CH34: Enchantress In ThornyRose

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The Charwell mall was a major supermarket chain in at least Bayveth Republic to the best of my knowledge. Multiple branches were easy to find in any city in the country. Some more developed towns also had a branch.

In short, almost everyone in a city knew where it was, whether they shopped there or not.

Why?

Charwell catered to everyone, Peasants (below Knight-rank), Knights and Nobility (above Knight-rank).

It was one of the few places guaranteed to have the three power groups rubbing shoulders with one another.

Hence, it wouldn't stand out if a Lord-rank was there.

It was a good place to meet since no one would be interested in who you were or your quirks. Everyone had it at the back of their minds that a person in the Charwell mall could very well be a Champion-rank or related to one.

So everyone was on their best behaviour within the mall and didn't pry into the actions of another.

Coincidentally, I had never been to Charwell mall since I arrived at Landrose.

There was no reason for it per se. I just didn't like overly popular places. I tend to feel they're overhyped and hence would be overpriced.

I'm a cheapskate I know, but that's how I am.

I was happy the meeting was in three days. It gave me the time to recon the place ahead and plan for unforeseen events.

It also gave me the chance to find a competent tailor that can bring the design I have in mind to life.

I've developed an appreciation for fashion a bit. So, I intend to introduce a few more comfortable styles to my wardrobe. Hence, I need to find a competent tailor to work with. The tailor I used previously was too rigid and couldn't bring the style to life the way I wanted so I needed to look for someone else.

Charwell mall is known for its collective of Lifestyle professionals. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a proper tailor, right?

Although DarkBlade didn't mention the exact branch he wanted to meet, a bit of thinking made it obvious my recruiter was referring to the main Charwell Branch in Landrose.

This Branch was the supermarket chain's first branch in the Republic of Bayveth and so it was THE Charwell mall.

I rented out a carriage for the day from the Guild's stables.

The carriage took me to Landrose city's bubbling business district which was close to the city centre. It stopped in front of a circular five-floor mall complex.

The building was large. I guessed it should occupy about two to three football fields.

The amount of people entering and leaving was staggering.

There were more than ten entrances. I walked around an chose the least crowded entrance.

There were shops on both sides as I walked in with each shop selling a different product. There didn't seem to be any order to the shops.

Initially, I had thought a large mall like this would at least try to arrange the shops according to their products. This way, the consumers know which wing of the mall to go for a particular product-type.

Then, I remembered that I was in Arun. Convenience wasn't exactly something consciously paid attention to. Plus, if they did that, it would likely kill the chances of an upcoming shop as most people would just flock to the most famous shop in the wing.

Bandwagon mentality in most humans is quite scary.

Anyway, that begged the question... how was I going to find a competent tailor?

The answer?

Luck!

I had no other choice but to walk around and hope I find the right tailor.

Well, I was going to recon the entire mall anyways so I can cover both objectives together.

Fortunately, you can purchase a complete shop layout of the mall. The layout contained the names of the stores on each wing and what they sold. There was also a rating for the store to allow you make more informed decisions.

Lifestyle professionals, like hunters, were rated based on the beast-class they could work on.

The level of skill required to work with stronger beast class increased near exponentially. So, a higher ranked professional was very sought after since they'd definitely have better skill.

On the surface, this made things easy, however, it is not the full picture.

Take for example the Tailor profession.

Sure a Journeyman Tailor can work with Terror-class beast parts while an Apprentice can't. However, it didn't necessarily mean that a Journeyman was always better.

There was a Senior Tailor at the Guild who could work on Calamity-class Beast (Lord equivalent) parts. However, the man wouldn't, or couldn't, bring my design wishes to life.

In my eyes, aside being able to work with higher grade materials, he was an incompetent tailor.

The Tailors in my past life would be 'Novices' at most in this world since they wouldn't have mana to work with high mana materials effectively, but yet they produced the designs I wanted easily and en masse.

