That's not to say I was entirely reluctant any time Nerinin obviously flexed outfits that showed off her toned midriff or her eye-popping bust. Liz was not shy either and constantly chose outfits that showed off her upper and lower back muscles which only served to tease the imagination at her defiance when it came to wearing traditional bras.

Thanks to Lilith, Liz had developed a signature 'blood magic bra' spell which was comfortable and effective, or so I was told a little too explicitly when they invented it. Which meant her body was unfairly built for such a nonconformist disposition. All the perks and perkiness of a push up bra without the bra itself.

Luckily for my heart and soul, Talisa was a bit more conservative. She had all the makings and disposition of a proper lady... she also had all the well-placed shame of a proper lady which made her a target for some good-natured teasing from the other two girls.

However, when it came to picking clothes for me, I definitely felt like a dress up doll. They made me try everything from a proper black-tie suit to a host outfit to some clothes that were far too tight around my butt or revealed far too much of my chest and stomach. I felt like a Jojo character. So I struck a few poses which were embarrassingly popular with not only the girls I was with, but I seemed to draw a bit more of an audience than I would have hoped.

I know this was one of the sleepless cities, but it was a bit ridiculous how many people were active so late at night. I would even go so far to say there was a significant amount of the population or tourists that didn't sleep or slept during the day, so they were awake during the night.

Luckily, the luxury of the city was such that shopping for spatial bags wasn't unheard of but the prices were on the exorbitant side. It made a good cover for Nerinin with her witch watch. It did make me realize how much of an impact it would make too. From what Nerinin said the witch watch would be considerably cheaper to manufacture and distribute.

I was surprised by the prices of things, but even more so was I surprised by the excess amount of money these girls had. I wouldn't call myself poor by any stretch of the imagination, but if I was buying all this stuff, it would hurt my savings. I did buy them a few trinkets, but they insisted on buying most of their stuff saying that their pride as women was on the line.

Which only helped to remind me that there are many things to women that I both kind of understand but also feel a little bit lost about. I didn't pry too much and still managed to make them smile with a few extra presents that I bought. I also insisted they let me at least pay for a meal.

And even though I have plenty of money, gems, and other rare things to make a quick buck off of from my travels and investments, I still have the poor boy bones of my roots. What this means is that since I grew up poor in my first life, it was still hard for me to spend extravagantly. I was always thinking about what things cost and if I could live without them.

So I put on my best acting face thanks to the sociopath actor who trained me in the finer things... like getting over myself.

We walked into a restaurant that looked far too nice and appeared as if one would need reservations booked a year in advance to enter. The matre di looked down on me like some young punk or some useless rich kid.

I flashed him a black card that I had gotten from the deerkin hotel mogul. It had a trace of magic on it to show its legitimacy and showed me to be a huge investor and higher up of that business. It was the same as declaring myself as the scion of the company itself.

Their attitudes changed instantly, and we were seated at one of the best tables. I think I even saw one of the servers remove a "reserved" plaque from the table before we got there.

Even with all my experience I looked at the menu like it was written in a different language. Even though it was written in common it could have been written in French for all I could glean from it. Fancy restaurants are truly something else.

That was probably why it took me so long to notice the poison.

While eating I started getting groggy and then I felt the eyes of all the staff turn to me.

LIz, poison!

I shouted over the connection we shared and instantly I saw her eyes glow red. Liz was the perfect anti-poison magic since she can literally rip the poison from the bloodstream. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was better than the alternative.

Without any other pretense I stood up and flipped the table as hard and as fast as I could. We are way past the point of discretion

Thanks to Liz's quick thinking I only coughed up blood for a second and the poison was out of me, I saw the same happen for the girls and the crowd of normal people screamed at the sudden action.

"Ambush!" I shouted and three of the waitresses turned and cast magic at me that looked like strings of glowing paper talismans. It was a fox secret forces capture move that would seal movement and magic.

I was able to block them with a swirling wall of wind magic.

"You've been slipping, my prince." a handsome fox man appeared from out of the shadows. He had long black hair and a very familiar face. He was the strongest agent under my mother, the dark lady, and her cousin. Cornelius Kly'nes Ti'en, he was from a branch family and took on wives specifically as agents and trained his daughters up as agents as well.

Their entire family was the reason I had to be so freaking careful every second of my life. HOW DID THEY EVEN FIND ME HERE?! It's not even been that long since we arrived.

And of course, they wouldn't even act unless they had a whole platoon in position. I'm pretty sure they have a specialist who used divination magic which is the most annoying thing to defend against.

