When his resolve was hard as steel, Momonga rose up and removed his clothing. The skirt was fine for 'every day' confidence. But as a master of sales, one of those who was among the very best of the best in his office at closing deals, he knew the importance of supreme confidence.
And when one needed supreme confidence, half measures would not do. He looked over his shoulder at the door to his room, 'If any of them knew I do this… how would they see me? It might shatter their image of me… well, not Aura and Mare. They would take it in stride. But the others? Albedo?' He recalled an obscure lesson from his basic education as a child, a nobleman of Spain who wore women's clothing sometimes, the Queen of England caught him in his dress, and for the rest of her life would laugh at the mention of his name.
Momonga burned bright red in the face as he thought of the others laughing at him like that. His face was like a cherry, and his heart pounded like mad in his chest. 'Maybe if I took on a woman's form then-' He had the thought come and then cast it aside.
"No. I'm not a woman. I just, I like this. I shouldn't have to- and besides, they wouldn't really laugh if they knew, would they? They're NPCs programmed to be loyal.' Momonga argued with himself while he searched through his wardrobe.
"They say you can never go wrong with a little black dress. But sometimes you need a little more." Momonga said aloud, a little trace of a smile coming over his face when he looked at his options. Just looking at the variety of gifted dresses from Bukubukuchagama was enough to make him happy. 'She was the only one who knew…' He recalled, her little private equipment trades were always covert, and sometimes the things she gave him were outright purchases, not random drops or dev gifts for logins. 'I wonder how much she spent on this?' Momonga had the thought run through his head and he reached out to touch the little red skirt.
It shimmered like rubies, and just like it was yesterday, he recalled the moment she'd given it to him. Her slime avatar had no eyes and no mouth to speak of. But when she was happy or excited, her slime form jiggled like a bowl full of jelly, and he could still remember her tapping her inventory and dragging it over to his.
"Look at this! I got a complete set!" She had no hands to clap, but when she spoke, her slime appendages slapped together, and all Momonga could do was roll his nonexistent eyes.
'She's always eager to dress up the twins… why not me too?' He'd wondered at the time, and the crimson panties appeared beneath the skirt as it appeared over his rounded rear, a tight fit that in this form would make his thighs rub together. The shirt was white and came with a red kerchief that knotted in the front, stopping just where the shirt cut off at the midriff.
Recalling the full outfit, Momonga reached into his private inventory and pulled it out, he donned it immediately and then posed in the mirror, sticking one leg out and running a hand up and down the slender body he now inhabited.
"Well it is a lot prettier than a skeleton, I'll say that." He remarked to no one in particular, and paced back and forth in front of the mirror, "Yes, perfect…" His confidence soared as he found what he wanted to wear, and then put on his caster's robes over top of it all again.
"Now to go visit… can I call them 'new friends' or not?" Momonga was uncertain, he cast his eyes toward the mirror like his reflection was going to answer him.
No answer came, but dressed in his best and filled with a brimming confidence in his heart, he set out for where he fully expected to find his guests.
Enri Emmott sat at the bar opposite the red headed maid with a sweet but scary smile. 'I hope Nemu stays asleep for a long, long time… poor thing, she's so scared… It's been such a hard day for her. Me too, really…' Enri looked up, the red headed woman had said something.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Enri asked.
The red head thrust a finger out and pointed to the mug of ale Enri still clung to, "I asked if you were going to actually drink that. If not, I could do with another." She licked her lips and then leaned forward, resting her left forearm over the six empty mugs she already had lined up in front of her.
Enri let go of the brew and slid it across the smooth reflective surface of the dark wooden table. "Here… I don't really feel like it. I thought I did, I thought I did but-" She shook her head and closed her eyes. "I can't, ah… did you give me your name?"
"Lupusregina Beta. -su" The redhead said and gave the blonde human a cocky smile. "So what're you so sad about anyhow?"
"My village died. My parents died. My friends died. Everybody I ever knew except my sister and I- it's… it's all gone. Our homes, all our work, our pathetic possessions… there's nothing left of us. Carne is dead…" Enri whispered out the words while Lupusregina sat back in her seat and drank with deep, loud, almost obnoxious gulps.
Lupusregina tilted her head back and chugged while Enri talked, and when the blonde peasant said her last word, the maid let out a long, loud, "Braaaaaaap!" Then wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
The peasant narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but there are lots of empty tables… aren't there?" She looked around, the bar was almost empty except for the bartender himself, a mushroom headed humanoid who polished a glass with a white cloth that never seemed to get dirty, a penguin that was fumbling with a tall multicolored drink, and a few others.
"Yeah, but drinking alone stinks. -su" Lupusregina answered and smacked the mug down, she rested her forearm on the table and narrowed her golden eyes, "Are you saying I'm not good company."
Enri should have felt her heart quail, she could feel the danger radiating from the beautiful maid, but with nothing behind her but loss and no clear future to be had, she had an unnatural courage settle into her gut when she answered, "Yes. I don't need crudity right now… I need… I need-"
She smacked a fist down on the table, rattling the mugs and snapping, "I don't even know what I need!"
Lupusregina looked the human up and down with an almost respectful eye, "Hmpf, you have some fight in you, human. I'll give you that. Have you ever thought of getting even? Maybe that's what you need -su?" It was such a genuine question and so out of the blue that Enri's anger melted away.
It was quickly replaced with doubt. "I'm a peasant. I can't get even with anyone."
"Well, not with that attitude you can't." Lupusregina pointed out and jabbed her finger toward Enri. "Your whole problem is you're weak. And weak people get trampled by strong people. You all knew that, right? So what did you do about it?"
"We were just trying to survive. What's wrong with being weak, don't we even get to live? We never hurt anyone, we were farmers, just farmers, we fed people. Wasn't that worth anything? How're we supposed to even get stronger to help ourselves, or anyone else?" Enri complained, and suddenly a mug of ale sounded really good.
Before she could raise her hand to the bartender, Lupusregina raised her arm up high and opened her pointer and middle finger to order two drinks. "I got it." The maid said.
Before Enri could mutter thanks, Lupusregina held out her hand with all five fingers of her left hand spread, then placed her right forefinger on her left thumb and pushed it down. "Being weak makes you prey animals, that's what's wrong and that's your fault." She hopped her finger over to her left pointer, counting off her second point, "Obviously no, you don't get to live if nobody protects you and you can't protect yourselves." She moved to the third finger, "Nobody cares who you fed, you all fed the ground in the end." She moved to her fourth finger, "No, it wasn't worth shit, the fact that you're all dead proves that." She pushed the finger down and then moved to her pinky, "And by getting somebody to teach you." The last closed finger transformed Lupusregina's hand into a fist and her smile became vicious, spreading over her face and baring her teeth.
Whatever came over her, Enri didn't know, but when the mugs of ale were laid down between the two, she grabbed her own, began gulping it down while Lupusregina watched and then slammed it back down on the table, "Are you offering?" Enri asked.
She expected Lupusregina to answer, but instead she watched the maid scramble from her seat and drop down on bended knee with her head down. Just as Enri's head turned to face the same direction Lupusregina's head was bowing, Momonga spoke up.
"I am. If you want a chance." He said while the double doors closed behind him.
By the time they clicked shut, Enri was down on one knee beside her table in imitation of Lupusregina, and fumbled for some way to answer the one who saved her from the disaster that took her village.