Truly grading one's capability was hard. Rigid systems tend to have cracks where truly gifted people might slip through and go unnoticed. There are many geniuses in the world who fail to earn the recognition they deserve.

With this in mind, I didn't put the rating to heart. After all, the materials I have to work with are Threat-class at best and only required and Apprentice to work with.

Every shop owner had to be an Apprentice at least to dream of opening a store in the Charwell mall, so I was sure every single tailor in the mall could work with what I had.

I didn't have the time to go into every single Tailor's shop to speak with them. I assessed them based on the finished products they had on display.

It was normal for craftspeople to put their best or beloved products on display. I felt it was a good criteria to judge the tailors with.

Sure, I might miss a good tailor if they didn't put their best work on display, but then it wouldn't be my fault that happened but the tailor's.

In a place rife with competition, why would you put your worse work on display?

I scoured the first three floors on Section F9. By the way, I noticed the shops became bigger as the floor increased.

I was walking through the fourth floor when I noticed an interesting shop.

Most tailors that I passed were gender-specialised. Mostly, male tailors catered to males while female tailors catered to female. I did find the odd few exception where a few male tailors catered to females.

This particular shop had on display different styles for both men and women. The men's style didn't draw my attention. They were basically still the suit styles common in the city. It was the female styles which drew my attention instead.

The women of Arun usually wore these exaggerated dresses which they believed emphasises their figure. They subjected themselves to the torture of wearing uncomfortable clothing like corsets, crinolines, bustle and so on to give the characteristic bottom cone shape of the 19th century.

The only exception, when they wore semi-feminised suits were during activities that demanded ease of movement such as during hunts.

To be honest, as a modern man, the style wasn't appealing.

I found the style novel when I arrived in Arun but I quickly lost my appreciation for them. They seemed too fake. It seemed, at least to me, that the styles encourage a particular body type as the Ideal and made women torture themselves to achieve this body type at all cost.

As a modern man who has add the privilege of enjoying the view of women showcasing their diverse body types with confidence and beauty, this ideology was unpalatable to me.

This was why I was attracted to the store.

The female outfits on display in this store were free of all that. They were simple, but still conservative, dresses free of the frivolities found in the mainstream fashion.

One particular outfit was a simple purple blouse shirt on a black long skirt.

Sure, the design would look old... vintage, but it was something I could see a lady from my previous life wearing easily.

It was a disconnect from mainstream fashion.

The fact that the tailor dared put this on display showed their boldness and forward-thinking.

These were exactly the traits I was looking for in my tailor.

So, I walked into the store.

The bell rang as I pushed open the door to enter.

"Welcome, sir."

A woman walked out from the backroom and said to me.

I had to pause for a beat.

This woman was stunning!

She was a brown-skinned beauty and stood at around 175cm. Her face was devilishly beautiful. She had black, long luscious hair and black soul-charming eyes. She had a long nose and enticing rosy red lips with a thin beauty mark less than 3cm to the left.

As if her face wasn't dangerous enough, there was still her voluptuous body. A wonderful natural hourglass figure.

The twin peaks on her chest were meaty and perky. She only barely lost out to Ella's fullness which put her at a peak D-cup (pun intended). Even then, her backside didn't lose to the front at all. The bums also had a fullness that was just a sight to behold. Then, there were the narrow waist, the wide hips and the long legs.

The enchantress-incarnate crossed almost every healthy man's taste in a woman's body. A true masterpiece of nature. A goddess descended... a country destroying beauty. I don't have enough words to accurately describe her beauty. (1)

(PS: Although what I wrote is true, I had a proverbial knife to my neck when I wrote this, forcing me to elaborate the details than I normally would. Do with this information what you will.) (2)

However, what attracted me most to this lady in her mid-twenties wasn't her beauty, it was her temperament.

She carried herself with a unique grace.

She gave me a sense of independence and maturity.

