Hajin looked Juna up and down while she stood there shifting her weight from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable with how the new clothes sat on her.
"So, how does it feel?" he asked, tilting his head a little. "Better than a blanket at least?"
The outfit was standard beastkin wear he had picked up from a merchant near the guild, a pair of dark shorts and a fitted top that left her midriff exposed.
"It's fine," she said, looking away while her hands fidgeted with the hem of the top like she was trying to pull it down further.
She was doing a bad job of hiding it, the tips of her ears turning pink and a faint flush on her cheeks.
'Yeah, she's definitely blushing,' he thought, watching her keep trying to tug the fabric lower. 'Not that I blame her.'
"It fits well," he said, keeping his tone casual. "You look good in it."
Her ears shot straight up at that, finally looking at him with wide eyes before quickly looking away again, her face getting even redder.
"I-I didn't ask for your opinion," she muttered, though the way she said it had zero bite and more of a flustered defensiveness.
'Haha, I'll take that as a win,' he thought, turning toward the street ahead while she fell into step behind him, her hands pressed against her exposed stomach the whole way.
Wolf beastkin were known for their close-range combat style, relying on speed, enhanced senses and raw physical ability that outpaced most other races in a straight chase.
'If she's anything like what the stories say, she'd be a solid fighter,' he thought, glancing back at her from the corner of his eye. 'Might be worth asking if she wants to fight alongside me.'
It was still early in the day, plenty of time to head out of the capital and hunt something before nightfall.
He slowed his pace, turning his head slightly. "Hey, want to go hunting for a bit?"
She didn't answer, just kept walking behind him with her eyes fixed on the ground. He waited a few seconds, getting nothing, and was about to say it was fine if she wasn't interested.
"Ok."
The word came out so suddenly that it caught him completely off guard, making him stop and turn back around with a bright expression he couldn't hide. "Really?"
She actually jumped a little at the sudden shift in his tone, her ears shooting up while she stared at him with wide eyes.
'What is wrong with this human,' she thought, pressing a hand to her chest while her heart kicked from the surprise. 'One second he's calm, the next he's smiling like an idiot. So strange.'
She took a small step back, holding up both hands while her ears pinned flat. "Can you please back up a little?"
"Right, sorry," he said, taking a quick step back and rubbing the back of his neck. "Got a little carried away there."
He cleared his throat, forcing his expression to settle. "Anyway, we should go rank up a bit so we can actually start making some real money."
He turned back around and kept walking, letting the conversation drop while his attention shifted inward to the system panel floating at the edge of his vision.
The stream tab was active, viewer count sitting at a steady twenty, which was still small but enough to keep the Soul Energy trickling in.
'Let's see what's actually going on with this thing,' he thought, tapping through the menus while his feet carried him forward on autopilot.
[ Stream Status: Active ]
[ Viewers: 20 ]
[ Soul Energy: 15 ]
[ Fragment Recovery: 0.001% ]
He read over the numbers again, noticing the small upward arrows next to a few of them.
'Okay, so viewers are climbing, and Soul Energy is generating,' he thought, tapping on the Soul Energy section to see what was actually affecting it.
A short breakdown appeared under it.
[ Soul Energy increases with active viewers, positive engagement, and gifts. ]
[ Current trend: Rising ]
[ Effects: Feeds directly into the Goddess Fragment Recovery. ]
'The more people watch and engage, the faster I can regenerate the Goddess,' he thought, glancing at the stream chat. 'And any actual donations convert to stream credits.'
It wasn't much right now, just a slow trickle, but the math was simple enough. More viewers meant more energy for the fragment, and any gifts would translate into real money or gear so he wouldn't be stuck scraping by on six silver for the rest of his life.
'Not bad,' he thought, closing the panel and focusing back on the road ahead. 'Just gotta keep moving and not die.'
He was still running the numbers in his head when a sharp voice cut through the street noise, "move out of the way!"
Juna's hand grabbed his arm before he could even process what was happening, yanking him to the side just as a guard on horseback rode past, the horse's shoulder missing him by inches.
He stumbled, catching his balance while his head snapped up, finally noticing the line of armored guards glaring down at him from their saddles, a heavy noble carriage rolling behind them with two more knights flanking the sides.
One of the knights pulled his horse to a stop, turning in the saddle to fix Hajin with a cold stare. "Watch where you stand next time," he said, his voice flat and carrying an edge of actual threat. "Or you might lose your head before you realize you're in the way."
Hajin swallowed hard, feeling the weight of the knight's glare while his pulse climbed a little. 'Shit, I really wasn't paying attention,' he thought, gripping Juna's shoulder for a second before letting go. 'Thanks for that.'
"Sorry about that," he said, keeping his head down while the knight held his gaze for another second before finally turning his horse around and catching up with the carriage.
He let out a slow breath once they were moving again, watching the carriage roll past while his attention drifted to the window without meaning to.
The curtain shifted for a second, and through the gap he caught a pair of eyes staring right back at him, sharp and curious, completely out of place for someone riding in a sealed noble carriage.
It was Princess Didi, though neither of them knew the other's name, the way they locked onto each other through the glass making it look like they had a history instead of just passing on a crowded street.
She didn't look away, just kept watching him while the wheels turned and the distance closed, her expression unreadable but her attention completely fixed on him.
'Who is that?' he thought, holding her gaze until the carriage finally rolled past and the curtain fell back into place.
Juna tugged lightly on his sleeve, pulling his attention back to the street. "We should keep going," she said quietly, her ears still pinned a little from the close call.
"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck while his eyes stayed fixed on the spot where the carriage had been. "Let's go."
He opened the stream panel out of habit, more to distract himself than anything else, and found the comments already rolling faster than before.
[ CringeSlayer91: ooooh, new waifu unlocked? ]