The Primal Hunter Volume 4

Party Prepping

Party Prepping

J

ake had done something he had never thought he would do. In fact, he was pretty sure no one would have ever thought the current situation playing out was possible.

He stood in a dressing room as an elf wearing a fancy robe scrutinized his appearance and talked to an attendant about getting a new type of cloth Jake had never heard of. The attendant quickly ran for it as the tailor spoke.

"No, no, you need something to truly bring forth that ferocious look of yours,” the elf said with much fervor. “One that can emphasize those wonderful eyes and mask properly!"

"I did like the first set quite a bit, and to truly show his personality and interests, how about embroidering the cloak with mushroom symbols?" a fourth person said. It was a scalekin with dark green scales and a cheeky smile that looked on as Jake was getting outfitted.

"Yeah, that is never going to happen," Jake said instantly.

"I must agree; it would not at all go with his style!" the tailor said, fully backing up Jake. A smart man, it seemed.

The scalekin, who also happened to be the leader of the Order and a Primordial, just scuffed in disappointment as he held up both his hands. "Fine, but at least keep the snake symbol on the back of the robe."

"Naturally—anything else would be blasphemous, as he holds the Blessing of the Malefic One!" the tailor said, looking at Villy with offense.

"Yeah, Villy, don’t act all blasphemous," Jake agreed teasingly.

"I would never!” Villy practically yelled. “None is greater than the magnificent Malefic Viper! I cannot imagine anyone acting blasphemously, or, even worse, heretically towards such a being!"

This earned a satisfied nod from the tailor. "Well said! But who would even dare to be a heretic?" He shook his head, chuckling.

Villy and Jake exchanged a look and a smile just as the attendant returned, bringing a rectangular piece of cloth. It was to be made into some kind of shawl, but Jake quickly rejected it. The tailor was a bit disappointed, but he relented by agreeing to go with what he called a "warrior look" rather than a sophisticated hidden hunter with a slight desert theme.

As for how Jake had ended up in this situation… well, the answer naturally lay with a certain snake god. Villy had told Jake he needed to look "proper dapper" if he was going to his first party, and that he should go out and get a new party outfit.

Jake had agreed, as, quite frankly, he did feel a bit out of place, always wearing his full equipment no matter where he went. While it didn’t exactly attract attention, since most people honestly dressed weirdly, he would prefer to wear something more casual at times. He was lucky he at least wore lighter armor, as he could already imagine if he was a warrior walking around in full plate armor going to lessons—something he had seen dozens of times within the Order.

The set he was getting currently consisted of a pair of nice dress pants and a weird shirt. He called it weird because, while it had buttons, it also didn’t have buttons. Whenever he closed a button, the cloth just melded together, while it stayed visible and open if he opened one. It was odd.

Over that, he wore a weird mix of a trenchcoat and a normal cloak with a large motif of a snake on the back. He’d come to learn only those with a Blessing were allowed to even have this specific symbol on their clothes, and the tailor was visibly excited at being allowed to make such a piece of clothing.

His shoes were the biggest thing that needed changing, at least according to the tailor. Jake didn’t know why old, scuffed leather boots weren’t in fashion, but they clearly didn’t sit well with the fancy elf. He looked like Jake was committing some cardinal sin just by wearing them, especially when Jake said he had originally planned to wear them to a social function.

The entire set wasn’t actually considered equipment, even if it was high quality. If he wanted to have it be made into actual equipment giving stats and such, he would have to pay extra, as the items would need further energy infusion and crafting time.

By paying extra, Jake naturally meant having Villy pay extra. Not that Jake was poor, but more on that later.

He exited the shop looking pretty good, in his own opinion, even if he did have to discuss getting a hood added to go with the mask. Yes, he would keep using the mask. The compromise they reached was the hood becoming able to meld into the neck of the coat. Jake still had no idea what kind of sorcery was going on, especially since it wasn’t even considered equipment.

"The life as a sugar daddy is hard," Villy said, sighing as they entered the street.

"Poor you," Jake said with a smirk. "I have to ask, are you planning on attending the party too?"

"Nah, that honestly sounds boring. While it may look like I enjoy f*****g with people for my own entertainment, I only bother to mess with people I find entertaining to do so with. A bunch of random D-grades does not fall into that category." Villy shook his head.

"Huh, not even that guy you gave a Divine Blessing? I assume you did have some interest in him." Jake knew Divine Blessings were considered high-tier, so Jake would find it weird if Villy had just given it out willy-nilly.

"Not particularly, no. He is a good seed, but is ultimately just one gamble of many. If he manages to reach A-grade or maybe S-grade, I probably will begin paying attention, but he isn’t worth my time as he is right now. Chances are he will die before I bother.”

"You say that talking to a mere D-grade," Jake chuckled as the two of them reached a wall with a teleportation gateway in it. They were scattered throughout the entire city and were honestly just so damn convenient.

"No, I am talking to a friend," Villy answered. He did sigh and look a bit more serious as they went through the gateway, appearing in Jake’s mansion. "I am currently just running with the assumption you will become a god and thus immortal, and with that assumption in mind, treating the current you as immortal already makes sense, doesn’t it? And who’s got time to bother with mortals?"

"A bold assumption, based on what you yourself said in the past about the chances anyone has of reaching godhood." Jake shook his head. "Not that I necessarily disagree. Dying to old age certainly doesn’t seem like a possibility."

"Exactly, and gods can die fighting too, so it’s the same thing, right? You are just a bit more fragile, that’s all." The snake god laughed. "Speaking of being fragile, I have an appointment with Duskleaf, and he is gonna get mad if he finds out I split my attention between the two of you and didn’t fully assist in his experiment…"

Jake looked at Villy with exaggerated surprise. "You actually have productive things to do? Also, how is Duskleaf fragile?"

"How is going shopping for new clothes not productive and imperative to running the Order of the Malefic Viper? No, let me rephrase that. How is making sure my Chosen presents himself the best he can not important? As for Duskleaf, well, his poor ego would suffer, so that counts as fragile."

"Yeah yeah, now get going," Jake said, waving his hand. “I have to leave soon, too, but need to make my gift first.”

"Sure thing—see you around," Villy said as he disappeared.

Why did we bother using gates when he can just teleport us around casually? Jake questioned as the god left.

A few seconds passed before he saw a head peek out down the large entry hall. Meira had finally dared come out, having no doubt been waiting for the Viper to leave.

"Hey, Meira, did you get the ingredients I asked for?"

As she had seen the coast was clear, she came out, went up to Jake, and summoned three glass boxes with herbs in each. "Yes! They were all widely available."