108 Girls in town part 2

After they left the restaurant, Calla and the group started working on their mission for the day. Having successfully managed to frustrate the girls working there with all their talks about Calla's superior cooking skills, Mable was back into a good mood.

The staff had not said a word as they left but Calla felt that they were so angry they were almost shaking. The way they had been criticizing the food had not been subtle at all, if someone had talked the same way about her own cooking, Calla would have probably cried. She hoped they wouldn't feel too hurt about it.

With this peculiar meal behind them, the group walked into the merchant street. The place was called merchant street because of all the prosperous merchants doing business there but there were also many successful and talented artisans offering their works all long the street. Like the rest of this strange city, some of the shops where high above the road and could only be accessed through stairs leading up the many floors of the buildings on either side of the street. The amount of those was so exaggerated that they had even built some walkways along the second floor of the buildings to bridge all the shops above the streets.

It was very special to look at but Calla was much too bothered by the crowd to pay any attention to it all. There were a lot of people here, way more than she could handle, walking here and there all around her. She stuck close to Harriett for safety and hid in the middle of their group as she watched the strangers.

All of them were dressed in ways she would never have expected. The most ordinarily dressed men wore tall hats and mismatched coats over thin and even sometimes translucent shirts, buttoned from the side or simply tied at the waist with colorful ribbons. Most of them had short sleeves and pants to show their legs and arms often adorned with bits of gold tied to their gloves and sleeves.

Women also wore a vast array of clothes Calla could never have imagined on her own. They had sleeves disconnected from the body of their clothes, gloves without fingers, clothes that left their bellies exposed but tied their breasts tightly or tops that showed vast cleavage but still covered their necks like the most private of places. She saw hats that flowed down their back and turned into skirts, dresses made entirely of layered flounces, skin tight pants that left part of their calves or thighs in the open and a wider variety of dress and skirts cuts and lengths that there were people in Dark-glint.

Calla couldn't understand how any of those clothes could be practical to wear at all, a few even turned her as red as an apple and didn't deserve the title of clothes. Were all the nobles wearing these sort of things? This couldn't be, the girls around her wore much more sensible clothes. Harriett and Brenia wore pants and shirts and the others dresses or skirts. Celtine had the weirdest clothes but she knew they had been tailored on demand to let her sit on Emp's shoulders without issue.

Since they were planning to have new clothes made for her, Calla's felt relieved that according to what they wore, she wouldn't end up dressed like those around them.

Mable pointed at a shop on the third floor of a stone made building.

"Here, this one deals in normal clothes, they made most of my new clothes."

The sign had no picture, only words she couldn't read. However, the others all seemed to agree that this was the best place to have new clothes made so they climbed the stairs on the outside of the building. The first led to the upper walkway from a bit further down the road and the they had to circle to the side of the building to find the solid wooden staircase wrapped around it to get to the third floor it occupied.

Calla found funny that before getting in this city, she never had to climb stairs longer than a few steps up to a stage or down a larder. Here, everything was about verticality. It might explain why the men down on the road wore boots with with soles as thick as a fat apple and why some of the girls wore heels so tall they seemed to walk on their tiptoes.

Inside the shop, a dozen ladies and two men frantically worked on lengths of cloth and half finished clothes. They seemed very talented, at least compared to her or her mother. They worked swiftly and efficiently, whether they were weaving or sewing they were confident in their task.

One of the two men got up from his work and walked up to them with an amicable smile.

"Welcome in our workshop fair ladies. Students from the imperial school again I presume. What can we do for you all today?"

Aglaya presented Calla by putting her hands on her shoulders and pushing her to the front of the group

"Hi, we're here for her today."

"Very well, what is she in need of?"

Calla knew it wasn't all that polite to address Aglaya rather than her directly but she preferred it that way because she had no idea of how anything worked. Vanessa explained the situation to the man using a charmingly polite voice.

"She married one of our good friends and we need her to wear a dress that will reflect her new status."

Surprise flashed on the face of the man but he recovered quickly. He must have believed that Calla was one of the servants, possibly even a slave.

"I understand, a formal dress for the lady here. What sort of status does it need to reflect?"

