Chapter 106 – Shopping With Cass

After a rather fun-filled morning, it was finally time for my lunch break. However, unlike my lunch break yesterday, where I only took a few minutes off to eat in the Red Den’s cafeteria before getting back to work, today I was slated to have a couple of hours off in a row and had made plans to take advantage of that fact with a certain dark-skinned coworker of mine. As such, it wasn’t long before Cass and I were properly dressed and heading out the back entrance of the Red Den.

Side by side, the two of us made our way down the back streets of the commerce district, heading towards the busy central market streets. As we walked through the streets, Sophia’s words of advice from earlier rang in my ears about how just having a dagger at my waist would be deterrent enough most of the time. The fact that neither Cass nor I appeared armed at the moment was a little worrying, but given how this city was apparently fairly orderly, I was not too worried.

I just have to not go into any seedy businesses or back alleys. I reassured myself while also making plans for retrieving my dagger as soon as I found myself back at the Varsen Estate later tonight.

Luckily for me, such thoughts and concerns over not being armed in a city where a lot of people were just walking around with weapons on them distracted me from the little slip of the tongue I had made yesterday when making these plans with Cass—the slip that involved me referring to these plans for today as a date. Although I didn’t know for sure whether or not the dark-skinned woman by my side actually thought of this as a date or not, I was too preoccupied to worry about it or even recall that I had made that slip of the tongue. As such, I was blissfully unaware of her thoughts on the matter as we turned onto the busiest of the market streets.

Just like I had seen it when I first arrived in the city of Artelax, the central market was teaming with people, swarming around the various businesses and shops situated around the outskirts of the square, within which the city’s dungeon sat in the dead centre.

"So, what do you want to go shopping for first?" Cass turned and asked me after finding a little quiet spot for us to stand in where we wouldn’t have to worry about being dragged away by the current of bustling crowds.

"Oh, I have really wanted to go shopping for some new bras and panties since coming to the city. The few silk pairs I have been wearing recently are all well and good, but nowhere near as sexy as I would like. Do you know any places that sell the sexy lace kind of lingerie that we wear at work?" I replied, intent on taking full advantage of the woman’s knowledge of the city while I had the chance.

After taking a moment to think, Cass eventually responded. "Hmm… I’ve never really gone to stores that might sell that kind of clothing since I've never really had the coin to afford anything from such places, but I have heard of a couple that might. One of them isn’t that far away from where we are now. It’s just over this way."

Like that, the dark-skinned woman led me through the crowd of people as I tried my best to follow along behind her. The comment she just made about never having the coin to afford such things as sexy lingerie sparked my curiosity, but given the bustling sounds of the crowd around us, I put my curiosity aside for later. No doubt, I would get a chance to ask her more about herself and such things later, when we were actually engaging in the lunch part of our lunch break, where it would be much easier to talk to one another.

Just like Cass had said, the store she was showing me wasn’t all that far, only a few buildings down from where we started. Given the crowds streaming through the streets out front, I didn’t get the greatest look at the store's facade, but from the quick glance I got of its exterior and the large glass window showing off various finely made dresses, it looked like quite the shop.

Soon enough, Cass and I made our way inside, where the little chiming of a bell attached to the front door signalled our entry. Unlike the last store I had been inside in the central market, Ryan’s Wicker Emporium, this store was not at all run-down nor lacking customers.

Rows and rows of fine clothing hung from various coat hangers or were folded on tables as a dozen or so people perused through the store’s goods. Every now and then, sets of clothing would adorn detailed wooden mannequins standing along the side of aisles of clothes. What’s more, as much as Cass had brought me here with the intent of shopping for sexy underwear, the store didn’t just sell such items. In fact, the majority of what was on display seemed to be more everyday clothing for both men and women.

Despite the fact that the store was fairly busy, a well-dressed middle-aged man working at the establishment immediately glided over from the front counter to greet us. "Welcome to the Silk & Lace, I am this wonderful store’s manager and proprietor, Elliot Avery. Is there anything I could do for you today?"

"Ah, yes. We were wondering if you sold any women’s underwear and where you would keep such things." I spoke up immediately, seeing no reason to burden Cassidy with any possible embarrassment she might have felt asking a man for her help finding this kind of thing given that I was the one who wanted to come here.

"Why, we do in fact have quite a collection of women’s undergarments. We keep them hidden away at the back of the store for your privacy while browsing. Here, I'll show you to them." The store owner spoke with every ounce of politeness and friendliness that would be expected of someone quite skilled in this area of expertise.

With Elliot’s guidance, it was only a matter of moments until we found our way to the women’s underwear section of the building. Just like he had said, it was hidden away at the back of the store in such a way that it was rather private. No one from the main, front part of the store could see back here unless they were directly standing among the aisles of women’s underwear with you.

"The more everyday bras and panties are over here on the left. Special occasion lingerie is over on the wall. And in the corner, we have a few of the less-than-functional but very visually appealing pairs of underwear. Oh, and there are a couple of changing rooms where you can try on clothing before purchasing it, but please remember to place any clothing you tried on onto one of the racks provided there if you aren't going to purchase it. We take extra care to have such articles of clothing thoroughly cleaned before putting them back out." The man so helpfully explained. "Is there anything else you need help with?"

