The first stop the trio of women made was at a small alchemy shop no more than 10 minutes away from the Duke's manor. It was a quaint little shop, quiet and rustic, and the woman than ran the shop was an older human woman. She had grey hair, and a face that spoke of many years of experience, but she wasn't old enough that Cici or Clarissa would classify her as elderly.
Valerie had chosen this spot as she said that the woman who owned the shop was the best alchemist in the city, at least in her opinion, as well as was just a nice lady. She had always treated Valerie well when she was dragged in here with her asshole of an owner, or was made to go and get whatever supplies Delvin and his team of degenerates needed. Alchemical concoctions to clean up the worst of messes, including blood and bodily fluids, ones to mask even the worst of smells, such as a corpse for example, and even things to make living beings delirious, or to paralyze them. Knowing that all of those things were being used on the party's victims... it made bile rise in Cici and Clarissa's throats.
The woman's eyes found them all, a gentle and friendly smile on her face as they entered, but when she saw Valerie, she dropped what she was holding in her hands to her front counter. Tears began glistening in the woman's eyes.
"Valerie!" The woman said, bursting around the corner, and surprised Valerie with a hug that would have sent a weaker person stumbling.
"Quesha... it's nice to see you again." Valerie said as she eventually returned the embrace.
The woman pulled away from Valerie after a moment, a smile on her face, and that only grew as she looked down at Valerie's neck, and her eyes filled with more tears as she saw the absence of where there was once a slave collar, but her surprise was evident.
"The collar..." She said, awe in her voice, and Valerie just smiled.
"Gone. My... I mean, Eli, the man who defeated Delvin... he freed me." Valerie said, her own eyes now watering with happy tears.
The older woman's eyes widened.
"I heard about what happened... I knew that man was awful... disgusting even, but from what I've heard over the past day was even worse than I could have ever imagined... but I saw how miserable you were, and how he treated you... and you were always such a sweet girl. Every time I saw you, my heart hurt..." Quesha said, and Valerie's eyes glistened even more.
"He was worse than anything you've ever heard... but Eli saved me. He's kind... and he actually cares... and he treats me well." Valerie said, and Quesha couldn't help but smile even wider.
"I was worried about you... about what kind of person this man might be... given how powerful he must be." She said, looking at Valerie's neck again, "Powerful enough to destroy a slave crystal, and remove the collar... The fact that he did that... it speaks well of his character, even if the prospect is a little terrifying."
"My husband is a wonderful man." Cici said, pride radiating off of her in waves.
Quesha's eyes landed on Cici, and brightened immediately.
"Oh my, what a beautiful young woman you are!" Quesha said, which caused Cici to immediately blush, "And your husband, you say? I say he's a man of good taste. And he obviously holds no prejudices. What is your name, young lady?"
"Cecilia." Cici replied softly, her cheeks still pink from the praise.
"Cecilia...a beautiful name for a beautiful young lady." Quesha said, nodding, before her eyes met Clarissa next, and her smile blossomed even more, "Oh my, you pretty young things are definitely making me feel old. What is your name, dear?"
Now it was Clarissa's turn to blush at the kind woman's praise.
"C-Clarissa." She responded, her face becoming brighter.
"Are they your friends, Valerie dear?" Quesha asked, and the Dhampir nodded with a smile, her cheeks also darkening. The girls wondered if this woman had some weird power that was doing this.
"Well, any friends of yours are more than welcome here, and if you are here for anything, I'll even throw in a generous discount." Quesha said, and Clarissa in particular blushed more furiously as ahe cleared her throat.
"Y-yes... actually, I am here for something..." She said sheepishly, and Quesha smiled as she walked back behind her counter, and put her hands on it.
"Well, in that case, welcome to Quesha's Alchemical Supplies, what can this old woman do for you, young lady?" She asked, and Clarissa nodded down at the floor as she responded.
"I need... um..." She said, twiddling her thumbs, a gesture that Cici found incredibly adorable, "Something to... prevent... pregnancy."
The laugh that boomed from the woman startled all three of the girls, and when they looked at her, she had genuine amusement on her features as she beamed a smile at Clarissa.
"I haven't seen something so cute in so long, "Quesha said, which of course, just deepened Clarissa's blush, "It's nothing to be shy about, young lady. It's one of my best sellers. Hold on just a moment, and let old Quesha get you settled."
What followed next was indeed incredibly cute, as a red faced Clarissa just listened to Quesha explain, in quite explicit detail, of how the alchemy pills worked to Clarissa, advising her on the dosage, as well when it was safe to engage in sexual activities with no fear of conception. Cici was impressed, as these pills took only 2 days to begin taking effect, as opposed to the ones she had, which took roughly 3 to 4 days to begin working as intended. Cici just smiled, and she honestly probably come back here herself to buy some, as they just seemed like a much higher quality overall.
