Auray, an adventurer with a foot fetish

Perhaps it was natural to find such powerful artifacts in a witches' shop. Or maybe it was more fitting to say 'normal'. Though I had an idea about that when I saw the little box just sitting in a small corner of one of the shelves, priced at only 50 valis. And at the time, I agreed with the price: the box was shabby, the ring's gold color reminded me of colored plastic, and when I asked the old witch at the counter what power they had, she just grunted and glared at me, which was likely some kind of code for 'I don't know'. Or possibly 'Why are you talking with me'.

So why did I buy them? Because I was a sucker who loved cheap crap. Sue me.

Putting the earrings on was easy; just a matter of popping my old ones out and replacing them with the new ones using a mirror from the shop, which earned me another glare from my admirer at the counter. As I slid them on, I felt a strange sensation in my ears, like I had been on one of the higher floors of the Babel Tower and came down to find them popping. Instantly, I felt a tickle of excitement. Could I have gotten my hands on some incredible magical item? Was this the day I finally lucked out and created my own legend? I couldn't stop this excitement; I raised one hand towards the end of the shop, eager to try it out.

"Fire!"

The mostly abandoned shop echoed with the sound of my shout, resolutely refusing to catch fire. Though my face made a wonderful attempt at emulating it as I slowly lowered my outstretched hand, instead using it for the much more important purpose of blocking my view of the mirror reflecting me. The only solace I could take in this was that no one had been around to witness my embarrassing blunder. Well, except for the owner, but she seemed to have graduated from irritation to indifference as she buried her hooked nose in a tome like one of her customers hadn’t just accidentally attempted to set fire to her shop. At the sight of such generosity, I could only tearfully thank her in my head as I took the opportunity to escape before she lost her sudden burst of goodwill.

Once outside, I heaved a sigh of relief. And vowed that one day, I would remember not to do the first thing that came to mind, before I ended up in hot water after causing trouble for some very important people. But that would have to wait, as there was a cup of tea just waiting to be ordered at the cafe down the street, which was so packed with people I could have crowd-surfed over them to get there.

Five minutes later, I was sitting at one of the outside patio tables, humming jauntily to myself after giving the waitress my order. The reason for my good mood? I had managed to get here in record time, the crowd giving way unusually quickly as I pushed against them with my usual ‘excuse me’’s and ‘sorry’’s. Now it was just a matter of drinking my tea and performing my daily 'activities' before heading back to my Familia home. Propping my head up on my folded arms, I began to look over the passing crowd with watchful eyes. I was what my God called a ‘people watcher’; though not in the common sense. Because I was watching for one specific body part of one specific species.

That pair’s kind of chubby. She has long arches. Oh, that anklet looks nice on her. Wait, is the purple nail polish?

I craned my neck, trying to get a good lock at the Amazon’s tanned toes, but she had already vanished into the vast throng of people. I slumped down with a sigh of disappointment, upset that the rare oddity was gone as quickly as it came. It wasn't long before I was back to scanning the crowd though, knowing it was only a matter of time before another walked by. In a city as vast as Orario, you couldn’t swing a stick without hitting an Amazon, whether they were there for battle or for pleasure. I personally had no problems with it, as it made it easier for me to spot them.

It wasn’t that I was especially attracted to Amazons as a species. I just happened to appreciate their way of dress, especially the part where they went barefoot. Other species were hesitant to show off their feet to the world, and elves would kill either you or themselves before they exposed even a bit of skin to someone who wasn’t their star-crossed lover, but Amazons were different. They knew that their feet were every bit as sexy as their nude bodies to some people, and didn’t hesitate in using them to show them off. The rest of the women should follow their example instead of being so prudish about it!

I sighed heavily, overcome by sadness at a world I’d never get to see. “If only it were normal for women to go barefoot all the time…”

“Isn’t it already normal?”

When someone speaks right next to you after you admit something that should only be said when it’s just you and your ‘little guy’, I feel like it’s justified to shriek like a little girl. And weirdly, apparently everyone else did as well, because no one in the crowd even batted an eye, not even the blond-haired waitress, who clapped her hands over her ears at the sound, but only looked at me expectantly, rather than with shock or even confusion.

“Y-you heard that?” The waitress nodded, and I felt my blood chill as I began running through all the apology methods I knew. What was that one my god had told me about from the Far East? Burning Dogeza, or something? “Oh gods- I am so so sorry, I never meant for you to hear that- If I had known you were there-” The waitress didn’t look like she was about to accept my apology; not because she was angry, but more that she didn’t know what I was apologizing for. She just looked more and more confused as words continued to spill out of my lips until finally, she held out a hand to try and get a chance to speak.

