inanis journey[new]

It didn't take long for Inanis to spot their new home from across the plaza, it was exactly like the photos showed, a medium sized building with two floors, the one on ground level had wide and tall double doors and glass windows that had closed curtains at the moment, and the one on the second floor had normal balconies with glass doors that also had closed curtains.

They quickly entered using their keys and inspected the whole place, after they were finished they couldn't help but think ‘as expected from a isekai’ and ‘at least i got a place to sleep, it is a good start’ as everything on the house worked on magic, the light were mana based, and there were two different sets of lights, one that was normal white light and one that simulated the sun, it even emitted warmth. The sinks had magic circles and mana batteries that created clean water with magic. Toilet? Magic water too. Fridge? Similar to the “sun lightbulb” but emitted a cold pale blue light. The doors had locks that had both a mechanical mechanism and a magical one that made them work like those card reading doors and normal ones. The stove/oven had yellow plates and bars respectively that when they were turned on would emit strong heat, being an obvious isekai alternative to gas stoves/oven flames.

But outside the essentials it was empty, not even a bed or spoon on the cabinets.

So the first thing they did was get out and scan the plaza in search of a useful store, and they indeed found one, a medium sized store called “1 iron store - everything 1 iron or less!” And as they know similar stores from their past world they went to it to buy some basic stuff like forks, cleaning supplies, some cooking utensils, baking mounds, etc.

And as the name of the store suggested, they were cheap, 1 iron or less, with a few things slightly above 2 iron. The next thing they did was go around the plaza around the shops and the people selling stuff on carpets and buy various spices, cooking ingredients, and the isekai alternatives for those they knew. They didn't miss the opportunity to buy books from a guy on a carpet, selling popular books from other kingdoms.

Returning home they immediately went to the kitchen and started baking cupcakes and making tea with sweet leaves. They craved isekai food, and what is better than cupcakes and sweet tea on this particular cloudy slightly cold day?

While the food was baking and water was getting hotter they proceeded to make other things, such as making hollow mannequins made of hard silk, after they made two adult mannequins one female, one male, and made two child ones, one small and the other a bit bigger.

they also made clothes for them;a poncho, cloak, simple t-shirt, baggy pants, bandeau bra, and simple underwear, all of which were made a little less resistant than the one they sold at the guild but still quite resistant.

they put the mannequins on stands(also made of hard silk) by the windows in the store room that were now open.

They sat on hard silk stool they made by the glass counter and preoccupied themselves with other things such as making bags for the clothes and smaller bags for the cupcakes made as gift to customers, oversized cupcakes I might add.

They took out a book they bought and started reading while singing in a low voice at the same time, they just felt it was appropriate.

They were singing with a low voice so it was mostly covered by the sound of people chatting on the plaza, the sound of heavy steps, and the vibrations of the feet stomping around.

But as they took a sip from their tea they glanced at the plaza outside the shop doors, their face was neutral and calm, but their emotions underneath it were unreadable; but their gaze didn't linger too much, it only took a moment for them to return to the isekai book,the questions “ the blood queen and the metal emperor? What could it be about?” appeared in their mind as they read the book cover.

…

It didn't take even 20 minutes to some noise at the entrance attract inanis attention and make them stop singing and put the book down as they took a sip from their tea. 

The noise outside seemed to be a few children talking and coming closer to the store entrance, all of them were a bit deep but still obviously children, one a little feminine said: ma, you smell it? They made cupcakes!“ another a bit deeper said “ma, look! Those are so cool~” another one who was a bit feminine said “*sigh heavily* children* followed by a voice inanis recognized, saying “...you are all children? Whatchu talking about?”

The voices source soon revealed themselves to be the hyena woman from the ice cream cart and four hyena children that looked to be around 6 or 8 years old and had a fur pattern very similar to the hyena woman, inanis immediately recognized two as girls and two as boys, the girls were wearing clothes almost identical to the hyena woman and the boys were wearing similar ones but instead of a bra they had two utility belts forming a “X” over their chest, all of which had spiky hair and a back mane.

Upon entering the store the hyena family immediately noticed how warm the shop was, not temperature wise, it was somewhat cold outside and inside the shop, but the shop was cozy and felt like home, despite not having anything noteworthy, it smelled of freshly baked cupcakes with a hint of sweet tea.

The hyena woman greeted Inanis with a smile “yo, here I am, as promised!” she pointed to each children saying “these are my children, Hie-Lala, likes to eat, Hie-Ta’nya, is silly sometimes, Hie-Mako, likes cool things, and Hie-Koma, Koma is a bit shy”

The three children said at the same time, lala “can I eat a cupcake? You sing well!” mako “Hello!” ta’nya “hello, I am the oldest” Koma just looked at their siblings and then to Inanis.

Inanis smiled amused as they gave lala a cupcake on a bag “hello to you all, you can and thanks, here is one, and the paper is edible”

Lala eyes sparkled like stars as they took the bag that was a bit too big for them, the hyena woman glanced at the bag “how many cupcakes you put on that bag?”

