"Oh! My apologies, I have to tend to this customer. I just remembered that I have to finish tailoring a customer's suit! Try on your clothes in the fitting room and let me know what you think. It's in the very back of the store," The owner said, pointing to his left with a smile as he looked at the entrance, as a customer walked in, making a beeline for him.
Sunny suppressed a frown and walked through the store again, grabbing some casual clothes on the way, then walked to the dressing room with Beastmaster following behind him.
The captivating woman grabbed more than a few dresses and blouses along with a few pairs of dark slacks and skirts, causing Sunny to look at her with a funny expression and making the enchantress laugh.
"What? Don't judge me, Master Sunless, I'm only making sure the strangers' money doesn't go to waste."
"I didn't say anything, though."
Sunny thought about the wealthy stranger again and couldn't help but ask himself something,
What was a rich man doing in such a place as this to begin with?
Nothing about the mysterious man added up, and Sunny didn't like it one bit.
"You didn't have to, let me know if you need help tying that," Beastmaster said, pointing to the tie he held in his left hand, along with his suit and clothes in his right hand, with a sincere tone as he reached the fitting rooms.
Surprisingly, there was no flirtatious remark.
Then again, Sunny had to remind himself that not everyone was like Effie,
'That damn glutton,' Sunny shivered at the thought of her being here as well.
"Alright," He nodded at her and went inside, then closed the door behind him and locked it.
Sunny put his new clothes down on a nearby chair by the wall to his left and frowned deeply when he turned to see a long rectangular mirror sitting up on a modest dressing table to the right of the small room, then put his suit on the dresser as he tried to hide his dark expression.
He immediately wanted to cover it in shadows, but the bastard would likely figure out that Sunny was the Lord of Shadows, and that was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
Though, as he looked at the dresser again, he couldn't help but feel off about it, Sunny was sure the dressing room wasn't invented until the late nineteenth century.
Then again, many things he had seen in this kingdom so far were inconsistent with the information he had learned from books with teacher Julius.
They mostly read about what the waking world was like before the dark times descended and the eras that preceded them.
So maybe the information was wrong?
He immediately shook his head at the thought and stood off to the door away from the dresser. Sunny dismissed his clothes, then put on his slacks, followed by his buttoned shirt, then his vest, and finally his suit coat.
'I doubt it, teacher Julius is never wrong! If only he taught about this goddamn tie!' Sunny thought to himself as he had put on the rest of his suit, only to find himself struggling with something as mundane as a tie.
Sunny could weave with his eyes closed with absolutely no problem, but a simple tie?
The most challenging obstacle he has come across, as of now, is achieving supremacy, and that was nothing compared to attempting to tie this silly thing.
It was ridiculous!
"You look absolutely dashing, Master Sunless. The suit suits you well," Beastmaster smiled softly and laughed at her own pun, as he walked out of the dressing room, and Sunny couldn't help but smile at it as well.
"Thank you, kindly, Saint Beastmaster," Sunny bowed, making his tie hang loose, something that the enchantress noticed, then straightened up.
"Do you mind?" Beastmaster asked as she stepped forward, her hands hovering near the death trap called a tie.
Sunny silently shook his head, prompting the woman to close the gap and swiftly tie it, then step back with a smile.
"Thank you again, I almost strangled myself trying to tie it in the fitting room."
H-how the hell did she do that so fast?!
"I told you to tell me if you needed help. I wasn't kidding. I had to tie many strings to corsets as a child, so this was nothing to me." Beastmaster said, catching his expression of confusion.
"Saint Beastmaster, I recommend we go to that bakery the mysterious wealthy man mentioned before he left, it was called Smite Bakery, right?"
In truth, when the man pulled out the big stack of money, Sunny became painfully aware that, since his coins were worth nothing in this place, he was flat broke. If the old lady were kind enough, Sunny could hopefully work for a bit to get on his feet.
He highly doubted he could open his Brilliant Emporium without raising suspicion, unlike how he did in Bastion, and he wanted to get more information about this kingdom without drawing too much attention to himself.
"Smyrin bakery, but yes, I agree that we should go there," Beastmaster's voice pulled him from his thoughts as she corrected him, and they began walking through the store and out the door into the bright afternoon sky.
"You can go on ahead and try to look for the others. I will go to the bakery," Sunny said, getting a nod from Beastmaster, who walked off into the crowded streets.
