elra
patreon
December Bonus Chapter
🕑 Added 2023-12-31 14:28:42 +0000 UTCEvil machinations brewed at Lowell’s Manor.
“You see, my dear Roberto, manual work has no intrinsic value to it,” an inebriated Ginz said as he pointed at me with a sharp knife. He sounded like a certain uncle from my dad’s family I didn’t want to remember. “You must convince the nobles that your product is the most prestigious item in town after the royal crown. The first step is to convince one or two nobles to use your stuff in public and the rest will quickly jump into the wagon. Product placement is everything. Then, you sell the nobles the item at an inflated price until the whole court has one. You must do it quickly before the leeches start making copies.”
“So, your business will eventually die, and you’ll return to square one?” I asked.
“Let me finish, Roberino,” Ginz replied. “Around this time, even the last courtier and wealthy merchant will have bought your product, and the price will plummet. Craftsmen will be discouraged from producing copies because every court member already has one. Here’s the secret. You won’t stop crafting. You’ll use the money to hire a small army of low-level craftsmen to mass-produce your thing. By this point, every Farcrest citizen will know that your product is the latest fashion among nobles. They will be consumed by vanity if you offer the product to them at a reasonable price. By the end of the season, your product would’ve conquered the city. Every single person has one. You are a famous craftsman, and the nobles will be on the hunt to be the first to wear your next big hit.”
I looked at Ginz with my mouth agape. As far as wishful thinking went, he was the undisputed champion.
“Ginz, you are an evil eggnog balloon, and your plan is just as foolish as Nokti’s scheme to create a Potato God,” I replied, enchanting the next batch of light beads.
I made a mental note to monitor Nokti’s potato appreciation club closely. The next time I hear a ‘beware of its thousand eyes of madness’ late at night, I’d be putting an end to the cult. Things were getting too creepy too quickly. I put those thoughts away and focused on the workbench before me.
Ginz drank from his eggnog mug. The ‘product’ in question was a dress for Elincia to wear during the Winter Solstice Festival. His plan was simple. Capitalize on the attention the orphanage had gotten due to the Stephaniss Cup, and exhibit the dress, with Elincia as the model, to the high spheres of the kingdom. His logic behind the ‘inevitable’ success of the plan? Enchanters were a Prestige Class, which meant there were only a handful in the kingdom. They wouldn’t bother enchanting a hundred shiny little beads for a decorative piece.
I wondered what kind of Enchanter would’ve created all the joke items in Opoki’s inventory. If Ginz’s picture was correct, Enchanters were too busy crafting enchanted weapons and armor to have time to create floppy forks.
“Call me evil all you want, but most of my income goes into the orphanage’s coffers by contract. If my plan succeeds, most money will go directly to the kids,” Ginz burped. “Also, don’t drink too much booze during the festival. We have to finish twelve decks tonight.”
I deflated on my chair. Since Ginz arrived at the orphanage, I had even less free time.
“Drink the blueberry juice and give me twelve more beads, Robbybobby,” Ginz interrupted my grumbling.
I drank Elincia’s mana potion and continued enchanting polished white wood beads. My brain and my heart were divided. My heart was dying to see Elincia wearing the dress, but my brain told me this was an awful idea.
“Does it have to show the midriff?” I asked for the tenth time.
“Do we have to go through beauty standards again?” Ginz replied.
“No,” I sighed.
Most of the Farcrest population had the ‘green fever’. Orc physique was largely considered attractive because it embodied strength. Strength was related to high levels, and high-level people were deemed successful. Ginz had summarized it that way but was neither a sociologist nor an anthropologist. What did Orc's physique have to do with Elincia? Thousand hours shooting a bow had strengthened her core and back muscles, giving them a perfect definition.
Ginz had everything planned, apparently.
“Trust me, Roburrito. Captain Kiln has broken more hearts than any other courtier in the city's history. Half of the Guard recruits enlisted because they are in love with her. Have you seen her without armor? She has muscles on her muscles,” Ginz hiccupped.
“Would you marry Captain Kiln if she asked?”
Before I pronounced the last syllable, Elincia entered the room. She looked at me with a disgusted expression.
“I’m not interested in whatever repugnant guy’s conversation you are having. I just want to know why you called me,” Elincia said, leaning on the doorway and crossing her arms. “I’m busy, you know?”
