isn't coming through.' Images of them wearing matching rings to my own, wedding rings, made my brain frazzle beyond anything else and I quickly found myself scanning the entire room.
'If they're interested in magical items and like this shop so much...!'
"Oi, Gnome." The man, who had been sighing in relief thanks to my action, looked up at me.
"How much to buy every magical items and thing in this store?" He blanched at the question as his face turned pale, then shifted to bright red and then to green. Greed was coiling within him, my shadows detecting the vile presence of the sin within his emotions.
"A-um... I could go calculate that for you immediately...?" He tilted his head in question before I absentmindedly nodded, the little man running away at breakneck speed. This would no doubt be the biggest sale and commission of his life. Perhaps enough to allow him to create his own business? I couldn't care at this moment, the image of my three women with matching rings was all that was important.
A few minutes later, as i was inspecting a potion of invisibility, the Gnome came back and squeaked out a number.
"237,837 Gold!" The number barely made me flinch as my clones started to rapidly produce the material and shape it into the coin; sending it into the demi plane when finished of course.
"Easily done. Please pack everything away into crates and or, boxes, and I shall store them immediately." The Gnome was close to passing out as sweat beaded upon his brow and the entirety of his face was near apoplectic in excitement. "Y-y-y-yes Madam!!!" He shouted out his agreement whilst running away, gathering the other staff members and hurriedly pulling items from shelves; a single staff member pulling the Open sign around, effectively closing the store for the time being.
"Honey, did you do something?" Shuna poked her head around a large shelf and asked, her hair draping of her shoulders like a waterfall of pink.
"No...? Eh, you'll find out." I tried to lie but gave up, she would see through it soon anyway...
The gold production completed and I now had 1 million gold pieces to spare.
'Heh, they want a wedding? I'll give them a fucking wedding!' I knew I was smiling evilly, I just couldn't care at the moment.
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