"Not right now…" I muttered as my eyes darted around at the various panties and bras, many of which were so damned sexy, just as I had hoped.

"Very well, if you need any further help, you merely need to call for me." The man responded back before giving us a polite bow and making his way back to the busier part of the establishment.

Barely able to contain my excited grin, I began to look over the various panties looking for sizes that would fit me and were rather sexy-looking. At one point, I found an interesting little lace one-piece that was both a bra and panty at the same time.

Although it was obvious from the slender size of this piece of lingerie that it would never fit me, I was thinking of someone else when I held it up for her to see. "Oh, this would look so damn sexy on you, Cass."

"You might very well be correct, but it's five gold Evelyn!" The dark-skinned woman gasped and rolled her eyes at the cost of the underwear.

"Is that a lot? I don’t really have the best sense for the price of things, what with my memory not being what it should be."

"Yes, it's a lot. Five gold would have been plenty to feed my family for a month when I was growing up." Cass shook her head as she took the sexy underwear from me. "Then again, this store caters to more affluent crowds than I am accustomed to, so a higher price is expected for the luxuries of the rich. What's more, I do have more than a little coin to spend…"

A reluctant look crossed the dark-skinned woman's face before she shook her head once more and put the underwear back down where I had found it. "No, there is some more reasonably priced stuff here. Five gold is too much."

As much as it seemed like Cass really wanted the underwear I had shown her but was reluctant to spend so much on it, I broached the subject further. Although a part of me considered buying it for her, in the end it was her decision to get it or not, and I did not want to overstep myself when our friendship was only starting to develop. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to how cold things were between us before. I still wasn’t quite sure what had changed that, but nonetheless I didn’t plan on going back to how it was.

For a few minutes, Cass and I talked back and forth with each other as we browsed the various articles of underwear, suggesting and showing each other stuff that we thought would look good on each other. As it turned out, the underwear I had initially shown her was actually one of the more expensive pieces the store was selling. Most bras and panties were actually going for only one or two gold each, which was still apparently expensive but not as outrageous as five gold was.

Eventually, both Cass and I settled on what we wanted to buy. While the dark-skinned woman chose only one set of underwear that would cost about two gold in total, I had a haul worth about twenty gold, which consisted of five sets of bras and panties. As much money as I was going to spend at this one store, I had earned over twice that from one day of work yesterday. Not to mention that I would no doubt earn quite a bit more today after that gangbang. Once I got paid for today, that one hour alone was going to earn me more coin than I was spending here.

After trying on the underwear in our separate changing rooms and making our final decision, Cass and I started to make our way back to the front part of the Silk and Lace, but before we could get very far, an interesting little idea popped into my head. One that could be quite fun for us to do together. As such, I brought Cass to a stop while we were still hidden away in the privacy of the women’s underwear section and whispered my idea into her ear, something that caused her cheeks to blush bright red.

"That… That… That’s certainly an idea..." The dark-skinned woman stuttered more than a little bit upon hearing my suggestion.

"You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. I would be more than happy to do it by myself or not at all if you really insisted." I replied back, hoping that she wouldn’t think less of me for thinking of doing something like that.

"No, I… I’ve done similar things in the past, but back then it was because I needed to, not just for the thrill of it." Cass admitted something that really made me want to hug her, but given that I was holding a handful of bras and panties that wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and by the time I found a spot to put them down, the moment had passed. "As it is, we both have more than enough coin to pay for these… But also, I’m not opposed to the idea, especially if you do it with me."

"Ah, what the hell. Let's have a little bit of fun!" Cass relented to her perverted side as a big grin stretched across her lips.

Not wasting even a second to enact my plan, I left Cass where she was with our collection of underwear as I went off to fetch Elliot once more. Using the pretence that there was something I wanted to ask him about one of the sets of underwear he had on sale, I lured the man back to the privacy of the women’s underwear section. Once he was there with Cass and me, I began to subtly lay the foundation of my plan.

"So, me and Cass here were wondering if there might be a way for us to get a little discount on your wares. You see, your clothes are just so amazing, and we don’t quite have enough coin to purchase everything you want, so is there something we could do to work this out together." I said, making use of both my deception and seduction general skills to the best of my ability.

"Hmm… Normally we don’t give discounts on our wares, save for a few notable celebratory events, but… I can see you have something in mind. Just so there’s no misunderstanding, why don’t you just come out and say it directly." The man cleverly replied, not completely uninterested in what I was laying down but just wary that this wasn't what he thought it was.

Leaning in ever so close to the finely dressed owner of this clothes shop, I whispered in his ear. "I’m thinking that you, me, and Cass could all go into one of those changing rooms together where anything you want could happen, and then maybe some of these clothes were mislabeled and actually much cheaper than we previously thought."

As I leaned back away from the man, there were a brief couple of seconds where I didn’t know for sure if he was going to take us up on our offer. The man’s eyes just darted back and further from Cass and me as he looked at us with a flat, unassuming expression.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, his lips finally curled up into a perverted smile as he said. "If the two of you need assistance in the changing rooms, that is something I could very well help you with."

Keeping up the pretence of merely helping us out in our effort to shop here just in case someone could overhear us, Elliot guided us back to the changing rooms adjacent to the women’s underwear section. However, once the three of us found our way into a single changing room and the door shut behind us, that pretence fell away completely.