It had been a few minutes since Elata had dragged Vigil out of the mercenary hall and as of right now, the duo could be seen walking around one of Mercy's many commercial districts.
To be more specific, one of the northern commercial districts, where plants and wildlife of all kinds could be seen wherever you looked. All of that added on top of the already bustling streets of a massive commercial district made for quite the spectacle.
However, Vigil's thoughts were soon pulled away by the sound of Elata's voice coming from a few steps in front of him.
"Alrighty then. Now that we've made it here, there's something that I have been meaning to do with you for a while now."
She paused, trying to make the next words that would come out of her mouth sound dramatic.
Sadly, it was for naught as Vigil could already guess what she was going to say.
""Shopping?/!""
They said at the same time. One with a questioning tone whilst the other in an excited one.
When Elata heard the young boy speak at the same time as her, she couldn't help but stop and stare for a moment with a blank look on her face.
"..."
"Am I that easy to read?"
Hearing this, Vigil couldn't help but point to... Well, anywhere.
"We are standing in the middle of a shopping center. It doesn't take a great scholar to figure out why we are here."
In response to his pragmatic words, Elata decided to ask another question.
"Well I am sure that you will be unable to guess why we are going shopping together like this."
Vigil took a quick second to glance around the area.
Seeing as there were plenty of different clothing locations situated all over the place, he made an educated guess based off of that.
"You wanted to get some more clothes for yourself and thought that it would be good to have a second opinion on things. So, as I am the only one here at the moment, you brought me. Am I right?"
In answer to his words, Elata looked up at him while flashing a cheeky grin.
"Nope... Well, I mean, you are half right. I did want to get some clothes, but not for me."
Realizing what she meant, Vigil's face had immediately scrunched up, turning into a frown.
Not wanting to do this, he wanted to retort in hopes of Elata backing off and not forcing him to go shopping. The reason as to why he disliked shopping for clothes was because of the past experiences he had when going with his mother.
Each and every time he had picked out and tried on clothes that he liked, his mother would soon throw another batch at him, forcing him to try them on.
And then it happened again, and again, and again, with no end in sight.
It would take hours all just to come back home with a few sets of clothes and nothing more.
Then there was the one time that he'd gone with the princess and she had asked him to try on some clothes for her. After seeing him wear the first set, she'd give him another one, forcing him to put it on.
In short, throughout his whole life, he's never had a good experience when going clothing shopping for himself with another person tagging along.
Seeing Vigil's clearly displeased face, Elata decided that it would be best for him if he knew why they were going shopping for him in the first place.
"Come now, Dread, don't act like that. Listen, other than your armor and the layer of clothes beneath it, you have nothing else to wear. I mean you could argue that your school uniform could work as another set of clothing, but seeing as you just dropped out after your first day... There is just no point in wearing them."
She paused for a moment, giving the boy time to think about what was just said, then continued.
"Not only that, but you also have no other everyday commodities like a toothbrush or deodorant. So while we are out we can get those as well. I am just trying to help you out. So don't look so displeased, alright?"
With those points circulating through his head, Vigil couldn't help but agree with her.
He indeed needed some more clothes as well as hygienic items, although he didn't know what deodorant was so he had just assumed that it was for health or something along those lines.
But the point was that he could not deny her or the words that she'd said.
So, resigning himself from his earlier unpleasant feelings, Vigil reluctantly accepted her offer to go shopping together.
"Hah... Fine, let's go and get some shopping done."
Hearing him accept his fate, Elata flashed the boy a pleased smile then told him their plans for the rest of the day.
"Alright, first off, let's get you cleaned up. More specifically your hair. It looks like an old sewer rat's - overgrown and just downright unpleasant. After that, we will go clothes shopping, then finish off with going to the convenience store to get everything else."
Half way through her talking, Vigil had blanked out, thinking to himself about what she'd just said.
'My hair looks like a sewer rat's... I mean I know I have not been able to keep it tidy, especially out in War Field, but it is not that bad... Right?'
He did regularly cut it so as to not get in the way whilst fighting, but that's not to say that he actually took care of it.