All the other girls made a difficult face and Aglaya asked Calla directly.

"What is Emp exactly? Low for baron or bellow, high for dukes and above and intermediary for the rest."

"High." Calla answered weakly but without hesitation.

His current rank could be considered equal to a royal prince, or even imperial princes that weren't the heir. Was there a specific name to describe a non-crown prince? (1)

"So we guessed right, he is a high noble after all." Aglaya nodded.

"You guessed it? I was sure he was an idiot that came from some backwater village." Brenia complained.

Did she just make a mistake? She knew that they didn't know who Emp really was but she had not thought about how it also meant that they had no idea about his real rank. She just thought that she was being asked for politeness. She hoped Emp would be too disappointed in her.

Mable on the other hand seemed rather pleased. Not because of Calla's slip up but simply because she learned something good about Emp.

"In that case, the price will be quite high but we will make sure the result is exquisite." The man followed. "Let's talk about the details."

The man wanted to know her tastes, the colors of her husbands house, the style of clothing she required, the kind of textile she preferred, the desired effect, and so on.

Unlike Emp, Calla knew about all those terms and the texture of all sorts of fabrics, she didn't dislike to talk about all that either. However, the more the talk advanced, the paler she became thinking about how much it would cost Emp. Did she really need all those expensive lengths of cloth? She kept trying to redirect the attention of everyone on simpler and more common textiles hoping to lessen the cost but she was shut down by Mable and Vanessa every time.

"Calla, trust us, money doesn't matter. It's all about what the others will think of you instead. The better you look, the better you make him look. This is not wasted money, every crown we spend here will increase both of your reputations."

On top of that problem, she was unable to answer anything related to his house. How was she to know what were the colors of the Muraciers or what their emblem looked like. It's not like she could just tell them it was the Muracier's, she couldn't betray Emp's secret like that. At the same time, she feared she would get in trouble for not going along with their traditional clothing style.

In the end, it was Harriett who provided the information, just in small parts in order to keep his anonymity. Calla thanked her for her precious help, if not for her, she could have been stuck here for a very long time.

She was asked to point out styles and things she liked but since she had no concrete idea, they used the clothes of the other girls as example.

They took a long time to examine and compare them all. With four example of good noble dresses or skirts, it made things easier for her to picture but not that much easier to choose.

There were two skirts and two dresses adding on top of Brenia's hunting clothes and Emp's two servants gowns to take ideas from. All of their clothes were very pretty but Calla felt that the most important was that they seemed to be a good match for each of them. In Calla's opinion, none of those would be good on her.

Mable's dress had a party cut, flaring out from the bottom, it was floor length with a natural waistline and a tight bodice darker than the rest of the dress and accentuating the shape of her upper body. She had a wide U shaped neckline but even if it revealed a tiny amount of cleavage, it was far from indecent or eye catching when combined with the fantasist borders and cuts along every pieces of cloth part of her dress. The whole thing was bright and colorful, with short summer sleeves and delicate lacing. It was overall charming, pretty and youthful. Calla felt that if she wore something similar, the shape of her own waist would not make justice to the cut of that dress. The colors where too bright as well, she'd feel like her younger sisters and she'd be afraid to dirty it while cooking.

"Don't cook wearing a high class dress! I know you love cooking but please, promise you'll change your clothes first!" Mable pleaded to her.

This sort of thing must be hard to wash.

The other wearing a dress was Vanessa. The hem of it had an asymmetrical cut reaching higher up her leg on the left to reveal her long white socks and her tall boots. Overall, it was a tea-length dress, reaching just under her knee and the bottom part was shaped like a tulip. The waistline of her dress was just over her hips and gave the feeling she had a long slender upper body. Her dress was all in tints of pale greens and blues and was made in four layers, each with their specific uses and good looking traits. From her words, it was made in a way that would let her move properly and practice dancing without tripping in the skirt or feeling her breasts moving all the time. Her dress had no sleeves but she wore long gloves almost reaching her elbows. Calla thought it was pretty, more so when she moved and showed her legs and expansive shoes, it was graceful and energetic. She was not the type to move all that much unless she did chores however, such a cut would be wasted on her.

