Death... and me

Calina and Malaka quickly took the boxes away from Frandin and... gave him the right ones.

"Young... Master, buy these ones instead."

Frandin almost vomited blood after that. Well, they did say they would select what they needed and have him buy it, didn't they? However, wasn't it quite meaningless now that all of that happened?

"Ahem... alright."

Frandin then went to the counter and brought a few Spirit Stones out. Of course, those items were only at the Rank One Spirit Stone value. In fact, using Spirit Stones to pay for them was already extremely expensive. Then again, this was a luxurious shop for female Zasfins, after all.

The girl on the other side of the counter did her best to conceal her thoughts of awkwardness, but it was really hard to do so. Frandin, obviously, noticed that as well. However, he pretended he didn't see anything.

'It's fine. These are necessary. If the girls had no need for this, that would mean that they have reproductive issues, which would be quite a blow for women. Yes, let's think of it that way. I'm helping out in protecting their reproductive organs, that's all. Besides, they're humans. I don't need to focus too much on it.'

Frandin then put on a bright smile once again as he paid for the products. Well, that only made the Zasfin girls in the shop think about him as a bigger pervert than before.

Sometime later, Calina, Malaka, and Qia finished grabbing the things they wanted to buy. Since Roan was looking, they didn't take anything that could hinder their moves during fights either. Of course, they gave everything to Frandin, who once again paid for all of that.

Following that, they went to other shops to buy a few more things, like the make-up products Roan used to further change their appearance after Rean's skill. Surprisingly, Roan was very picky about it, asking the female attendant several questions on each product he chose.

Eventually, they ended their shopping and left. As one could imagine, a few Zasfins started to follow them around from the shadows. As Marau mentioned, Frandin's age and talent caught the attention of several aristocrats in the city.

However, just as their own representatives came out to introduce themselves, Frandin's group suddenly disappeared. Even the people following them couldn't understand what just happened. One second earlier, they were well within everyone's Spiritual Senses. In the very next moment, they simply vanished without a trace.

Sure enough, many experts began to comb the region, trying to find out where they went. Unfortunately, everything was for naught as no clue came out.

"As expected of a Celestial Land member."

"Indeed. Our cultivations are all one or two realms above Gian, but he still left us in the dust."

"Still, where would have he gone?"

"No, wait! Gian and Marau did talk about paying a visit to the Portin Clan's estate."

"Yes, I heard that as well from the girl in the shop."

"Let's go!"

They were right. Frandin's group really did go to the Portin Clan to pay a visit. They didn't go back to the workshop where Rean was working since someone might have found them. That was also a test to see if the Zasfins had some other way of tracking them down.

Fortunately, it seemed like that wasn't the case. Roan's group arrived at the Portin Clan without being bothered by anyone. However, just as they were about to talk with the guards at the clan estate's entrance, a girl appeared in front of them.

She had the same cultivation as Valia and was about the same age. Together with her, there was a middle-aged man who looked at Frandin with a smile.

"Hello, friend. May I know if you're called Gian Torio?"

Frandin narrowed his eyes before asking.

"It seems like quite a few Zasfins know about me already. However, I was pretty sure I escaped all those annoying shadows back in the city center. How did you find out that I was here?"

The girl beside Frandin laughed as she showed a beautiful smile.

"Don't worry, Gian. We didn't follow you. We just used our heads a little more than the others. We knew from the start that you accepted Marau's invitation, so we just came to this place ahead of time. It shouldn't take long for the others to understand this and come to the Portin Clan's estate as well."

Roan mentally nodded after listening to her explanation. These two were a lot better than the others. They predicted that his group would eventually escape everyone's sight, so they came here instead, where they would have to appear sooner or later.

'Well, perhaps they had some subordinates following us back then as well.'

Roan then used Spiritual Sense to tell Frandin how to act in this situation.

"I see. You seemed very confident that those guys would lose our tracks. Well, then. How can I help you? I came here to pay a visit to the Portin Clan, so I don't have much time."

The girl then bowed to Frandin before saying.

"My name is Xiria Asume, and this is my uncle, Baran Asume. We came here in the hopes of inviting you to pay a visit to our clan's estate as well. We will make sure to treat you even better than the Portin Clan."

As soon as Xiria said that, an angry voice came from the Portin Clan's entrance.

"Xiria, you really are shameless. You even came to our doorsteps to take our guests away. Is that how your Asume Clan acts?"

Sure enough, the one who came out was Valia. She also felt a serious threat when she saw Xiria.

'Father was right. She intends to hook up with him first. It was a good thing I kept one eye at the entrance.'

Xiria smiled at Valia, not minding her words at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about. This is the street, a public place. Whether I invite someone to pay a visit or not has nothing to do with you."

Valia snorted as she said.

"Ha! Only an idiot would believe such words."

As the two girls argued, Malaka couldn't help but ask Frandin.

'Which one of the two will you select?'

Frandin felt a chill on his back. Choose? He wanted to be as far away as possible from all of this.