Holding up a deep blue robe matching the arm harness, the dwarf narrowed his eyes.
“This would probably be the best base for work clothes, an ample robe, comfortable, discreet, can be worn at home and outside. A basic but good choice all around,” he explained.
“Hmm. Why not? It looks a bit boring honestly.”
“Well, of course, this is just a base template. Since you wear a lot of gold, I’m thinking I can add some golden embroidery. I’ll also get you a matching shawl and sapphire earrings… Oh, and an opaque white pantyhose, that’s an important detail. You can keep using that one white glove you’re wearing. Do you also need shoes?”
“I only have those.”
“Alright, so you do need shoes.”
“That all sounds fine I guess… How much would I owe you?”
The dwarf who was frantically running around picking stuff from his racks of clothes and accessories stopped suddenly, slowly turning his head to look at Sofia. He reached for his glasses and lifted them, looking at Sofia in the eyes, “Young lady, what do you mean? We’re just getting started. I’m not leaving until you have at least five complete outfits. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Can I really afford that?”
“Lady, the armor on your right arm could buy everything I own a hundred times over, you don’t exactly strike me as someone unable to afford some proper clothes.”
“... Fair point. Next outfit then?”
“If you trust me with this one, then yes. I’ll do the fitting and enchanting later. I assume none of your outfits need to include a right sleeve?”
“Right. Oh, I usually wear this crown, too. Does that change anything?”
The Clothier observed the crown for a moment, “Just don’t wear it in the imperial palace if you can help it. Besides that, it’s just more gold, so no big deal, fits well with the rest.”
No crown in the palace, noted. That might be disrespectful to the emperor I guess. Makes sense. “Then can I request something more practical next? Just something easy to move around in to wear under my armor.”
“Oh, sure thing. Do you need it padded or light?”
“No need for any padding.”
“Aye, just a sturdy white shirt and black pants then. Can’t go wrong with the basics, I’ll make sure the self-repair on this one is the fast acting kind. Next I can get you something that’s currently popular amongst the Exidian nobility…”
“Are you sure this isn’t a bit too… You know…”
“You’re the one who said you were fine with some cleavage, it’s nothing excessive. It might look like a lot of exposed skin from above, but we can’t see shit from below, and you’re pretty tall, so unless you bend over there ain’t going to be a lot of watchers. Unless it’s the split longskirt that bothers you?”
“No, it’s… Ah, yeah, you’re right, whatever. Everyone’s already looking anyway so it’s not like this would make it any worse. Can you make it with an open back? Actually, can you make them all with an open back? I’m used to having my wings out at this point, might as well.”
The Clothier was a bit taken aback at the sudden appearance of a pair of bone wings behind Sofia, but his mind was already at work on the task. “All of them? No, that won’t do. This one and the court robe yes, but it wouldn’t look good on the other ones. I can make openings for the wings like I do for winged beastmen though.”
“Fine with that.”
“Great… So all we’re left with are the accessories for this one… Hmm. Do you usually not style your hair?”
“Not really? It’s either out like this or tied in a low bun inside my helmet.”
“Then to go with this outfit, I recommend a ponytail. I will get you some high heels too, you don’t have to use them but they would complement the style well. Black tights are a must… And it would look even better with glasses, but that’s not something people of our level usually need.”
“Glasses? I think I have that in a corner of my storage actually… Here.”
Sofia brought out the glasses without lenses that Alith had won out of her first batch of gachapon boxes, Sofia had ended up with them because they were too wide to even fit properly on Alith’s head.
“Oh! That’s perfect! Yes! You’re going to be absolutely gorgeous. Stunning. Though in this case it would be better without the armored arm.”
“”It’s not like I cannot take it off. But, I don’t plan on seducing anyone, so this all might be a bit wasted.”
The dwarf shook his head, “Wasted? No waste here, the only thing being wasted is your natural beauty in this dreary green robe. Even if you’re not going after anyone, the most important part is how much you value yourself. A good appearance gives strong confidence. Clothes are for the wearer, first and foremost.”
“Alright. I think these six outfits are enough. How much is it and when will it be ready?” Sofia asked, dreading the price she might be asked to pay. She had absolutely no idea how much gold she even had, which was a bad start.
“For a new teacher you’re pretty nice. I’ll give you a friendly price, ten thousand for the whole lot.”