By the time that he'd finished his thoughts, Elata had already started to walk away.
Swiftly following after her, Vigil was soon able to catch up and just in time too, as she was now walking into a shop that was situated on the corner of the city block.
Entering through the door right behind her, what greeted Vigil was the sight of a well occupied, lively barbershop with people sitting on chairs that have been put off to the side for customer convenience while waiting.
Not to mention the people sitting down already getting their hair cut.
Both the customers as well as the workers seemed to get along quite well as different energetic conversations kept flowing in and out of his ears.
In the background of it all, the sound of soft instrumental music could be heard.
As they were entering, Vigil had a sneaking suspicion that this experience of him getting his hair cut wouldn't play out too well. That with his severe trust issues and all.
Although he had gotten better, even if just ever so slightly, having someone with a sharp object in their hand stand right behind him with it facing towards his neck...
... Yeah, that probably wasn't going to end on a high note.
When the duo had finished walking through the door, one of the barbers, specifically a tall cat-type beast-folk with black hair, green eyes, and a pierced ear, had looked at them and spoke in a deep yet lively voice.
"Oh, well if it isn't Elata! What brings you here, I thought I just saw you the other month?"
Elata, hearing his question, responded.
"Hey Mally! Yeah, I'm not here for me. In fact I'm here for this guy."
She said while pointing towards the boy that was standing right next to her.
Without giving the man, Mally, any time to ask, she resumed.
"Yeah, Dread here hasn't had a real haircut in years, so do him up nicely, will ya?"
That one sentence had made the entirety of the shop go silent, then shortly after, blow up in a whirlwind of commotion.
***
Stepping out of the cozy barbershop, Vigil couldn't help but speak out in an exasperated voice to no one in particular.
"This is going to become much too common of an occurrence, isn't it?"
It had only taken that one sentence for the scene that played out back in the mercenary hall to repeat itself here.
Following closely behind him was Elata, answering his question in a matter of fact tone.
"Get used to it. Your name alone is a popular subject for people to talk about. Now imagine if the owner of that name, i.e. you, appeared in front of those same people? They would go ballistic!"
After saying that, she walked past him and towards their next destination with Vigil following closely behind.
As they were walking, Elata had turned around to look at the young boy just a few feet behind her.
"I know I did not say it while we were in the shop, but you look quite handsome now with your hair all cleaned up."
Vigil raised an eyebrow when he heard this.
After the haircut had been finished, he looked much more... tidy, to say the least. Contrary to his old look that reminded one of an unkempt, bestial animal.
But the haircut did not do much to help his look as the two scars on his face were still as prominent as ever. Those paired with the fact that he was still wearing his armor, he still did not look the best.
Much better than before, but not good.
As they were walking down the street while making small talk about what they should eat for dinner, the two had passed a shop with multiple giant televisions facing the window and towards the outside world.
Displayed on said televisions was, what Vigil had come to know as, the news, a convenient replacement for newspapers.
Without stopping, Vigil read the words that could be seen flowing on the bottom of the screen.
"Three months into the search and rescue after Zulnaba, the Dragon State, fell."
Pictures of destroyed cities could be seen flashing in and out as those words were flowing across the illuminated T.V.
Seeing as how Vigil seemed enthralled with what was on the screens, Elata spoke up, clarifying what he was looking at.
"Zulnaba, it was one of the few places where the dragons lived, and the only place where they cohabitated with people like us, before it fell to a swarm of Creatures of War. Now, us mercs are being hired to both clear out any remaining threats and also find any citizens that still happen to be alive."
Hearing this, Vigil couldn't help but look at the closed eyed woman in confusion.
After a few moments, he was able to speak what was currently flowing through his mind.
"Wait a moment, dragons lived there? But I was taught that they are pretty much the strongest of all the races. Was the attack just so brutal that even those mighty beings were unable to fend it off?"
Elata, scratching the back of her head while entering a clothing shop, responded in an unsure tone of voice.
"Well, that's just the thing... From what I know, the dragons... Refused to help."