A lesser man would be intimidated by the idea of making love to such a physically attractive woman, but Steve was quite unwavering! Initially, he wanted to tell another white lie in order to buy himself some more time, but then suddenly, he realized that he didn't need to do that anymore, because he suddenly felt more balanced than he ever had ever since he reincarnated into this brute world!
His toes had grown out entirely, which largely contributed to the balance that he experienced now, he felt strong. Those potions truly helped him regenerate every bit of his body back, and now that he felt stable, and powerful, he felt like he didn't have to lie anymore in order to keep himself from getting killed. He had another option now, he could use brute force in order to get his way!
Steve tightened his fists, and then tried to summon a magical power of his, with the best of his abilities. He summoned the flaming fingers, and then hit Arleesa right across the face within the beat of a second! This course of action was very effective, because he had upgraded his strength to level-three before, when he had been locked in that dungeon of sorts, so he simply sent Arleesa flying for a few feet!
"I miss my wife, and I can't betray her memory! Hell, all the tits of the world won't convince me otherwise." He exclaimed.
The flaming fingers weren't strong enough to kill a frog, but it did knock her out cold, she was asleep. It was quite a slap from his side, he could even see that there was a burning, hand-mark on her face!
"I should chop your legs off, so you'll know how it feels…" He muttered, and then yelled. "God! Why is it so hard to kill someone? I'm having second thoughts here."
[You really don't need to kill her,] The system then intervened, [From the looks of it, she'll be asleep for a while from now, so if you can't stomach to murder someone, I suggest that you simply make haste and flee. This is a sort of victory too.]
"You may be right," He sighed, "Also, if this crazy bitch has a steel safe somewhere, I should loot that, as compensation for what she put me through. Five bars per every limb that she cut away from me should be a fair conversion-rate, or, those diamonds look pretty expensive as well. Hmm… they may serve me even better."
Steve referred to the diamond-encrusted vase that was neatly placed about five meters away from him. He had his eye on this vase for a while now, and figured that it would help cover a great deal of his debt, if he was to run into those 'debt-collectors' again. He needed money to bargain for his life, even in this universe!
"You can spare a vase," He said, and therefore he mocked Arleesa's unconscious body.
Afterwards, he stashed the vase in a silk bag, because it was best if people didn't know what kind of merchandise he was carrying. He didn't want to get jumped as soon as he left through that door, so it was best to be safe.
Steve needed some clothes too, as he couldn't walk around naked out there. He snooped through the house for a few minutes, and found a bunch of fine, menswear. This made him guess that Arleesa had tricked a bunch of wealthy men in the past, and had sacrificed them, but he didn't care to know the details about the matter. He wasn't creeped out about wearing a dead man's clothes, because after all, he wasn't the one that killed them.
Steve was completely naked, so first things first, he put on a pair of leather pants to keep his butt-cheeks warm. It was cold outside, and since he had spent over twenty-four hours naked, then he'd rather be warm for a while, within multiple layers of comfort even!
Then, he got a white shirt, put a leather jerkin over it, and got a warm green coat to keep him comfortable out there. The coat seemed royal, truly expensive, but he felt comfortable about wearing it in public, because he was under the impression that frogs were supposed to wear green stuff. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Furthermore, he thought. "If some dirt bag tries to rob me of my coat, I'll smack the daylights out of them! I have powers now, life seems a little bit easier, hell, it should be easier. We'll see."
Moments later, he left through the front door. He was a free man, and since he felt stable in all aspects, this may be the best time to truly explore what this world had to offer! Arleesa was spared.
…
It was almost dusk now, and although some may consider it inconvenient to walk in the city when it was dark, Steve considered it as an advantage. In the dark, he could just go through any dark alleyways if he wanted to avoid trouble, and he felt confident that no one could kill him within those alleyways as easily anymore. His wounds were all healed up now, so he forgot that some random frog almost cut through his nervous system just a day ago, in a very similar looking alleyway. He was unfazed about that, so he trotted the stone pavement freely, with his hard-toed boots.
The best idea now was to make as much distance away from Arleesa's house as possible, that's what he believed. He figured that she would be on the lookout later on as soon as she woke up, so it was best if he walked away as quickly as he could, without arousing any suspicion!
Another idea was to get rid of the merchandise that he had in the bag, tonight, he had to sell it all. Steve discovered that the vase he stole was used to store expensive jewelry before he snatched it, so necessarily he stole that jewelry too, although he did so accidentally. If he could convert everything into local money that he could use, then he may live well in this new world after all. He thought about it for a moment, and this was the best course of action, he had to sell them.
After he crossed two streets and alleyways, he found a shop that appeared to be open, even at this time. The setting sun had guided him through the stone city so far, however, when he saw that the store was well-lit with torches, he was lured in towards it, and therefore entered it.
The shop was filled with a bunch of random, but valuable items, that was the first thing he noticed after he entered. There were big weapons littered all across the right side of the shop, and there were crates full of merchandise on the left side.
There were also home decorations, and jewels locked in glass protections, but these two things were less common. This place was more of armory rather than anything else, it had this unique, rustic undertone!
Once he reached the other side of the room, he noticed that a tall frog was putting in a bit of work. He tried to light some candles, because this shop was really big, about seventy-square-meters, so it could use all of the light that it could get!
"Good evening, sir." Steve greeted him.
"I was wondering when you were going to holler for me, you were getting sneaky there without a real reason, kid. Don't you know that it's customary to greet the owner as soon as you enter the shop?" The clerk scolded.
Considering that the clerk was nearly seven feet tall, Steve started walking on eggshells here, he really didn't want to annoy the clerk. This was a closed space, so he couldn't risk a beating from this giant, regardless of how confident he was before stepping in here! He had to play it safe.
"Sorry about that, your place just looks amazing!" He complimented, and then said. "Okay, so I have stuff to sell, sir, so do you want to buy some expensive jewelry? My house has imploded from within the basement recently, so I'm looking to sell my good shit, so I can then buy a new house. Can you help me out?"