"Oh my, hello handsome young man, how can I help you?" Wendy Smyrin asked, with a genial smile, as he walked into the bakery and approached her, standing behind the counter with her hands clasped in front of her.
She was an older woman who looked to be in her seventies with completely gray hair and a pair of sharp brown eyes. She wore an apron with a little flour stain. The bakery itself was filled with different types of bread and pastries, displayed on the wall behind her.
"My name is Sunless, I'm new to this kingdom, and I'm looking for work, ma'am," Sunny said with an earnest tone and held out his hand.
The first priority over anything else when arriving in any city was getting money, at least in Sunny's humble opinion, it was.
"What a peculiar name, but who am I to judge? As for work, hmm, well, I'm not as spry as I used to be in my youth, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I could use the help. Do you have any experience in making pastries?" The older woman took his hand, shook it, then let go to move it to tap her chin.
"Well, yes, I do! In fact, I've run my own business for a while before coming here, so I have much experience in making pastures and other items, but I was also wondering how I would go about opening a shop in this city?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, young man. I haven't thought of that since I first opened this place with my late husband. But I can tell you the tax on commercial, finance, and professional, although it's not specified, unlike the other types of taxes." The woman motioned for him to come closer.
"How much is it?"
"Around thirty percent," Wendy said,
T-thirty percent!?
'That's straight up robbery!'
"I-I see well, I can work whatever hours you have available at the moment if you're willing to give me a chance?"
"Hmm, first change your clothes, then come to the back when you're done. I want to see how you work. If you impress me enough, you'll keep the apron and show up tomorrow at six o'clock in the morning sharp, and your pay will be 12 soli per week." The older woman opened the door, stepped into the kitchen, and held it for him, then grabbed a spare apron and handed it to him.
"Miss Smyrin may I ask you something?" Sunny stopped in his tracks at the doorway as he realized something.
"Go on," She nodded as she grabbed a rolling pin.
"What's a soli?"
************************************************
Tingen Street was a low-income section of the Leon Kingdom, littered with trash and buildings clearly in need of maintenance. Yet, the people here still found a way to thrive.
Still, due to it being a low-income place, there were hundreds of thousands of people living in rundown homes or on the streets, either selling food as an attempt to scrape by and fill their bellies with even a small portion of food or simply starving to death.
Children played with filthy water in the streets or chased each other around with garbage as a form of entertainment for their immature minds.
This was all ordinary and nothing unusual ever happened, save for the occasional murder or theft, but that was what the residents of Tingen Street were used to, and what they saw walking past them may as well have been sent from heaven!
Five lovely people walked through with the confidence of royalty; one of them even looked like an angel sent from the heavens. She had strange silver hair and grey eyes, with a stark contrast in her unnaturally dark clothes.
The second was an absurdly handsome man with green eyes and auburn hair, who also wore dark clothing and a kind smile.
The third was a woman with toned arms and a handsome face with a broad smile playing at her lips as she looked around with fascination.
The fourth was an exotic, gorgeous woman with strange, grey skin, wearing dark clothing and jewelry on her wrists and ears.
The fifth was a beautiful man walking beside her, wearing a black suit, with silver eyes and a pleasant smile, meeting their gaze with a friendly wave and nod. It was a wave and nod that the people happily returned, as if to say that enough kindness had been shown; then it could possibly be returned.
This was only because they looked rich!
"Good goddess, look at them!"
"Are they gods?"
"What? Of course not, the gods don't have human forms, you idiot!"
"What's with their strange clothes?"
"Who knows? You know rich people and their weird tastes,"
Nephis, Kai, Princess Lonesome Howl, Princess Seishan, and the prince of nothing walked down the crowded street, onlookers staring at them with wide eyes as they passed a building called Blackthorn Security Company.
They were lucky that Lord Shadow was generous enough to make clothes out of shadows for them once they realized that they had all lost their armor for some strange reason.
The latter ignored their gazes and looked around with genuine interest, a pleasant smile on his lips, which irked Kai to no end, but he hid his worries behind a smile as he always did.
Their gazes were filled with wonder, but not an ounce of recognition of Nephis of the immortal flame clan, Kai, lead singer of Night&Gale, or the song sisters' daughters of Ki Song.
On the one hand, Kai was grateful that he could finally walk around in somewhat peace, as no Sasagens fans were running after him, attempting to get an autograph or a piece of his hair or clothing.
