Chapter 70 A Certain Glow

  “Young Master Lucius has informed me that he will be available tomorrow between the hours of two and four past noon.” Shamesh relayed to Isaac. “Though he did also request that we abstain from using this method of communication with him while he is in school. It is a minor offense to the school's code of conduct. Nothing important enough to get a near-graduate in any real trouble but it could become a problem if it were to happen on multiple occasions."

  “I see.” Isaac replied. “Thank him for me and we will meet him then at the location of his choosing.”

  “The front gate of the Noble College entrance will be fine. Though he would prefer if you were dressed in formal attire as it is a school for nobles.” Shamesh continued relaying what Lucius had to say. “I informed him that it may be a bit of a tall order but assured him that you would try. He is aware that our luggage was destroyed in a battle.”

  “Thanks.” Isaac told his retainer with a nod. “Well, I guess we know what we are doing until it is time for dinner and then your fight.” Isaac told his wife.”

  “If that is all…?” Shamesh let the question hang in the air. Apparently he was not done resting inside of Isaac’s shadow. Isaac was pretty sure that Shamesh didn’t actually receive any measurable benefits from staying inside of his shadow for extended periods but if Shamesh was as much like Isaac as he expected, then Shamesh’s favored coping mechanism was probably unconsciousness. He wasn’t sure if Shamesh could even ever be unconscious but he assumed that residing inside of Isaac’s shadow was probably as close as the bone mage could get. Isaac also did have only a certain amount of time that he could interact with others in any given day, Lenna notwithstanding, and Shamesh probably had an even shorter amount of available social interactions. On top of that, he had to be completely mentally exhausted after everything that had happened, especially considering that the time passed from his perspective was far less than it was from Isaac and Lenna’s.

  “Yes, go ahead.” Isaac replied and opened his shadow for Shamesh to descend into once more. Once he was gone, Isaac turned to Lenna. “I’m only slightly concerned.” He told her.

  “Agreed.” Lenna said with a nod. “If this continues for much longer than you need to talk to him. It isn’t healthy if he stays in this state for too long, from his perspective.”

  Isaac nodded. “Yes, but I’m not sure that I am the best one to help him with that. This is one of those situations where we are too similar.” He shook his head. “But we can cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, let’s find an upscale tailor who can do rush orders. We just need something presentable that can be fitted by noon tomorrow.”

  “So seven or eight working hours.” Lenna said with a flat look. “I can’t imagine that anyone that competent and available exists.”

  “I don’t think our chances are necessarily great, but I do think that we have enough of a chance simply because of where we are. There has to be someone who specializes in nobles who’ve had unrecoverable wardrobe malfunctions.” Isaac offered his counter point.

  “Fair enough, let’s just hope you can find them.” Lenna told him and waved him on. The duo had returned to their inn room in order to summon and converse through Shamesh. Now that he was gone, they didn’t have any further reason to stay and they had things to do.

  The duo went from tailor to tailor asking for the impossible, they needed a purely silver dress by noon the following day. There were silver and gold dresses, there were silver and red dresses, there were silver and blue dresses, there was even a silver and black dress, but there were no purely silver dresses. A black dress wouldn’t do because then it would look like they had arrived to give Lucius some extreme level of bad news. Finally, they arrived at a tailor known for only hiring the most dedicated and eccentric dressmakers in the country. There were even a few people who were from other countries that had crossed the plains or the ocean in order to sign on with Extravagance is Priceless, their slogan continued; ‘but making it is platinum.’ Many of their dresses were strange, few ever sold, and the business always seemed like it was on the verge of going bankrupt before they had another huge hit and were suddenly brought back from the brink, this happened every few years apparently.

  The duo walked into a dress showroom that had not a single soul inside. It was empty but the lights were on and the sign said that they were open. Isaac cleared his throat. “Anyone here?” He asked the empty room full of dresses on mannequins. Each dress seemed to show more wooden skin than the last until he saw one that looked like someone had just taken a scissor to it while blindfolded. “I’m beginning to doubt that chatty woman who led us here.” Isaac confessed to his wife.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “No! Wait! Don’t do that!” A young woman’s voice came from the back right before there was a crash.

  “Decrah! If you broke another manneq-” A high pitched man’s voice called out from somewhere else in the back but was cut off by the young woman.

  “I didn’t! We have a customer!” She yelled back.

  “Oh!” The high pitched man’s voice replied. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place!” There was some shuffling in the back corner of the store and then a short man with long pointy ears dressed in a full suit appeared. He was barely a head taller than half of Isaac’s height and his ears stuck out nearly his head’s width in each direction. His skin was the soft grey of the mountain, his eyes were the soft blue of the clear summer sky, and his hair was stormy grey like the clouds. His eyes looked like they were a bit large for his very round face. He was definitely a gnome. “Greetings customers!” He spread his arms wide.

