Piece 11 (part 1)

On Sunday, pretty much the same things happened as the day before.

From morning until the afternoon, I practiced magic with Mom. It was even more intense now because she wants me to learn more advanced techniques, and I was able to cast fireballs more fluently now. 

In the afternoon, Uncle Althorn came visiting again with Miss Fiona and Miss Noire. Mom accompanied them at the diner as they conversed about what has happened the past ten years, while I assisted Dad with cooking at the diner. Grandma felt a little unwell, so she did not work at all for the entire night.

Monday arrives, and my time to go back to school has returned. If I'm not wrong, there's going to be an exam today on one of the school subjects. I will have to read up the books a little bit once I arrive at school…

Dad separated with me after walking me to the front gate, as usual. He had a construction job which started much earlier than on Friday last week, about an hour away from now. I'm very curious as to what he looks like when he's working at the construction site, and I can only imagine a pretty guy like him lifting building materials around places.

Arriving at my classroom, I noticed Nile hadn't arrived just yet. The classroom feels more empty than usual, and it's probably because it's still quite early.

"Milly!" From the classroom's door, a boy seemed to be waving his hand at me, and I noticed his face right away.

"Roy?"

After getting called, I placed my subject book under the table so I could read it later. I walked to the door and approached Roy who was waiting for me, and the guy seemed like he was in some trouble.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him, but he only looked so concerned about something.

"It's just… are you free after school, today?" He asks with his hand behind his neck, and I tried figuring out the answer.

"Yeah, I don't really have anything to do."

"In that case… would you mind going somewhere with me?" Roy asks a follow up question very-very awkwardly, and I opened my eyes widely hearing it.

"W-Wow. Are you asking me out?" I asked with a wide grin on my face, and Roy only shook his head very quickly.

"Not like that! My parents had a fashion business, and they are looking for female models who can try out a new set of clothes for teenagers. I'm wondering if you…"

"Oh. In that case, I'm in." 

"S-Sweet!!"

"But, I'll have to bring someone else with me. He might be an even better model for your fashion brand instead of me." I said with a big wide grin, and Roy only looked widely confused.

"E-Eh? W-Who is it?"

"You'll see! He's going to be perfect as a fashion model, don't worry!" I said to him as I turned around, and Roy only turned widely confused.

I didn't really allow him to say anything back, because this might be a good chance for me to see Dad in amazing clothing. I've never seen him wear anything good aside from plain commoner's clothing, which I've seen him wear almost every single day.

I'll make sure he wears a fancy noble outfit. I just want to see what he looks like when he becomes a genuine ruler of a country.

The day continued, and the exam went by quite the breeze. It was never a subject that I had problems with, and I solved the questions with no problem.

After school ended, I met up with Roy in front of his classroom. The guy was rather surprised that I even waited for him in front of his classroom, and he realized that I'm far too excited.

"You seemed really excited…" Roy pointed out as we walked on the school hallway, but I just giggled.

"Well, I've always wanted to try out fancy clothes."

"In that case, you'll love seeing the kinds of clothes that I have in store!" Roy said just as excited, and we both continued walking until the front gate.

There, I saw Dad at the usual place. He is wearing glasses as always, and his hand is reading the book that is in his hand. It's apparently a light novel, and he just seemed to like reading romance stories.

After seeing me exiting the gate, Dad noticed that I wasn't alone this time. He closed the book and walked over to me, and I realized his expression looked different.

He is… smiling.

"Dad. This is Roy. He's my classmate from a few years ago, but he just came back to the school after transferring from another." I introduced Roy to him, and Roy stepped forward as he bowed slightly at Dad.

"N-Nice to meet you, sir… My name is Roy." Roy introduced himself quite awkwardly, and I'm not sure why he is so stiff.

"Nice to meet you, Roy. May I ask what's going on?" Dad asks with an even stiffer tone, much different than how he usually talks.

"Roy asked me if I could become one of his models for his fashion brands. His family has an entire clothing store, and he's wondering if I can maybe try out some of those clothes." I explained the situation to Dad, and he seemed to understand it.

