It took longer than Souma wanted to get to the lead he was looking for on the right tradesman for the job—and of all people, a puppygirl guard gave it to him. The entire time, he was thinking about just how<em>awful</em>the maid girl service was, and the completely flat way she constantly spoke to him. She probably thought he didn’t notice that she started to slow down to a glacial pace the moment he stepped out of the door, and made a mental note to punish her for that when he got back to the store.<br/><br/>Which he would have to do quickly, as he had already spent an hour trying to find the right place—getting distracted by tempting girls along the way—before so much as negotiating for the right materials. So, when he finally set his sights on the place the guard had pointed out, Souma barged right in without hesitation.<br/><br/>He immediately regretted it, too. When he pushed open the door his sensitive ears were assaulted with the rhythmic slam of a heavy, metal hammer against something else just as metallic. It filled the shop and drilled into his head with each drop of the man’s considerably large arm. It was bad enough for him to flatten his ears against his head and lightly wince.<br/><br/>“Sir,” he called out, trying to keep up his professional façade. “<em>Sir.</em>”<br/><br/>Nothing, at least not at first. Instead, the made called back out to him, shouting ‘WHAT?!’ at the top of his lungs. Souma tried to answer again, to no avail, and then shouted right back at the man about what he was looking for. Only then did the man get the idea and bark, almost literally, some orders to whatever servant he had in his shop.<br/><br/>As if she appeared from the floor, a nearly nude catgirl sprung into action. She sprinted back and forth across the shop, looking for the items, clearly at her wit’s end with her current employer and having to do his bidding. But, eventually, she gathered both the piercing gun and the tattooing gun and brought them up to Souma at the counter.<br/><br/>But when she meowed out the price, Souma felt his stomach sink.<br/><br/><em>A thousand gold!</em><br/><br/>“I don’t have time for this,” he mewled, too quiet for the catgirl to make any sense of it. Then, without any hesitation whatsoever, he did what he came naturally to him. After all, he had been with enough catgirls to know what her general reaction would be.<br/><br/>With a few flicks from his deft fingers, he opened the belt of his pants and let them drop until they were hanging from around his boots. With that quick gesture, it left his lower half completely exposed, and the entire length of his flaccid member right along with it.<br/><br/>Souma didn’t even flinch when he did this, and kept his eyes focused straight on the catgirl the entire time, and spoke as firmly and loudly as he could without screaming, “I’ll give you five hundred for the entire set.”<br/><br/>Then, without hesitation, pulled a small piece of ripped parchment he had tucked away inside his vest. Scrawled on it was the location of his new shop, and he sat it down on the table.<br/><br/>“And I’ll give you a better place to work, too, if you’re interested,” he offered her that final item, grinned, and then bent over to pick up his pants.<br/><br/>“What do you say?” He asked one more, over the sound of the smashing hammer.