Chapter of Blooming Fate: Another dress-up

"Mmh... Hold still."

"Nn, I'm trying."

"Try harder."

"... I'll try."

Karen and I had been swiftly abducted into Wanda's wagon by Mrs Korwen after our breakfast, or rather, our lunch. Wanda, of course, was rather ecstatic about the chance of making clothes for us. I figured she would get excited about me, but she was also quite fervent about making Karen's clothes.

"Mm... This one, I guess. Okay, next one... Could you spread your arms out to the sides?"

"Nn, like this?"

"Yes, perfect. Now, hold still."

The first thing she needed was obviously our measurements. Which she took with... wooden sticks. A whole assortment of wooden sticks was spread out on the table, all of them having different lengths.

According to Wanda, it was a waste of paper to write the measurements. Wooden sticks could be reused many times and worked well enough for her purposes.

"Uhh..."

"Ah, I told you, hold still, kid."

"It's hard keeping up my arms that long..."

"I nearly got it."

Why was it so hard to keep up your arms that long...

"Mh... I think... These ones..."

"You think? That doesn't sound very confident."

"Because I can't really feel your bones all that well, kid. They should be more or less right, though. I'll give it some extra and then we can fix it later."

"... I see."

Wanda walked to the table, tied a small coloured band on the sticks and put them to the side.

"Mh, I think I got all now. Ah, you can put down your arms now."

"Ahh... Finally."

"You should train those weak arms a little more."

"... I'll give it my best."

It wasn't like I wanted it to be like this...

Anyway, it seemed that Wanda was now done with my measurements. She took a whole lot of them. I didn't even know so many were necessary.

"Mh, kid, you... aren't going to grow anymore, are you?"

"... I don't think so, why?"

"If you were still growing I'd have to make them a little larger or you would be unable to wear them in a few months time."

"Oh, right..."

Children grew up fast, so it was necessary to plan ahead in that regard... Well, not that it mattered for me. Probably. I wasn't going to grow anymore, was I?

"Now then, I got both of your measurements. Do you have any specific wishes?"

"Specific wishes?"

"Yeah. Like, a shirt and trousers, a sleeveless dress or a dress with sleeves. A shirt and a skirt, thick clothing for the winter. Socks, gloves, hats. Underwear."

"..."

I... honestly had no idea. Searching for help, I turned to Karen, who was sitting to the side, staring holes into the air.

"Sis?"

"... Mh? yes?"

"Did you hear what Wanda said?"

"Eh? Ah, no. Sorry... I was lost in thought a little."

Wondered what she had been thinking about.

Wanda frowned a little and repeated her question to Karen.

"Mh... I think for the necessities, two pairs of socks, a pair of gloves, a hat and two sets of underwear should be fine for each of us. The other clothing... I don't know. Should we already get thick clothing for winter now? Also, I completely forgot, but I think Rina needs those things too."

"Mh, winter clothing should be fine for the kid, but you're younger so you might still grow a little."

"Aren't I a little too old to still grow? I'm fairly sure I stopped ageing and growing already."

Karen looked down at herself, probably checking her own body.

"... Girl, when do you think you even stopped growing?"

"Uhm... Around last year?"

"If you had stopped last year you'd be shorter than your own sister right now."

"... Eh?"

Karen threw a quick glance to me, most likely to check my height.

"The other sister."

"Rina?"

"Yes. Though, around two years you were probably around the kid's height."

Two years ago? Wasn't she sixteen at the time? That was... What should I say... Quite short for a sixteen-year-old. Well, seventeen and a little extra if we go by my old world's standard.

"You've been growing quite a bit over the past two years. Like really quite a lot. In my eyes, you're far from done with growing."

"But... Rina is already..."

"Rina is Rina and you are you."

"..."

Karen stared at Wanda, her mouth slightly open. Must've been quite a shock, apparently.

"Anyway, don't think too much about it. I've seen people still growing after they turned twenty. Admittedly, not a lot, but enough to force me to fix their clothing. And from what I heard, demonkin grow a little slower anyway, right? Then it's not that strange."

"I... But..."

"No buts. We'll see if you stopped growing in a year or not. Until then, I'm not convinced. Clear?"

"... Yes."

