God Of Crafting

"Claire!"

A group of three girls donning the kind of robes one would expect either from a cosplayer or an average citizen of a cultivation district we were in.

Their long, elegant robes fluttered as they rushed to our side, making them look like a bunch of fairies descending from the realm of the divine rather than just a bunch of girls happy to see their friend.

Additionally, with how I've already seen others wearing the same kind of old-style format…

Weren't the robes of those girls a little bit too revealing, given how whenever they moved, the long strip of cloth in the middle would end up tangled between their legs, revealing pretty much the entirety of their long legs for all to see?

'With them for a contrast, I just can't help but appreciate Claire's modesty more…' I thought, almost weirded out by how I found those skimpy clothes of the trio more lacking than attractive.

Or maybe it was a result of Claire doing her best to drain all the cum out of my system just a few hours ago, allowing me to look at the world around me from a much more mature, sober perspective?

"Cassia, Jeanne, Calipso," Claire's smile only widened as she nodded her head in greeting, most likely reciting their names out for no other purpose but to let me know about them in advance. "I didn't expect to meet you three here at this hour!"

"Oh, I've never expected to see you here at this time either!" the girl in the middle stepped out of the group, allowing me to quickly establish the general dynamic of her group.

'She's the top dog. Then, the one on her left…' I took my eyes and turned them towards the other girl.

As opposed to the striking, crimson robes of the first of the girls, the second one wore all blue while maintaining exactly the same cut of her outfit as her more dominant friend. What's more, judging by how she kept on pinching at her fit to fix its position and properly hide her legs, she wasn't all that comfortable in something that revealing.

On the other hand, the girl on the right side of the group was donning clothes of an intense, brown color and cut to a similar… yet distinctively different shape than the outfits of the other two.

Sure, it was still a daring outfit leaving her stomach and pretty much most of her thighs out in the open… But at the same time, the master craftsman who sown it knew their craft well enough to make the outfit hide the rest of her skin much better than the outfits of her two friends.

'The one in the middle is the top dog, the one on the left is dragged around while the one on the right is either the brain, the wallet, or the insider of the group,' I thought, only to then resist the desire to put a helpless smile on my face.

'All that's left now is to attach those names to their faces, huh?'

"I didn't expect to see you here either, but more than that…" the girl in the middle repeated her earlier statement, only to turn her eyes over to where Claire and I held hands. Then, she slowly moved her eyes up my body, scanning every nook and cranny of it that her eyes could reach, only stopping when our stares met for a second before finally turning her eyes back to her target, back to Claire.

"If you don't mind me asking," she started, clearly having no intention to wait and clarify with Claire if she minded the question or not, "but who's that gentleman?"

Claire's fingers tightened even harder over my hand.

"He is…"

She squeezed down on my hand so hard that I started to genuinely worry about a potential injury…

"…my dear friend. What about him?" she then asked, proving that she knew perfectly well those three girls weren't here just for gossip or small talk… Or to be more precise, while that's what was likely their reason to approach, rather than a participant, Clarie was bound to be the subject of those rumors instead.

"Oh?" the girl in the middle took one more step…

Prompting me to pull Claire back a step while taking a step forward myself, staring right back into the girl's curious eyes with a perfectly empty, disinterested look on my face.

The girl's eyes lingered on my face a little before turning down, to where we held hands, before landing right back on Claire's face.

"Doesn't look like… just a friend, though…" she muttered just loud enough for not only the two of us and two of her friends… but pretty much everyone around to hear it.

"And since when is it a business of yours who he is?" Claire snapped back, revealing that wasn't going to take this kind of probing lightly. "Since when is it your business who do I hang out with?" Claire asked again, only to then take a step slightly to the side to reveal herself from behind my back. "Or are you that jealous that I would rather hang out with him rather than with the three of you?"

The smile on the girl's face prevailed in the face of Claire's words, but it didn't take a genius observer to see it turn sour.

This change lasted only for a fleeting second before the girl's expression returned to her former, much more natural smile.

"Oh my…" the girl moaned a little… with a voice that was strangely much more intense than I would ever expect someone's voice to be. "Little Claire is finally starting to show her fangs!" she exclaimed before bursting out laughing, even going as far as to raise her hand and wipe the tear that formed in the corner of her eye.

Then, as if her laughter was nothing but an illusion, the girl raised her head and threw a furious stare down Claire's face.

"Whether you have fangs or not, you better not forget which clan is in charge of this place!" she exclaimed so loud, that it became obvious she was trying to make a scene.

"You…" Claire took a step forward… but this time, I pulled back on her arm, stopping her from facing those girls on her lonesome.

"None of the clans are in charge of this place," I stated out loud, caring not for all the stares this girl's acting attracted so far. "Government is in charge of this place and merely delegates its duties related to this special zone to a select few families.

In other words, just so that you won't forget," I leaned my head over my arm while equipping the most charming smile I could produce with my lips, "be it your clan, Claire's clan, or a clan with a stray dog for its patriarch," my smile grew even wider and wilder.

"They only matter because my uncle says so."

This statement was so unexpected, so out of line that it would be a bigger surprise if those three... Heck, if all four of the girls present on the scene actually believed in it!

"Your uncle? Ha!" the leader of the three girls laughed out, obviously taking my words to be empty, devoid of any substance behind them. "And who this uncle of yours might be?" she then asked, struggling to properly voice her thoughts through her tears of amusement.

"Tim?" Claire asked in half-voice, clearly not expecting me to spin the situation into its current state.

"My uncle?" I repeated the question... pretty much just to give those girls a little bit more hope that I was indeed talking nonsense.

"He's the elected mayor of this glorious city. Or, in other words, a man with enough executive power to remove your clan's residence permits. And coincidentally," I leaned my head over my other shoulder while my smile quickly turned sour, "a man who would jump on this opportunity to do me a favor and thus win the bet he made with me."