Chapter 267- Some Information About Dwarven Culture

[Luna POV]

When I woke up the next day, I was being hugged and stared at by Tamamo.

“Morning, my beautiful wife.  Enjoyed watching me sleep?”

{More than you know.  Though you were very talkative last night.}

“What did I say?”

{Very many things.  It seems like you were having a nice dream about the two of us.}

“Aaahhh.  Well, I wouldn’t mind doing a few of those things if we weren’t flying right now and it wasn’t morning.”

I got up from the bed and placed a few different sets of clothes on the bed while Tamamo turned herself to start at me.  As I was deliberating on what to wear today, I was struck with an epiphany.

“Hey Tamamo, mind helping me out with something?”

{Depends on what it is.}

“Mind enchanting one of my bras with some minor gravity magic?”

{…}

“Tamamo?”

{You might be onto something with that.  Which one do you want me to do that to?}

I handed one of my favorite bras to Tamamo and she quickly enchanted it with some gravity magic before handing it back to me.  When I put it on, I immediately noticed a difference.

“Tamamo, this is amazing.  Why didn’t I think about this earlier?”

{Maybe I should start wearing those as well.}

“Can’t you just use gravity magic on yourself?

“Go with that one.”

{Prefer me only wearing illusions, do we?}

“Of course.  Last time was nice, but seeing them slowly disappear has its own charm.”

{Then I’ll try it out later.  Now, what are you going to wear today?}

“I’m thinking I’ll wear this one.  I mean, I made it for the sole purpose to wear while sailing, but I’ve only done so once.”

{Then go for it.  It’ll be a nice change of pace to see you wearing something different than usual.}

“Are you sure you’re not saying that because it shows more cleavage?”

{I won’t deny that as being part of the reason as well.}

“I love how honest you are about that.”

{What’s the point in hiding it?  I love you and everything about you, so why be coy about me also loving seeing that?}

“…That’s true.  Anyway, I’ll get dressed now.  Thanks for enchanting this for me.”

{Any time.  I’ll enchant the rest of them for you while you get dressed if you want.}

“Thanks.”

I dumped the rest of my bras on the bed while I got dressed.

{Why do you have so many?}

“Just happened.  I just dumped all the ones that were in my inventory here, I’m pretty sure several of those are old ones that don’t fit anymore, so you can ignore those.”

{How will I know which ones those are?}

“I refuse to think you wouldn’t be able to tell by sight or feeling.”

{Ufufufu.}

Tamamo got to work as I continued to dress myself.  By the time I was done, Tamamo had two neat piles on the bed with one being a lot bigger than the other.

{Left pile is the ones I enchanted, the other is ones that no longer fit you.  I suggest either getting rid of them or passing them onto Soleil or one of the others in case they ever reach that size.}

“Can that happen?”

{Who knows.  I’ve seen weirder things happen before, so you can never be too careful.}

“Good to know.  Now I have a question for you.”

{What’s up?}

“Change my hairstyle up for a bit, or no?  I kind of want to until we reach the dwarf country, but I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

{Even if I didn’t like it, you could still do it.}

“I know, but your opinion matters a lot to me, so I had to ask.”

{Then show me what you want to do.}

I tied my hair up in a ponytail and looked at Tamamo to get her opinion.

{I like it.  It’s a good change to the usual you, so it’s fresh.}

I nodded my head then put on my pirate hat as the final touch to today’s wardrobe.

“How do I look?”

{Great.  Though I feel like something is missing from this.}

“Hmmm.”

I turned and looked into the full-length mirror.  I mumbled to myself trying to figure out what could be missing from my ensemble.

“Hmmmmm.  Ah, that’s what it is.”

I pulled out a somewhat large feather from my inventory and placed in on my hat.

“It was a plume.”

{Perfect.}

I walked up and hugged Tamamo before she left and then walked out of the captain’s cabin.  I undid the space barrier once I stood at the helm and made some illusions to unfurl the sails.  A little while later I heard movement coming from the stairs and Mio appeared.