But on the other hand, Kai, in all his time of being famous, never thought that he would hate the lack of fans chasing him around.
This was because the lack of recognition only reinforced the fact that this wasn't their home and that they weren't supposed to be here.
This couldn't have been the work of the nightmare spell, as it made no announcement of being in a nightmare, and even if they were, and they did manage to pass it, Kai and his friends would be killed by the current sovereigns as soon as they left it.
This clearly wasn't the waking world they knew, so what if they were stuck here forever?
Were they blasted into the past?
What if he never got to see his family again?
What if they all died before having the chance to figure out what brought them here in the first place?
Kai pushed his worries deep into his mind and focused on something else, mainly gravity. As soon as they departed from the nameless temple, Kai learned the hard way that the gravity of this strange world was entirely different from the waking world, so when he tried to fly, he nearly crashed into a building.
The gravity of this place was far too light for what he was used to; contrary to popular belief, the ability to fly was not as easy as it looked in superhero movies, where it seemed like walking.
No, it was far more difficult than walking; Kai had to account for the amount of speed he needed to maintain momentum and not to go too fast in order not to experience a form of turbulence similar to a plane, and to fly at the right place, not to drain his stamina too fast, and be exhausted even though he was a saint.
Not to mention that he couldn't make sharp turns unless necessary due to G-forces and the risk of injury. He knew he wouldn't experience nearly as much harm as a mundane human would because of his durability as a transcendent being, but he was still cautious of it.
He also had to consider whether it was windy and whether there were obstacles in the way, along with decompression sickness from whenever he flew too high up, which was rare, as he never flew too high since nightmare creatures also occupied the sky.
So with all that in mind, he decided to stay on the ground for the time being to avoid any further accidents. As he stepped out of the way just in time to let a peculiar vehicle with horses driving it trot by him with several people inside, it was called a carriage, if he remembered correctly.
Someone had told him that one time, but he couldn't remember who. It would come to him, no doubt.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mundane-looking young man wearing a half-top hat and a brownish coat, leaving a low tent with his hands in his pockets, wearing a neutral expression. The young man stopped for a moment, set his sights on something, and began walking toward it.
Curiosity overtook Kai, and so he followed the young man's gaze and spotted a market called "Lettuce and Meat."
It was clearly a form of English, but that language hadn't existed since before the dark times, along with hundreds of other languages that died off with their continents.
Kai hadn't learned any other dead languages in his time of being awakened, at least not that he could remember, but then again, ever since they conquered the third nightmare, Kai and every single one of his friends had trouble with their memories. Even that parasite Mordret had the same problem.
But if that was the case, then how did he understand those onlookers as clear as day?
And how was he able to read without issue?
So maybe he had learned it at some point and forgotten.
He watched the young man begin purchasing mutton, cabbage, beans, onions, potatoes, and other items that Kai could somewhat recognize.
Kai turned his attention back to his companions, mainly Nephis, and moved to walk in step beside her, causing his friend to look at him with her usual aloof expression.
"Are you alright?" She asked, her eyes showing hidden concern.
"Yes, I'm okay!" Kai lied through his teeth with a bright smile.
He wasn't, not at all,
"If you say so," Nephis said with a shrug, looking forward as she kept walking in hopes of finding a library, but even through her lack of expression, Kai could tell that his friend wasn't the slightest bit convinced. If only Kai could be as confident as Nephis.
Though they really should have gotten a map before traversing this city.
"Tell me, Nephis of the immortal flame, how do you plan to go about navigating this place and getting us home, hm? Take down the king and possibly the Queen of this kingdom?" Mordret smiled pleasantly as he casually hinted at her plan to kill the sovereigns.
Kai frowned at the former prince's words.
He should have been surprised, but he wasn't, as he had not forgotten how the fiend could hide behind someone's eyes without going into their soul sea and learn everything about them by stalking.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lonesome Howl asked in annoyance,
The Prince of Nothing's lips curled upward into a polite smile, but before he could get the chance to say anything, Nephis spoke up.
"We shouldn't overlook the fact that you already killed someone," Nephis pointed out.
Mordret adjusted his black tie with a sigh,
"Does it matter that I've already taken a vessel? No, it doesn't, I don't see the big deal about it, as we are trying to figure out where we are by any means necessary. What? Did I say something wrong?" Mordret asked, his pleasant smile slowly forming on his lips, as Kai and Lonesome Howl stared at him with bewildered expressions.
