CHAPTER 1455: RAINBOWDEN STREETS

Group 2: Hurricroak and the Twins

[Ah, the sights, the sounds, the smells! It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a foreign city where everything is just so...different!] Hurricroak said with the glee of a woman who hadn’t taken a vacation in two years.

Unlike the other Kaijin groups, who opted to shrink down and stay out of sight, Hurricroak, Porcelain Doll, and Corpse Doll opted to take on their human disguises while walking through the streets of Rainbowden.

Granted their human disguises were probably more eye-catching than their regular forms, but hey, being overt could be considered a variation of being covert.

And there was nothing more overt than a trio of lovely ladies that looked like they could suck your soul out with a kiss. Evidently, this was actually a very good way of enflaming mortal [Desire] as well.

[Big sis Hurricroak. Why do I feel like all of these people are directing gazes of fire at us?] Corpse Doll asked while noticing the fact that some of the people they passed by seemed to be gazing at her backside. [I mean, I don’t hate it since it feels like it’s stimulating the development of my core, but it still feels weird.]

[I think it’s because, by mortal standards at least, we’re "attractive",] Porcelain Doll answered her sister. [I mean, look at those ladies over there with the red lanterns in the doorway.]

[You mean the one with the guys in green hats?]

[Yeah, that’s the one.]

[Oh, you two are so innocent it makes me want to sing!] Hurricroak joked. [But we can’t do that quite yet, so let’s focus on the task at hand.]

[Yee!] Corpse Doll agreed. [Uh...what was it again?]

[Acting as guards for Lady Bellona and the others without being seen,] Porcelain Doll answered. [Although, I think we’ve already been noticed.]

[Really? How do you figure?]

[Miss Bellona can read minds, remember?]

[Oh yeah...]

...Speaking of Bellona and her group...

’Pfft! I see Zhen Liu’s Kaijin are still as ridiculous as ever,’ Bellona internally chuckled as she heard the conversation going on between Hurricroak and the proto-kaijin twins.

"Hmm? What got you giggling over there?" Antonio asked, unaware of Bellona’s gift.

"Oh, nothing. Just thought I heard something strange out of context. You know how it is."

Every city worth their salt had a merchant district, this was an indisputable fact.

However, Rainbowden was a bit more interesting in that regard in the sense that not a single person running the shops in this town was a merchant by trade. Instead, every last one of them was an artisan.

And like every artisan trying to make a living, they were simultaneously shrewd hagglers and viciously desperate.

^Come one, come all! If you buy one of my shields, I’ll throw in a sword for free!^

^The hell you mean you’ll pay four hundred for this statue of mine?! It’s worth at least six hundred at least!^

^Well, if it isn’t my favorite commissioner! What can I do ya for this time? Eh? What kind of sheath? Why would you need...your new wife is how tall?!^

A majority of the people who came to buy goods from Rainbowden were actually merchants who would buy goods from the artisans here and then flip them for profit elsewhere in the world.

Most of the artisans knew this and didn’t really care, mostly because they couldn’t be bothered to hawk their wares themselves. However, they did make sure that they got a fair cut of the action.

Most of the time.

Regardless; Alice, Bellona, Taurna,Lyona, Olstenna, and Antonio were using this opportunity to look around the city and see what kind of goodies they could secure for themselves at prices that were probably more reasonable than at the auction house...as a secondary goal.

The primary goal, at least in Bellona’s head, was to find some decent outfits for Lyona and Taurna.

Needless to say the recently freed slave girls were a little...overwhelmed at being dragged into high society shopping when literal weeks ago, they were getting over the idea of being able to sleep with a full belly.

Thankfully, they had Bellona to help them out...mostly.

"Well, come on ladies. There has to be at least one tailor, one particular style here that calls to the two of you," Bellona said in an attempt to encourage the two to make their opinions known to her. "Do you want to try something colorful? Something monochrome? Or perhaps you’d prefer northern style or southern style stitch patterns?"

"Mono-what?"