Wanda let out a sigh, a wry smile on her face.

"Back to the winter clothing. I can just make them slightly larger. There's no guarantee you can get thick clothing when you actually need it, so it's better to get it done now. Especially when you are travelling. Who knows what Korwen planned as a destination after Lafria."

"... Understood."

Karen's shoulders slumped down a little.

"Then, what other clothing do you want? You can at least choose what you want there."

"Uhm... What kind of options were there?"

"I can do most kinds of clothing, shirts, trousers, skirts, dresses. Just pick whatever you want. Mind you that fancy dresses are possible but they're expensive and take a lot of time."

"Fancy, huh... Ah!"

A bright smile appeared on Karen's face.

"Would it be possible to make a pair of, uh, more formal wear. With trousers."

"... What?"

Wanda put a finger in her ear, checking if there was any dirt in it.

"Could you repeat that? You want formal wear with trousers? As in, male formal wear?"

"... Yes. For me and Yumi."

Karen, slightly blushing, nodded to Wanda's question. While Wanda, her eyes wide and eyebrows raised in suspicion, turned her attention to me.

"Kid, did you girls start to get into crossdressing? Just as a little bit of advice, it's better to stop early."

"Ahh, no. We didn't start with crossdressing. It's just..."

I stopped. How should one explain this? That I just wanted to see a handsome Karen?

Thankfully, guessing that it was a little embarrassing to explain, Wanda turned back to Karen, shaking her head.

"If that's what you want, I'm not going to stop you. Just keep in mind that wearing male formal attire in an actual formal occasion would be very unbecoming and disrespectful. So, if you want that, I'm not going to back down on you two getting a proper formal dress too, are we clear on that?"

"That's okay with me, what about you, Yumi?"

"Nn, I'm fine with that too."

To be honest, I agreed on that opinion anyway. This was mostly for our own enjoyment, after all.

"Okay, do you have any specific wishes for either formal attire? Colour, decorations and so on."

"I haven't really thought about that..."

"Nn, neither did I."

"Then, is it fine with you two if I just go with what I think is good?"

Well, it was probably better to let an expert handle that.

"Nn."

"Yes, that's okay."

"Good. I'll just guess but you didn't really think about the other clothing either, did you?"

"... Not really."

"Figured. How about two sets of a shirt and trousers for work and everyday use. Then, a dress and a shirt and skirt for a little more fun occasions. Sound good?"

So, two sets for work and two sets for going out and breaks? Was that really enough?

"I guess that's fine with me."

"Nn... Is that enough? What about when we do laundry?"

"If you do laundry you wash one set and wear the other. That's why you get two sets."

"... I see."

So we'd be washing clothes a lot...

"Also, this isn't all you'll need anyway. For practice clothes, armour and all those things, you're better speaking with the leatherworkers, tanners or whoever is responsible for that. I can make everyday clothing but I don't know much about that kind of clothing. Never worked much with leather."

Right, we needed those too. And I'd probably need to get proper armour for myself either. I kind of liked the hand-me-down from Lily but... It was probably better to return that one. In my opinion, at least.

"Then, let me get you an estimate..."

Wanda walked to the back of the wagon and brought over a small tool, reminiscent of an abacus.

"Mh... For now, I'll estimate it at around fifteen gold, total."

"... Excuse me? Could you say that again, Wanda?"

Now it was Karen's turn to ask for confirmation. I was honestly shocked too at that price. Wasn't that around the price of two cannons from the fort?

"Uhm, Wanda, I think that might be a little impossible for us..."

"Well, of course, it is. I'm not doing this to bully you two girls, but formal wear is expensive. You need good, expensive cloth, you need a lot of time and it takes a lot of skill to make."

"... How much would it be without those formal clothes?"

"Less than one gold coin, total."

Apparently, our dress-up fun would have to get delayed a little...

"The price changes of course if you can get me some good cloth, you know?"

"But where would we even get such good cloth for cheap?"

"... Weren't you going to meet a craftsman here exactly for that?"

Wanda smiled mischievously.

"Ah, Yumi's hair!"

"Right. If you actually manage to turn that into thread, it might be good enough for formal wear. Magical threads are very expensive, after all. Although, I can't guarantee it without seeing it myself."