Kai sighed inwardly at his words,
Did this man have no remorse for his actions?
No, of course not, the bastard didn't feel anything.
"You don't feel bad about that?" Kai asked cautiously.
"No, should I?" Mordret asked, genuine interest gleaming in his eyes.
"Yes," Kai replied flatly,
"Bah! You wear your heart on your sleeve, my friend. It's only one person, but if it makes your bleeding heart feel any better just know that I had great difficulty at taking their body, not because they put up a good fight but because the soul seas of the people in this place are very much different and stranger than the ones I am used to seeing." The prince of nothing pleasantly smiled.
Different and strange? What was that supposed to mean?
Kai wanted to punch him in the face for being so casual about taking random lives, innocent or not.
"You're lying," Kai said after he felt his head slightly buzz and turned to face them fully as they stopped by a store.
"Ah, how could I forget about that flaw of yours? How careless of me, but you're right, I am lying, this is the second. But like I said, who cares? After the first body, what's one more?" Mordret said with a careless shrug.
"Lives are precious, Mordret. All it takes is for a parasite like you to cut it short just because you liked the way their outfit looked on them." Kai felt himself sneering at the man
Mordret was about to respond until Lonesome Howl called out to someone with a wave.
"Bin! Over here!"
They all looked over to see Beastmaster walking towards them, having discarded her previous clothes; she was now wearing a pair of dark slacks and a red blouse that showed her collarbone.
The blouse matched the color of the scar on her face that she got from facing Saint Whispering Blade in Antarctica and lived to tell the tale.
The Enchantress walked towards them with a slight smile on her captivating face. She opened her arms alongside Master Sunless, who walked out of a bakery with a smile.
The young man now wore a dark grey suit coat with a black vest underneath, along with black slacks, and his dark mantle hung from his shoulders, an item that should've looked out of place in his new attire but was somehow fitting. A bundle of clothes was hanging neatly over his arm, along with an apron in his left hand.
'Where did they find the money so fast?'
Beastmaster must've charmed a man into paying for their things. While it was innovative and effective, Kai didn't necessarily approve of the method.
"My sisters, Nightingale, Mordret, and Nephis, it is good to see you again. Have you found any information on this place?" she asked in a soft tone, walking up to them with her smile growing.
"Not yet, we were trying to find a library, but we have had no luck so far," Seishan said with a soft sigh.
"Well, don't fret! Saint Beastmaster and I found a clothes store so we can somewhat blend in, even though we will still stick out like sore thumbs because, well, you know." Master Sunless didn't finish his sentence as he gestured to their faces with a nervous smile on his handsome face.
Kai shook his head and let out a laugh. "Yes, you're right, there's not much we can do to change our looks, so we will just have to deal with the attention. It reminds me of the days when I was still a singer, you know?"
He trailed off as a question began to form in his mind.
Why was it so easy for Kai to make conversation with this young man?
'I've never met this man in my life,'
And yet he seemed so familiar,
Had they met in passing?
No, Kai would have remembered seeing a face like his,
His thoughts were cut short when Beastmaster walked over to Mordret.
"So it was you who helped us?" Beastmaster asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned her attention to him.
"Hm?" Mordret turned his attention to the enchantress as well.
"You helped us buy clothes at a store," Beastmaster said, her eyebrow raising further.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't a clue what you're referring to, Song Eunbin. This is the second vessel I have acquired in this strange place, but I haven't been to this store at all." Mordret tilted his head in genuine confusion.
Everyone looked to Kai for an answer, who lingered for a moment while staring at the fallen prince before nodding, making Beastmaster curl her lips downward in disappointment.
"Then who was it?" Kai asked with curiosity.
"We don't know, but he was very wealthy; he paid for our clothes in advance, as well as everyone else. I'm not sure how he knew that we had more people, though." Beastmaster pondered with a slight frown.
"Did you get a name?" Nephis narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious of this strange benefactor.
"No, we asked the owner, but he got distracted by another customer coming in as he was about to tell us," Master Sunless said, looking crestfallen.
"Did you learn anything else about this place?" Nephis asked as she walked closer to Beastmaster.
"Well, from what the owner of this store just told us, we are in a place called Tingen city of Awwa county in the Loen Kingdom, and as for the year, well, I do not want to alarm you all, but…" Beastmaster hesitated,
"But what? Come on, spit it out, Bin, no need to add unnecessary suspense." Lonesome Howl tapped her foot in annoyance as an attempt to hide her growing unease at the unfamiliar names.
