Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this. They didn’t lie about knowing a store with clothes. Hell, the store had tons of high-quality pieces. It just happened that most of them were dresses or otherwise built for a woman’s body. Given that I wasn’t a woman, they all felt awkward to put on.

  Not that they gave me much choice. Not when they gave me such pitiful looks and said things like; “Were you lying about letting us help you find something?” And “you promised.” Yeah, I was being a bit of a pushover. Sue me. You didn’t see the looks on their faces.

  Now, that’s not to say I wouldn’t get them back for this. I just had to find the best time to pull something off. Hopefully before I had to spend any money on a dress or something else they thought I just had to have.

  Speaking of dresses, the most recent one they handed me was fluffy as hell. It was made from some animal’s fur. The thing felt as soft as and as light as silk while containing absolutely no color. A combination I had not thought possible until now. Likely it wasn’t possible in the real world. “Can I get a blanket made out of this stuff?” I called out as I thought about how warm this material would be when camping. The only issue would be cleaning it. Maybe there was a spell for that, though such a spell likely required a water affinity.

  “Sure,” Ronda called back, likely not because she thought that I could or would ever buy such a thing but in an effort to distract me from what I was doing. The three girls had gotten very into picking out various clothes for me. “But first, let’s see how you like it against various parts of your skin. Don’t want you to commission something only for it to make you squirm or something.”

  I rolled my eyes at the obvious push as I reluctantly slipped the dress on. Unlike a few of the earlier dresses, this one settled itself into place. It was as if the thing was made for me as it fit perfectly. It even showed curves that I wished my body did not have. Curves that were kept well hidden under some fat and slightly oversized shirts. At least I didn’t have any breasts. If I had those, I might have been forced to pay for surgery. And I mean out of pocket because it wasn’t like my insurance would have paid for something they considered cosmetic.

  I closed my eyes before turning to face the mirror. As I let out the breath I had been holding, I opened my eyes. The instant my eyes caught sight of the woman in the mirror, my heart stopped while my breath froze in my lungs.

  She was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen. Her crystalline blue eyes caught mine and held them. Neither one of us were willing to let the other move on, but eventually, we had to. My eyes trailed down her face and to her lips. Lips that were a subtle crimson. It was the color that one of the girls insisted I try after the third dress.

  Looking a bit further down, I caught sight of her neck. Her short hair was longer than I typically let it get. It was nearly long enough to reach the back of her neck. An otherwise bare neck of lightly tanned skin that was only broken by the slight bump of an Adam’s apple. It was something that I could have missed if I didn’t know it was there.

  The collar of her dress hung just below her collarbone, looking like it was a part of her rather than a piece of fabric that she was wearing. Instead of the bright white fur that I had seen earlier, the color had shifted to a lovely combination of various shades of blue. The sight of which reminded me of the flames on a Bunsen burner of all things. The effect of the shifting colors made it look like the fire licked up her body.

  While sleeves covered the entirety of her arms, they left the hands and wrists exposed. As I watched an arm move up to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the blues shifted just enough to make it seem like the flames danced and swirled around her arms.

  While, thankfully, there were no breasts on display, or even hinted at, the rest of the curves were well and truly shown. Her hips were enhanced by a tight stomach. It was something that most girls I knew would have killed for, yet the beauty in front of me showed no signs of the various methods people tried. No signs of malnourishment or drugs. Nothing.

  On top of that, her legs were long. The bit of exposed legs were bare of any hair, yet she didn’t have any razor burns. No signs of wax or laser burns either. It was as if there had never been any hair there in the first place. The only thing that was missing from her was a pair of shoes.

  Seeing her feet move as I felt the warm wood below my feet broke my trance. I went from seeing a lovely woman to seeing myself in a dress. All of the feminine-looking parts of my body were on full display. My face morphed from someone who was putting up with a request to one full of horror. I was not female nor did I ever want to be.

  Too bad the girls had taken my scraps of clothes and disposed of them after I tried on my first dress. Even going so far as to make sure that I got new undergarments. Though, if I had to be honest, I would keep those. They were so soft and fit perfectly. It wasn’t like I would be showing anyone anytime soon.

