DiMENSIONS [IDOLiSH7]

13: Deserved

I'm falling.

My body... I can't move anything.

I feel so numb.

Ah. Everything is going black.

Sorry, Sou-chan. I couldn't stop you.

~~

-Majabah-

"This sure is a lively place."

A week later, Gaku, Mitsuki, and Riku arrived in a distant bustling town with several canals running through it. The bricks used to make roads in the town were white, so overall, the town looked nice and clean.

The three set off in a carriage with their own personal driver. Gaku insisted it was for safety. Momose was asked if he wanted to travel. He declined the offer, saying he wanted to focus on mastering his power and that someone needed to keep the decorated garden beautiful. Tsumugi was in charge of the order in the mansion. Several other servants were relieved of their duties because, with the soon-to-be-powerful geomancer joining the team, the remaining general jobs were easily taken care of by the Tsumugi and Gaku.

The plan was to travel from town to town every once in a while. The three would let Tsumugi know of their whereabouts and tell Tsumugi to send things such as medicine as needed.

"Um... Gaku and Nanase-sama," Momose spoke while having afternoon tea a few days ago. "Your clothes might be too flashy? Like they're a total giveaway that you're high-ranked nobles."

"Hmm?" Riku observed his own clothing before giving a confused look. He was wearing his 'comfortable' attire, and even those clothes had complicated golden patterns sewn on with buttons made of carefully polished opal gemstones. "Do they? How so?"

Gaku took a good look at his lord's clothes, and for the first time, he noticed those delicate details. He knew his lord's clothes were expensive, but damn, those were something else. "My lord, do you really need to ask?"

Momose couldn't help but laugh. He had gotten much more comfortable around the two, and Riku liked that. Gaku was happy as long as respect was shown to his lord. "How about you let me design your clothes, my lord and Gaku? I can't weave them, but I know Manekko-chan can~" Momo winked.

"Wait." Gaku's mouth dropped a little. "I agree Nanase-sama needs some new clothes, but-" He looked down. He was wearing a black suit with a white pleated scarf. The scarf had a big green jade pinned to it to hold it in place. It was a butler's uniform, sure, except it was way too 'extra'. "This is my pride, you know? How are people going to know I am Nanase-sama's faithful butle-"

"Oh Gaku, stop it. You may be my butler, but you are to be my travelling friend." Riku knew the uniform Gaku was wearing had been passed down through the Yaotome bloodline for generations. Of course, Gaku was proud to have earned the right to wear it. "I have been seeing you in those clothes for years. Time to change to something else." Riku smiled.

"And and-!" Excited, Momose smiled widely. "You can't be wearing fancier clothes than our lord, Gaku!"

So at present, Riku, Gaku, and Mitsuki were wearing clothes that typical nobles would wear, except the designs were quite unique thanks to Momose's creative mind.

Riku recalled one more thing. While Momose was measuring his sizes with his green vines, "Nanase-sama, it would be better if you spoke casually. People will feel much more at ease."

"Let's go in!" Mitsuki could hardly wait to see what other towns were like.

After the three got a room booked in a 4-star inn, they went to explore the town for the rest of the evening. Of course, Mitsuki handled checking in as he had to give a name. "Yaotome" or "Nanase" would shock the innkeeper too much. Now, the two did not mean to hide their identities; they only wanted to blend in as much as possible.