Inanis answered as if there was nothing strange about it “Only one” the answer made the hyena woman snap her head to Inanis and then to the bag again and to Inanis again as she squinted her eye to Inanis saying “if you say so” but Inanis felt the need to clarify “but I sliced it into smaller pieces for easier consumption” the hyena woman did a small nod and Lala immediately started picking pieces of the cupcake and sharing with their siblings.

Inanis paused to take a sip from their tea before they said “I have to say, your family has a strange naming sense, all your children are name Hie-something and your name is Shredder, similar to the cheese”

The hyena woman’s mouth corners twitched as she thought ‘cheese?what cheese?’ before she put it aside and said “well, it seems like there is some misunderstanding here, ‘The Shredder’ is my mercenary title, my name is Hie-Ma’am, most people call me ‘Am’ and my family calls me ‘Ma’, i am from the Hie family, and yes, the name comes from the way we laugh…Anyways! we came to buy clothes! or rolls of silk if you have any, do you have clothes similar to the one we are wearing in your stock?”

inanis took another sip from their tea “i do not have any clothes on stock right now, outside those on the mannequins, but i can make one on the spot if you want?”

Ma’am quickly said “like right now? In front of children?”

Inanis confused “yes, why? What is the problem”

Ma’am scratched her cheek “I am not so sure it is a good idea”

But before Inanis could ask why Mako innocently asked “will you poop clothes?” Ma’am shot a glance at her son inanis fearing he offended inanis, but inanis simply laughed a bit making the sound of a running river made of chaos before they started to produce silk from the tip of their fingers, quickly forming a beanie with drawings of smiling hyenas as they spoke giving the beanie to the child “i do not poop clothes, or silk, take this… gift, for making me laugh” the boy happily accepted it with his tail wagging and put it on, it had two protrusions to fit his ears so it was comfortable..

Ma’am quickly said “so that is how Arachnes make silk? because they always did it in secret everyone thought they pooped it” Mako added “that was fast! I was thinking it would take hours!” inanis quickly clarified “i do not know about how arachnes do it, but i do it this way, maybe they do it the same way or another one, faster or slower”

another sip from their tea ”getting back to the clothes, i accidentally made the silk i gave you too strong, and thinking about it, it will likely make clothes made with it too expensive for your average person, so” they made 10 palm sized sheets of silk going from white to black, “ the brighter the color the weaker it is and the darker the stronger it is, please test them, when you find one that is good enough i will make your clothes based on it, so it can be cheaper”

Ma’am, nodded and proceeded to test each one, the first one took a bit of effort to tear like your average paper, the second was somewhat better, making Ma’am say “this is perfect for bandages, if you make it a bit stretchy, airy and a bit sticky” they quickly tested each sheet and found that the best one was number 6 as it took a considerable effort to damage it, so Ma’am spoke giving it back “this, this one is perfect, can you make 3 sets of clothes for each of us” Mako added “ and one simpler cloak, the colorful one, please put the same drawing of the hat on it” he looked at his brother Koma who didn't speak until now and said making a two with their clawed hand “Two simpler cloak” and Ma’am looked at the cloaks, scratched her chin and said “yeah, and two of those, can you please put drawings of paws and the same ones from the hat?”

Inanis took a sip from their tea, took a good look at the family and said “what colors do you want your clothes?” 

“”Black with white dots”” they said in unison, inanis said “one moment” and started to quickly make the clothes, it didn't even take five minutes, and each time a brand new piece of cloth appeared the children's eyes shined with wonder, the children wanted to talk about how cool it was but also remain silent to not mess with the process, they chose to remain silent.

When the clothes were ready Inanis put them on bags and said pointing to the changing booths on the wall to their left, they came with the store “you can go test them on the booths” the children wanted to bombard Inanis with questions but Ma’am quickly gestured and guided them to the booths to not annoy Inanis.

They quickly went and changed into the new clothes, including the ponchos that had a hood with slots for their ears, when they got out the children were jumping almost as tall as ma'am from happiness.

Ma’am quickly thanked Inanis with a smile “thank you, this will help with my babies, their claws are simply everywhere, but how much is it?”

Inanis put a hand on their chin and really thought about it.

Inanis spoke as if they were saying the weather was nice “well, I think 100-105 for each adult set” they muttered a bit “and…65? for each children set is a fair price, so a total of 315+260+ the ‘simple cloaks’ which are” they gave a pause “… uhh, 27 each + the four utility belts which are… 25, yeah, 25 each, comes to a total of 729 copper, a fair price, no?” they were making prices up, they didn't know if it was a lot, or too little, selling a roll for 4.8 k not even two hours ago didn't help which made them think ‘not only I suck with money but now I have to deal with these nonsense currency, I just hope I don't get scammed, that would be embarrassing’.

Ma’am eyes widened and her tail that was slowly wagging from side to side stiffened, the children were too occupied munching on cupcakes and inspecting the clothes to care about the transaction, so their tails were wagging happily.