  Every time we finished a place and I refused to buy anything, one of them would pass me the robe and hustle me to the next place to do it all again. I had put up with it for long enough. This would be the last dress I would be trying on and this time I wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  I stepped out from behind the curtain and into the small room set aside for parties such as this. As I came into view, the girls all gasped as one. I ignored the looks as I took advantage of their focus and silence to say what I needed to say. “No more. I am done. Get me a pair of pants and a shirt or I will find one myself.”

  “But…” Britainy started.

  “No.” I cut her off.

  “But…” she started again.

  “No!” I said with more force.

  “Would you…” She once again started speaking.

  As it sounded like she was going to ask me to try to put on yet something else, I cut her off again. “NO!”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  She didn’t stop speaking though. Her voice cutting over mine. “Stop cutting me off. I was going to say that we got you three pairs at the first store we visited.”

  That froze me in place. If they had those this entire time, why did they keep dragging me from store to store? Why did they push dress after dress at me? Ronda pulled a package out of her inventory and tossed it to me. “Here.” She sounded hurt, as if I had done or said something to her.

  Package in hand, I placed it in my inventory and nodded to them before turning to head back into the changing room. I didn’t know what I expected to hear, but the sounds of soft crying were not it. Then again, they had practically held me hostage as they had me play dress up for them.

  I ignored the sounds in the other part of the room while I took off the dress and pulled out a set of clothes they had purchased. The pants were made of soft black leather with gold accents. Thin enough to move around and not bunch up, yet it felt sturdy enough to stop some light attacks. Attacks like bunny bites. The shirt was nearly as good, though made of a deep burgundy-colored leather.

  Of course, the moment I put it on, it fit perfectly. It molded to my body as the crafter had intended. However, unlike the dresses, this outfit didn’t show off any of my odd curves or work to feminize me. Instead, it somehow worked to make me look more regal and elegant than I had any right to be. Curious, I pulled up the stats on the two pieces.

  They looked decent, though the information made little sense to me. Considering how much more information was displayed compared to when I had looked at my skirt, I had to assume this was one of the things that changed in the interface part of the update.

  When I stepped out of the changing area I found the room empty save for the attendant who was cleaning up the pile of dresses. Given that this last trip into the changing room was my fastest yet, it didn’t make sense for them to have left. “Where did the girls go?”

  “They all left.” The attendant said as a flash of light and steam ran through the dress in his hand.

  “What do you mean?” I had their names but that was it. I needed more information if I was going to get them back for today.

  “They settled the bill and left.” His tone was one of annoyance. He probably wanted me to leave so that he could work in peace.

  “Bill?”

  “For the dress and the room. You didn’t think that a store would have a room set aside for people to try on clothes for free did you?” Given how he sounded, I was sure that he was questioning my intelligence.

  “Yes, I did.” Though, now that I thought about it, I had not seen any store doing the same in a long time. Only those in movies had places that anyone could use to try things on for free. “And what do you mean for the dress? I didn’t plan on buying any of them.”

  “Of course you weren’t.” He mumbled. Likely thinking that most people who came in here to try on multiple dresses with friends were just here for a good day and nothing more. “They purchased the last dress you tried on. Is there anything else you need?”

  With a shake of my head, I put the dress into my inventory. The item went into my bag without any issue meaning that it was indeed mine. As I went to leave the room, I found myself asking him a question. “What material is it made from?”

  “Moonlight Fox fur.”

  “And where might I order something else made from the same material?” He didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes bore into me. I licked my lips and asked the question in a slightly different way. “Is there a place that might sell such materials?”

  This time he answered. “Moonlight Foxes are B-grade monsters. Protected B-grade monsters.” He emphasized the word as if to stop me from doing something stupid. “Their furs are offered up only when one dies of old age or in battle. What you have there is what was left of the last one. The majority of its fur was used in a ceremony to honor the leader of the army that blocked the latest demon incursion.”

  “If it is so rare and used in such events, why was this piece made into a dress and sold here?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know how my father got a hold of it. I just take care of the store and learn as much as I can while I can.” With that, he turned back to what he was doing. Effectively dismissed, I walked out of the place. Curious about the dress, I pulled up its information.

  “What can cut through this dress?” I asked the damn AI, the random numbers and lack of information were starting to get to me.

  “Any material stronger than steel should be able to do some damage. Though, folded steel might find an issue cutting through it.” Of course, the damn dress would be one of the best armors I had seen so far. Sometimes I hated my life.