Next was Rica with the most casual wear of the four noble ladies. She wore a loose top under a pale brown leather corset, with a snug pair of pants under a knee length skirt with a handkerchief hem. Aside from the corset, all her clothes were emerald green but even though they seemed simple, the complexity of their cuts and stitches along with the many ornaments made it stand out of its ordinary nature. This might be the one Calla would feel the less awkward wearing but everyone else said it wasn't fit for the effect they were looking for as it was too casual.

Then the only one left was Aglaya's. She mostly wore black to match her serious nature but kept some accents of deep green here and there to show some personality. She wore a conservative straight floor length skirt with a flounce hem and surprisingly wore it tied just bellow her bust. This was the main reason she seemed to have so much leg. Likewise, the top part had long black sleeve ending in points reaching over her fingers under a thin wispy vest open at the front that fell loosely down her back and over the skirt. Her clothes had nothing alluring or youthful like the others but they gave her an authoritative air, smart and dignified. In the end, it was just as charming as the others on her but Calla felt that if she wore something like that herself, she would just look like an idiot.

Unable to find any clues on what would look good on her from the other's dresses, Calla had to rely heavily on the opinion of the tailors and he other girls to make her decisions. They made sure that everything would match her bracelet, in colors and design so that they wouldn't clash against each other, they inquired about other jewelry and ornaments, discussed her haircut and its length, talked for a long time about footwear, passed through examples of dresses, tops, skirts, pants and even underwear. They also had her touch plenty of different fabrics and expensive threads, pointing out their different characteristics and how they felt on her skin.

Unlike Emp, she didn't feel dizzy immediately and time flew by in a flash. They took measurements, had her stand in different poses as they tried different things and pushed her to take decisions for herself even though the opinion of the majority often overruled her own will.

She had a surprising amount of fun despite feeling faint about how the bill kept growing further and further out of hand. On top of that, Mable paid an alarmingly large extra to have it made as fast as humanly possible. Celtine stood in the background taking notes on everything they bought and paid for including the extra for future reference for Emp. Calla felt terrible about this.

She also felt feverish picturing what sort of clothes she'd end up with, it was all way too much for her. She had dreamed of being dressed like a princess just like any other girls when she was younger but honestly, she did not believe any sort of clothes that were this pretty could ever fit her well. With how eager the others seemed and how confident the workers looked however, she started feeling curious and a tiny bit hopeful about the result.

They left the store late but according to the girls, they were far from done yet. They moved on to all those other things they spoke about with the tailors including footwear, jewelry and makeup. They even found someone to give her tips about her hair and they bought her a cute bag to strap over her shoulder that would match her new clothes.

Throughout this all, she listened to the chatter of the other girls. They seemed to really enjoy showing her all those things she knew nothing about, pointing this and that to her, talking about their experiences on each and arguing about what was the best kind of every single item they checked. It was quite obvious that they genuinely wanted her to look like a noble, like one of them. She wasn't sure of why some of them did yet but she was glad they were there to walk her though it all.

At some point, Vanessa was telling her she should wear high heeled shoes to match her height with Emp as she was way shorter than him. The heels would not fix the almost ten inches difference but it would feel less jarring. Calla didn't understand why this height disparity mattered but according to the others, it was good if the guy was taller but it didn't look good when it was too wide a difference since people need to think she can stand on her own.

Calla thanked Vanessa for the advice and the other answered her with a smile.

"You don't have to thank me for that. Also, call me Nessa, all my friends do."

Calla felt it was a good time to ask her about who she was.

"Nessa, what sort of relationship do you have with Emp? Why are you helping me so much."

She answered with a shrug and a smile.

"I have a debt towards Emp but that's not why I'm here and that's certainly not what you want to know, is it?"

Calla didn't know what she wanted to find out exactly yet so she didn't know what to tell her.

"Mable, Brenia, Aglaya and Emp are my best friends so of course I want to know about you."

"How am I one of your best friends? We just spar from time to time."

"You don't hold your thoughts and hide them in front of me even though I'll become a duchess in the future. I don't know all that many people, even less I can call friends, I value your talent and honesty."

