Ashtown was a busy place. The streets had dozens, maybe even hundreds of MAFTs traveling along them, and the walkways were filled with pedestrian traffic. There were a lot of different people out that day; factory workers enjoying their time off, mothers spending the day with their children, not to mention the children themselves. They ran through the streets, playing games of tag while worried mothers chased after them, telling them to not run off.

The street Caspian strolled down looked like a shopping district transplanted directly from Casadina. There had to be at least a dozen stores that sold all kinds of clothing—mostly women's clothing, he noticed. Caspian was surprised. The Dystian province specialized in mining and refining precious gems and metal, so they didn't have much in the way of fabrics and had to rely heavily on exports. How come there were so many clothing stores?

It must have had something to do with Ashtown's overseer. Erica was vain and prissy and enjoyed the finer things in life, from what he'd seen. Undoubtedly, she also enjoyed the latest fashions. Even now, the dress she wore, which looked like sin wrapped in red velvet, appeared to be the latest and most fashionable outfit on the current market. He could easily imagine her having several clothing boutiques built just so she could shop for the next little black dress.

"How did I get myself roped into this situation?"

Caspian resisted the temptation to cover his eyes with his bandana. When he had first imagined what it would be like to be a Sorceress's Knight, he pictured himself traveling to far off lands, fighting great battles, and being the partner to a woman of extraordinary talent and incredible compassion—like Sylvia. He had not expected to be shopping for clothing with a woman as vain as Erica.

Life is intent on shattering my illusions, it seems.

"I don't see how you could possibly complain about this," Erica's eyes glowed with devious delight, as if seeing him annoyed gave her great pleasure. "You're getting to spend time with the most beautiful woman in the entire world. You have been blessed with an impossibly unique opportunity. Men everywhere would kill to have a chance at being with me."

"Men everywhere haven't been introduced to your sterling personality."

"Hmph! There is no need to be rude."

Caspian wanted to run a hand over his face. This was not how he'd pictured this mission going. Then again, he'd been expecting a simple courier mission, not one where he became the temporary replacement Knight for a Sorceress. A part of him believed he should be happy about this. How many academy students could say they protected a Sorceress? But, no. He was not happy. He was anything but happy.

His unhappiness had nothing to do with the way Erica kept teasing him.

Really.

"I know how to make you a little less grumpy." Caspian stiffened as a pair of slender arms wrapped around his right arm. A body carefully pressed into his side, causing his face to feel like it was spontaneously combusting.

"W-w-w-what in the Spirits' name do you think you're doing?!" Caspian screamed, jerking his arm out of her grip. His actions caused Erica to frown at him.

"You really are quite jumpy, aren't you?"

"That's because you keep doing strange things to me!"

"Could it be that our young Caspie has never been with a woman before?" Smiling again, Erica placed two fingers against her crimson Cupid's Bow lips. Caspian tried not to gulp. "Fu fu fu, that is just too cute."

"I'm not cute," Caspian mumbled, trying to ignore the way Erica was giggling at him. "And don't call me Caspie! That's not my name!"

"Fu fu fu. Very well then. Now come along. We have much to get do."

"H-hey! W―just wait a second! Where are you taking me!"

"What?" Erica's grin made Caspian's heart leap into his throat. "You didn't expect me to just do some window shopping, did you? I never go to the shopping district without getting at least one dress."

***

"They just entered the store," a voice cut through Dranor's mind, sounding out and echoing inside of his skull. He recognized it. How could he not? He was bound to the woman that voice belonged to.

"I know," Dranor carefully observed the pair as they walked into a clothing boutique of some kind, and couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in disgust. Truly, the vainness of Sorceresses was an ugly sight to behold.

He was lying down on his stomach, on top of a building located on the other side of the street, leaning ever so slightly over the edge, so he could continue his job of spying on the pair. Although, he didn't know what good that would do now, since he could no longer see them. He briefly considered the merits of moving to street level so he could observe them through a window, but no, that would make the subtle magics woven around him useless.

Thanks to his wife's Nature Magic, his body had taken on the same coloration of the building, allowing him to blend in with it. While the spell was not perfect, and sudden movement would cause a discoloration that people could easily spot if they looked up, it was still sufficient to fool most eyes. He doubted even that Sorceress would be able to spot him from this distance.

"What should we do?"

His wife stood on another building in the vicinity. He didn't know which one. It was better that way. Safer. If one of them were to be caught, there was a small chance for the other to escape.

"For now? Nothing. We don't want to attack out in the open like this. Any disturbance, especially a fight of that magnitude, will cause the civilians to panic, and the chances of those two being able to escape during the chaos is too great. If that happens, all of our plans will be for naught."

"So we're simply going to spy on them?"

"For now."

His mate went silent, and Dranor once more focused fully on the pair shopping at the clothing store, his lips curling in disgust.

He really did hate Sorceresses.