I don’t even know if this is a lot anymore. Do I have that?
Sofia looked at the pile of gold in a far corner of her storage space. Suddenly remembering that she had completely robbed the gold storage vault thing of the Solar temple in space. Oh.
Ten thousand might be a lot but this has to be several hundred thousands just in ingots... I think money isn’t an issue.
I still have the mithril shield too, that has to be worth a huge load of money just in raw mithril.
“There you go,” Sofia unceremoniously declared, dropping piles and piles of ten gold ingots on the ground. “How long will it take for you to make all the adjustments?”
“About two hours. Less if you let me work on it here. Also I need to see your feet.”
“Excuse me?”
“What, do you think the shoes will magically come at the correct size?”
Oh, right. “That isn’t too far-fetched, though, is it?”
The dwarf shrugged. “No, but that would cost you extra.”
“Alright, taking off my boots… Do you not need the measurements of the rest of my body proportions? Usually they measure with tape…”
“No need, I have a skill for that. Just doesn’t extend to the feet yet, getting into shoemaking was a personal endeavor outside of my class’ original skillset.”
“How does a clothier even fight?” Sofia was too curious not to ask, did he wave huge scissors around like Pareth used once against Mornn?
“We have our ways, at low levels it’s thread manipulation, mostly. Kind of like all the races of magic spiders. We also have the advantage of being able to adapt our gear to pretty much any situation. It’s a lot of planning. What about you? I know all saints have different gimmicks depending on the patron God.”
“I summon skeletons.”
The dwarf looked around again at the entire bone-made furniture and at Sofia’s wings. “Somehow I’m not surprised, the summoning class students sure are in for a special ride this time, aren’t they?”
“I don’t even know how I’m going to go about teaching anything to them yet. But I can’t deny that.”
“Heh, you’ll do just fine, headmaster doesn’t recruit just anybody.”
“And lastly for this one, it felt like a waste to remove the sleeve, so I enchanted it to be retractable, when you wear your armguard this’ll fold up and become a ribbon behind your waist,” the red haired dwarf explained as he activated the magic to show Sofia the ribbon.
“Oh? That’s nice, thank you. I think this is my favorite design out of the lot honestly.”
“That so? Short skirts like these are still not very popular among my feminine clientele, but I think this is bound to pick up speed sooner or later. Oh I also added an obscuring enchantment to prevent people peeping from underneath on this one, since you’re so tall. That fine with you?”
“Yeah, of course! Thank you, actually. I didn’t really think about that detail but now that you say it that’s kind of embarrassing.”
“Just doing my job teach. What’d you say you try it on, see if I got the size and everything correct? They’re all the same so if one’s good they’re all good.”
“Sure, give me a minute.”
Sofia grabbed the outfit and went to change in her bathroom. She removed all her accessories except Aphenoreth’s glove, to see what the clothes were worth by themselves.
It’s comfortable enough. The skirt is much shorter than I expected, good thing he added that enchantment. I did think the white shirt would highlight my chest a bit but this might be too much… Oh well. Might as well leverage my large charisma…
I was dubious about the fake belts but this works better than expected too. I have to admit, this guy is good at his job.
When Sofia came out of the bathroom, she found her living room free of all of the Clothier’s mess of tools and clothes, instead he was setting up a large mirror and a big chair.
“Hot damn! Looks even better than I expected, I’m rather proud of myself on this one. How’s the fitting?” the clothier exclaimed as he finished setting up the lightstone torches near the mirror.
“Thanks, it feels great, I can tell it was an expert’s job.”
“You flatter me. Come, I’ve prepared a set so you can look at yourself. This is the only chair I have for your size so I hope you don’t mind the design, just sit on that and smile.”
“Smile?” Sofia asked as she sat on the large wooden chair.
Oh that does look good. That the obscuring enchantment? I can’t see through even with VPPV… Ah, maybe I should still cross my legs, what if he can see…
“Yes, sit comfortably and smile, don’t move. The mirror will capture your image,” the dwarf explained, giving two taps on his big mirror. “It’ll transfer it to a piece of paper, you can keep it or whatever, it’s something that I always do, noble ladies usually like to see themselves like this. Keep a souvenir of their younger self.”
Sofia sat still and smiled.
