"That's fine, lets go then!" she said eagerly.
"eh?" I just tilted my head and made a confused noise.
"I'm already all dressed up for the denatus meeting and my day has been cleared so lets go now." she said pulling at my arm.
"Yeah but like we haven't got any plans made or anything also I kinda need to get changed for a date." I said not budging an inch.
"How enviable! I can't do the same even if I wish it." Freya complained about Hephaestus's opportunism.
"Quickly go change then!" Hephaestus said impatiently.
With a reluctant sigh I chose to play along and headed to my room to grab the suit I was wearing on our previous date since I couldn't exactly make anything new on the spot at the moment. Really it only just happened and already not being able to use my technique is inconveniencing me. The familia manor was all but empty at the moment with Bell, Lili, Welf, Cassandra and Daphne all in the dungeon while only I, Hestia and Ophelia were here. Hestia came back with me and my group from the meeting and immediately went to lie down with a headache.-
Ophelia was training with her scythe in the training area of the property, mostly just running about the place swinging the thing wildly but her form was..... acceptable so I chose to leave her be. I reached my room and had to admit it really threw me off having to actually use the door instead of just walking through the wall.
'It's the little things that bother you the most.' I mentally complained as I opened the door and walked in.
Besides the large and extremely plush Almiraj fur covered bed my room was totally stock since I could be bothered to personalize it.
Opening my closet I took off my current clothes before slipping on the suit I had made for my date with Hephaestus previously. From there i left my room and met back up with Hephaestus in the church of the manor. I immediately noticed the lack of Freya or Ottar and was going to ask about it but she explained before I could.
"Freya left already since there was no reason to stay, Ottar went with her naturally." she said and I nodded.
From there I merely went down into the vault to grab some coin before we left. I had to pat myself on the back for automating the vault to open to me or Hestia only through our soul signatures. Hestia had insisted on it in case she needed to get in there without me or if I couldn't use my technique for some reason. As it turned out I found myself in that exact situation and had to begrudgingly admit she was right even if I didn't like it. I followed Hephaestus's lead once we left the manor as I had no clue what we would even do for a date without any planning.-
As it turned out mostly just walk around the city whimsically. We even went to the entertainment district which contrary to popular belief WASN'T just whores but had casinos and other types of entertainment as well. We went to a large casino run by the Mammon familia and played poker, roulette and even bet on mice races. That last one caught me off guard a bit but I could understand it easily enough. Horse racing was too expensive and took up too much space to hold but mice were both cheap to keep and maintain and their races could be contained to a large but not unreasonably sized table.-
I also noticed my war boards that simulated war games being played in the VIP area which made sense. When I allowed Hestia to sell those things I did set the price quite high since even for me making those things was a bit complex. Naturally there were item makers that had tried to replicate the things even buying one to take apart to try and understand but it was pointless. I had long since started putting small almost redundant antitamper cursed techniques in the valuable things I created to keep my monopoly.-
There was no point in things like weapons and armor since I never had a monopoly on those but for things like my war board or Jukebox I made sure to add this measure to it. You set the cursed technique off and the whole things get reduced to a fine powder in mere moments. I don't care how good you are at puzzles, there's no piecing that back together at that point. I couldn't account for temporal abilities reversing the damage but if someone was willing to go to that length for a mere trinket product they deserve to figure it out.-
Hephaestus was naturally counted as a VIP at the casino and given a line of credit for her gambling but she was smart enough to know to stop when she was ahead and earned a couple thousand valis before we left. After that we took a tour of the market to see if there was anything interesting there but neither of us spent money on anything besides some street food. Honestly it wasn't because there weren't items worth anything there but most of it was stuff we could either make ourselves or acquire without much fuss such a materials dropped from monsters.-
I didn't even find any draconite this time which made sense given it rarity but I was still a little disappointed. After the market we got a table at a small but unbusy restaurant that had good food but were in an area with little foot traffic normally. I myself got a breaded, fried duck dish with a berry sauce and sweet potato mash. Despite duck being quite oily naturally the dish wasn't too heavy. Hephaestus got a simple shrimp and tomato pasta dish with garlic butter cheese sauce and I had to admit smelled really good.-
The date ended after I walked her home and she stole a kiss before fleeing into her familias area. I just chuckled and shook my head at this as both she and Freya had pulled the same trick on me now and I fell for it both times.
'Can't say i'm too mad about it though.' I thought with a chuckle as I walked away unhurriedly. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝙣𝙚𝙩
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