"Huhum, speaking of honesty, I'm curious about this Nessa. Do you have feelings for Emp?" Brenia asked her bluntly.

Calla would have turned bright red if she had been the one that had been asked that but Nessa barely reacted at all, and more with surprise than embarrassment.

"Not really I don't think. I'd rather wait to see where everyone will end up before I take any sort of decision on anything related to love. I need to think about my territory first and what will benefit it."

"That's not really what love is about though." Mable pitied her.

"I'm happy that you found someone you really like Mable, even if you try to hide it. But, I'm not like you, it never was about what I want, it's all about what my territory needs. Emp might be the best in the group for now and I think we get along well but the world is vast, I want to see more and see if I have have a good synergy with someone before I do anything. Now, we even know that he's at least in a ducal house, probably the inheritor too. Linking myself to someone like him would ruin my territory because no one would be left to care for it, I cannot follow your example. All this and also, I think Zoran is cuter."

"Zoran?" The others goggled their eyes.

Calla had not seen Zoran yet so she didn't know why the others seemed so surprised.

"Yeah, he reminds me of my younger brother. It doesn't help my territory at all but I like how flustered he gets around me. Don't misunderstand though, I think he's cute but I don't like him any more than the other guys. What I feel for him is more like what I would feel looking at a good entertainer or a painting."

"Hahaha! Poor Zoran."

Calla thought it was sort of sad, nobles really had a different way of thinking than ordinary people. The subject was about to be put to rest but somehow, she started blurting out words of worry for her.

"You can't just marry some man you don't care about just to profit your territory. Love won't bless that sort of marriage."

"Why not, why would she care about us anyway?"

"Trust me, she cares a lot about everyone. You need to listen to your heart,"

What was she even saying! How embarrassing.

A few raised brows and amused giggles answered her before they quickly switched to the next subject. It would take more than that for Nessa to rethink her view of the future but at least, Calla now had a good basic understanding of everyone here.

They ended up buying a lot of things for her and even though she was reluctant about it, Harriett carried everything for her. It was very strange for her to have someone else carry her things, more so since Harriett wasn't really stronger than herself. She was perfectly able to handle her own things, even though there were so many, she didn't need the help of Harriett.

"That's also part of being a noble though. The higher standing you have, the less people will let you do things by yourself."

Calla thought it was quite ridiculous but she didn't wave the will to take back her things from Harriett. She knew that Harriett was rather proud to do this for her and might even brag about it to Emp later to get praised.

After they were done with all those things, Calla managed to convince them all to stop at the market as well to look for interesting cooking ingredients.

At last, a place she found familiar. She had never stepped in this market before and it was many times bigger and more populated than the one back home but she still felt more in her element here than in the alleys full of glittering shops and expensive treasures.

Here, she was able to smell the freshness and tasteful variety of the products. She went around in high spirit with the others on her tail, all curiously observing her change in attitude. She'd smell different ingredient and spice and point at those interesting her for Brenia and Celtine to pick up and buy for her. She was still too shy to interact with the merchants by herself but it didn't stop her from requesting this and that from everywhere. She pointed at wild herbs from Dugo, spices from the sand wastes and strange wines from Grandbois, keradon butter acquired from the northern hills, fresh fruits and vegetables from all over and so on.

She was rather disappointed to understand that she could not simply buy every ingredient she wanted without Emp here to carry them in his bag. She had to limit herself to the most interesting few according to what her inspiration told her would make for a great meal.

She might be undecisive about shoes and clothes but the others were all surprised at how confidently she weaved her way through the market. For them, she was like an entirely different person even though she was still barely speaking.

Maybe because her aura felt different, Brenia felt it was a great time to ask a bold question out of the blue.

"So Calla, how big is he?"

No one understood the sense of her question and all turned raised brows her way.

"Emp, how big is he under the belt."

Rica choked on her surprise and Mable opened her mouth in shock. Calla felt like her clothes might catch fire because of how hot the embarrassment made her feel. Harriett and Celtine froze as well while Aglaya chided her rude friend.

"Brenia! That's such an inappropriate thing to ask!"