"Cornelius, why am I not surprised it is you?" I sighed as I lowered my disguise magic and revealed my full appearance with my five tails. Cornelius wasn't someone I could use half-measures against.

Cornelius grinned handsomely and revealed his seven tails casually. The same number as my father the king, luckily, he had sworn service to my mother so he wouldn't be in the running for king. He was just a few years older than my father but about 3 times as smug. "I'm the best of the best, young prince. If I can't keep you on your toes, then I might lose my job." he snapped his fingers and a shockwave created by it blew away my wind wall.

"Sebas, who is that?" Nerinin asked as she pulled a lance out of her witch storage.

After we had coughed up the poisoned blood Liz gathered it and transformed them into daggers. Meanwhile, Talisa stood on one foot and posed like some sort of shaolin monk.

"These guys work for my mom, Calypso, and are the reason I've had to go to extremes with my disguises." I said as I reached into my personal storage. I pulled out two crystal wands that grew to full size battle staves. I scraped the blades against one another in a show of sharpening that sent a show of magical sparks as they thrummed with gathering power.

"Ah yes, the Real Fangs of the Phantom Prince," Cornelius purred with excitement as he pulled out a katana from his own spatial storage and set it on his hip. He spread his stance in an Iaido pose and I shivered at the memory of facing him so often. "I may be the only man alive who is so well acquainted with your deadly technique and power. Unfortunately, since I know you so well, talking you into a one-on-one duel won't work."

"And since I know you so well, I don't suppose asking you to ignore us this time is in the cards?" I asked as I stood with my battle staves ready.

"Shall we at least begin with our opening salvo before the chase?" Cornelius nodded politely.

"I supposed, it is only fair. Liz, will you do the honors and flip a coin?" I asked as I tensed up.

"Men..." Liz sighed as she pulled out a coin and flipped it in the air.

The coin rang slightly as it hung in the air. I took a deep breath and filled my body with magic. Several of my magic pathways were able to draw mana from around me and from any nearby ley line. I threw everything into overdrive so that I wouldn't collapse from exerting my own mana in combat. Even if Cornelius wasn't trying to kill me it could be fatal.

Unlike me, Cornelius didn't get his tails from magic he got it from sword aura. So rather than being a sage in magic mastery, he was an unparalleled sword master, probably one of the top 10 swordmasters in the continent. And thanks to him I developed my own fighting style in order to at least not lose instantly.

"Fangs of the Phantom Prince" was the name Cornelius gave my fighting style and it fit for lack of something cooler. Using customized battle staves, growing/shrinking magic, puppetry magic, and wind shifting.

When the coin tapped the ground, I launched forward in a lung while he drew his sword. The edges of our blades met and since his blade was surrounded with sword aura it easily knocked mine away, but I used the momentum that was generated. Within moments we were locked in a flurry of movement. I grew and shrank the battlestaves mid-combat as I spun them around. Using puppetry magic I could spin them around my hand without needing to break my wrists or hold on to them and even if they were knocked away, they would come back like they had a rubber string attached to them. This worked to my advantage since I could keep one orbiting the battlefield to attack from unpredictable angles.

To top it off I could windshift, so that the battlestave could go through me as well as his blade. This was fundamental so I didn't die in one hit. I used every trick and formal stance I could, and it was enough that I was able to fight him to a standstill. But I also knew the only reason I was able to hold my own was because if he were trying to actually kill me, I wouldn't even see it coming.

"Excellent!" Cornelius grinned from check to check. "Your form has gotten much better. There is far less wasted movement. Your magic control is good." He dodged and blocked everything perfectly. He was perfectly frustrating like fighting the teeth of an extra-large wood chipper made out of swords.

Even worse was when I hit him, since he would cover himself with aura, I had to really strike him the right way with all my strength, so glancing blows did little more than tear his clothes.

Surely to others it may look like a master swordsman fighting an untouchable ghost, but it wasn't an easy series of spells to master and use along with fighting someone far superior. And as much as I'd like to just cause a distraction and split, Nerinin and Talisa are fighting these guys for the first time. They aren't used to the tricks they use to trap us or the ones I use to escape.

I'm really going to need to plan better next time, they really caught me with my pants down this time.

I blinked for one sec while trying to come up with a plan and Cornelius kicked me square in the chest and sent me flying end over end backwards into the wall.

Tough son of a bitch.

He actually sent me through the wall, and I slid to a stop on the ground.

Someone whistled and then stood over me.

"You have seen better days, my guy." Flint said as he held out a hand.