Clarissa paid for the pills, thanking the older woman with a blush the entire time as she put the pills into her spacial storage ring. Quesha was smiling the whole time, and Cici decided that she really liked this woman.
Valerie had stood patiently, waiting with a smile the whole time. Valerie did not talk a whole lot most times, but she definitely listened, and Cici was very happy to see the woman already slowly coming out of her shell. It would take a lot more time, but time is what they had. Cici really like Valerie, and her Eli's growing affection for her in his heart only solidified that. Anything and anyone that made her darling happy, also made her happy.
As they were saying their goodbyes, and getting ready to head off to their next stop, the door to the shop swung open, and all of the girls noticed that there was much more force behind that action than was necessary. Cici turned her gaze towards the doors, and the 4 men she saw entering immediately had her on edge. They all just looked... like scum. They just had that look to them.
They were all dressed in pretty decent armor, and her first thought was that these men must be an adventuring party. The armor was a bit different looking than what she had seen around the city.
"Hmm... not a bad place. A little small, but the work here seems pretty good. Although I've seen better." The most extravagantly dressed man said, and the one that was leading these men into the shop.
"Yeah... and there are other nice things here as well." The man behind him on his left said as his eyes leered at her, as well as Clarissa and Valerie, "Although I'm still not used to seeing the Beasts walking around so freely."
The words made Cici's temper start to flare, but she held it back as best she could for now. She didn't want to worry her darling over this, because he'd surely notice that.
"Excuse you?" Quesha said, anger filling her tone as she suddenly spoke up, "You will not talk to my customers like that in my shop!"
The leader chuckled, as he held up a placating hand.
"No need for hostility, ma'am. What he meant was that it's just unusual for us. We are on our way back to Farendell, and there, none of the Beasts walk free. As you are probably aware, it is one of the biggest slave trade hubs in Arbigold. I find it very odd that the Capital city has outlawed slavery... either way, we require potions and the like, and we heard from various people in the area that yours were the best." The man said, his voice a fake kind of friendly as his eyes showed his true disgusting nature.
Valerie had tensed the moment the man had mentioned where they were from, and Cici noted how her body began to tremble, and how she actually looked... scared... and it only served to upset Cici even more, and it was getting much harder to hold that anger at bay. The jabs at her race were not helping matters either.
"YOU ARE DISRESPECTING MY CUSTOMERS!" Quesha yelled, before taking a few deep breaths, before continuing, "Regardless of how things are done where you are from, those sick practices are not allowed here, and those who uphold them are also not welcome here. You have disrespected my customers, and insulted them with your words. Leave." She said, her tone cold, and her words like venom. Yeah, Cici really liked this woman.
All of the men chuckled at Quesha's words, which made everyone else tense.
"Oh come on, we didn't mean anything by it. Besides, for Beasts, these two are quite pretty." The man in the very back said, while the others began to fan out around the women, pretending to examine the displays as the slowly began to circle the group.
"I told you to leave!" Quesha barked, and the leader looked at her with a flat stare.
"Hey now, we came all of this way, and we don't want to leave empty-handed." He said, giving an appreciative glance at Clarissa's backside, which only set Cici off even more.
"This one's a little freaky, though. Pretty, but the eyes are unsettling... the ears are not elf ears, but not human either... still not bad for non-humans?" The man who hadn't spoken yet said, a letcherous grin on his face as he looked at the women while speaking like they were things, and not people.
The hurt and onset of tears in Valerie's eyes was what made Cici's control on her anger falter. Valerie was a kind and sweet girl, and powerful as she may be, she was a shy and innocent girl, one who had been forced into doing things she did not like. Her life had been hell, and people continuing to tear her down truly pissed her off.
"How dare you speak to my friends like that!" Clarissa said, her temper suddenly flaring.
"Oh, the little one has some bite." The leader said, his true nature now plain for everyone to see, "Good, I like that."
Cici's anger flared at the man's words, and just like she tried to avoid, Eli's voice immediately echoed in her mind.
"Cici, what's wrong?" Eli asked, her heart slightly settling at his concerned voice.
She was unsure exactly how she knew, but these men, while strong for sure, were not something that she couldn't handle if things got too out of hand. She was strong now, although she did not yet know exactly how much stronger, but she just could feel that it was enough to handle this. She was sure Valerie could easily take them out as well... but she was still frozen, her face portraying that her emotions were all over the place. Still, Eli was having a productive day, and seemed like he was enjoying himself now, and she didn't want to worry him.
"Nothing to worry about, darling. Just some guys being jerks. They..." She said, but she sitffened and her whole body went ridged as she felt gruff, disgusting hands wrap around her tail, which had been angrily thrashing behind her. She had been concentrating on her conversation with Eli, so she didn't even notice one of the man had come up behind her.