"I see... If that... would work out... Then..."

"Then your total cost would be at around five gold coins."

"..."

That was still hella expensive!

"Even if I have the cloth, it still takes a lot of work and other materials. That's only appropriate."

"I see..."

"In exchange, girl, I'll do all I can to make the kid look as cute as possible. How about it? I'll even let you pay in rates."

"Ngh..."

Karen was looking really conflicted. Probably her desire clashing with her rather stingy nature...

"Nn, we'll do it."

"Yumi?!"

"Isn't it fine? Wanda said it earlier, didn't she? We don't know when we will actually need it, and by the time we do, it might be too late already. We just need to work hard and pay it off, don't we?"

"... I guess so."

Still, Wanda clearly knew how to make money... Forcing us to buy two types of formal attire... And I bet she really only deducted the cost of the cloth. If our meeting with the magic craftsman was going to work out, then not only did she save with the material costs for the cloth but also saved the time to find good cloth too.

"Then, that's decided. Do you have any other wishes or things you need?"

"I don't think so... If we do, we'll come to you."

Wanda nodded, seemingly satisfied with the result.

"Then, let's wait for Mrs Captain to come back and see what kind of clothes she brings."

In other words, we were done for now.

Since there was some time now, it was a perfect time to ask something I had been wondering for a while about already.

"Nn, I've been wondering, Wanda, but how did you and Sis even meet?"

"Our meeting?"

"Ugh, Yumi, don't!"

'Ugh'? That wasn't... Quite the reaction I expected from Karen.

"Hehe, our meeting, huh. You're interested?"

"Nn."

"Wanda, please don't."

"Now, now, girl. She won't look down on you because of that, will she?"

"That's..."

Not a meeting that Karen was all too proud of, huh.

"Well, long story short, your precious sister there tried to steal my purse."

"Uhhh..."

Well, no wonder Karen didn't want me to know. Although, that made me only all the more curious. Just how did that turn around to their rather friendly relationship now?

"Gave the girl a good scolding."

"Scolding... More like, you beat me up."

"Of course I'd beat up a runt trying to steal my purse. What do you expect?"

"A little mercy on an eleven-year-old..."

"Eleven? You've known each other that long?"

That meant they knew each over to close to seven years already.

"Yes. Although I was sure at the time that she was at most seven. She was quite a little midget. Well, she still is a midget."

She beat up a girl she thought was only seven? That was... Well, it was probably necessary, or they'd just try it again. Still, that certainly was a little...

Also, Wanda was quite tall for a woman so I bet most of us were midgets in her eyes... She was nearly a head taller than Karen, after all. And nearly two heads taller than me

"After that... Well, I did feel a little sorry for her so I gave her some bread. Thinking back on it, she must've been really starved, she literally jumped at it, despite having just  gotten a good beating."

Wanda let out a small chuckle.

"I left her the remaining bread I had on hand and went my way, thinking I probably wouldn't see her again. Next day, she lurked near my house... Seriously, children get attached so quickly if you show them a little kindness. They're like pets."

"... I hope you didn't think of me as a pet."

"Maybe? You certainly were a cute little runt. When you weren't caked in mud, that is. She did that since back then already... Anyway, she frequently showed up near my place and I sometimes gave her some food. She didn't try to snatch my purse again afterwards, either."

"I just didn't want to lose my precious food source... And I didn't want to get another beating."

Karen averted her gaze with an expression full of defiance, yet her cheeks red as well.

"With time, we simply got to know each other a little more. I guess that's about it."

"I see..."

So, that's how they met, huh.

"Now then, since I told you something, how about you tell me a little about yourself, kid?"

"Eh?"

"It's only fair, right?"

Wanda leaned forward, mischievously smiling.

"Where do you come from, how have you lived, those things. I won't let you back out of that now."

"Ahaha... Have mercy..."

She showed mercy. I told her vaguely about the things I could remember, but she didn't poke deeper, maybe out of consideration, knowing that I couldn't quite remember everything.

By the time I had finished, Mrs Korwen had returned, carrying a large basket.

"These are... all clothes?"

"Yes. It took me a little to find some, and once I did, a few others said they had some old clothes of their children too. So it took some time."