'Hmmm... this woman is a true enchantress. Her beauty appealed to my teenage hormones while her temperament appealed to my old soul.'

The lady noticed my pause.

"Customer?" She called out with a tilt of head.

"Forgive me. I was caught of guard. You're perhaps the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Ah customer. You're good with words, but thank you."

She had the side of her face in her hand, but she wasn't blushing or anything like that.

She was wearing something similar to the attire that attracted me. Only that this one was a white blouse on a dull-brown skirt. She also had on a brown jacket and hat decorated with roses. (3)

As beautiful as the smile was, I didn't put much thought in it.

Even though every fibre of my being was screaming with desire, I was a sixty-year old blockhead of two lives with little experience on the matters of the heart. A smiling beautiful woman wasn't enough to overcome my control over my actions.

I turned to the clothes on display as I said,

"I was walking across when I noticed the attire you have on display."

The lady followed my eyes and saw me looking at the shirt blouse and long skirt.

"Do you have a lady you want to buy the clothes for, customer?"

I turned back to her and shook my head.

"No, that's not it. I find your display... unique. I gained the impression that your establishment is innovative. I happen to have a design I wish to bring to life. I don't know if I could speak with your tailor to see if they can produce it."

"I'm the only tailor in this shop, customer."

"Really?" I was a little surprised.

She nodded.

It meant the lady sewed both female and male attires.

"In that case, you are quite impressive."

"And you are quite interesting." She replied.

She had an intrigued look in her eyes that I couldn't understand. Eventually, I chucked it up to part of her customer relation. Same as the smile which never left her lips.

I reached into my inner suit jacket pocket and took out a folded paper containing the sketch of the suit design I wanted.

"Can you make this?" I asked.

"It's also interesting. I should be able to. Would you like me to make a sample first? It should only take about three weeks. It will include any amendments and adjustments we might require."

"No. That's too long. I have an event in a month I'll like to attend in the outfit. Just make it directly."

"In that case, will you be providing the fabric or would you like to browse the fabric in the store?"

"I have the fabric prepared in my carriage outside."

"Then, should I call someone to bring it back for you?"

"I'd appreciate that."

The lady called someone, who I guess was a labourer she used. I described where the carriage was parked. He left to bring over the fabrics.

The lady took my measurements as we hashed over the details on the suit. Tightness of the fittings, the buttons, the lapels, the functionality of the sleeve buttons and other such details.

The labourer soon returned with the roll of fabric.

The lady stroke the fabric with her fingers.

"The fabric is made from the hairs of Sheep found in the Calmlore nest. A comfortable choice."

I nodded in appreciation.

"The total cost will be 60UP."

This was slightly on the high side for a product to be made from a Beast-class fabric, but considering the risk she was taking on from working with an untested design, I guess I could understand why it cost that much. Especially if her skills are as high as I suspect.

I paid the price without a fuss.

"I have high hopes for your work. I have more designs like this. Depending on the result of this, you'll have a lot of patronage from me in the future."

"Then, I hope we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

Again, she gave me that smile with deep meaning.

Just before I walked out the door, I happened to see a fox cub scale onto the counter in front of the lady. It reminded me of a kitsune from myths I heard about while I spent time in the island nation in the East in my previous life.

I guess the little fox was her Pangea.

'A summon-type Pangea, huh? For a rare Pangea-type, I'm seeing a lot of them recently.'

I finally saw the name of the shop when I walked out of the door. I felt the name was quite fitting (pun intended).

ThornyRose.

(To be continued...)

AUTHOR'S NOTE

(1) I think this is the clearest description I've done. Goes to show how much I suck at description. Took me half an hour to get this.

(2) Imagine this was written illegibly to the corner of the page.

(3) Check the comments. I'll drop a picture of this.

P.S: I don't know why but I can't share a picture as a paragraph comment. I could before though. Is it a glitch on my app?

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