"Hmmm…. Since that is the case, let's make sure we are well prepared. Keep enough money for a single night at a cheap inn. We will be crashing for a single night. After that, we will be taking a request out of the city." Alissia was very happy with this idea. Being able to take requests and work at your own leisure was a good thing. This way, she would not be stuck in a pattern of getting up, going to work, go home. Such patterns really never sat well with her, even in her past life.
"Young Lady…. I do not mean to interrupt the two of you, but if you plan to sign up for the adventurers guild, you must be ready to take a test, as they will not just let anyone sign up. You need to be able to at least defend yourself." A man with muscular arms and a bald head walked over. He wore what looked to be clothes for forging.
"Ah, don't worry about that. I should have no problem there." Alissia answered with a smile, causing the bald headed man to blush. He reached up and rubbed the bottom of his nose with his finger. "Is that so, then I would suggest something a little different than these normal armors here."
Alissia was confused as her and Millie followed the bald headed man to the other side of the shop, by the counter, where he pulled out a chest from the side. "From what I heard, one of you has a special ability in strength, while the other is a mage, correct?"
"Ah yes…." Alissia answered, unsure where this was leading to.
"Perfect." The bald man had a wide grin on his face as he opened the chest, a bright light seemed to shine from within, blinding both Millie and Alissia, but before the two girls got to see what was inside, the lid suddenly slammed shut.
"You damn fool! You're still trying to pawn that shit off on some poor unexpecting girls!? That armor is no different than wearing nothing at all!" A lady wearing an apron yelled out as she stood there with a metal spoon in her hand. The bald headed man held his head with tears welling up in his eyes.
"Woman! Can't you use something softer!? Why are you always hitting me with the damn metal spoon!?" The bald man rubbed the top of his head as he yelled out.
"Because you are a damn pervert! Why the hell did I even marry you!?" The lady with the apron was slightly pudgy but still had a certain charm about her. She looked at Alissia and Millie with a warm smile as she said: "Never…. NEVER let this damn pervert talk you into taking this armor. You should go back to the armor you were looking at before. We will give you a fifty percent discount. Take it as our shop's apology for almost making you wear something that is worse than what the girls in the red light district wear."
"I see…." Alissia looked at Millie, who had a pale expression, and chuckled. "We will accept the discount. Thank you."
With that, Alissia grabbed Millie by the arm and began walking away, only to almost trip over her own feet when she heard the words that came out of the bald man's mouth next. "Damn you woman, look how good looking that girl was! I would have had a pleasant dre. OoooffFF!"
"I am starting to understand why some girls turn gay…." Alissia mumbled as she kept pulling Millie along. Millie had a blank look on her pale face. She had never experienced anything like this in her entire life.
Alissia pushed what happened out of her mind and began to look more seriously at the leather armor, especially those with metal plating on key points. "Millie, what do you think about this set?"
"Young Miss, that set is for a man. Why not the one with the skirt next to it? If you add the greaves with the metal plating reaching up over the knee, it will give more protection than this basic leather set that only has metal plating on the knees." Millie suggested causing Alissia to purse her lips. She looked at the set with the skirt and frowned slightly. She had to admit while the skirt was slightly shorter, it would not get in the way and would even give more freedom of movement. It even came with a pair of shorts to wear under it. She then looked back at the set for men and was a little disappointed.
"Why is there such a difference between the protection between men's and women's armor!? And here, I wanted to keep a low profile…. Well, I guess dressing as a man would have failed anyway…." Alissia knew her beauty was a bit over the top to be passing off as some man. And to be honest, she did not wish to cut her hair. As someone who used to be a guy who liked girls with long hair, he couldn't bring himself to do it. With a sigh, she picked up the female set of armor and turned to Millie. "I will take this set, but what about you?"
"I do not have the strength to wear a set of armor like that, so I will go with a cloth set which has imbued defense magic. They are no less protective than a set of leather armor with metal plating like Young Miss has." Millie explained. Alissia still knew nothing about magic except the ranking system. But she hoped to change all of that once she began reading those books.
"Then let's get the best we can find that you like. We get half off after all." Alissia said while walking over to the cloth armor.
"Yes!" Seeing Millie so excited, Alissia's lips curled up into a smile. This girl was definitely very cute. Alissia actually felt very lucky to have someone like Millie at her side as she arrived in this world. Otherwise, she would probably still be stuck in that broken down house trying to figure things out. Alissia hoped she could at least keep Millie smiling and not betray the girl's devotion to her.