Anna ended up trying several dress. The first dress was a blue one-piece long dress that matched the color of her eyes. It gave a nice contrast to her hair too.
The second dress was a short one-piece dress. This beautiful white dress gave an impression of a beautiful and pure girl. As expected of the flower of the Muivell Kingdom, even Noel had a hard time to look at her.
The show continued for five dresses. All of them suited Anna or Noel thought that Anna was the reason why those dresses would look pretty. In the end, Anna struggled to pick one.
After some thoughts, Anna said, "Then, can you wrap up this white one?"
"Certainly." The staff politely nodded and brought the dress to the counter.
Since Anna had finished changing her dress, she was wondering where Noel went and found him talking with the shop's staff.
He was just joking around and the talk seemed to be smooth as they were laughing from time to time.
Anna furrowed her eyebrows. Her heart felt a bit shaken when she saw him that way, wondering if she couldn't receive the same treatment. The only thing they would laugh in their conversation was when they teased each other, so it was a bit disappointing when Noel could laugh like that with others.
"…" Anna walked to the counter with a sad look, saying, "How much for the dress?"
"Eh?" The staff was confused for a moment. Since Noel was the one asking for the dress, she thought Noel would buy it. But Anna somehow decided to use her own money for the dress.
"The dress is 21 Silver Coins."
"Alright." Anna nodded. Luckily, the dress wasn't as expensive as the ones in the capital. The materials weren't as smooth either, but for this mission, it was fine to use that dress.
However, before she took out the money from her bag, Noel placed a small bag on the counter and said, "There are 24 Silver Coins in here. Just split the rest for you three."
"Well, I'm the one proposing to buy a dress, so I should pay for it." Noel shrugged.
"Ah, thank you, Sir!" The staff immediately accepted the money. One silver coin was equal to half of their monthly salary, so this tip was so generous. In that instant, she processed everything so fast that Noel could get the dress in just one minute instead of a few. "This is the dress. Thank you for your patronage."
Noel nodded and grabbed the bag. "Let's go."
Anna was dumbfounded for a moment but she still followed him.
When they were outside, Noel simply led her away from the red-light district without saying anything.
"Noel. Are you sure it's alright for you to spend that much money? If I'm not wrong, you don't have that much money, no?" Anna asked.
"I still have some. If I'm too poor, I can simply hunt some demons and exchange their Demon Crystals for money." Noel shrugged and handed the bag to her. "I might be poor, but not that poor. Here you go."
"Ehm." Anna received the bag timidly. This was the first time she received a gift from Noel. Even in her past life, she never received this kind of gift. Of course, as a talented genius, she had received numerous gifts that were worth far beyond this dress. But she didn't know why but this present was actually the sweetest out of them.
"Well, I choose this dress because it's easy to move. The white dress might be flashy, but you won't think I'm an assassin or a spy wearing this kind of dress. Also, if I pair it with shorts, I can fight without worrying about my image."
Noel only nodded to her as if he was thinking about something.
"Ah, that's right. We were supposed to be investigating the brothel. I think we have left the red-light district. I forgot because I was too busy choosing the dress."
"Don't worry. I've done all that." Noel shrugged calmly.
"Huh? When? You were with me in the store the whole time."
"When we sat on a bench near the brothel, I saw them picking some customers and bringing them in. I could sneak in with that way and one of them seemed to have seen us. I can simply say that I'm running away from you and I can enter smoothly.
"When we were in the shop, I asked the staff about the brothel. Though, I said that you misunderstood me that I wanted to go to the brothel when I got some money and went to the shop just to pacify your anger."
"Ah!" Anna blinked her eyes a few times, realizing all those moments. In other words, his head had been in the mission this whole time. She was the one who couldn't perform her job.
"You don't have to worry since your job is to sneak in through the window instead of from the entrance."
"But… I was supposed to be the one leading you this time." Anna was disappointed on herself, especially when she misunderstood Noel's action.
"You are more adept than me in concealing your presence and I'm more adept in adapting to all conditions. We have our own strength, so you don't need to worry about it." Noel shook his head helplessly. "Instead, we should worry on how we shall investigate the brothel tomorrow. It won't be easy to find it and we can't linger for too long as well."
"That's true. Hidden room… But they're gathering a huge number of people. Won't they need a large space? I don't think the brothel has that kind of space, except for…"
"Basement." Noel finished her words and agreed with this thought.
"Yes." Anna nodded with a smile. She suddenly thought of something and grabbed Noel's arm.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"We are still on a date, right? Who knows if those people are tailing us or not." Anna chuckled and walked while hugging Noel's arm.
"Seriously…" Noel shook his head helplessly, but not pushing her away.