Grey raised an eyebrow.
Now, he could say for certain that short women were not his preference. But beautiful women—now that certainly was. Tall, short, long-legged baddies, or step-stool warriors, it didn’t matter at a certain point.
The woman across from him, or maybe down below him, could only be described as beautiful. Either that or on fire.
It was hard to describe, but it felt like he was staring into the maw of the purest flame. Her eyes and hair shared the same sheen of amber that reflected the sunlight like reflective, polished copper.
"Well, damn." Grey said.
The young miss blinked, not quite understanding how that replied to her question. Then her brows turned down as though she might burst into tears.
"You’re not willing to sell? I’m sorry, I was a bit hasty..."
She had forgotten that many such blueprints were the heirlooms of entire families. It wasn’t her place to demand them just because she could.
Grey was speechless. Was he supposed to just be casually handing out the blueprints of the Mechanical Jaw Lineage? Probably not.
He didn’t actually care all that much about living up to their example or anything like that. He just felt it would cause him more trouble than not.
The real reason he was speechless, though, was because this beauty was a little too sensitive, wasn’t she?
"Sure, I can sell." Grey said after a while. "I’ll have to draw it for you myself, though."
There were ways that he could modify things. His understanding of his Helm Frame had reached the pinnacle.
So long as he didn’t share the Curved Face portions of the blueprint, he was technically keeping the most important parts to himself.
The Helm Frame would still be quite powerful when drawn with normal Faces, but it wouldn’t be on the same level as what he had here.
Of course, Grey still wasn’t bringing out the full potential of his Helm Frame in the first place because he was filling it with a Spirit with such low compatibility. That was probably also why the young miss mistook it for an item instead of a mech.
"You can draw the blueprint yourself?" she was shocked again.
"You shouldn’t believe any random man you find on the street, Little Elowen."
Grey looked up to find another woman with amber hair and eyes like burning, polished copper walking forward. She wasn’t nearly as beautiful as Elowen who felt touched by something else entirely, but she was a looker herself nonetheless. And much taller.
However, even Grey had a limit to his simping, and people who were interfering with the progress of his quest were definitely at the top of that list.
That said, he didn’t respond immediately, instead reading Elowen’s reaction first. Only when he saw the woman frown and look over did Grey grin.
"Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to interfere in the business of others?"
The newcomer froze.
By this point, whole swaths of people who had been looking to get into the building had seemingly forgotten why they had come. Grey could only guess that these two women—given their shared hair and eye color—probably came from the same top tier family.
What that family was, he wasn’t sure just yet. But given the sheer amount of respect, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was another Dukedom, or even the Imperial Family themselves.
’Does the empress have a reverse harem?’ Grey chuckled to himself.
Fucking a fake goddess sounded like fun, he wondered if he could get a slot. He bet that was about the only way he could get around that bullshit oath.
’Wait. Why don’t I feel any bindings from an oath?’ Grey’s eyes widened. ’Did that old bastard lie to me?!’
Grey was suddenly distracted by his own thoughts and seemed to have forgotten that he had insulted someone incredibly important.
By the time he snapped out of it, a whip was lashing out at his neck.
Grey’s head tilted to the side, still half lost in thought.
The crack of the whip echoed through the air and sent Cordier, who had just managed to stand back to his feet, sprawling to the ground again. This time he was truly out cold.
"What do you think you’re doing, Zara?!" Elowen shrieked.
Grey’s eyes regained their focus. ’She’s really going to have to work on controlling that temper.’
"Little sister, little sister. A princess really shouldn’t act with such a lack of decorum in public. I am only trying to help you not get scammed."
Elowen clenched her fists. To her surprise, Grey patted her shoulder as though to reassure her.
"Relax. There’s an easier way to handle this."
"This isn’t your place to speak, scourge."
"You know, a tongue lathered in bullshit isn’t exactly ladylike either. How about you spend less time rimming cows and more time putting your money where your mouth is instead?"
"Rimming..." Zara breathed out the word as though she couldn’t believe someone had just said that to her.
"Yeah, that’s right." Grey nodded seriously. "How about we put a bet on it? If you lose, you buy me anything I want in there without limits. If I lose, I’ll let your whip hit me without limits."
Zara’s smoldering fury was slowly suppressed until she looked to Grey.
"If you lose, you will become my prisoner."
"Listen lady, I’m not into that kinky stuff. But if that’s what you want as the winner, sure. Why not?"
Grey shook his head, mumbling something about bestiality and freaky ladies with inferiority complexes.
Then he looked to Elowen who had become beet red. She looked like she was about to burst at the seams.
Grey blinked. He was funny, but he wasn’t that funny.
"Come on, beautiful lady. We have a blueprint to draw."
Elowen was stunned out of her laughter. "What did you just call me?"
"Would you prefer smoke show? Actually, that fits pretty well for you."
"... I am an Imperial Princess, seventh in line, my mother—."
"And you’re hot. Alright, let’s go." Grey took her hand and pulled her stumbling into the building through the mech technician entrance.