Simon was a lot of things, but a socialite was not one of them. So he had forgotten how important aesthetics were to everyday life.

  When his dealers did not behave as shadily as before, it gave him pause. Also, many shopfronts, which would usually throw him out outright, gave a warm welcome.

  Simon still preferred the underhanded ones, because they had the more exotic ones. But he could browse.

  While doing so, he came across one that looked fairly new.

  The Foxy Emporium, the sign read over the rather elaborate door.

  Curious, he entered and found the interior far larger than it seemed from the outside.

  Spatial Magic, and fairly decent at that. They were not that difficult to set up for someone who knew what they were doing, but maintenance was rather costly.

  Among the magical disciplines, spatial magic was known to cause identity drift more than any other. After all, it messed with the perceived dimensions--- something our mortal minds tended to have a hard time coping with.

  Only large corporations and noble estates dealt with stuff like expanding and contracting entire spaces through magicraft. Otherwise, it remained in the realm of magical artifacts or true spells.

  If there were an entity maintaining this store through personal spellwork and not spell diagrams, this place was very likely above his budget.

  The same was true if this was an enchanted room. In that case, either a ‘consumed’ mage maintained the space—a capricious and often very expensive hire—or the shopkeep did. In which case, she would be freakishly powerful.

  There was an off chance that a magical being maintained this, but for them to maintain any spell required a magical binding and not a weak or temporary one.

  However Simon sliced it, this should have been just another browsing session.

  “Hello, how may I help you, nya?”

  The voice was high and bubbly.

  He looked forward at the counter to see a feminine catgirl standing behind the desk, one of the many beastfolk who made their home in the city of Titan Spine. Granted, familiarity with the race was low, since they mostly occupied the lower rungs of society, even though they made up about sixty percent of the city's population.

  The problem was that their bodies naturally absorbed any magic they learned, reinforcing their physiques in the process. Making it harder for them to be mages. In general, they were always an order or two behind the other sentient races.

  When society ran on spells and magicraft, being a race known to be bad at it automatically meant you were lesser.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  But had Simon long since learned never to underestimate the more bestial residence of the city. Because even if they sucked at casting spells, the average beastfolk were manyfold faster and stronger than a human. The magic had to go somewhere.

  Being good at throwing a fireball mattered little when your opponent could snap your neck faster than you could generate a spell frame. Not to mention the few that were of similar caliber to other mortals in weaving spells would have a very wide physical advantage.

  Despite all of that, Simon had a suspicion that the beastfolk in front of him was not a cat at all.

  For one, the magic rolling off her was obscene, but more importantly, the signature of said magic was reminiscent of a spell. A true spell.

  Also, no catfolk ever said the ‘meow’ like a regular cat. Their vocals were much more developed than that. It was the media that tended to fetishize the beastfolk, giving them animalistic traits to make them appear cuter.

  There were exceptions to this, like how snakefolk tended to stretch their Ss.

  Dealing with disguised shopkeepers usually went one of two ways: they were either far stronger than they appeared, shady as hell, or both. Neither of which Simon wanted to deal with at the moment.

  He could leave, but curiosity held the mage in place. After all, a demon turned out to be friendlier than the depictions, so what if this was the same as well?

  “Do you always meet customers with a glamour in place?”

  Simon asked with a friendly smile, trying to be as disarming as possible.

  The shopkeeper’s eyes widened.

  “Excuse me, sir? I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The ears on the top of her head flattened as the shopkeeper looked genuinely confused.

  That cemented the idea that this person wasn’t particularly strong; they were either super eccentric or extremely arrogant. That meant the place was probably shady.

  Simon turned to leave, no longer interested.

  “Wait.”

  The catfolk's bubbly tone turned smoother as it shifted toward a more human accent.

  He looked at the now-human standing in front of him. The glamor could still be felt, however.

  “You know, disguising yourself as a beastkin and then switching to human is a stupid move. Shouldn’t it be the opposite way around? Be straight with me, or I am leaving.”

  Simon said seriously, if the other side wanted him to stay. He would make damn sure that they were on the up and up. He had been burned one too many times under the guise of good faith.

  The girl’s good humor dropped, replaced by a feral edge as she said—

  “Trust me, you don’t want to see the real me.”

  Simon only shrugged and turned to the door once again.

  “Wait! Fine! Just please don’t go.”

  This time, the transformation felt like the release of a spell. Where there had once been a rather attractive-looking human woman now stood a spirit fox, with four voluminous tails wrapped around her in a very fluffy cocoon.

  Simon’s eyes widened as he took an instinctive step back.

  The accent also turned very high-pitched and slightly squeaky as she said.

  “See, I told you this was not something you would want. You look ready to bolt.”

  No shit. What stood in front of him was a genuine spirit fox. No wonder the magic rolling off her spell was so pure and dense.

  Simon needed to decide: bolt and forget this encounter entirely, or stay and engage with a race whose pedigree rivaled a dragon’s.