The clothing district was nothing like the blacksmithing district.
For starters, nobody was yelling about steel quality or waving hot metal around like a threat.
Instead, the air smelled like fresh dye and fabric softener, and the whole place looked like someone dumped a rainbow over an entire street.
Kaelis thought it was suspiciously peaceful.
Shops shouldn't be this wholesome.
Colorful banners hung from balconies, bolts of cloth fluttered on display racks, and sewing apprentices rushed between doorways carrying baskets full of thread spools.
And compared to weapon gear?
Everything was actually affordable.
They spent the next hour drifting from shop to shop, weaving through racks of cloth and bolts stacked to the ceiling.
Every place they stopped, Kaelis had the same routine:
He'd grab a fabric roll, tug on the edge, hold it up to the light, and then stare down the clerk like he was waiting for a confession.
It's one thing to be poor but you could never catch him looking the part.
"What's this made of?"
"Is this actually cotton?"
"Why does this one feel like it was sandpaper in a past life?"
The clerks were polite, but all of them looked suspicious.
Two masked customers asking too many questions? Yeah, they absolutely looked like trouble.
Bell kept bowing and apologizing after every question, which only made them look more suspicious.
Still, cheap was cheap, and they weren't going to question blessings.
They walked out with a surprisingly good haul—solid fabrics at prices so low Kaelis felt like he needed to leave the district before someone realized they'd messed up the tags.
"Alright, we'll go into that alleyway and remove the masks," Kaelis said, turning into a narrow side path between two buildings.
As soon as they reached inside the alley, they immediately removed the mask and took a deep breath.
"Phew… fresh air at last." Bell passed the mask back to Kaelis.
"Remind me not to go shopping again in the blacksmith district till we have more than 10 mil."
As they put the numerous bags of fabrics inside their storage and decided to leave,
A blur of blonde dropped into the alley gracefully with a soft thud.
"Huh?"
Kaelis turned to find a sword already pointed at his face.
And at the end of the sword was a beautiful doll faced young woman with long blonde hair.
Bell realized moments later that someone else was in the alleyway with them.
'Too fast!'
"Master—"
"Don't move." The blonde cut him off in a calm tone her eyes never leaving Kaelis.
Bell froze up at the command.
'Where did she come from…? I hadn't heard her approaching at all…?'
His mind went into overdrive, trying to understand the current situation as he took deep breaths to try and calm himself.
The blonde then finally posed a question.
"Who are you?" She questioned.
"Woah! She jumped in—just like that!"
On the other end of the alley, two more figures landed from the roof top.
Both amazonian women from their attire and bronze skin color.
One with short black hair waving cheerfully like this was a picnic, and the other, with tall hair cracking her knuckles like she wanted to start swinging.
From the looks of it, they might be sisters.
"I'd like to ask the same thing." Kaelis returned the question to the blonde.
"Oi! Answer Aiz's question!"
The two Amazonians came up to the blonde's side with the short haired one coming up to Kaelis side leaning forward with a playful expression.
"You're handsome, mister! What's a person like you doing, going around looking like a robber?"
The one they call Aiz, pressed the blade closer to his face, and with the same neutral expression, repeated her question.
"Who are you?"
Ignoring the Amazonian, he turned to Aiz. "Could you remove your sword from my face first? I don't take kindly to this kind of thing."
The tall haired Amazon raised an eyebrow, "and what do you think you're able to do if she doesn't?"
They looked at his face and saw a serious expression.
"Hey, Tione! I don't think he knows us!" The short haired turned to the other Amazon with a bewildered expression.
"Haa? That's impossible!"
Tione blinked hard then leaned in, and looked Kaelis up and down like he'd just spoken another language.
"You're telling me," she said slowly, "that you don't know who we are? In Orario? The same Orario where half the city worships the ground she walks on?"
Tiona gasped dramatically. "Right?! Everyone knows Aiz! Even tourists know Aiz!"
Kaelis tilted his head. "Should I?"
Both Amazons stared at him like he'd just insulted the sun.
Aiz, still completely unfazed, kept her sword in place. "Answer the question."
Kaelis sighed. "I'll answer when the blade isn't trying to shave my nonexistent beard."
Tiona whispered, "Tione, I think he's serious."
"No way!" Tione folded her arms over her chest. "He looks too normal to be that clueless!"
Bell quietly came forward and tugged at Kaelis' sleeve. "Master… maybe we should just tell them who we are…"
Seeing they weren't getting anywhere with intimidation, Tiona stepped forward, slapped her palm to her chest, and beamed.
"Okay! Fine!" She pointed at herself. "Tiona Hiryute! One of the Hiryute sisters!"
Tione placed an arm on hips. "Tione Hiryute. Older, stronger, and smarter than her."
Tiona stuck her tongue out.
Then, almost in sync, they both stepped aside and gestured to the blonde still waiting for a straight answer.
"And this," Tione said proudly, "is Aiz Wallenstein."
"The Sword Princess!" Tiona added, hands shooting up like she was announcing a festival champion.
Aiz didn't react. Not even a blink. She just lowered her sword slightly, enough to give Kaelis space to 'breathe.'
Kaelis burst into rounds of clapping as the two girls looked proud at their introduction and had this smug look on their faces.
Once he finished clapping, he asked the question:
"So…who are you?"
"…"
All three girls—yes all three, eyes went wide as if they couldn't believe what they just heard.
Seeing their looks, he finally decided to clear some air.
"Don't sweat the small stuff. I've been in Orario for two days now. Can't expect me to know you guys this early, right?"
He smiled slightly as he added, "though, I'm grateful to have met three lovely ladies this early on in my stay."
"Since you've introduced yourselves already, I'll gladly return the favor…"
Placing his hand to his chest, he leaned forward slightly.
"My name is Kaelis Valeblade." He gestured to Bell, "and this young man is Bell, Bell Cranel, child of the hestia familia and also my disciple."
The two Amazons didn't react at first.
Tiona was the first to break.
Her face heated up, a soft pink blooming across her cheeks.
"L-Lovely…?" She whispered. "He…he is so courteous…"
Being called lovely by a handsome man so respectful was not on her list of things to do this evening.
Tione snorted. "Don't get drunk on one compliment, idiot," she muttered… though even she had the faintest upward curve at the corner of her lips.
And Aiz?
Aiz just tilted her head, golden eyes blinking slowly.
Finally, Tiona cleared her throat loudly, trying to recover her usual energy.
"R-Right! A-anyway!" She slapped her hand to her chest. "Since you told us who you are, we'll tell you properly too!"
Tione stepped to do the honors. "We are part of the Loki Familia—and if you've been in Orario for more than three minutes, you should know the name."
Aiz nodded once, sword now fully lowered.
"Loki Familia," she repeated quietly.
"L-Loki Familia!? The Loki Familia!?" Bell gasped.
Tione smirked. "So you have heard of us."
Kaelis shrugged. "I've read up on information on Orario. Found "Loki familia" a number of times. Just didn't care enough to research the members.."
Tiona leaned forward, satisfied. "Okay, okay! That's more believable."
Aiz sheathed her sword quietly, her eyes still analyzing the two in front of her.
Bell exhaled in relief.
Kaelis dusted off the front of his shirt like the whole sword-in-the-face thing was an annoying inconvenience.
If they hadn't been pretty girls, they wouldn't be standing right now.
"Now that we're done with introductions… Can we talk about why you three jumped us in an alley?"
Chapter 69 end.