She narrowed her eyes and asked, confused “is this some kind of reverse scam??? Aren't they too cheap? I saw you making it, and tested them, so they are real and hard to damage, that alone ups the price to a couple dozen cooper, each piece!” ‘ I was right, their heads are full of silly thoughts, not a smart one in sight, or they are just playing dumb, like those guys' they thought seriously.

Inanis was unfazed by what Ma’am said, they simply poured more tea to themselves, took a sip and said “Ma’am, how much do you think it costs for me to make these clothes?”

Ma’am ears twitched and turned to Inanis as she started to think about it, but it didn't take long for them to come with an answer “well, to make silk this strong and this much silk, you need to drink a few different potions each day, which makes you spend at least 1 thousand copper each day”

Inanis looked at her for a moment, took a sip and said “it costs nothing” Ma’am made a stupid face from surprise like “:V”, but before she could speak inanis added “it costs nothing to me, I can use energy or stamina to make silk so each few hours I can make quite a bit, and how strong it is does not affect the cost, at most I get a bit tired and need to recover to make more, but that is it, I even think I am charging a bit too much”

Ma’am blinked slowly, only after a moment the noise of their children chatting about showing their new clothes to their friends finally registered as they heard Lala asking for another cupcake to take home followed by Inanis saying “of course you can, here it is” as they gave another oversized bag to Lala, ma’am first thought was ‘Lala is getting a bit too… round? Or is it my imagination? she been sneaking more snacks recently, i should cut her treats for a few months’

But Ma’am quickly came back to their senses, straightened up and said with a firm tone “no and no!” Getting the attention of their children who got silent to watch the interaction with straight ears and firm tails.

Ma’am continued with a frown “We won't buy for less than 1800 copper!” the children looked at inanis.

Inanis was surprised, but amusement quickly overtook their surprise, they for some reason thought ‘heh, I always wanted to do this’ as they said “1200 and no more”

Ma’am tail shot up and puffed as if she received an electric shock as she thought ‘This brat is trying to bargain! hie, not on my watch! I bargained with people far older, tougher, smarter and far less silly-headed, a brat with a warm-ey voice is not going to trick me!’

Ma’am growled a bit with her ear straightening up before she said “1500!

Inanis was holding in their laughter as they said “maybe we can come down to a deal?how about 1300?” ‘i am liking this place more and more’ they thought amused

Ma’am looked to the side and thought for a moment “1450, that is the lowest we will go”

Inanis said as they extended a hand to shake with ma’am, “deal, 1450 it is” ma’am quickly smiled and shook inanis hand before taking two silver notes and ten iron notes from the bag on their waist and giving them to Inanis. ‘hihihi, just like the movies!’ Inanis thought almost seeing themselves in a movie, bargaining with an old merchant for an ancient artifact in the middle of the desert. 

But Ma’am suddenly felt something was amiss, but they didn't quite know what so they put it aside for a moment and said “pleasure doing business with you, I will come tomorrow to buy more clothes” but they remembered something and said “and I will bring a book for you; money for dummies, I think you will like and need it, see you tomorrow, let's go babies” she paused and remembered another thing “oh, i remembered, you might get a few visits from mercenaries or the guild, they always have interest on silk, specially yours now” she quickly started guiding her children outside the shop saying to Lala “hey! Stop stuffing your face with cupcakes! I told you before, eat slowly, and we are cutting your treats until further notice” getting a “wu-whu” from Lala as she whimpered, making inanis laugh internally, both because of the display and because of the deal.

But just as the hyena family was getting out a person was getting in, someone inanis saw before but didn't talk with; remember that mercenary inanis stared at in the guild? It was them.

The mercenary was a tall woman(tall for the average person on the city, they were around the same height as Ma’am, so ⅔ of Inanis height), she had the body of a warrior, a few scars here and there, a red hair with orange tips, light yellow eyes, and was wearing casual clothes differently from when inanis saw them on the guild, but now they were wearing a scarlet long sleeved turtle neck shirt, camouflage pants and what look like black military boots.

this mercenary immediately greeted Ma’am as they passed by each other “hi aunt Ma” getting a “Drop the aunt part, i told you before, i am not that old!” Ma’am’s children said almost in unison “Hi big sis”, even the shy Koma greeted them in a low voice.

the mercenary smiled “you all are still coming over next week? my mother complains all the time about how you stopped visiting us and ask if i seen any of you, even though you visited two months ago”

Ma’am laughed with a ‘hiehiehie’ with her children doing little hyena giggles before Ma’am said “my bad, i forgot how she is, we definitely will visit! but if you excuse us, my pups got school in a few hours, and they didn’t clean their fur yet, but see you next week” she bowed a little at the mercenary and ushered her children towards their home.

the mercenary quickly came inside the shop while looking around, they also felt the shop was warm and welcoming but couldn’t pinpoint why, they just felt like this was the place they should be, it was almost a magical feeling, but being a mage, she knew and could feel there was no magic going on.

she came to the counter and greeted Inanis with a confident smile and with a peculiar shine in their eyes “hi, my name is Freya, your name is Scarlet Inanis, right? i saw you at the guild earlier… sooo, I heard you are selling clothes?”