Testing My Luck in the New World

We teleported straight to the alley beside the DeGrave building Yua insisted she knew would be empty as Alphonse's thugs typically did a good job keeping the riffraff away from the building as a whole. And it was empty, giving us free reign to run around to the front of the building only to find that it was already closed for the night. As Yua's experiences in living there said it would be.

DeGrave Imports was closed. That was it. I had my confirmation that we'd been stood up. Funnily enough, after all our prepping, I wasn't too bothered by this fact. And neither was Yua. Where I thought she might be near tears again, she looked as though her resolve had been doubled. So, we ignored the drunken idiots' taunts and jeers and returned to the alley again to teleport to a fairly secluded spot we spotted by the Threaded Spool on our way here.

Amped by the fact that the deadline to us becoming fugitives was drawing ever nearer, we ran through the now mostly empty streets and found that the window out front of the tailor's shop was thankfully still lit.

"Sorry I waited to do this last," I said, pulling open the door. "I should have made this our first stop so you didn't have to run around in clothes that barely fit you."

"Please don't worry about that," she said, graciously letting me hold the door for once. "I've been used to these for a long time now."

We'd stocked up on enough food to last at least a month or two if rationed properly, so we needed clothes to last as long too. My magic could help with the upkeep of whatever we buy, so there were no issues there, even if Yua ended up picking out something cheap like she did with her boots.

"Hello again," Gideon greeted.

We'd caught him looking dead tired and ready to throw in the towel for the night as he folded some clothes that some earlier customer left in complete disarray. The mess of shirts he worked on were strewn about on a display table that they clearly didn't belong to, as there were nothing but hats beneath. And that wasn't the only part of the shop that had seen trouble.

About half of the shop looked like it had a localized tornado rampage through it and then right back out the main door, as several articles of clothing were strewn all about the place. A pair of pants were swinging from the chandelier still attempting to light the place. A half dozen or so blouses were balled up and tossed into a wastebasket hard enough to knock it over. A pair of boots were resting far apart from their twin, with one on the main counter we used to do business the days before and the other resting with its heel against a large mirror on the other side of the shop, as if some invisible foot had tried to shatter the glass only to give up half way through. When we closed the door, we even found a pair of men's underwear hanging from the inside handle.

Unfortunate for him as it was, I suppose we had to thank both his apparent need for tidiness and my luck for him choosing to stay open this late just to fix the mess, when he could have tackled it in the morning.

"Apologies for the mess. A noblewoman and her daughter stopped by earlier and started tossing my clothes all over the place in a mad frenzy when they couldn't find something that suited their oh-so-refined tastes. Said I wasted their time, even though I had no idea they were coming and had no time to prepare. That brat could have just ordered a dress made instead of destroying the place."

"It's okay," I said. "I don't mind the mess."

If anything, it reminds me a bit of my old apartment.

"But are you sure you should be bad mouthing the nobility? That sounds like it could be dangerous if word got back to them."

Gideon smirked, added the finishing touch of smoothing out a now neatly folded shirt after placing it in its rightful spot, then shook his head with a small, knowing smirk.