“Morning nya.  I like the outfit nya.” (Mio)

“Thanks.  Did you all enjoy your naps yesterday?” (Luna)

“Yeah nya.  Though I was surprised that everyone was sleeping nya.” (Mio)

“Same.  I would have liked at least one more conversation partner, not that Tamamo isn’t good enough, she is, but still.  When she wasn’t around due to one thing or another, it was incredibly boring.  There were only two really interesting things that happened.  The first being that I figured out a little bit of the mystery surrounding the sky creatures and that some of them made me stop and repair the sails.” (Luna)

“Sorry for leaving you alone nya.  It’s just we don’t have anything to do nya.  At most only Skadi can take over for you nya, so all we have to entertain ourselves is talking, games, and napping nya.” (Mio)

“I realize that and I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize that traveling by flying ship would be as boring as it is.  Once we reach the dwarf country, I’ll try and figure out some more things we can do when we travel like this again.” (Luna)

“Please do nya.  I’ll try and help as well nya.” (Mio)

“By the way, how’s the getting over the fear of heights thing going?” (Luna)

“Well I thing nya.  I can walk around up here without getting dizzy nyow nya.  Though I still can’t go near the railing nya.” (Mio)

“Then take your time.  It’s not like we’re in a rush and I know it can take a while to get over a fear you’ve always had.” (Luna)

“Thanks nya.  By the way, can I get one of those outfits at some point nya?  I really like it nya.” (Mio)

“I’ll make you one later.” (Luna)

“Yay nya.” (Mio)

At this point in the conversation, Skadi appeared on deck.

“I forgot you made that to wear.” (Skadi)

“It’s fitting for the setting.” (Luna)

“I agree.” (Skadi)

“I do as well nya.” (Mio)

“Hey Skadi, you’ve been to the dwarf country before, right?” (Luna)

“A few times, but not as many as the Demon Empire, Beast Kingdom, and Celestia Kingdom.” (Skadi)

“Can you tell me a bit of what it’s like there?” (Luna)

“I don’t mind, but only if you understand that I haven’t been to the capital in a really long time.  From that alchemist’s description of the place, it seems to have changed from when I was last there.” (Skadi)

“I was asking more along the lines of the culture and stuff.” (Luna)

“Oh, then that’s fine then.  Since most dwarf cities are underground in mountains or ravines, they have lots of blacksmiths, jewelers, metalworks, and similar professions.  They also have a taste for alcohol that is only rivaled by dragons and certain sub-races of demons.  That also leads to them having an abundance of foods that other races consider too salty.  Also, they prefer things that can be easily eaten with alcohol instead of, what they would consider, fancy and ornate meals like we’re all used to.  And then there is the bathing culture there.  They are big on community like beastkin, so they have lots of communal baths.  No matter where we go there, it’ll be hard to find a place with separate single baths, so I hope none of you here are uncomfortable with bathing with the rest of us.” (Skadi)

“Hmm.  As long as there aren’t any men that show up, I’m fine with it nya.” (Mio)

“I agree with Mio.  My past life not-withstanding, I can’t consider bathing with men present anymore.” (Luna)

“That’s understandable.  Especially with everyone in this party, we’d face no end of annoying situations due to this.  Would you like me to reach out to some old dwarven friends of mine to see if they can set up a place for us?” (Skadi)

“If you don’t mind.  I bet I could also arrange something with the General there if I ask dad, but I don’t really want to throw around influence like that if possible.  At least not if I don’t have to.” (Luna)

“That’s also understandable, though unavoidable in some cases.” (Skadi)

“I wonder nya.” (Mio)

“About what?” (Luna)

“What we’ll encounter there nya.  Since I joined this party nya, I’ve experienced a lot of things that I never thought I would nya.  It makes me really excited nya.” (Mio)

“I agree.  Traveling with everyone here reminds me of when I first went on adventures with my father.  We would always run into things that would be considered extremely dangerous, but they were also some of the most exciting things.” (Skadi)

“Tell us some of those stories sometime, Skadi.  I’m sure all of us, especially Ophidia, would like that.” (Luna)

“How about I tell one when everyone else gets up?” (Skadi)

“Miss Mio.” (Luna)

“Nya nya, Captain nya.” (Mio)

“Miss Skadi, while Miss Mio is away waking the others, shall we start some shanties?” (Luna)

“Haha!  Let’s do so, Captain Luna.” (Skadi)

Chaos Realm:

Tamamo: Best decision ever.

Atmos: About the gravity magic?

Tamamo: That and Luna tying her hair up like that while wearing that outfit.  She's so good looking like that that it's making me crazy.

Fenrir: I agree, she does look good.  Makes me wonder what Mio will look like when Luna makes her a similar outfit.

Atmos: Maybe I should commission one for Grey.

Order: I agree.  I want to see Payto look like that.  Maybe add a small beard as well and it'd be perfect.

...What kind of conversation did I walk in on?