Chapter 26: Chapter 19: Worthy Apparel
It was worse than I thought, they sold clothing of all-to-revealing, yet functional design.
"How come none of us have a sense of fashion?"
"So, this set a no as well then"
Needless to say, every single outfit she tried on looked like it was missing half of an actual outfit. I will admit she did look good in the puffy long sleeve shirt, however it's length stopped just shy of covering her whole chest, leaving her under-boob and nothing else below.
This was somehow a popular item and now I'm more embarrassed then when I waited in line at the brothel.
"Is there anything, at all, whatsoever, in that pile even relatively resembling a complete piece of clothing?!"
For my sake more than anything. Why am I getting so flustered over such things now, it wasn't like this before!
"Hey, I said you should pick me out something! If you don't like this stuff that's on you"
"It's not that... If anything it's the opposite- Just not to wear in public, ok!?"
"What's up with you?"
Why? WHY!? When she's wearing nothing I'm fine, but throw on the thigh highs and backless sweater throw me through a loop?
I wandered around the store clawing at my face looking for something remotely wearable whilst wondering what I might consider wearing.
...
In the end, I couldn't find anything for myself but put together the best casual outfit I could for Ota.
Large navy blue belted cargo pants, similar to Riders, but with side vents instead of the pockets that normally at the thigh level.
It was the least revealing long pants I could find ok? At least she like them.
For her top I found a cream coloured long sleeved crop top, it was a bit long in the arms but it could just be folded back once to sit comfortably behind her wrist.
It gave me slight deja-vu to the black tights and plain white shirt I first met her with.
Oh great, Ali's saying are leaving there mark on me too.
I tried my best to cover her up, but I think I only made it worse, at least it wasn't thigh high socks, extremely short skirt and barely a tube-top like she tried on before.
"I don't think, uh, anything here would suit me..."
"Nonsense young man! What are you after"
"Something casual, like a coat I guess?"
Rati, the scantily clad store clerk overheard me thinking out loud. I decided to entertain her query, honestly. Half driven understanding she'd most likely not have such a normal item in store, the my other half taking interest in the long coats the guards wore.
"Let me check in the back real quick"
"Oh Mrs Rati, I'll be taking these. He's paying"
"I see, please wait here"
I felt like something was missing from her outfit. It looked good on her, don't get me wrong, but it needed something for the negative space.
You can't just slap on piercings or tattoos, yet I could imagine her with them all too well.
"What's wrong? I something on my face"
"No... The opposite in fact. Trying to think what would fit"
"What part"
"Your, uh, six pack?"
"Oh? You like what you see?"
Instantly taking my feedback and turning it into a circular belly dance was something I did not expect, it got an unexpected chuckle out me.
All I could do was look away and cover my face as she continued to tease raising her eyebrows in quick succession while repeating 'Eh? Eh?'.
"We have something if you would like to try it, a coat left by a customer last year"
"Someone left it?"
"Yeah, I forgot about it until now. By law we can't sell it, but that doesn't mean we can't give it away. That is, if it fits you"
A rather dubious proposal if I've ever heard one before, still-
"Who would leave a coat in store like this, in winter?"
"Well-"
She quickly grabbed the coat from the store room and brought it out for me to put on. Made of a thick white of a material I didn't recognise but I could tell was enchanted at a glance.
"-You see it's a bit cool to the touch"
"So it's enchanted to be cold... Great for the hot season then, just not really now"
It was at that very moment when I thought crossed my mind, more so a memory. Rider often ranted about enchantments and how she was often brought equipment with various effects that needed to be deactivated.
"Most enchant clothing has a tag somewhere- oh... in the fold of the cuff?"
"That's not a tag..."
"Huh, A letter. What does it say?"
That wasn't at all common practice. I expected a small piece of cloth with a bit of writing on it, not a small note wedged into the single buttoned cuff fold.
"I leave this coat to anyone who can melt snow without elemental magic. Regards M.W.E"
"What does that mean?"
"Who is M.W.E? Let me see that"
I passed the letter to the shop keep who looked just as confused.
"I guess you can't use that spell you know to change it"
"No I can... Technically it's not elemental, but arcane in nature as it changes the fundamentals of elements itself. Although I'm a bit worried if I do it..."