Holding up a deep blue robe matching the arm harness, the dwarf narrowed his eyes.
“This would probably be the best base for work clothes, an ample robe, comfortable, discreet, can be worn at home and outside. A basic but good choice all around,” he explained.
“Hmm. Why not? It looks a bit boring honestly.”
“Well, of course, this is just a base template. Since you wear a lot of gold, I’m thinking I can add some golden embroidery. I’ll also get you a matching shawl and sapphire earrings… Oh, and an opaque white pantyhose, that’s an important detail. You can keep using that one white glove you’re wearing. Do you also need shoes?”
“I only have those.”
“Alright, so you do need shoes.”
“That all sounds fine I guess… How much would I owe you?”
The dwarf who was frantically running around picking stuff from his racks of clothes and accessories stopped suddenly, slowly turning his head to look at Sofia. He reached for his glasses and lifted them, looking at Sofia in the eyes, “Young lady, what do you mean? We’re just getting started. I’m not leaving until you have at least five complete outfits. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Can I really afford that?”
“Lady, the armor on your right arm could buy everything I own a hundred times over, you don’t exactly strike me as someone unable to afford some proper clothes.”
“... Fair point. Next outfit then?”
“If you trust me with this one, then yes. I’ll do the fitting and enchanting later. I assume none of your outfits need to include a right sleeve?”
“Right. Oh, I usually wear this crown, too. Does that change anything?”
The Clothier observed the crown for a moment, “Just don’t wear it in the imperial palace if you can help it. Besides that, it’s just more gold, so no big deal, fits well with the rest.”
No crown in the palace, noted. That might be disrespectful to the emperor I guess. Makes sense. “Then can I request something more practical next? Just something easy to move around in to wear under my armor.”
“Oh, sure thing. Do you need it padded or light?”
“No need for any padding.”
“Aye, just a sturdy white shirt and black pants then. Can’t go wrong with the basics, I’ll make sure the self-repair on this one is the fast acting kind. Next I can get you something that’s currently popular amongst the Exidian nobility…”
“Are you sure this isn’t a bit too… You know…”
“You’re the one who said you were fine with some cleavage, it’s nothing excessive. It might look like a lot of exposed skin from above, but we can’t see shit from below, and you’re pretty tall, so unless you bend over there ain’t going to be a lot of watchers. Unless it’s the split longskirt that bothers you?”
“No, it’s… Ah, yeah, you’re right, whatever. Everyone’s already looking anyway so it’s not like this would make it any worse. Can you make it with an open back? Actually, can you make them all with an open back? I’m used to having my wings out at this point, might as well.”
The Clothier was a bit taken aback at the sudden appearance of a pair of bone wings behind Sofia, but his mind was already at work on the task. “All of them? No, that won’t do. This one and the court robe yes, but it wouldn’t look good on the other ones. I can make openings for the wings like I do for winged beastmen though.”
“Fine with that.”
“Great… So all we’re left with are the accessories for this one… Hmm. Do you usually not style your hair?”
“Not really? It’s either out like this or tied in a low bun inside my helmet.”
“Then to go with this outfit, I recommend a ponytail. I will get you some high heels too, you don’t have to use them but they would complement the style well. Black tights are a must… And it would look even better with glasses, but that’s not something people of our level usually need.”
“Glasses? I think I have that in a corner of my storage actually… Here.”
Sofia brought out the glasses without lenses that Alith had won out of her first batch of gachapon boxes, Sofia had ended up with them because they were too wide to even fit properly on Alith’s head.
“Oh! That’s perfect! Yes! You’re going to be absolutely gorgeous. Stunning. Though in this case it would be better without the armored arm.”
“”It’s not like I cannot take it off. But, I don’t plan on seducing anyone, so this all might be a bit wasted.”
The dwarf shook his head, “Wasted? No waste here, the only thing being wasted is your natural beauty in this dreary green robe. Even if you’re not going after anyone, the most important part is how much you value yourself. A good appearance gives strong confidence. Clothes are for the wearer, first and foremost.”
“Alright. I think these six outfits are enough. How much is it and when will it be ready?” Sofia asked, dreading the price she might be asked to pay. She had absolutely no idea how much gold she even had, which was a bad start.
“For a new teacher you’re pretty nice. I’ll give you a friendly price, ten thousand for the whole lot.”
