Husband and wife remembered that their group did not have only two but four people both smiled in acceptance as they placated the angry woman beside them.
The onlookers melted from the love that emanated from Hiro and his women. Everyone could see how in love the women were with their husband, which caused a lot of the men to burn with envy. A few thought the women were just genuinely kind-hearted and tried their luck.
As Hiro helped Vanessa with her purchases, Jei started to wander alone. Eventually, she separated from the others and arrived at a dark alley. A pair of guys came forward that they approached Jade who had an aloof look but an incredibly sexy body. "Hey beautiful, you seem lost? Why not come with us and let's have some fun."
Jade made a small smile as she walked towards them. The men who looked like hoodlums visibly got excited when a supermodel-like woman responded to their pitiful attempts at socializing. But before Jade could reach them a blue-haired lady suddenly appeared and slammed her foot on their heads in a flying roundhouse kick.
The blow was strong enough to send them into a nearby crate destroying it completely. Fortunately, the attack didn't kill them outright. A heroic voice berated the wayward empress as the newcomer approached her.
"Jei, enough with your pranks, darling would have killed them if you came any closer." Raylene then pointed to the floating weapons aimed at the men's heads. These semi-invisible sword-like Mana constructs were moving under Hiro's command.
Twelve floated around Jade and another on Raylene. The red-haired prankster ignored the swords and gestured to the men on the collapsed crate who looked like roadkill. "Zombie. Didn't kill them. But almost dead. How better?"
From time to time, Jade relapsed into her old speech patterns mostly when she was emotional or amused. Lene who saw the bleeding bodies of the hoodlums grew frantic when she witnessed the power of her blow. From Raylene's point of view, he barely tapped them with her foot. Yet the damage it caused them bordered on fatal injuries.
"Shit… Jei! Please heal them quick!"
The mage empress covered her mouth with her hand as she elegantly giggled. "Fufu, I will. If you carry bags for the rest of the day." Her sister made a hesitating expression before saying in a defeated tone. "…Fine. You planned all this, didn't you? From approaching them your goal was to make me carry the bags."
Jei then approached the people and answered. "Dunno. Maybe? [Mend]." Due to having higher stats, the effects of the mage's skills increased not only in potency but the frequency she could cast them. Back in Valor city, Jade was not considered powerful due to her pitiful stats, but because of her knowledge, intellect, and the number of skills she had.
Soon the men no longer had a single wound. Finished with her task, Jade then stood up and informed her sister. "Contract complete. Carry bags zombie." The woman chuckled as she walked away.
Raylene started to feel the effects of having the lowest INT in their sisterhood. While she connected well with Tsugumi, Vanessa, and Jade usually wrapped her up in ploys or tricks she couldn't beat.
"Tsk. I need to raise my INT soon. Otherwise, I'm going to be turned into a gofer."
Thus Jei and Nessa were able to monopolize Hiro's arms for the day. Their husband who wanted to carry the stuff in his inventory grew concerned as Raylene made herself the package mule for the day. Even though they enjoyed each other's company, they did not forget to get the stuff that matters.
Dylan slipped him a piece of paper with a note on their way out. It said. "Go to the store Cutting Edge, tell them 'As straight as an arrow'." According to Aurum Cutting Edge was the best weapons and armor dealer in Partisan. Its fame came from the wide assortment of items it sold that no one else in the empire had. Its products were forged by the blacksmith battle harem, Yvonne's Hammers.
Due to everyone being filthy rich, well except Hiro's wives. They all intended to get the best gear they could get for their levels. Sword Dynasty and Hiro felt their blood boiling when they heard the stories of the Apocalypse Zones.
After they got finished rounding up their stroll, Hiro and his party moved towards Cutting Edge. The small gathering of people noticed that the group they stalked left the culinary and entertainment shops and headed towards the district geared for battle harems.
As System-users had different needs, from materials to food and clothing they could not shop with normal people. The establishments they ventured into were not in the same place as regular humans and had their own rules. In this area, even the doors and windows required an STR of 15 to open. One needed Stats to survive in this district.
A pulse traveled the air and the onlookers felt themselves all being forced to the ground. They then noticed that neither Hiro nor the beautiful girls with him faltered at the SUP. SUP stood for System User Pulse, this device sent a small wave of caliber energy in a wide area. It was a magic system created to deter humans from system user regions.
Humans even the strongest ones were treated like children by the system users. They were fragile and stupid. In order to ensure they did not die because of system users. The SUPs were deployed to notify them if they entered a system user zone. The pulse would make their chest hurt and aggravate the symptoms the farther in they got.
The entire mob of people had no calibers in their bodies thus repeated exposure to it would not only weaken them but would kill them given enough time.
"Fuck, you are telling me those are not paramours but fucking system users?" "Shit no wonder they were all so good-looking." "But why aren't they like the others?" "These people waited in line despite being system users." "Wow, if that is how handsome dominators are I hope I can get one to marry me." "Well, maybe the women are just at-home subs. No way such dainty figures would charge off into battle right?" "HAHAHAHA! Right as if!!"
Hiro who noticed the disappearance of the small following felt his mood improve by leaps and bounds. "Whoever taught of creating System-user zones is a genius." Yet unlike what he expected to hear, none of his wives replied but they all had troubled faces.
"Girls? What's wrong?"
Staying silent the three women didn't say anything and moved toward their destination. When they entered the shop. A half dozen 200-meter warriors in steel heavy armor barred their way and asked in an intimidating voice. "Stop right there, give your dominion password, or turn back now. We will use force if you do not comply."
Hiro who had not fought in a very long while grew antsy. He came in front of his wives and stood face-to-face with the warriors. "Why don't you make me punk? Why are all system user doormen fucking pricks." Tempers started rising as the butcher didn't allow himself to be intimidated by the small army in front of him.
But then a voice chirped in amidst the heated environment. "Nii-sama? You're finally here!" Tsugumi, who as usual rolled at her own pace approached him and smacked one of the warriors between her and Hiro. "Oy you arrogant shits, did you by any chance give my brother a rude greeting?"