“Why are you apologizing? I was just confused because you said something so obvious. It’s not like you killed someone,” A small smile curled across her lips, like the one she had directed me when I had first walked in. She was obviously trying to lighten the mood and get me to calm down. But being me, I ignored it completely, too busy trying to analyze the sentence she had just spoken and come up with an interpretation that made sense.

“...I just said that I wished it was normal for women to go barefoot all the time.” Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to repeat myself in case she just hadn’t heard correctly, but I needed the world to start making sense again. Which it wouldn’t anytime soon, because the blond waitress just nodded, looking even more puzzled than before.

“Right. And I was confused because you’re wishing for something that’s already normal.”

“Uh, no. No it is not.” I countered, searching the blonde waitress' face for any indication that this was a joke, but she just looked as politely curious as ever as she nodded again.

“Yes, it is.”

“For the love of- you’re wearing shoes right-” I was about to point out the obvious flaw in her thinking when I looked down and froze. Because she was not wearing any. Even though I was certain that she had been when I entered the cafe. I remembered feeling dramatically upset about it in my head as I took my seat, imagining how they would look like freed from the constraints of her footwear.

Well, apparently, they looked pretty damn good. Slender and delicate looking, with high arches and plump little toes without a hint of polish, she could easily compete with any of the Amazons I had seen traipsing down the street. And she was still looking at me without a hint of shyness, with her feet utterly bare.

“Where are your shoes?” I demanded.

“Why would I need shoes?”

“Wha- you were literally wearing shoes when I came in!”

“Yes, embarrassingly. I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to wear shoes, so I ended up wearing them until a short while ago.”

“What do you mean ‘wasn’t supposed to’?”

“Well, it’s not like there are any laws against it, per se, but wouldn't it be weird to wear them?”

“No, the weird one is-!'' I threw my hands up and turned away, partly out of frustration, partly to keep myself staring at her feet, one of which had begun tracing lazy circles on the smooth marble floor. My eyes found my way to the mass of people going in either direction outside, and I almost choked. Because the women were showing more skin that I remembered; more of their feet, to be exact. Not just tanned Amazon’s feet, but tiny prum girls feet, the almost pawlike feet of beast women, many different types of human feet, plump dwarf women feet, and even some beautiful elf feet. It was a veritable parade of feet making its way past me, and not one person looked embarrassed in the slightest.

I stood there in shocked silence, drinking in the sight as I felt something beginning to twitch in my pants, before a cleared throat surprised me for the second time that day. Turning slowly, I stared at the waitress who was waiting for me patiently, holding a cup of steaming tea I hadn’t noticed she had brought earlier.

“Can I leave this here?” she asked. As I nodded dumbly, her lips pulled up into a serving girl’s smile, and she placed the teacup on the table and bowed before heading back in without a backwards glance. For a moment I stared at the teacup, steam rising innocently like it had every day I ordered it. Then I slowly sat down, picking up the cup and taking a sip of scalding liquid as I began sorting through the information I had just learned to obtain some kind of idea of what was going on..

First, and most strikingly, there was the fact that it was apparently commonplace for girls to show off their feet. Why had that happened? Instantly, a moment popped into my head; me muttering to myself that I wished it was ‘normal for women to go barefoot’. But I had said similar things before, so why had it only taken effect this time? It had to be because of something that had happened today, and the only thing I could think of was…

My hands drifted unconsciously to my ears, where the earrings I bought still hung. Had they done this? It seemed hard to believe that such powerful items would just be thrown into a shop somewhere, but it was the only thing that made sense. I could still remember the grunt the old witch gave when I had shown her the earrings, as if they were worthless.

Lady! Why do you not know about the powers of your own damn items! I should not have been able to buy these for 50 valis, or at all!

Speaking of the witch, I couldn’t help but remember how she had acted after my embarrassing episode. If I had tried that before, I would have gotten the scolding of a lifetime, especially for actually risking magic going off in her shop. But she hadn’t so much as batted an eye at me, as if it was my actions were commonplace. And the crowd had been unnaturally accommodating to me when I was trying to get through, as if they knew you were actually supposed to make way for someone instead of being a general hindrance. The waitress, even though she seemed confused because I didn't know such obvious information, had never looked at me as if I was crazy or ignorant. As though it was natural that I asked.

As if it was normal…

I had a suspicion I knew exactly what these earrings could do- and it terrified me as much as it excited me. I needed to confirm it though. And luckily, I was in the same Familia as the most talented item maker in Orario, and a God who had traveled all over the world. If I wanted to understand these items, I needed the help of my god, Hermes, and my captain, Asfi Ai Andromeda.

Finishing the tea with one gulp, I made sure to hand the money to the owner before leaving, as I had the feeling they might just let me walk out without paying if I didn’t. And so I rushed out of the cafe into the now far less crowded street and started towards the Hermes Familia home: though not without bumping into more than one obstacle as I kept sneaking glances at women’s feet as I went past.