Visiting a Shop for Info and New Attire

Almost two hours after the sounds she heard coming from the magical hut, Devallia emerged from the magical space with a blissful look on her face; her attire was a little disheveled. Helen looked to the demon-kin, then rolled her eyes and shook her head. After a moment, Helen said, “What are you up to now, Devallia?”

“We’re pretty much done,” said Devallia, “the other two are taking a bit of a rest now. I’m here to help you with the watch. At least until those two get back out here, and we can get along our way.”

Helen just gave a passive snort and went into the hut to check on things. Keldan was getting dressed when she walked, and she caught a glimpse of his junk before it slid into the trousers to be hidden; the thing was comparable to a young minotaur bull’s. This caused her to lick her lips unconsciously, erotically, for a moment before turning her attention to the drake-kin. Rilkimsha was indeed getting everything on; it was a small wonder and miracle; her attire managed to contain, and downplay, the dragon woman’s bosom. Somehow, the attire of both managed to downplay the true size of their assets, but both had confirmed they didn’t do anything special to their clothing. That all said, Rilkimsha’s tunic still did manage to be a little tight in the chest for her, but enough to be any real issue.

Helen didn’t really understand why such coverings were so important to the other races, Minotaur society emphasized a pragmatic approach to attire, which usually meant being minimalistic. If you could get away with as little material as possible for clothing, do it, and that was usually so they could show some semblance of the concept of modesty most of the other races liked to emphasize. If a minotaur community could get away with parading around entirely nude with no fear of some other race popping up in the area at random, they would totally be doing that. But as things stood, it was best to wear the basics of what most other races called some semblance of clothing. Although, after having her bosom guard stolen, Helen could see why some folks made a big deal about missing clothing.

Minotaur culture was very oriented toward physical capabilities, primarily on the part of males. It’s one of the major reasons she was out here doing what she did, she was very much physically capable, but her tribe had intended to pigeonhole her into a role she was so disinterested in that they had actually invoked a rite to remove her from the tribe and **** her to wander about as she had been for some time before encountering Keldan. Encountering Keldan was an interesting experience. Dreamborn like Keldan were few and far between, and Helen would very much like to interact with his mother at some point in the future.

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Half an hour later, the party was back on the road and coming up on the town of Hamelstein, a small hamlet that had more of the feel of a town than anything else. Hamelstein seemed to be going about busier than stories about it implied; a fifty-foot high wall was going up around the town; guards were stationed in a circle every twenty or so feet around the town. Their metal armor looked a bit scuffed up but still well-maintained.

The town proper looked like its stables, clothier, carpenter, and blacksmith were a bit more active than was typical for a town out this way. Keldan and Helen were surprised by the sight; they both took a quick look at Rilkimsha. Keldan took a moment to organize his thoughts before addressing the drake-kin.

“Was this going on when you were here,” inquired Keldan to Rilkimsha.

“No,” said Rilkimsha in a flat voice, “the town was abuzz with rumors about something that could lead to all this, the blacksmith was doing a bit more brisk business than I expected for the area, but I figured that was more to do with the new guards that had gotten in around the time.”

“Let’s see the clothier,” said Devallia, “I’m pretty sure they can give us the rundown on what’s going on.” She took a quick look at Helen and herself, “and I’m sure some of us could do with an outfit change.”

“The guards seem more intent on something else,” said Helen, “I would typically be harassed by guards for being a ‘monster’ if that were not the case. This country doesn’t very friendly towards races that aren’t all that common to humans, or more human-ish in look.”

“Well, this part country seems to be like that,” said Keldan as they headed over to the clothier’s establishment.

A few minutes later, moving through the streets of the hamlet, and asking some of the guards for directions, the trio came up to the clothier’s establishment. The wooden sign on a bronze pole above the door adorned the image of a spool of thread, indicating the structure of the two-story building with a brick lower section and a wooden upper section was indeed the clothier’s place of business. The establishment appeared to be doing a brisk business; at least a dozen people were coming in, and out of the structure when the trio arrived, and all of them appeared to be in the attire of unarmored guards.

After waiting the moment it took for the crowd to thin out a bit, the trio went into the structure. When they stepped inside, they could bolts of various cloth all throughout the floor; a bit off to the left side of the door was a bar with a register atop it, the woman that was manning it was a portly, almost maternal-looking, busty human woman with light brown skin in a dark blue work dress with a silver apron adorned with emerald thread and golden highlights on the edge, her breasts were on the lower end of being a D-Cup. “What can I do fer ya,” she said in a northeastern accent.”

“Greetings,” said Keldan, “we noticed the town seems to be a bit busier than anticipated, including this place.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, “the Mage Guild out towards the capital said a horde of monsters will be coming through later this week, so a lotta defensive measures ‘ave been expedited. The guard came ta me fer attire fer the mages coming down this way. Things shoul’ bae all done by this time tommorra.” She took a look at Devallia and Helen, “We rally don’ get demon-kin or minotaurs down this way.”

“We actually got in here from the neighboring province,” said Devallia, “they don’t look favorably on our kind, also, the current lord and his son are total dicks.”

“Well,” said the woman, “yer not wrong. Ya gonna be ‘ere long?”

“Just passing through,” said Keldan, “we’ll be out of everyone’s hair in a day or two at the latest. This one,” he gestured to Devallia, “thought it would be nice to have a change of attire.”

“And thinks I could do with some more socially appropriate attire,” said Helen, “I really don’t see the point; the culture I grew up in has an apathetic relation for clothes, usually.”

“Well,” said the woman, “‘at won’ do. ‘Et’s go get ya two measured an’ fitted.”