"What? It's valuable information for Mable! If he's like a tiny earthworm down there, she might change her opinion on him." Brenia wiggled her little finger to express herself. "More importantly, if he's no good, I get to mock him later about how his wife think he's small."

Brenia was beaming and barely just forcing herself to not giggle through her grin while some people around them overheard her words and whispered between themselves in hushed giggles.

Opposite to her, Calla was speechless, there was no way she could possibly answer that! Someone help!

She looked around her for some support.

Mable was now hiding her face behind her hands but she kept an eye out curiously, she couldn't, help but want to know even though she'd never admit it. There would be no help form there. Rica and Nessa where too shocked to say anything and Aglaya seemed to be too amused by the reaction of Mable and Calla to say anything more until Calla gave some sort of answer. The only help she received was from Harriett and Celtine.

"There's no way master is that small!" Harriett rebuked Brenia loudly, insulted on behalf of her master while Celtine knocked on the head of her perch in protest.

"Oh? Have you seen it?"

That one Harriett had no counter for and just flapped her mouth uselessly in helplessness.

Brenia returned her mocking gaze towards her and this time, even the crowd of stranger followed and fixed her as well to know what sort of answer she would give. They couldn't help but all catch on to the embarrassing conversation from how loud Harriett had answered.

The question was too much for her though. She would never work out the boldness to answer even if she lived ten times longer. She needed to say something however or this nightmare would never end. She repeated her new full name in her head and kept Love's words in mind in order to find an answer.

It took her a while to extract herself from this perilous situation. In the end, the others seemed even more shocked by the way she answered the question than the query itself, even Brenia was reddening now. Maybe she had not really expected Calla to answer? She had used Brenia's fingers to give her some idea of it since it was easier for her than just wording it but the others seemed to think it was way worse than just saying something.

The crowd gasped at how bold she was along with the girls and they all hurriedly dragged Calla away from the market and the many eyes glued to the indecent conversation.

"You... You better not ask something like that again." Aglaya told Brenia in a way that showed how disturbed she truly was despite her iron face.

Brenia just nodded with a blank stare. Only after they had walked for a long time did she finally say something else, putting an end to the long silence of the group.

"I'm not teasing you ever again, you're way too savage even for me."

Brenia was the one that went too far, Calla was just desperate. Still, she was very glad this was over and hopefully, not one of them would mock the size of her husband. (2)

Since it was already late and they needed to change their minds, they asked around and learned that they were just in time for the theater performance the group wanted to see.

Calla had never seen a theater play before so she was curious to see it despite the subject being "The debt". She didn't like stories that ended badly, the first time she heard it, she couldn't sleep for two days straight. Since then, she was very careful about what she asked from others too.

She had thought they would watch in an open place outside but it was happening in a wide building instead. A gruff looking man stood in the entrance to sell and verify passes before letting anyone enter.

They could watch the play standing at the back for a silver but Mable decided to pay for seats to enjoy it in comfort. The whole group stepped around the standing crowd and were led to a row of seats with stuffed cushions where they got a great view of the stage. They were really comfortable too and Calla felt glad they were there even though she feared the price they paid for them.

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The other good thing was that since they were all sitting, Harriett and Brenia were able to put down all the things they bought through the afternoon and take a break from carrying everything.

They had heard that they were right on time but they still had to wait for a long while for the huge room to fill itself and for the play to start. Calla was very happy that from were they sat, they had nothing to obstruct their view of the stage and the actors on it, they even had an upper angle on them so that they didn't break their necks looking there for so long.

The play lasted for two hours and was many times more detailed than the story Calla had heard when she was small. At this point, it was almost a brand new story. She was very impressed by what she saw, the men and women on the stage had crazy costumes and vehement expressions. She felt very invested in the story of the now named characters and their struggle to repay their debts and more importantly, the creature tempting the protagonist. They felt so much more alive than when she just heard her mother tell the story to her, it was incredible and very surprising when she understood that they had changed the ending.

The wife went on to plead to the other hunters for help, she loved her kids and husband too much to let him die at the hands of a vile creature. She promised them earth and sky and so managed to sway them. The hunters stood with the brothers and vanquished the creature under the thunderous applause of the crowd.

