"We need your help," after having just woken up in their new home, Fay was trying to call out to Rose by borrowing the sapphire brooch from Haruki. "If you're listening through this in any way, can you please contact Moriyana? She and her group were already supposed to be here, but there's not so, can you please check on them for us?"
Letting a relaxed sigh escape her lips, she closed her eyes for a moment with her fingers brushing along the brooch's smooth surface. Through it, she could feel the cold of a dragon's breath, which in turn made her wonder exactly what kind of material the sapphire stone was made of.
"Are you coming? You can rest here if you want," hearing Haruki's voice calling out to her, she opened her eyes back up.
Seeing Haruki standing in front of her with his hand extended, she beamed him a smile before finally getting off the edge of the bed.
"I think I'll stay and finish up the paperwork," placing the brooch on Haruki's extended hand, she planted a brief kiss on his cheeks before walking towards the bedroom exit. "Besides…Someone has to stay back and take care of Stella, right?"
Quickly storing the brooch in the dungeon pocket, Haruki followed Fay with his eyes as she smiled at him standing by the door. And although it pained his heart to admit it, he knew she was burdened with Stella's responsibility and his reckless actions were little to no help.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"It's okay, we all have our place in this world. Yours just happens to be a lot more chaotic than mine," giving him a reassuring nod, she walked right out through the door.
With her now gone, Haruki reluctantly turned back to the dressing mirror and began shifting into different clothes that would make him appear like a true adventurer. At first, he wanted to go with being a swordsman like before, but that his cover as Arnold the mercenary was now blown, he decided against it.
"They always have a tall hat for some reason," shifting into a violet robe with golden stripes and a tall witch's hat, Haruki appraised the attire with watchful eyes. "Not too shabby."
Leaning back, he made a constellation of branching designs run through the violet fabric. Like a pulse, they lit up from time to time as if breathing like a living being.
"You forgot a staff," all of a sudden, Haruki heard Riley point that out.
Turning to the open room door, he noticed Riley leaning against the doorframe in an attire of green in different shades of it. Scanning over her body, the first thing that stuck out to him was how much skin the clothes showed off. The shorts with leather straps to hold the knives were barely enough to cover her butt, and the top vest she'd worn showed a bit of her underboob and everything until right under her navel.
"You love green, don't you?" With a quick overview, Haruki noticed something else as well. "And that brown leather that matches your hair too."
"You think so? Ahaha," turning invisible, she moved behind Haruki and placed a knife right over his throat. "Well, I don't really need to change much of our clothes since none of our enemies have been able to figure out my true identity…Unlike a certain somebody that is."
Not at all threatened by Riley's usual play, Haruki wasn't gonna let her mocking words affect how he would handle this duel. And so, simply passing through Riley's body, as he'd done to the paper doors, he moved behind her and conjured a staff made of pure darkness.
"Here's the staff," bonking the back of the spy's head, Haruki made her drop the knife on the ground.
"Eeep!" Her lips arched upwards, Riley turned around with a single tear in her eye. "I'll get you one day, hmph!"
'When she acts like this, you almost forget that killing people gets her off.' Brushing his hand on her hair, Haruki beamed her a smile to cheer her up a little. In an instant, her face blushed up, however, given Haruki was her master's lover, she took a step away and turned around to leave.
"W-we should go, Asuka is waiting for us downstairs!" With that, she rushed out through the door.
After Riley was gone, Haruki quickly decorated the staff with concentrated jewels of darkness before infusing them with his mana to glow from time to time. On top of it, confining a demonic spy in a darkness ball, he attached it to the staff's top to make it appear like it was a true accessory of a mage.
'I hope making it shine is enough camouflage to hide its true nature.' Although a bit skeptical, he decided to head out with it regardless.
Descending down the spiraling staircase, he noticed Asuka and Riley waiting for him at the bottom. But what caught his attention this time was the holistic look Asuka had gone with. Dressed in a slightly lighter blonde than her own hair, she had adorned herself in a light robe that resembled the priestesses of the holy order of Atlas. Frilled up at the hem with golden cloth, and nettings, she seemed indistinguishable from what she originally looked like.
Peering up to the sound of Haruki's steps, she reflected a smile at the very sight of her master. Even when he was standing before her, she couldn't get her eyes off of him, not simply because of how much she adored him, but because of how ridiculously pretentious his outfit looked.
'Don't laugh!' She thought, trying her best to drown the hysteria with a wholesome expression.
"Anyway, let me know when you're done emptying the basement, I need the crap in there gone!" Breaking the awkward interaction, Fay came in through the front door in the clownish dwarf's company.
"Yes! Yes, Miss! Don't sweat for a second, I'll have it all go-" While making his way in with Fay, the Dwarf salesman stopped in his tracks the moment he saw Haruki and the rest of his group standing in the main hall. "Wait…What's happening here, who are you, people?"
Realizing that the dwarf couldn't see the resemblance despite only having changed attires, Haruki's confidence about the mask grew ever so slightly.
"Ughhh…They're the same people I came here with, you idiot!" Screaming at him again, Fay quickly took hold of the situation. "Not every one of us is a merchant, these guys are my companions plus they're adventurers."
"O-oh…" The dwarf uttered, seemingly not that convinced by the explanation.
'Forget it, I just need to sell this place. Why do I care if they're a bunch of weirdos?' Thankfully, for his own good, the dwarf knew better than to question a bunch of demons who could easily take control of his mind.
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