Quite a large amount of clothes was gathered on the basket, mostly shirts and trousers and a few dresses. And most of them in a grey-white or a beige colour. Only very few of them were in a different colour.

"Ohh, some of these use quite expensive types of cloth. Isn't this one from Aldreigh? I heard they use magic to weave it. And this one is from the southern regions, isn't it?"

"Hohoho, we did travel quite a lot, Ms Wanda. If you were to buy it here, some of these would cost three times or four times as much. Some even more."

"I see... You have less of a reliance on merchants. Are you sure though that I can use these?"

"It's fine. It's not going to get better in the corner of the storage. And the ones who want to keep them as memories didn't put them in here anyway."

Mrs Korwen took out one piece of clothing after another, sorting them into piles of dresses, shirts, trousers and so on.

"Many of these are still good and can be worn as they are. At most a little fixing here and there."

"If you have someone who can wear them, then that's fine too. Just use whatever you can."

"Mm, most of these are in a size for children. Are there no kids around that could still wear these?"

"We used to have more children around so... These are kind of left over."

She gave a troubled smile, stoically continuing to sort the clothes.

"I see. Then I'll gratefully make use of them. If there is any need for clothes, please don't hesitate."

"Hoho, I will do that. But for now..."

Mrs Korwen turned around facing me.

"Could you come here, dear?"

"Haa..."

I walked over to her just as she asked. There was this subtle feeling telling me where this was going...

"Mh, let's see. You're... about as tall as Maya and the girls, aren't you?"

"Nn, that's about right."

There were a few differences, of course, but mostly we were about the same height.

"I see. Then most of these clothes wouldn't fit you, how unfortunate."

"Haa..."

Suddenly, she took one of the dresses, a light blue dress with long sleeves, and held it in front of me. Most likely so she could figure out if it would fit me.

"Mh... As expected. This is about the largest one but it'd be a tight fit, I think. What do you say, Wanda?"

"It seems to be barely fine around the shoulders but..."

Wanda scrutinised the dress with a serious expression.

"That won't work probably.."

"It won't, huh..."

They both smiled wryly. Curious, I followed their gaze but I couldn't see what the issue was.

"Uhm, what is the problem?"

"It doesn't suit you, kid."

"... Ha?"

"It doesn't, right... How unfortunate."

"..."

In other words, it was actually fine but it just didn't suit me? Really?

I turned to Karen, hoping she would have something to say but... She was just nodding to herself, apparently agreeing.

"Darker colours suit you better, in my opinion. The light blue colour clashes with your pink hair," Wanda explained.

"I... see..."

Was that the case? I didn't know much about fashion and things like that so... But all three of them seemed to agree on it...

"Anyway, seems nothing out of these will fit you... I'll make you something from scratch that will fit you. Size-wise and appearance-wise. Look forward to it."

"Nn, I will."

Though I was still a little unsure, all I could do was to entrust it to her. Better let the professional sort out these things.

"Ah, what should we do about paying, Wanda?" Karen asked.

"I'll get the money for the clothes except for the formal ones from Korwen later. As for the formal clothes, we'll talk about that later."

"Okay."

Byebye our salary for the near future... Could really only hope that it'd work out tomorrow with that magic craftsman. Otherwise... How long would it take for Karen and me to pay that off?

Too long... Even if we could get our hands on some cloth, it'd still take nearly three months. Was that really okay? Well, Korwen would put a stop to it probably if it wasn't.

"Then, if there's nothing else..."

"I got all I need. I'll call for you if there's anything."

"Okay, thank you, Wanda. Yumi, let's go."

"Nn, bye, Wanda, Mrs Korwen."

We bid the two women goodbye and left the wagon.

"Now we got clothes out of the way too."

"Nn. Albeit it turned out to be expensive."

"... It did, didn't it? Maybe we can aks Lily to lend us some money... Haa... And we should send Rina over to Wanda as well. She needs some clothes too."

"Nn."

Speaking of which, where did the clothes come from that Rina was wearing currently?

"Mh, should we go to the city now?"

"Nn, do we still have enough time?"

It'd be a bit of an issue if the gate closed while we were inside...

"We should have enough time. It's still a few hours until the close the gates."