Calla felt very satisfied, the man ended up repaying all the other hunters with his help on many hunts after and everything ended well. What a good way to end the play and their day outside.

She liked it so much she would have been willing to watch it again straight away. This must have been one the things the nobles often did to spend their time, she would perfectly understand that they'd rather sit here to watch this instead of doing the laundry. She would have liked it better if the fight against the creature wasn't there at all but she had to admit that the whole thing was very entertaining.

The left the place in high spirit and even Brenia who complained about the ending seemed pleased with the play.

"I like the original ending better, it teaches two important lessons, they shouldn't cut it off."

"Two? I get the one about paying off your debts but what's the other?" Asked Rica.

"If it looks like a snake and talks like a snake, then it's a snake, not a helpful stranger."

The others all started laughing. Even Calla smiled, it was all too true. Sometimes, it was obvious that someone is up to no good even if they did their best to seem friendly, one should not trust the words of a snake, whether they looked like a scaly lizard or a gentlemen.

"I liked the costumes." Mable pointed out. "The creature was impressive with all those scales and scary claws."

"It's true but we shouldn't talk about this standing here in front of the theater. It's already dark, we should head back home quick."

Calla agreed wholeheartedly. She already found the darkness scary, being in the middle of an unfamiliar city made it much worse. On top of that, she felt tired from the day they had, all those interactions with the other girls and the overspending took a toll on her.

They all agreed to walk back to the school but since they had not eaten a supper yet, Calla decided to whisper into Harriett's ear to ask them if they'd like to eat with them in Emp's room. She'd cook something with the things she bought earlier and they'd be able to end the night calmly.

The others all agreed happily, those that had not tried it were all curious about her cooking talent and Mable liked the company of everyone so she wanted to stretch the day for as long as possible.

A few streets further, they came across of a shop that had just closed. In front of the door, two young women were arguing in the noble tongue. Calla didn't understand a word they said but they seemed to be fighting over a piece of food. Those two weren't nobles, they were just hired hands of the shop, both were smaller than even her as well and must have been just over ten years old, there was nothing special or eye catching about them except for the unusual amount of freckles on the face of the taller one. They looked quite similar to each other too so they might have been sisters? Sisters should fight like that.

Calla felt the need to stop them from arguing and so walked up to them, driving her hand inside her new bag to look for something. Since she had conveniently been given a bag earlier, she had stored a lot of fruits and vegetables in it.

"Calla?" The others called.

The girls interrupted their fight to look warily at the approaching stranger. They seemed really suspicious of her but she didn't mind. She got two big fruits from the bag and presented one to each.

This wasn't really a full meal but each were at least as big as the piece of smoked meat they were arguing over. The two looked at her with raised brows and she shook the fruits so that they would take them.

They looked at each other, asked something she didn't understand and in return, she just smiled and shook the fruits once more. One didn't need to be a genius to guess that they were asking if they could really take them. Two small pairs of hands stretched towards her and she dropped the fruits into them.

She saw both smile brightly and she walked back to the rest of the group in satisfaction. The moment the good deed was done, she started worrying about the dark again and hurried to the others for safety.

"That was dangerous! What did you do that for?" Nessa asked.

"What if they decided to take the whole bag instead? What if they had a knife?" Brenia added.

That had not crossed her mind at all. She had just wanted to help.

"I just felt they were hungry."

The others answered with a few snorts and they all moved on.

"You shouldn't do that anymore." Aglaya said. "You never know what's really in the head of everyone else."

Calla sighed with a mix of emotions and soon after, everyone put the event behind them.

They discussed casually on their way back and unlike every time Emp went shopping with someone, nothing happened to them on the way. Calla felt a lot closer to everyone now than she had been in the beginning and felt satisfied with her unexpectedly interesting outing.

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(1) Seriously, I'm curious as well, is there such a name? I'd say just prince or princess but then it also include the heir. I can't find a term for it.

(2) I just wanted to show how Brenia is just as bold as the guys on Emp's side with her lewd questions as well as showing that the two group sort of mirror each other but that small section might have gotten out of hand. I cut the answer out sorry XD. Maybe I should have cut the whole thing out. Let me know if you think this was out of place.