“I’ll be brief,” Ginz hiccuped and drank another sip from his eggnog mug. It wasn’t even noon. “I feel like an ass for calling you Orcbud during all those years, so I sewed a dress for you. I hope you can forgive me. It’s a party dress inspired by the wedding dress of the second wife of King Ebros the XVI, the Hunter Princess of Verhden, and the traditional orc Moon Shaman attire.”
I glared at Ginz but didn’t get to say anything because Elincia’s face suddenly lit up. She was so happy that I couldn’t bring myself to tell her Ginz was just using her for his evil plans. Maybe after the festival.
“Oh, Ginz, you shouldn't have,” she said, but her smile told the opposite story. She was loving it. “Can I try it?”
“Be my guest. If it needs any adjustment, I should be able to do it before the festival starts,” Ginz said, drunkenly smiling. “Go change. We aren’t going anywhere.”
Elincia grabbed the dress and skipped away like a little kid.
“You will be in so much trouble,” I said with a mischievous smile.
“I won when I said ‘Hunter Princess’,” Ginz smiled. “And you, Berty, you’ll love me after this too. Just wait for it.”
Not a minute later, the door slammed open, and Elincia jumped into the room. My heart skipped a beat, stopped, and performed a triple somersault. The dress was a shoulderless fitted bodice with an external translucent blouse of a flowy dark blue fabric decorated with silver embroidery and enchanted blue light beads. The skirt was similar, an inner tight-fitted legging with a flowy, translucent outer layer decorated with beads and silver embroidery. Not quite a belly dancer dress, but very close.
“I made the lateral cut high to the waist so you can move more freely,” Ginz explained, but I quickly zoned out. Elincia was stunning.
“Well, I guess Rob liked it,” Elincia giggled.
“What?” I said, confused.
“I asked how I looked. Twice,” she gave me the smuggest smile to date.
I couldn’t think of a single garment in which Elincia looked terrible. The dress, however, highlighted her elegant figure better than any patchwork nightgown.
“You are such a simpleton, Rob. It’s just a dress,” Elincia giggled as she modeled for us.
It wasn’t just a dress. It was a weapon of mass seduction. The worst part? Ginz’s plan to get the nobility on the ‘Ginz’s Fashion Train’ seemed absolutely doable with Elincia as the poster girl of his products. I had to admit Ginz was a hell of a Craftsman. The dress was perfect to the last detail.
“As an extra service, I volunteer to look after the orphans today so you two can have fun,” Ginz said.
“Would you?!” Elincia’s eyes shone bright.
“Sure.”
Elincia smiled and skipped out of the room.
“I don’t want an army of orphans taking the public’s attention away from my dress,” Ginz added as he emptied the eggnog mug. “This counts as your festival’s gift, Robbieboyo. Enjoy it, and make sure Elincia uses the veil all the time. I don’t want the model to rob attention from the dress.”
* * *
“You should’ve seen your face. At first, you gasped, then you were like, ‘Whoa’. Then I asked how I looked, and you were blank. Gone,” Elincia elbowed my ribs as we walked through the market. She was having a field day with my reactions to her dress. It wasn’t my fault she was so cute.
“Aren’t you cold?” I deflected Elincia’s remarks.
“The warmth enchantment is working well,” she replied, hanging from my arm.
Even if the city wore their best rags, Elincia stood out among the crowd. The beads shone like small constellations against the deep blue dress, while the flowy outer layer gave the garment a mysterious appearance. The veil and the headdress only highlighted the exotic design of the dress.
“We still have an hour before the party,” I said.
“Let’s check the fair. I want to play the sharpshooting game,” Elincia smiled. “Last year, I won a set of mugs.”
“OK, go. I’ll wait for you over there on those benches,” I replied, stifling a smile.
“Oh, no. You are coming with me, Mister.”
That afternoon, Farcrest was different. There was a cheerful atmosphere. Flickering paper lanterns lit the streets, and even the stalls had been adorned with evergreen garlands and pennants. The market square was filled with merchants selling handcrafted gifts, lucky charms, and all sorts of dubious love potions. The air carried the smell of roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Musicians played mellow songs at every street corner while kids ran around, followed by life-sized Wendigo puppets.
“A love spell for the lovely couple!” an old woman approached us mid-street. It wasn’t a question but an order for the squad of grannies following her.