"We are in the year thirteen forty-nine," She said softly and watched carefully as the information slowly sank into the minds of everyone else.
Kai stumbled in place, Nephis' eyes slowly widened, the Prince of nothing's smile immediately faded into an emotionless expression, and Princess Seishan softly cursed.
"Bullshit, that's bullshit! We have to be in some nightmare!" Lonesome Howl shouted in an unusually panicked voice.
"We are not; there would have been an announcement by the nightmare spell, sister," Beastmaster said with a soothing voice.
"Nightingale, tell me it's a lie!" Lonesome Howl whirled around to him with wide eyes.
"It's the truth, Princess Lonesome Howl, no matter how much we want to deny it," Kai said with a soft voice,
He so badly wanted his flaw to go off, to tell him that Beastmaster was lying to them, and yet it didn't, not once.
"That's impossible, but it does explain why we still can't use our memories or see our runes; it's because we don't have the nightmare spell anymore, or at least don't have access to it, and yet we can still use our powers," Seishan asked herself, nearly sending Master Sunless and Kai himself, who heard her words, into a frenzy of hysteria.
In contrast, everyone else was unaffected by her words as they seemed to have guessed the same as her.
Kai knew there was a reason he couldn't use his memories or see his runes, but he didn't think it was because they didn't have the nightmare spell anymore!
Before Kai could begin to panic silently, Nephis spoke up, her voice calm and clear.
"Let us go to the store Saint Beastmaster and Ascended Sunless mentioned a few minutes ago. We are attracting too much unwanted attention with our current attire. It will be a quick trip, in and out, it will only take a few minutes, then we head back to Lord Shadow's temple." Nephis said, with a firm tone.
************************************************
"Thank you all for coming by! Um, please do come again," the owner said, smiling wryly as they inspected themselves in their new clothes and walked through the store to the front, with different expressions on their unnaturally beautiful faces.
Joseph hoped to the evernight goddess that these kids never set foot in here again.
He was getting too old for this; he was beginning to think his daughter's advice was right; he should retire and settle down.
Meanwhile, Sunny was mentally exhausted. Hours passed before they finished at the store, and that was only because the owner had to start closing so late.
'In and out, she said it will only take a few minutes, she said,'
That damn liar!
The main reason everyone took so long was that the former idol judged everyone's clothes to see if they matched their "personalities" and picked out outfits for those who weren't present.
Why did that guy have to be so damn picky?
Once they reached the store's entrance, they noticed the owner had covered the windows with dark curtains that let no light in except for the weird light source called "gas lamps," something the owner muttered to himself that he needed to buy more of.
The older man had set multiple lamps across the store so that everyone could navigate without fear of tripping in the darkness, except for Kai and Sunny, who were the only two who could see in the dark.
Sunny looked over himself once more, pulled the door open, and was met with a veil of crimson light shining over them. It was clearly around midnight, so what was with this lighting?
"What the hell kind of place is this?!" Lonesome Howl pointed at the full crimson moon that shone brightly throughout the streets with a shout.
"By the dead gods, why is the moon red?" Kai asked no one in particular, looking around at the crimson light that bathed the silent streets, giving them an eerie atmosphere.
Suddenly, the sound of a single creature's hooves trotting at a moderate pace reached Kai's ears; the others heard it too and outstretched their hands in case they needed to summon a weapon.
They immediately closed them and frowned once they remembered they couldn't summon their memories.
A few seconds later, he saw a four-wheeled carriage with an emblem of double crossed swords on its side, a driver holding the reins, and the silhouette of the same young man he had seen earlier, wearing a brownish-yellow suit coat and a top hat.
Only this time, he was riding in the carriage throughout the quiet streets, and sitting across from him was a man in his thirties with deep grey eyes.
Where could they be going at this time of night?
As he started at the passing carriage, the man suddenly stopped talking and slowly turned his head to meet Kai's gaze. The man's expression was unreadable. After a moment of staring, the man opened his mouth to say three words to the driver, which Kai could hear perfectly, being a saint.
"Stop the carriage,"
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know how the pacing is! :) As you can see, I decided to stick with starting from volume one. But still, please let me know if I make any errors on the lotm part of the world.
You can expect the next chapter to come next week.