The city square also had stores all throughout its vicinity, while being nowhere as expensive as the ones we visited earlier. For now me, Luna and Linia decided to take a bite at a family restaurant, I and Luna had salad while Linia decided to go with steak. We were sitting by the window while observing the people walking through the square.
"Hey, is that a church?" Linia pointed to a building northeast of where we were currently. It was a building constructed beautifully, complete with a round arch, spires, and a central tower
"Hmm, judging by the size, Sis, isn't it a cathedral?" Luna replied
i said after her "Well, it depends if there is a bishop there."
"Oh, I see." answered Linia
Our family wasn't the most religious out there, seeing as to how open they were regarding my 'heretical' ability and even then they had some reservations about it. But the same couldn't be said over the majority of the people here believed in Mezzaluna, the goddess of the earth, nature, and somehow the moon?? Plus her daughters, Ceres, representing agriculture, vegetation, and fertility, and Diana, representing wild animals, the hunt, and also, chastity and childbirth?
I don't know how the goddess of the moon is also the goddess of the earth or how the goddess of chastity is also the goddess of childbirth. All I know is that, when it comes to Diana apparently a few days after being born, Diana helped her mother in giving birth to her sister, Ceres, which is pretty 'ehhhh?'. I know, pretty wack.
Usually I wasn't one to believe in gods, but I'm someone who has been reincarnated. So maybe there really is one or maybe more than one or maybe i am just bug a error in life and death system , who knows. Since I'm an elf, I don't mind learning more about their religion. I already know that the three goddesses were believed to be our ancestor and also represent everything that we, elves, should be.
Coincidentally, it was also in line of what I usually associated elves with. Nature, agriculture, hunters, and chastity. I don't know what happened down the line and we have this war-mongering, imperial elves that I know of instead.
"Where else should we go?" I asked Luna and Linia after we were done eating
"Well, our school is too far away So, maybe just take a look at the shops around here instead?" Linia suggested
I agreed to her suggestion, so after receiving our bill and paying the 20 Curonnes, I was dragged into another clothing store. This time they were much cheaper, but there was a noticeable drop in quality everything from the attitude of the employees, the design of the store, or the clothes themselves. But this was the service Luna and Linia were much more used to.
"Oohh, Miss how much is this?" Linia's
eyes were drawn to a close-fitting, elastic garment that meant to cover your legs all the way up to your thighs, in other words, stockings.
"Hmmm" Linia was considering whether or not it was worth it, but in my mind I had other ideas
How could I have not thought of it earlier? I already saw from Aerin and Amelia that pantyhose existed in this world back when Amelia was taking her clothes off for my, ehem, "massage". I should've gotten Mom and both Sis to wear those, so I could have the pleasure of ripping them apart during sex.
"And I thought I was living the life, haaa so stupid" I muttered to myself
Since I was already here and seeing that they were selling stockings, I decided to ask the saleslady if they had garter belts, chokers, and pantyhose, as well. To which the saleslady surprisingly replied
"Uhmm Sir, I've never heard of any of the things you've mentioned" she smiled awkwardly as she replied
"Oh..." I thought that maybe they just had a different name for it, so I decided to describe what they looked like.
Unfortunately, they've never heard of anything close to a garter belt and all that they had for a pantyhose were the thigh-high stockings Linia was already holding. For chokers though, they mentioned that they had some tight necklaces, but they asked for what color specifically. And when I mentioned black, they looked rather uncomfortable before asking who it was meant for.
"Uhm for my Sisters" I noticed the obvious change in expression when she heard my words so I asked "Is there something wrong with black necklaces?"
"Uhm, not really the necklace you don't look like the type to go to that sort of places and you look pretty young but..." The lady came closer as she spoke her word "Prostitutes usually wear black ribbons around their necks, so people might get confused"
"Well, not really just prostitutes, dancers also wear them but people kind of see them as the same thing." She added
"Oh really?" Well that was a new fact learned, but hearing that it was a ribbon, it really wasn't the one I was looking for. So I asked her just to be sure "Would you mind letting me see it?" And when she finally brought the black ribbon she was talking about, it really wasn't the one I was looking for. It still was pretty similar to a necklace and was not the collar that I wanted.
'Well, this kind of sucks' I had to settle with the stockings for now, so when I saw that Limia was still debating with Luna whether or not it was worth buying. I chimed in next to her, "What's that Sis?"
"Oh just some girl's stuff. It's called stockings apparently" Luna replied to my curiosity
"Oohhh, I was always wondering what the pretty socks that teacher wore was called, I didn't know they were stockings." I said as if I just learned something knew
"..." She and Linia went quiet for a while and started thinking about the matter seriously. "Now that you mention it, the girls earlier also wore these." Linia said after some consideration
By the 'girls earlier' she was talking about, she probably meant the rich ladies back in the inner city. I didn't know what was it that changed her mind, hearing me call it pretty, or her thinking that this was some rich girls only trend, but she decided to finally to try it out first before buying it.
It was now the afternoon and we were on our way back home. Currently we just entered the gates of the inner wall and were at the entrance of the shopping district. The place was livelier compared to when it was noon, there were more carriages and people on the street.
Strangely, Linia still seemed to have thoughts about her new purchase and was looking at the legs of the ladies dressed elegantly. Though their dresses would hide most of their legs, one could see that the women all had socks that were pretty similar to what she just had bought and that thought seemed to have comforted her a little, thinking that her money wasn't wasted after all.
Well, with that we only had 10 Curonnes left, we spent 20 on food and another 20 on her new piece of clothing. Just as we were walking in the streets though, a luxurious carriage made its way on the road and drew the attention of everyone on the street. In a place where everything was meant to be high-class, it would take something special to be considered luxurious and turn the heads of people.
The carriage had a family crest on it, the crest was a double bladed spear with twin serpents coiling around it from top to bottom. The carriage was inlaid with gold, and instead of horses, it had a single large griffin like creature pulling it. The creature looked like a mixture of a griffin and s wyvern, it had a long draconic body that reached about 12 meters in length. It had a long tail between its two hind legs and two fore arms that also served as its wings. Instead of scales, it was covered with feathers and at the end of its long neck was a head of an eagle.
I've read about this creature before, if I remember correctly it was called a 'Silverwing Raptor'. They were native to the southern parts of the empire, and was particularly known for being a predator that attacked farmer, sometimes even convoys of soldiers. Although difficult, it could be tamed. And it looks like one of the tamed ones were currently in front of me. Despite its enormous body, the road was wide enough to contain it and have ample room left.
In a place where everyone had money, maybe they were the daughters of successful merchant or maybe they were the merchants themselves, no matter how rich they were, one thing they couldn't buy was blood. The prestige of a bloodline that has continued for centuries upon centuries and the powers that comes with it. Someone from a high-ranking noble family was here.
I've seen that exact crest at a certain shop that sold expensive musical instruments, back then I just thought it was the logo of the shop but seeing it again here I had a rough idea of which family this carriage belonged to.
The chauffeur stopped the Silverwing just besides me , Linia and Luna, and I couldn't help but think. 'And just as I was thinking about money, my sugar mommy arrived.' the carriage door opened slightly and from inside I could see a blonde haired beauty lavished in luxuries beckoning me ,Luna and Linia to get inside.
"Oh my, I didn't expect to see you here, sweetie." Aerin said as she called out to me
Linia didn't look all that pleased with her arrival however. But it would be rude to decline someone's offer, especially in a public place like this, not to mention the one who was funding her and her sister's academic life. Without a choice, Linia accepted and kept me by her side as we entered Aerin's carriage Luna was not bothered as much as Linia .