Elincia dragged me in an attempt to escape, but the army of grannies was faster and quickly surrounded us. The corner musicians didn’t wait to jump into the fray, singing about seizing the year's longest night. The lyrics were full of dirty wordplay. After a moment, the old women tied our hands with a red lace. As suddenly as they ambushed us, the group of matchmakers disappeared.
As I looked around, I caught other granny squads looking for unsuspecting couples.
“So much for me playing the archery game,” Elincia sighed, looking at the lace around our wrists.
“We can still eat pastries,” I pointed out, unsure how a red lace counted as a love spell. Maybe we were supposed to spend the whole evening together.
“You’ll have to feed me, though. They took my right hand, and I don’t want to mess up the dress,” Elincia grinned as she raised our conjoint arm.
“It would be an honor, milady.”
There were several couples with their hands tied together strolling around the market.
I put a couple of copper coins on the chestnut vendor, and he gave us a wooden plate with a dozen big chestnuts covered in honey. He also gave us a dirty look when he saw the red lace tying us. I was starting to suspect the Winter Solstice Festival was closer to Valentine’s Day than Christmas. It was understandable. Spending the longest night of the year with one’s significant other had something poetic to it. Not that the festivity changed our particular sleeping habits.
We sat on a wooden bench near the entrance of the Great Hall, just under a flock of paper lanterns, and Elincia raised the veil and opened her mouth for me to feed her a chestnut. Her blissful expression was just too cute, so I fed her another. Despite having only one hand free each, we were having a great time.
As we ate, the year's first snowflakes fell upon the winter fair as the sun set. Like clockwork.
“Should we go inside?” I asked.
“Let’s stay here for a minute. Elves are coldproof,” Elincia replied, leaning on my shoulder.
“Why do you like to touch me with your cold feet so much then?” I said.
“You are warm.”
“It isn’t because you like to see me grimacing?”
“How does that even occur to you? I love you too much to put you through that,” Elincia replied with a mischievous smile just to jab at my ribs a moment later. “You haven’t complimented me for my dress yet.”
“Can’t. I’m trying hard not to fall in love with you,” I replied, looking away.
“Admit it, you adore me,” Elincia snuggled to my side.
“I adore your humility.”
Our friendly banter was cut short by the sound of horns from the Great Hall. Slowly, the commoners of Farcrest started crossing the inner wall into the gardens. Before the entrance clogged, we entered the front courtyard. Instead of walking around the building towards the gardens, we approached the main entrance. Captain Kiln had invited us to the VIP area to have someone to talk to.
To my surprise, Captain Kiln was waiting for us at the top of the stairs. She wore a long purple night dress with a delicate silver tiara and a white wolf monster pelt over the shoulders. Maybe Ginz was right. I couldn’t deny Captain Kiln was killing the dress despite looking uncomfortable without a sword hanging from her waist.
“Finally, good company! I was tired of entertaining all these bubble-blowing babies!” Captain Kiln greeted us with a relieved smile. “How many marriage proposals has that piece of a dress gotten so far, girl? The System knows I have gotten a lot too many.”
I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
“I was expecting one, but no luck so far,” Elincia replied, pretending to be appalled.
“You were really expecting something from this one?” Captain Kiln raised an eyebrow.
I still couldn’t tell if they were joking.
“Let’s go. We are drawing too much attention.”
Elincia and Captain Kiln monopolized the crowd’s attention, and people refused to continue their way into the gardens. I had to admit, they both looked great in their dresses. However, my eyes drifted invariably towards Elincia.
Captain Kiln guided us into the Great Hall. I expected her to take us into a sumptuous ballroom. Instead, the nobleborn’s party took place on a balcony with views of the gardens while the commoners danced below. A small orchestra played folk music on an elevated gazebo while a dozen pages served food and drinks. Most of the dancers were already tied together.
I noticed Sir Janus drinking with the servitude in the corner of the dance floor.
“Robert Clarke, welcome,” The Marquis greeted us as soon as we joined the party on the balcony, quickly departing from a group of nobles. Was he also using me as his diplomatic scapegoat? I couldn’t get used to interacting with him in such an informal manner.
The Marquis wore a simple white shirt and a black vest with silver embroidery. If I overlooked the fabric's quality and the ornaments' detail, his clothes weren't too different from mine. All the noblemen wore simple clothes. He had been tied to a young woman with tanned skin and glossy dark hair in an elegant ivory dress. His fiancee?
