yemalu

It was the next day and I decided to do some exploration of the city myself.

Though when I said myself, I really meant that Lisa and Katsuki would be accompanying me on this outing.

Odeta was accompanying her sister and Mother was staying in today though she never told me why she would rather stay on the ship than go out.

Delmare also decided that she would start her classes early and stayed behind to start learning from Mary in preparation for joining me in school.

That left Sebastian who would also be accompanying Mother on the ship as well since Katsuki was accompanying me already.

Thus my small group of three made our way back onto the large street of Edart Trade City.

And the first thing on the list of things I want to do is…

"Ok Lisa! Where are the sweets shops?!"

The Infrid giggled, "Ehehe~ You really are so cute, Aster~ But unfortunately, this is one thing I don\'t know since I didn\'t pay attention to such shops back when I was still here. But finding them ourselves is part of the fun, isn\'t it?"

"Unnn… I suppose that\'s true! So let\'s go and look for one right now! Let\'s start over there!" I yelled, pointing towards a direction that I believe would lead me to a sweets shop.

Just as I was about to rush ahead though, Katsuki called out to me, "Mistress?"

Both Lisa and I turned to look at her.

"May I confirm that you wish to find the sweets shop by yourself?"

I tilted my head at her, "Hmm? I suppose so? Why do you ask?"

"No reason, Mistress. Though please be careful of any shady looking shops and people."

Geez Katsuki, I\'m not a chi-- Oh wait, I\'m still twelve years old in this World. Forget I said anything then…

Eh? Aren\'t you just a year older than me, Katsuki? You\'re not much better you know?

Whatever, sweets first! Where are my sweets?! My sweets senses are telling me it\'s most likely in that direction!! Let\'s go!!

I rushed off towards the direction where I thought I caught the scent of something sweet, following it down the main road to a smaller side road and past several shops that looked like they were selling daily necessities.

I stopped abruptly when I realised I actually reached where I thought the sweet smell was coming from, looking around to try and find the source of it.

Katsuki who had been following behind me effortlessly then gestured towards the side as though she already knew what I was looking for.

There, displayed in one of the street stalls by the side of the road, were rows of perfume on display and several young ladies testing them on their skin.

Ugh… So that was what I was smelling in the air… Well, I have to admit that it did smell sweet though…

"Oh~ Is Aster interested in that?" Lisa asked, her gaze trained on the perfume stall.

I realised when she asked \'that\', she was referring to cosmetic products in general.

I shrugged, "I\'m honestly not that interested in it… Usually Katsuki is the one who does my hair and everything…"

"Ehehe~ I suppose that makes sense considering Aster is the young mistress of the Nilm family after all~ Hmm… Now that you mention it… How about we do some shopping for you while we\'re here, Aster?"

I gave her a confused look, "Eh? I thought you were following me so that you could eat sweets too?"

"Ehehe~ I followed along so that I could watch you eat sweets, Aster, but that\'s not the point~ So how about it? This is our first date as soulmates after all so we can go and buy some things to pretty you up while we\'re here! I believe your current wardrobe consists of really simple stuff right?"

Unexpectedly, Katsuki went ahead to answer her question, "That is right, Miss Lisa. Mistress does not have any interest in shopping for clothes and any other such products, Madam has also decided not to push the issue."

"Oh my~ Isn\'t she just hinting that she wants people like me to do it?"

"This maid does not presume anything of the Madam\'s intentions."

"Ehehehe~ In that case, I\'ll gladly accept this role given to me! Let\'s go shopping, Aster!"

I frowned, "Ehhhh… But I\'m here to get sweets…"

"Mistress… I caught the scent of some cookies back on the main road. Would it be fine if I go search for it while you stay with Miss Lisa?"

Wait, she… Ah… I completely forgot that her sense of smell was much better than mine…

Now I know why she asked if I wanted to search for the sweets shop myself since she most likely already figured out where they were by the smell.

Unn… Fine… If Katsuki is going to bring me cookies, I suppose I can do some clothes shopping too.

Don\'t get me wrong, it\'s not like I actually hate shopping or anything, I just really don\'t like how long it takes to shop for clothes.

No, you don\'t understand. It\'s not like you just go to the store, see a shirt you like, buy it, and then you leave.

Do you realise how many different designs, colours and stuff goes into female and futa fashion?

You see a really pretty dress that you want so you get it, but the dress has this really intricate lace design that doesn\'t pair well with the leather heels you currently wear so you need to search for a matching pair.

Then you find the perfect pair of heels to go with the dress but now your bag doesn\'t fit well because the heels have designs on the straps that clashes with the chain and material of your bag so you need to find another one that goes well with both the dress and the heels.

And don\'t even get me started on the accessories too.

If you were really wealthy, you\'d just buy everything and then do the coordination yourself at home, but if money is an issue, you\'d need to think about whether you\'d prioritise a perfect outfit or a more general one.

If you have one perfect outfit, that would mean you can only wear it in that combination which is a faux pas in noble circles because it would make you look poor since you\'d most likely keep wearing the same outfit multiple times.

For me, I don\'t really care since I don\'t attend those noble parties or whatever and I\'m primarily a Mercenary and Dungeoneer than a noble anyway. Thus, I\'m fine with wearing the same enchanted dress multiple times even though I have a few others I could wear.

But of course I\'d like to look nice too, which means that if I really go and shop for these kinds of stuff, it would take a really long time since I would be really picky about these things… Time that could be better spent training, studying, learning and also most important of all… Eating delicious sweets!

To reiterate again, I don\'t really hate shopping for clothes and all that. In fact, I do like it because who doesn\'t like new stuff right? It\'s just that I\'d rather spend that time on something else if I could help it…

With that in mind… I\'m now currently stuck in front of the perfume stall with Lisa as we perused its wares.

The one manning the stall was a middle aged Inugami lady who was busy taking care of a group of young girls in front of her.

I also noticed a sign at the side of her stall that read \'Personalised perfumes. I will find the perfect scent for you or your money back. 1 Crea upfront payment.\'

"Oh I think this one would suit you the best, young lady. This one in particular is mixed with crushed wood and berries from the trees within Elhiria Republic. You can give it a whiff and you\'ll notice it has an enriching and natural aroma~"

The girls unstoppered the bottle and a scent that smelt like wood drifted out from said bottle.

That seemed to be the one that one of them was looking for as she happily took the bottle from her friends and passed a few coins to the stall owner.

The other two seemed to have already made their own purchases since they were also clutching their own bottles and left the stall as a group, chattering to themselves all the way.

The Inugami stall owner then turned her attention to us, "Oh my? An Infrid and Meslatar couple I see. How can I help you?"

Lisa started giggling, "Ehehehe~ Couple~"

I nudged her and she quickly recovered.

"Ahem… We… We want to find something suitable for my… Ehehehe~ My soulmate to wear… Ehehehe~"

Even though she recovered enough to speak, she\'s still giddy over the fact that the lady called us a couple I see.

She also dug out a small bronze coin and handed it over to the stall owner.

The stall owner took the coin and looked me up and down, "I see, I see. How nice indeed. And I think I know just the right one for this beautiful young lady here."

She reached underneath her stall and pulled out a small vial that reminded me of those eye drop bottles before handing it to me.

Curious, I popped off the top and hovered my nose over it.

And then that\'s when it hit me.

This scent… I know it…

This was the scent of my home back in my old World.

How?!