Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 86 - Royal Invitation

"Oh come on Petra! Do I really have to wear something like this?"

"Have you ever been to a royal party before Ikarus?"

"..."

"That's what I thought"

We've ended up back in a fancy clothes store and wouldn't you know it, I've been stuck trying on fancy looking dresses and gowns for a while now. Petra is surprisingly picky when it comes to this type of thing, I guess I do understand her reasoning for such a thing, it is supposed to be a special occasion. My main issue is just being able to move about, most of the clothing in here would be terrible to fight in, I'd probably have to cut off any skirt just in case. I really ain't into cutesy things and I doubt I'll ever be even if Petra likes doing this type of thing.

This boutique... is that what it's called? I don't care but this place is pretty full right now, I'm guessing some of these might be attending the party or it's just shopping season in the capital or something like that. The prices in here are disgusting though, it's a good thing Petra's already stated she's paying for all this otherwise I'd have second thoughts about the whole 'kill the royals plan'. I joke but seriously though, they do want to put me off it, this dress in particular basically costs an arm and a leg.

"This might be the one, give me a little spin"

"Not happening... are we done yet?"

Of course, Petra's preference is something that looks kinda cute rather than revealing and hot, I don't really care about revealing clothing that much but it's at least easy to get around in. I guess this thing is a lot easier to get around in then most but it does looks more like something that Penelope might wear, think extremely feminine, maybe Victorian fancy clothing except it's not pink, it's like a pale yellow. Yeah, she would definitely wear something like this.

"Heh, yellow does go with your hair pretty well"

She's just ignoring me now. Even if I'm moaning, it's still better she sorts all this crap out since this type of thing isn't my speciality, got to keep reminding myself I was a guy at some point even if that seems like ancient history now.

Luckily enough, Petra seems to be liking this one so it looks like we're done here now, only took around six hours of trying on different outfits, no chance I'd have been able to put up with this back when my patience was terrible. Oh well, at least we're finished.

As I'm taking off the dress and other crap that goes with the outfit in a dressing room, I'm also speaking with Petra through the curtain door thing.

"Why has this taken so long to find an outfit? Seriously though, we could've been done hours ago, it's not exactly like we need to impress anybody"

I might be a little cranky, we did miss lunch because of how long we've been looking for clothes, I'm actually the one who suggested to get this done before going to eat, unfortunately I didn't know how long it would be. This isn't impatience, this is hunger!

"Just trying to be careful and practical Ikarus, I'm not just trying to doll you up here believe it or not. Preparation for this is key after all, expecting there might be a problem with getting weapons in so trying to decide what the best thing to wear would be, also helps for moving about purposes as well"

Wait, is this why she's picking something kinda over the top, so we can smuggle weapons in under the skirt? We're obviously making sure to speak quietly in this store.

"Why would that be a problem? I can just use storage"

"Think though, what if they take the ring off you before entering Ikarus? What if they have something that can stop my storage as well as magic? Just trying to be extra cautious since anything can happen"