I wondered if there was any anthropological reason for the disparity between attires.
“My Lord, it’s an honor,” I greeted and bowed.
When I raised my head again, I noticed he was more interested in Elincia.
“How much do I have to pay for you to keep the identity of the tailor a secret until the Sowing Festival?” he shot without warning.
I hated the fact Ginz was right. Elincia’s dress was a subtle flame in the dark, literally and metaphorically. The nobles showered us with a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred glances. The hostile looks were mostly aimed at me. Even if the dress wasn’t made of the most expensive fabrics and precious gems, its uniqueness stole all the glances.
“They’ll guess it's the craftsman that lives at the manor,” I whispered at the Marquis. “But I know for a fact he has no morals and can be bought with an early offer.”
The Marquis smiled, satisfied with my answer. “Have fun, and don’t let these snakes spoil your party.”
Crisis averted.
For the next few hours, dozens of unapologetic nobles approached and showered us with questions about Elincia’s dress. There were so many of them that we could hardly do anything other than answer their questions. Elincia was having a good time, at least, being the center of attention and absorbing the noble ladies' envy. If she was happy, I was happy.
Ginz seemed to be up to date with the Kingdom’s fashion scene because a couple of the most cosmopolitan nobles asked us if the dress was inspired by the Hunter Princess of Verhden’s wedding dress.
It was late at night when we managed to escape to the gardens. We sat on a stone bench and enjoyed the sweet music. The commoners must’ve seen us on the balcony, so they kept a cautious distance, fearing attracting our ‘noble’ anger. The party had already passed its peak, and all the nobles soon retreated into the Great Hall.
“I think we should go home,” Elincia said.
“I’m not going anywhere without first dancing with the most beautiful girl at the party,” I replied.
“And who would she be?”
I looked around as if I was looking for someone.
“I’d say nobody comes even close to you. You are beautiful,” I replied.
Elincia blushed and dragged me into the dance floor. The band played slow romantic songs. Most paper lanterns had already been consumed, leaving the dancers in an almost complete darkness. The subtle light of the enchanted beads embroidered into Elincia’s dress highlighted the contours of her hips and the vaporous fabric of the outer layer.
Imitating the other couples, I put my hands on Elincia’s waist, and we slid around the dance floor with slow, rhythmic movements. Elincia’s bare skin burned under my hands. The exposed midriff was genius. Ginz hadn’t cut a dress. He had created a deadly weapon.
Elincia's smile almost melted my last two brain cells.
“Are you a Paladin? Because your ‘lay on hands’ game is strong tonight,” she playfully said.
“You can’t tell a joke so lame and expect me not to kiss you,” I replied.
“I’m down for that, but I think we should wait until we return to the manor,” Elincia whispered.
“Feeling shy tonight?” I asked.
“No, but the guards are already expelling people from the gardens.”
I looked around to see a group of guardsmen herding the partygoers away.
“The last one to arrive at the orphanage has to wash the dishes tomorrow,” Elincia said before running through the dancers with elven grace. I hadn’t noticed the lace around our wrists loosening.
We ran out of the Great Hall gardens until I caught her –or she let me catch her– by the end of the market square. Then, we strolled silently, watching the clear night sky until we reached the orphanage. All lights were already out except for Ginz’s room. We entered, stepping on the tip of our toes until we got to our bedroom.
“I’ll go tell Ginz we are already here,” I said.
Elincia nodded and struck a pose before closing the door behind her. I covered my mouth so as not to laugh out loud. Luckily, no kid appeared in the corridor to check the commotion.
As entertaining as the night had been, I was starting to feel sleepy. My visit to Ginz’s bedroom was short-lived. It seemed the Marquis hadn’t wasted time and had already sent a messenger with an order, so any news about the success of the dress was already too old. I said goodnight to the craftsman and left before he could press me to enchant beads.
I smiled. It was a shame the night had ended so quickly.
When I returned to Elincia’s bedroom, I found the door locked, so I softly knocked. I expected to see Elincia wearing her usual white nightgown, but I was wrong. Instead, she was still wearing the dress.
“I thought it would be a shame if we don’t share one last dance before night ends,” Elincia said with a shy smile. It was reassuring to know she felt the same as me. I sneaked into the room and closed the door behind me.
Comments
Toua77
This is absolutely adorable.