"Southern-huh?"

"Oh my word, you two are somehow more naive than Rianna. I don’t know if I find that adorable or sad... probably both...alright, get over here you two. Big sister Bellona is going to choose the outfits for you. Or at the very least, help you two pick the bolts of cloth that we’re going to have a tailor work with."

"Okay!" Taurna and Lyona agreed with slightly forced enthusiasm.

As the aformentioned trio continued to have their fashion day planned out, Alice, Olstenna and Antonio were hanging around them acting as their attendants. Granted, that didn’t stop them from being bored out of their skulls.

Although, Olstenna and Antonio couldn’t help but to ask their third compatriot why they were hanging around them instead of shopping with the girls.

The answer they received was...more or less what they expected.

"I came to this city to get my treasure scythe here fixed and nothing else," Alice answered in a blunt manner. "Anything else is just an unnecessary expenditure."

"Okay..." Olstenna nodded, understanding the logic himself.

"That, and I already have enough clothes in my wardrobe as is. I don’t need a new set for every city I go to."

"That...is surprisingly practical," Antonio agreed. Granted, the man usually had one outfit on his back at any given time so the idea of having multiple outfits on hand was a little foreign to him.

The last time Antonio, Olstenna, and Alice had seen each other was at the [City of Mirrors]. As such, after this initial conversational ice breaker, the trio decided to get a little more personal with each other’s lives.

They had already fought alongside in a matter of life-or-death, so emotional baggage sharing was...normal.

"So I heard from the others that you tried to challenge Zhen Liu to a duel, after he had already broken through to the Aether Lord rank?" Alice asked Olstenna in a point blank manner. "And judging from how you’re now one of his loyal warriors, means that he bested you in battle?"

"Yeah," Olstenna freely admitted without shame. "I severely underestimated his abilities. Especially when he combines with a kaijin."

"No shit," Antonio added. "He didn’t even need to work with that giant mammoth-looking motherfucker. He worked with the thunder frog, Hurricroak."

"Heh. Wish I was there to see it," Alice chuckled at the thought of that jumpy blue frog woman kicking Olstenna’s ass. "What about you? I heard you learned something about yourself?"

"Well, I am now a little closer in figuring out my adoptive mother’s identity," Antonio answered. "We narrowed it down to two kai...hold up."

Before Antonio could finish explaining the two possible cat Kaijin that might’ve spent their last moments raising him, the sight of a pair of warriors in the crowd caused him to clam up in an instant.

Noticing their compatriots sudden silence, both Olstenna and Alice locked in as well.

Using aether, they disguised their voices.

"Antonio, what’s gotten you spooked?"

"Enemy warriors?"

"Over there. You see the fellows dressed in yellow and silver?"

"Yeah?"

"Check their armbands."

Following Antonio’s words, Olstenna and Alice looked towards the guys he pointed out and directed their gazes towards the aformentioned’s armbands.

One of the armbands depicted a stylized sabertooth-like emblem stitched in gold against a yellow silk band.

As for the other, it showed what appeared to be a bulky dragon devouring a a bunch of trees, stitched in silver and green against a black armband.

In other words, these were the symbols of the Golden Sabertooth Household and the Silver Jungle Dragon shipping company.

"Well I’ll be damned."

"Looks like we’re going to get those revenge matches after all."

While the presence of these warriors didn’t gurantee the presence of Duke Diamoro, the leader of the Golden Sabertooth household, and Alfonso of the Silver Jungle Dragon shipping company, it did mean that those two were probably somewhat involved here.

And honestly, after everything that had went down in the City of Mirrors, Zhen Liu wasn’t the only one who wanted to take a more permanent swing at those bastards.

"You know, I think it’s technical a good thing that Lythero isn’t here to see these two walk by," Antonio pointed out to his companions. "I can already imagine him attempting to walk up to them and challenging them to street brawl...or worse."

"Isn’t he currently only at half strength because of his busted swords?" Alice pointed out.

"I imagine that’s going to be addressed soon."