"Think she'll make a funny sound if I pull on this?" The man with her tail in his grasp asked as he chuckled.
Clarissa's eyes widened in both fear and rage at the sight, while Valerie's eyes did much the same. Quesha began screaming something at the men, but Cici's brain didn't catch it. Her brain had halted for a split second, catching up to what just happened, before anger so intense overcame her that her that it actually left her body like a physical force. There was only one man in this entire world who could ever touch her tail, and it was not this disgusting asshole.
Cici hissed, and then, many different things happened in the span of a few seconds. Cici's tail suddenly thrashed violently, the anger and indignation overwhelming her. Her tail shot backwards reflexively, the sound of breaking bones accompanying the movement as her tail proved stronger than the man's hands. Her tail then smashed into the mans armored chest, and to the shock of everyone, not only did it dent and crack the man's armor, but the force of the blow was accompanied by several breaking ribs before he was launched backwards with impressive speed. The man smashed through a few displays before hitting the wall with a loud crack as not only did more of his bones shatter, but the wall did as well.
Cici actually had to take a moment to stare at what she had done, and then looked at her very prestine looking tail. She was aware that she was a lot stronger now due to Eli's bond increasing her stats dramatically, as well as giving her a new Class that she didn't really understand, but she never really thought about just how much stronger she had become. Not until now.
"What the hell?" The leader asked, his eyes widening as he took a step back.
The weight of Cici's aura was oppressive, but it unfortunately was not enough to drill some common sense into the two other men in the room.
"You bitch!" One of the men roared as he pulled a mace from his hip, and charged at Cici.
He swung the mace at Cici, which made Clarissa and Quesha scream in fear, but thag stopped as the mace hit nothing but air. Cici had been standing there one moment, and then in the next, she was gone. That is, until her foot connected with the man's spine, which sent a particularly spine chilling crack of bones to fill the air, and a pain scream as that man was now sent flying into the wall. This time, when he smashed into the wall, the man actually went through it, light from outside shining into the building as the man rolled several feet outside before coming to a stop on the pavement, unmoving.
The other man had been charging at her, but had come to a complete stop after the scene had unfold, fear now dancing in his eyes. Cici appeared in front of him in an instant, startling the man, and he reflexively swung his fist as her face. She didn't even appear to move, yet his fist hit nothing as her face was now slightly to the side.
She suddenly punched upwards at the man's elbow, and the man screamed as his elbow shattered and his arm was sent bowing upwards in a very painful looking and very unnatural angle. The man's scream of pain was cut short as the back of Cici's hand met the man's face, and she wasn't as surprised this time when the man was sent flying to the side, hitting the floor and sliding through various display cases until he too met Quesha's poor wall with a sickening crack.
Cici stared at the damage, at the carnage, and at how 2 of 3 men she had dispatched were not moving at all. She felt bad about the damage to this nice woman's building. She'd have to ask Eli, but she was sure he'd have no problem with helping this woman with fixing her place up. Even so, the anger in her mind was still raging as she stared at the man, her eyes feeling like they were on fire as the man was currently backed up all the way to the door of the shop, his body partially through the front as he tried to run like the coward he was.
He pointed his finger at Cici, his eyes filled with fear, but also anger.
"You... won't get away with this. You're all dead... I'll make sure-" He was saying, but a loud crash behind him cut out anything he was about say.
Dust and debris filled the air, and the front doors flew off of their hinges from the force of the impact. As the dust began to settle, a pair of glowing red eyes pierced through it as the figure began to step forward, fury in those burning orbs.
"W-w-what now??" Quesha asked, trembling as she backed up even further into the wall.
Cici, despite everything, felt a lot of her anger leave her, and she actually couldn't hold back the smile that now graced her face.
"Don't worry. Just my overprotective husband." She said, love and fondness in her tone.
Quesha could only stare as a tall, well built, and down right terrifying man with hair almost whiter than Cici's stepped out of the dust, and the man before him actually began to tremble as Eli hit him with his aura so hard, she could smell urine. Eli strode towards the man, his boots cracking the pavement with every step.
"Did you touch my wife?" Eli asked, his voice actually causing the air to distort.
"Who are..." The man said, tears leaking from his eyes as the pressure intensified.
Eli's face promised death, and the man shrieked.
"Hey, hey! I'm sorry!" The man said, holding up his hands as he shook and trembled with fear. The man was absolutely petrified, "I'll leave! You won't ever see me again, I'll-"
In a move that none of the women had expected, Eli reached out, and grabbed the man by his right bicep. He pulled so quickly and cleanly, that the arm easily separated from the man like a clean cut, with the expected shower of blood following the action. The man only had milliseconds to scream before Eli gripped the forearm, brought it back, and then swung, smashing the man in the face with his own limb.