"Well go for it, it's yours. Besides, I don't feel bad giving it knowing you filled the notes request"
"That's her way of thanking you for buying these clothes"
"Oh yeah, let me pay for this first-"
It wasn't even really my money in the first place, well, Enda did say there was plenty left after selling the scale and buying the old cathedral alongside that complete renovation with a fund for orphans until she can push a proposal to the council to add it's operations under city taxes.
So I guess it's fine.
Arisu is handling my 'pocket money' because Enda was teaching her this worlds economics. Apparently, she's been slacking on her studies. I don't blame her. Enda's lessons on anything outside of magic, while straightforward, are very, very boring.
Five thousand marks in coin, enough to get a full kit of equipment, including a dagger at the second hand shop back at my hometown. Prices are much more expensive here, although there is plenty of work.
Especially from the multiple guilds and it seems to pay far better from what Arisu told me.
"So... Why are you worried? You know I can't read your mind yet"
"Yet? Right, anyway, from what I can tell it looks like a powerful enchantment, almost on the level of- well, you know who's cloak we shouldn't talk about"
"Yeah yeah"
Enda's cloak could act like a storeroom within a cape, with the downside of weighing whatever she put inside to a degree. It would be considered an extremely powerful artifact if it was known about far and wide.
Her safety feature was the constellations required to use it are from a star chart of another world, where Arisu is from. She often complains our stars are different and devoid of any proper guiding star. That or talking about north, south, east and west when she tries navigating.
We have compasses but they always point back home thanks to their own runes and enchantments. Incidentally the most requested enchantment item to be fixed by Rider.
I'm starting to understand why she likes no longer being open to the public.
"And these things often have security measures in place"
"Then cast it before putting it on?"
"We best do it outside..."
I already skipped reporting to the guards after starting an incident yesterday, I would rather avoid those same circumstances happening again.
As we left the store I noticed the demographic of shoppers wasn't at all what I expected. I would think a place like this that hired Ota to wear skimpy cloths would attract the sort of unsavoury individuals that would frequent a brothel.
That was not at all the case, it was mostly girls and a few guys that happened to be on dates.
Wait-
"Come on, do it. I want to see it explode or something!"
"Yeah yeah"
Placing down the coat on a nearby bench slightly covered in snow, I stood back and casted the spell.
As I was adjusting it to be warm with my relic that quickly mimicked a wand I began to wonder how such an advanced effect could maintain its power for a year without some sort of mana core.
"Must be made of something strong-"
It quickly flashed and changed colours as it went from cool to neutral, to warm. Now it was black with two white stripes stretching vertically on each arm that strangely reminded me of Ota's training pants.
"-So just a flash? That's it? Boo! I want a refund!"
"Well, it's warm-ish now. Oh wow it really fits me"
The coat wasn't a snug fit, rather, it had enough extra space that I could wear armour underneath. I did find it strange that the only pockets it had were inside and minimal, but it was a really nice coat overall, reaching just short of my feet with an open jacket design.
I can't close it across the chest, however, with its enchantment I doubt I would need to.
"Right, anywhere you wanna go?"
"Yeah, I have a few ideas of what to get. Looks like more stuff is opening up now, do you-"
"-I did it a week ago"
"Ah. Well, I guess I'll make it quick before heading back"
"You know what you're getting everyone?"
"Yeah, I have a few ideas"
Ota considered the clothes as her present, so all that was left was Arisu, Enda, Rider, Eyebore, Shinobi, probably Merrah and, just in case, Nurse Swiftsteal. Maybe I was overthinking who I should get something for, at least a few I knew are simple, like a fancy drink for Merrah...
I learnt the drinking age around here was fourteen, just like the brothels, so at least I could buy it. However I'm pretty sure it would be an impossible mission to buy something for myself without being caught, so I'll cast that curiosity aside for now.
"I wonder who that M.W.E person is"
"Same, one of life's many mysteries I guess?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Aardartem
Aardartem You ever get the feeling you need to do something, like, right now? For me that was rolling out of bed at 8pm and writing this chapter after a tough work out at the gym, but hey, at least I can a few sets of 50kg bench presses. Now I'm going to sleep because it's midnight, oh dear. Oh, chapter 1 re-writes halfway done now after a soft restart. Part 1 is complete, 2 over halfway and 3 to be started soon enough, whenever they do come out, it will be with a new chapter just like how I released the prologue. I apologise for any mistakes, I don't know why I really felt like I needed to write and put it out but here it is. For those worried about the pacing, I had to slow down after such heavy themes recently. Rest assured, we will get back to into the real meat real soon, I do like to leave hints after all...
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