  “Hello.” Isaac replied.

  “What can we do for you? Were you, by chance, interested in any of our pieces by the windows?” The gnomish man asked.

  “No.” Isaac shot him down with the same casual grace of one sticking their foot out in the path of another in order to make them taste the ground.

  “Oh.” The gnome’s face fell. “Then is there something else that we can help you with?”

  “Lenna needs a modest silver dress by noon tomorrow.” Isaac informed him.

  “It takes weeks to months to make custom work.” The gnome waved them off.

  “It doesn’t have to be custom as long as it meets those two requirements.” Isaac corrected him.

  “Three.” The gnome countered.

  “What?” Isaac asked.

  “Three constraints.” He almost seemed to spit the word.

  “Requirements.” Isaac said once more. “She just needs to stay modest, the dress needs to be silver, and yes, as your third requirement, it needs to be done by noon tomorrow. Everyone else has said that it was impossible until one woman led us here.” Isaac played into the ego that the man must’ve had to be someone important at a place like the establishment that they were in. “Well, are you as skilled as they say?”

  “Who said?” The gnome questioned him.

  “The lady who led us here.” Isaac replied flatly.

  “That is only one person.” The gnome clearly saw through Isaac’s attempt at manipulating them.

  Isaac gave him a flat look. “Are you willing to do it, or not?” He questioned the man.

  The gnome hrumphed. “Fine. But it’ll cost you.” He told Isaac. “And any dress is fine as long as it is silver, modest, and is done by noon?”

  Isaac narrowed his eyes on the man. “I’m not picky, but I must still accept it as presentable.”

  “Adding even more constraints!” The gnome threw up his arms.

  “No, just a clarification to the first one.” Isaac corrected him.

  “Let’s see what we can do.” The gnome stated and motioned for them to follow him. “Decrah! Bring The Platinum Angel and The Moonsilver Sovereign to room three!”

  “Together?!” Decrah exclaimed.

  “Yes!” The gnomish man called back in the affirmative.

  “I don’t know why but I feel that that was supposed to be a big deal.” Isaac said more to Lenna than to the man leading them to the back of the building.

  “It is.” The dressmaker confirmed. “The Platinum Angle was made in the hopes there would one day be someone strange enough to wed Lord Judgment. For a time, we had thought that a specific priestess was going to make her move, that was the rumor going around anyway, but then Lord Judgment declared that he would never take a spouse as that could compromise his ability to do his duty. She then transferred quite a distance from him and the dress was abandoned on its mannequin.” The squeaky voiced man gave them exposition that they didn’t really need. The information about Judgment shooting down a priestess was interesting though. “The Moonsilver Sovereign was made in the hopes that a priestess of Lua would one day grace our establishment. It covers only the barest of essentials to truly express the unfathomable beauty of Lua and her chosen few.”

  Isaac nodded along. “It sounds like you make a lot of dresses based on hopes and rumors.” Isaac commented.

  “Well, a daughter of Lua and the demigod she wed just walked into our establishment, didn’t they?” The gnome shot back.

  “Fair enough.” Isaac conceded. “But how did you know?”

  “Everyone who works here does still exist outside of our business, and everyone loves to gossip. I knew it was you based entirely off of your descriptions, but it was only upon seeing the dear Lady’s face that I was absolutely certain that she is blessed by Lua.” The dressmaker explained.

  “You can tell by my face?” Lenna wondered.

  “Yes.” The dressmaker replied with a nod. “You have a certain glow to you that only one blessed by the goddess of beauty could possibly have.” Lenna honestly had no idea how to reply to that compliment so she just stayed silent which only managed to get a grin out of the dressmaker.

  The dressmaker led them into a large room, big enough for a few people to work around a central mannequin or model at once. A few moments later, a dark skinned woman with skin so perfect and smooth it almost seemed to glow in the indoor lamplight, walked into the room pushing one mannequin and dragging another. Luckily they were on wheels but the wooden wheels were loudly protesting the entire time. “I, got ‘em.” The woman wheezed. Her thin frame did not look like it was built to be hauling around mannequins with wheels that hardly functioned, let alone two of them at once. “Ooh la la.” She added with a suggestive inflection as soon as she laid eyes on Lenna.

  “Keep it professional.” Isaac told her in a voice so cold it gave Decrah visible chills.

  “Y-yes, m’lord.” She replied and gave Isaac a deep bow.

  “Good.” Isaac said and nodded towards the gnomish man. “Now, where can I sit so I’ll be out of the way?”

  Amaranth Serentia V'Nova Wexler