Chapter 13: Peddling
After breakfast, a soldier notified Ruri that Euclase wished to see her. Since Jade partook in breakfast with her, he accompanied her in following the soldier to the room Euclase had designated.
“In here, please,” said the soldier. He bowed his head and took his post beside the door.
Ruri opened the door as instructed, but she couldn’t believe the sight that leapt out at her. The entire room was lined corner to corner with a vast selection of dresses and accessories. She was straining her eyes just looking at it all. One could only assume that it took a substantial amount of time to lay out this much apparel.
Euclase noticed them entering and urged Ruri, who was standing dumbfounded at the entrance, inside. “Ruri, don’t just stand there; come in here.”
Coming back to her senses, Ruri walked into the room as she looked at everything around her. “What is all of this, Euclase-san? Are you trying to start up a business here or something?”
“Well, you’re not necessarily wrong.”
Ruri noticed the multitude of people other than Euclase in the room, and judging from their clothes, they weren’t employees of the castle.
As Ruri wondered about the identity of these people, Euclase provided an answer. “These people are peddlers—traveling salesmen.”
“Traveling salesmen?”
“Yes. Ruri, pick out whatever you want from here. Don’t worry about the cost; I’ll be fronting the bill.”
“Huh? No, that’s not necessary. I have my own clothes, and these all seem rather pricey.” There was no way that Ruri could start picking things out willy-nilly after being told to do so out of the blue. Not only that, but every piece of merchandise here seemed expensive, which made her restrain herself even more.
Fretting over Euclase’s sudden order, she looked up at Jade for help, but Jade provided no assistance and simply said, “All you have to do is pick.”
“You too, Jade-sama...? You don’t have to; I’ll buy anything I need on my own.”
“I will not allow that to happen. If you won’t pick out anything, I will pick them out for you.” Euclase said.
Euclase was more likely to pick out items that would suit Ruri more than Ruri herself, but she wasn’t hard-pressed for clothes or the like anyway.
“But, I have so many clothes and accessories in my pocket space.”
Euclase should have known that, considering they went into Ruri’s space once before. With a combination of the items inherited from the First Dragon King and items Lydia picked up from pocket spaces slated for erasure, Ruri had more clothes and accessories than she knew what to do with. Granted, whether any of them suited Ruri’s tastes was another matter altogether.
“That’s not the same. None of those things you were bequeathed are made for you nor are they new, correct?”
“Well, yes. But why do you want me to shop so badly?”
Euclase breathed a heavy sigh before saying, “You know we are currently housing the Beloved from Cerulanda, yes?”
“Yes.”
“The Beloved has been calling in salesmen and buying dresses and accessories one after another ever since she arrived in the kingdom. And all on the Nation of the Dragon King’s dime! Knowing full well we can’t scold a Beloved, arghhh!!”
“That is quite problematic...”
“‘Problematic’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. Even her followers are taking advantage of the situation and shopping! And as much as I’d love to send the bill to Cerulanda, we can’t if we want to save face as a major nation. We don’t want others thinking that we’re a nation filled with cheapskates, after all!” Euclase raged.
Ruri flinched. It seemed being chancellor was a tough job in more ways than one.
Euclase heaved another sigh and calmed themselves down. “Well, even discounting the whole matter of being perceived as a nation of cheapskates, we certainly can’t have another nation’s Beloved going on a shopping spree with our money while our own Beloved doesn’t purchase anything.”
“I don’t really mind, though.”
“It’s the nation that minds, my dear. Spending for you is already calculated into the nation’s budget in the first place. But, dear Ruri, because you don’t desire anything, we always have massive surplus. This is a prime chance, so burn through the budget.”
This was the first time Ruri had a budget built around her. Although, it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise considering that she was a Beloved, an important person in this world.
“What, really...? But...” Ruri said hesitantly.
“For crying out loud, let’s go already!” Euclase said, taking the initiative and pulling Ruri behind them. They took item after item and laid them over Ruri’s body. “Hmm, this is too much. How about this one? Oh, this is good.”
“Oh my, so is this one. Ruri, try this on, too.”
Euclase’s feminine sense was second to none. They were picking out apparel one after another that suited Ruri even without her input. And, for whatever reason, Rin had joined in, as well.
Ruri loved to dress up and she loved shopping, even if it was just browsing around, but with Euclase being so assertive right now, there was no way she could enjoy herself.
Euclase shoved Ruri behind a folding screen for changing and handed her dresses and high-end clothing—pieces that were a far cry from simple everyday wear—and accessories to go with them. Mostly all of them were impulse buys. Ruri tried each piece on as she was instructed, but the more Euclase’s picks began to stack up, the paler she became.
Meanwhile, each peddler wore an ear-to-ear smile. Not only were they selling one piece of expensive merchandise after another, each one became “Beloved-approved,” adding to their prestige and profits.
“Euclase-san, aren’t you buying a little too much...? I don’t get many chances to wear dresses, and if it’s everyday wear, then the cheaper options would suffice,” Ruri said.
Both Euclase and Rin gave her death glares.
