Blake and Lillia walked through the streets of the city, making their way to the bank. "Blake, what's that?"
"That is also a car," Blake answered Lillia's question with a smile. He could see her eyes glowing with excitement, so he patiently answered any and all her questions. No matter if she kept pointing at the same things or not, he did not find it annoying one bit.
It took them thirty minutes to reach the bank. When they entered, Blake walked over to the clerk and took out his bank card. "Hello, I want to take out everything in my account and close it."
"Hmmm? Is there a reason you wish to close the account?" The clerk asked. It was normal standard practice to ask this question when someone came to close an account.
"Nothing in particular. I just see no reason to keep it open anymore." In a way, this was true. If you looked at the activity on the account, one would see that it was not all that busy. About one transaction a month. Every month he would put in one hundred bucks. His current total after three years was exactly three thousand six hundred. Even if he was going to go hungry, he would not touch the money in the account. But now, this amount was going to come in handy.
The clerk did not say anything more after hearing Blake's reply. She just did what she was asked to do and emptied his bank account and put it all into a small envelope.
After getting his money, Blake led Lillia out of the bank and asked: "Lillia, the space thing that you used to store the mana crystals, can you store other objects in there as well?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Lillia answered while looking at Blake in confusion.
"Well, with the apocalypse coming up, we will need many things. This means water, food, clothes, and whatever else that might look useful." Blake explained.
"Oh! No problems. Leave it to me!" Lillia smiled and patted her chest. Such a task was simple for her.
"Thanks, Lillia. But before we go anywhere, let's go to a store close by and get you some footwear and proper undergarments." Blake breathed a sigh of relief. If he had to rent a truck to pack all the items in, it would have cost him a pretty penny. But now, he could just fill up the carts and have Lillia store it all away. This would allow them to live quite comfortably in the days to come.
"Always so stiff!" Lillia said with a pout. She didn't like it when Blake kept saying thank you to her.
"It's more that I am just showing my sincere gratitude. Even if we are boyfriend and girlfriend, I should still say thank you when thank you is due. And me saying this now is me saying thank you because it will be a huge help." Blake tried to explain, but Lillia only waved him off. To her, stiff was stiff.
Blake could only shrug his shoulders. Even if she thought he was being stiff, he still felt the need to say thank you. "If I remember correctly, the store down the street sells clothing. After we get you what you need, we can take a taxi and go to the mall."
"Taxi? Mall?" Lillia was hearing all kinds of new words.
"Ah, a taxi is a car. Basically, you pay someone to drive you someplace. The mall is quite far from here, so it would be faster to go by taxi." He did not want to take Lillia on the subway as they were too packed, and he did not want to subject Lillia to that. "As for the mall, it is where we will do our shopping. Actually, I just want to get to the mall area as there are better stores in the general vicinity that would be better to buy supplies at. Ah, right, Lillia, can you eat regular food?"
"Food? Mmm. I am not sure if I will like the new kinds of food of this era, but I can eat if I want to. Normally I don't since there really is no need. Mana helps provide the nutrients my body needs." This did not go for just dragons either. During the Magic Age, after one evolved, the need to eat normal foods was not as necessary. Only drinking water still was. Mana actually sustained the body's natural systems. Water was still needed due to the main foundation of what the human body was made of. But this did not mean you could not eat. It was just that eating, in general, was not needed. He only asked because he did not know if dragons could eat normal food.
Blake also knew he would be evolving before the apocalypse came to be, but he still wanted to have food on hand since bartering would be a big thing later on after the apocalypse passed. Food would then become the main currency. Blake planned to use this to get weapons and anything else that he might need during that time since mana would be scarce until the Magic Age.
"Good! I will take you somewhere nice to eat tonight then to celebrate our first meeting and becoming a couple." Blake said with a smile. Lillia blushed and hugged Blake's arm tighter as she lowered her head and whispered: "Then I will leave it to you."
Blake nodded and pulled Lillia along to a small boutique that sold female clothing. It was one of the few clothing stores on this stretch and would suit their needs for the time being. While it was a little expensive, he figured he could splurge a bit to make the cute girl next to him happy. That and she could not go walking around barefooted and without panties on.
As soon as they stepped into the shop, a young woman walked over and asked: "How may I help you…." The young woman took one look at the couple in front of her and did her best not to frown. She thought maybe she could get a decent commission, but it seemed to be people who would only browse around and probably not buy anything.
"Actually, can you find her a pair of socks, shoes, and some underwear?" Blake asked. His question caused the young woman's expression to crack as she frowned.
"Sir, if you need throwaways, it is best if you go to the second hand shop down the street, which it seems you have done many times already. This is Pinky's Boutique. We only sell things of higher quality. The cheapest pair of shoes here is one hundred dollars." The young woman replied with a bit of disdain in her voice. She did not want to deal with people who would bring her no income.
Blake's expression did not look good. While he may not be very rich, he did not need to be looked down upon by some saleswoman who lived off commission. He was about to say something to retort when he saw Lillia's arm starting to turn black, so he quickly grabbed her hand it and pulled her behind him. "You're right. I shouldn't shop at a trashy store like this. The second hand goods shop is much better."
With that, Blake quickly left the shop, leaving the young woman to stare at their departing backs. "Humph! If you don't have money, don't come in here!"
Outside Lillia's brow was furrowed as she gripped his hand. "Blake, why did you stop me? Do you like that girl or something!?"
"What!? No!" Blake quickly answered. He could feel his hand starting to be crushed. "If you did anything now, we wouldn't be able to leave this place. We would end up getting arrested then we wouldn't be able to have dinner tonight or go home. You can't just go beating up everyone you see."
"Oh…." Lillia pursed her lips and tilted her head as she asked: "What do you mean by arrested?"
"This world now has law enforcement. If you, let's say, beat that girl up or killed her, whatever you planned to do, we would have been arrested and put into holding cells. Most likely different holding cells. If we escaped, we would end up as fugitives and would have to go on the run for the entire week." Blake tried to explain as best as he could. The last thing he wanted was to cause too much of a scene right now. If they found out that Lillia was different, they would definitely stop at nothing to capture her and send her to some government facility someplace.
"Oh…" Lillia did not like this new world with such strict rules. She was used to using the system where power makes right. If someone wrongs you, just off them. She didn't drag the matter on. She looked down at the fingers that were interlocked with her own and smiled.
"Let's go down the street a ways. There is another cheaper store that sells brand new clothing." Blake sighed in relief when Lillia did not push the issue. But his poor hand seemed to have accumulated some damage. Although not broken, it was still sore. She had squeezed it pretty hard.
When they entered the next shop, they were greeted by another young woman who happily assisted them without any attitude. Although she did give Blake a strange look, and Lillia pouted when she found out she needed to put on underwear. They were now at least all set to finally head to the mall and start shopping for the things they needed.