"I see. In that case, do you mind if I join along? I'd also love to see my daughter wearing fancy clothes." Dad said with the same wide grin, and Roy lifted his head before nodding very firmly.

"Yes, sir! You can come as well!" Roy said with a confident smile, and Dad turned his smile to me. I'm wondering why he is acting differently, but it could be because I'm with a friend right now.

Beforelong, we started to approach a carriage that is not too far from the school gate. The carriage belonged to Roy's family, and it is how he goes to school every day.

"Apologies, but the location is quite the distance… You don't mind if we ride the carriage there?" Roy asked me and Dad, and the two of us shook our heads.

"It's completely fine, Roy."

"All right. Then, mind your heads as you hop in." He politely asked, and I turned to Dad with a big wide grin. He returned to me with the same smile as well.

During the trip, Dad asked quite a lot of questions regarding the fashion brand to Roy. He is curious about the kind of clothes that the fashion brand sells, and Roy simply describes it the best way he could.

Apparently, it came from a famous clothing brand from Veldonia. The family didn't exactly originate from there, but the designers were all refugees from Veldonia. Roy's family hired them and opened a business using their talents and abilities.

Dad didn't exactly ask about those designers, but he went into specifics about the type of clothes. I'm slightly concerned that he might think of Roy negatively because his family poached the talented designers from Veldonia, but it doesn't seem to be like it.

We arrived after a fifteen minute ride on the other side of the city. It is at a much denser location of the city, slightly towards the city center. After stepping down from the carriage, I was immediately amazed by the three stories building that we came out of. It was indeed large, and at the very front states the name of the clothing store.

" 'Russels'. Is that your family name?" I asked after seeing the store name, and Roy nodded proudly.

"Let's go inside!" Roy confidently stepped towards the entrance, and he opened the door for us. As Dad and I walked in, we were immediately welcomed by the perfumed atmosphere of the clothing store.

It is indeed a fancy store for nobles. There's plenty of beautiful dresses for women on this floor, and I was mesmerized by the colorfulness of it.

"The first floor is for the ladies. Dresses, shoes, even head attires. The second floor is for men, so if sir wishes to try them out…" Roy turned to Dad for his opinion, but Dad only shook his head.

"I'm just here to see my daughter wearing fancy clothes."

"B-But you can wear them too!" I said to Dad excitedly, and Dad realized what my wish was. He laughed a little while rubbing the back of his head.

"All right, all right… I'll wear some so you can see." Dad finally gave up, and I can feel my Serotonin levels growing intensely.

This is about to be really good.

As promised, I followed Roy to meet up with the fashion designer. The designer was quite surprised that Roy was able to bring a pretty young lady like me, and she complimented me for my looks. Not long after meeting her, she handed me a complete set of clothes that is for both commoners and nobles, and she wished to have me try them on.

"This is… perfect!!" The fashion designer screamed after seeing me wear the clothes, and I guess I look really good in these dresses.

It's a plain dark orange dress with long black sleeves on my arms. The inner part of the dress was also black, which makes the color mix rather nice. It reminds me of what autumn leaves were like, with the orange and black mix.

"As expected of my daughter! She is beautiful!" Dad commented so happily, and the designer laughed as she turned her attention to dad.

For ten whole seconds, she just stared at him. She didn't even blink, and her shocked eyes were completely locked to Dad.

Aha… she recognized him.

"M-My apologies!! Yes, your daughter is incredibly… beautiful…" The designer started acting normally again, and Dad only nodded in agreement.

Roy doesn't seem to get it, but he is certainly happy that the designer's clothes were complimented.

"Then, should we try out more clothes for her?" The fashion designer said with a much more satisfied tone, and she rolled out even more clothes for me to wear.

The next dress I'm wearing is a bright green dress that resembles natural plants. There's a lot of loose flailing single cloths that really look a lot like long leaves. The theme of this dress is really just nature in general.

After that, I put on a beautiful black dress that really suits for parties. This one is definitely for nobles to wear because of how extravagant the decorations were.

"This one is going to suit you best!" The designer handed me a box, and I carefully opened the box to see what's inside.

Oh… my god.