"Nn, in that case, let's go. Ah, but should we maybe tell the Captain that we're going?"

"Mh... I'm actually not sure... I guess maybe we should, just to make sure?"

It might be a break day but just in case something was happening, it might be better for Korwen to know.

Thankfully, it didn't take all too long to find Korwen. He was still sitting at the table from earlier, talking with a few other mercenaries.

"Captain."

"Mh? You two, do you need anything?"

"No, we just wanted to say that we were going to the city now. We weren't quite sure if we should tell you that or not..."

"Into the city? Mm, it's better I know about it than not, so I'll appreciate that. Did you hear that, you guys? You should tell me such things too. Then I can immediately send others out to collect you idiots."

"Gahaha, sorry, Captain, no can do!"

"Yeah, yeah, who'd want those guys to come for you! Give us some privacy!"

The other mercenaries broke out in laughter at Korwen's comment. Korwen sighed, shaking his head.

"These idiots never learn. Seriously... Ah, Yumi, Karen, if you are going into the city, could you do me a favour?"

"Nn?"

"A favour?"

Korwen turned around to his bag and pulled out a small envelope.

"Could you go to the Academy and bring this to Fenna?"

"A letter?"

"Yeah. Could you do that?"

"Nn, I think we can. Sis?"

"Personally, I don't really want to go there again... But I guess we could."

Karen frowned a little. Right, she had been there with Lily before... Apparently didn't leave the best of impressions, huh...

"Thank you. Just give it to Fenna and that's it. She'll know what to do with it."

"Nn, will do."

I took the letter from Korwen and handed it to Karen, who promptly put it into her pouch.

"Have fun in the city, and don't forget to come back before the gate closes. You're going to get hell if you aren't here tomorrow morning."

"We'll keep that in mind..."

With those words, we left Korwen and the other mercenaries, who also wished us a good time. We could hear their laughter for quite a while...

"So, Sis... What are we even going to do in the city now, outside of bringing that letter to Fenna?"

"There are still some daily necessities I want to get. We're currently borrowing some things from Lily and the mercenaries. For example, the hair brush. Otherwise, since it's our day off, we can also just enjoy strolling through the town. You said there was something like a park, right?"

"Ahh, right."

The park where I had found Maya, Emily and Sele when Maya had run away... There was also that graveyard and the monument for the Triside War in there.

"So, let's just take it slow there, okay?"

"Nn, that's fine with me."

Karen held out her hand, which I promptly took. Hand in hand, we made our way to the city.

The camp slowly growing smaller in the distance and the gate accordingly bigger. Many people passed us, some in carriages, some on foot. Most of them were walking away from the city.

"I guess, many are scared of war, huh..."

"Nn... It's not like I can't understand that, though."

War was scary after all. And form what I heard about the Triside War, they couldn't be entirely sure they were safe behind the Hollow either... Who knew if the Akkian Empire could cross it. Or they just might try to walk around... Either way, it wasn't a great prospect.

"It's understandable, yes. I really hope, though, that it won't turn out that bad..."

"Nn..."

I hoped for that too but... It might also be just an overly optimistic hope... After all, they already showed that they were willing to go to quite a few lengths, just to get the fort. In a sense, it had been pure luck that it hadn't worked out for them. Pure luck...

We continued to walk along the path until we reached the gate. Even here, there were many people attempting to leave, rather than trying to enter.

While we waited for our turn at the gate, we watched the people trying to leave. Many of them were merchants, but some seemed to be relatively normal people, families and the like.

"But, it's really many people who leave..."

"Nn, I wonder where they are even going to flee to?"

"Good question..."

Were they just going to live in the outskirts of Lafria? Were they going to a completely different country? Or were they just going without any particular destination in mind?

Neither of us did know...

But before we could keep wondering, it was now our turn to enter the city. We talked with the guard for a short moment, confirming that we weren't suspicious, and he let us through.

"It's still red."

"It is red..."

And so, it was time to enjoy our day off in this overly red-coloured city. Getting things we need and a little bit time for ourselves.

Thinking about it like this, isn't this a little like... a date?

A date.

I liked the sound of that. Yes, it was now time for my date with Karen.

Rinne

Hope you all stay safe and healthy!