“Ruri, you’re a Beloved, so you need to be more self-aware. A Beloved can’t go running around in shabby clothes. The last thing this nation needs is to be mocked for not being able to provide you with suitable attire! There is always going to be demand for a dress, so it’s fine. This isn’t frivolous shopping; it’s necessary spending!”
“That’s absolutely right!” Rin said, agreeing with Euclase.
“Okay...” Ruri said, conceding to the pressure. But since she was never the type to spend frivolously, she couldn’t help worrying over the price.
Suddenly remembering that she came with Jade, she looked around the room to see where he had gone, only to find him in the corner of the room gracefully sipping on a cup of tea. By his feet were Kotaro, yawning disinterestedly, and Chi, conked out.
Just as Ruri thought about how often Chi slept, the door to the room slowly opened and Agate stepped into the room.
“Huh? Agate-san, what is the matter?”
“I heard that you were trying on clothes, you see. I thought I could use your choices as future reference, but... it seems you’re just about finished,” Agate said disappointedly after looking at Ruri’s exhausted face and the mountain of apparel.
“What do you mean ‘reference’?”
“Oh, you know... I just wanted to check what kind of color and pattern of dress suited you.”
“Can’t you just do that the next time we call the traveling salesmen?” asked Euclase.
Ruri couldn’t believe her ears when she heard that this would be happening again. They had finally finished up, and the thought of being made a dress-up doll again was tiring.
However, Ruri really wanted to know why Agate needed this “reference” in the first place. “Why do you need to ‘check’?” she asked.
“Oh, for in the future, like I said. By the way, would you mind me asking how weddings work in your neck of the woods? Dresses for the ceremony, customs and ordinances—that sort of thing?”
Ruri raised an eyebrow, confused as to why he was suddenly asking about weddings, but she answered nonetheless. “A wedding dress is usually white, isn’t it?” A wedding dress was normally white in Ruri’s world, but that didn’t seem to be the case here.
Euclase explained, “No, there’s no real set color. It can be a flashy color, a subdued color, or any color you want for that matter. So, it’s white where you’re from?”
“Yes. In my world, wedding dresses are white, so I’ve always wanted a white dress.”
Agate nodded to himself and asked his next question. “Any particular gemstones you care for?”
“Hmm, none in particular. Or rather, I’m not too familiar with gemstones in this world, so I can’t say.”
“Ah, okay. Fair point.”
Ruri tilted her head, not understanding what Agate was getting at with all these questions. She unfortunately didn’t have any wedding plans on the horizon. Although, all this wedding talk made Ruri wonder what a wedding in this world would be like.
“Speaking of gemstones, is it customary to exchange rings in this world?” Ruri asked.
“Exchange rings?” repeated Agate.
“We exchange rings during weddings in my world. A ring on your third finger—the ring finger—serves as proof that you’re married. There’s also what we call an ‘engagement ring’ that we give when we propose, so I was curious if that existed in this world, too,” replied Ruri.
“It depends on the race, but a dragonkin passing over a dragonheart is the ultimate form of proposal. We don’t really give anything else, though,” Euclase elaborated.
“Oh, you don’t say...” Ruri said, looking slightly disappointed. She wanted someone to present her a ring and ask her to take their hand in marriage. Even though she already knew that the marriage process in another world would be different, it was still a letdown. “So, I take it you don’t exchange rings here, then...”
“That’s correct,” Euclase answered. “There are other races where gifting one another jewelry is a part of their culture, but not for dragonkin. The exchange of dragonhearts would correspond to that.”
Ruri was born in a different world and even a different race, so it was inevitable that there would be discrepancies, but it was still disappointing.
“If you wish to exchange rings that much, then why not just do it? It wouldn’t be that difficult to do,” suggested Euclase.
“It isn’t?” Ruri asked.
“A small gesture like that wouldn’t. Also, exchanging rings at weddings might just catch on in the future if a Beloved were to do it. It might even become commonplace in due time.”
While it wasn’t certain that it’d become common practice, seeing as how a fake good-luck charm made of beads the same color as Ruri’s eyes could sell, it was a safe bet that if Ruri exchanged rings, people might imitate the gesture. There was just one problem before all that, however.
“Okay, but, I need a partner before I start talking about marriage. Finding one comes first.”
“Ah, yes. Indeed it does...” said Euclase, clicking their tongue, blatantly dismissive.
“Could you at least try to sound interested?”
“Interested in what? You’ll find a partner soon enough,” Euclase declared somewhat confidently.
“Well, I hope so. I don’t really want much out of a partner. If I could get a fluffy husband who only keeps one wife and makes a livable income, then that’d be perfect!” Ruri emphasized, clenching her fist.
“Two of your points are fine, but a ‘fluffy’ husband won’t do. Give up on that.”
“Aww... Wait, but why? I’m here in a world with beast-people, so why waste the opportunity?”
“Opportunity or not, no means no,” Euclase said. Agate vehemently nodded his head in agreement.
The two of them looked at Jade, but Jade didn’t realize what they meant by that.
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