I don’t even know if this is a lot anymore. Do I have that?
Sofia looked at the pile of gold in a far corner of her storage space. Suddenly remembering that she had completely robbed the gold storage vault thing of the Solar temple in space. Oh.
Ten thousand might be a lot but this has to be several hundred thousands just in ingots... I think money isn’t an issue.
I still have the mithril shield too, that has to be worth a huge load of money just in raw mithril.
“There you go,” Sofia unceremoniously declared, dropping piles and piles of ten gold ingots on the ground. “How long will it take for you to make all the adjustments?”
“About two hours. Less if you let me work on it here. Also I need to see your feet.”
“Excuse me?”
“What, do you think the shoes will magically come at the correct size?”
Oh, right. “That isn’t too far-fetched, though, is it?”
The dwarf shrugged. “No, but that would cost you extra.”
“Alright, taking off my boots… Do you not need the measurements of the rest of my body proportions? Usually they measure with tape…”
“No need, I have a skill for that. Just doesn’t extend to the feet yet, getting into shoemaking was a personal endeavor outside of my class’ original skillset.”
“How does a clothier even fight?” Sofia was too curious not to ask, did he wave huge scissors around like Pareth used once against Mornn?
“We have our ways, at low levels it’s thread manipulation, mostly. Kind of like all the races of magic spiders. We also have the advantage of being able to adapt our gear to pretty much any situation. It’s a lot of planning. What about you? I know all saints have different gimmicks depending on the patron God.”
“I summon skeletons.”
The dwarf looked around again at the entire bone-made furniture and at Sofia’s wings. “Somehow I’m not surprised, the summoning class students sure are in for a special ride this time, aren’t they?”
“I don’t even know how I’m going to go about teaching anything to them yet. But I can’t deny that.”
“Heh, you’ll do just fine, headmaster doesn’t recruit just anybody.”
“And lastly for this one, it felt like a waste to remove the sleeve, so I enchanted it to be retractable, when you wear your armguard this’ll fold up and become a ribbon behind your waist,” the red haired dwarf explained as he activated the magic to show Sofia the ribbon.
“Oh? That’s nice, thank you. I think this is my favorite design out of the lot honestly.”
“That so? Short skirts like these are still not very popular among my feminine clientele, but I think this is bound to pick up speed sooner or later. Oh I also added an obscuring enchantment to prevent people peeping from underneath on this one, since you’re so tall. That fine with you?”
“Yeah, of course! Thank you, actually. I didn’t really think about that detail but now that you say it that’s kind of embarrassing.”
“Just doing my job teach. What’d you say you try it on, see if I got the size and everything correct? They’re all the same so if one’s good they’re all good.”
“Sure, give me a minute.”
Sofia grabbed the outfit and went to change in her bathroom. She removed all her accessories except Aphenoreth’s glove, to see what the clothes were worth by themselves.
It’s comfortable enough. The skirt is much shorter than I expected, good thing he added that enchantment. I did think the white shirt would highlight my chest a bit but this might be too much… Oh well. Might as well leverage my large charisma…
I was dubious about the fake belts but this works better than expected too. I have to admit, this guy is good at his job.
When Sofia came out of the bathroom, she found her living room free of all of the Clothier’s mess of tools and clothes, instead he was setting up a large mirror and a big chair.
“Hot damn! Looks even better than I expected, I’m rather proud of myself on this one. How’s the fitting?” the clothier exclaimed as he finished setting up the lightstone torches near the mirror.
“Thanks, it feels great, I can tell it was an expert’s job.”
“You flatter me. Come, I’ve prepared a set so you can look at yourself. This is the only chair I have for your size so I hope you don’t mind the design, just sit on that and smile.”
“Smile?” Sofia asked as she sat on the large wooden chair.
Oh that does look good. That the obscuring enchantment? I can’t see through even with VPPV… Ah, maybe I should still cross my legs, what if he can see…
“Yes, sit comfortably and smile, don’t move. The mirror will capture your image,” the dwarf explained, giving two taps on his big mirror. “It’ll transfer it to a piece of paper, you can keep it or whatever, it’s something that I always do, noble ladies usually like to see themselves like this. Keep a souvenir of their younger self.”
Sofia sat still and smiled.
