BONUS: I WORE A BREEZY DRESS
Once, I went to the south in search of plants that could be made into medicine.
I brought Halkara along with me, and we rode on Laika. For some reason, Beelzebub had joined us, even though Halkara and I weren’t going for sightseeing but for work…
When we reached a stopping point in our search, we took a break in town.
“The clothing is different down here,” I murmured profoundly as I gazed over the busy avenue.
Very little about this place was like medieval Europe. There were lots of people wearing what looked like shorts. Some of the men were even shirtless.
“It seems so. This is all new to me, since I’m not very familiar with the south.”
Halkara was looking this way and that, much like I was.
All of us were basically acting like tourists at this point.
“I find the warm temperatures here in this land rather comfortable,” said Laika. “However…I am not sure how to feel about those not wearing clothes…”
Laika had been keeping her eyes trained downward for a little bit now, probably because the prim and proper girl was embarrassed to look. About one in five people were shirtless, so just walking around was a struggle for her.
“Miss Laika, these outfits are normal for the area, so there’s nothing strange about it~ Oh, he sure has some muscle. That one over there has arms like tree trunks!”
“Halkara, maybe rein it in a bit…”
“My, that man’s muscles remind me of an ogre’s. And that one has arms as thick as a dwarf’s!”
“Keep it down, Beelzebub!”
I wanted them to be at least a little self-aware. Before long, they’d be walking up to people and asking if they could feel them.
“But…boy, I’m hot in my clothes from the highlands…”
I could feel sweat dripping down my cheek.
We were in a warm climate; as soon as we started walking, the sweat started trickling.
“Then why not perhaps purchase some clothes like the ones the locals might wear? They’re certainly comfortable.”
“Hey, nice idea, Beelzebub.”
She was right—maybe I should get something now just in case I came to the south again later.
The women here wore thin clothing; maybe the material was especially airy.
“This is the main avenue, so there are likely many stores selling clothing. Lady Azusa, that shop seems to be selling ready-made clothes for women.”
The sharp-eyed Laika seemed to have found a shop and was pointing at it.
“Oh, thanks. I wonder what kind they’re selling.”
I approached the store.
Then I saw an outfit facing the street that shocked me.
“No way… This is practically a Chinese qipao…”
It really emphasized the contours of the wearer; it came in a variety of vibrant colors, and it had high slits to show off the beauty of the wearer’s legs—all the key elements of a qipao.
But then again, real Chinese qipao were apparently different from the ones you might find outside China. In that case, this dress was more of a “Chinese-style common dress.”
“Anyone would be able to see all the way up to your hips if you wore this. This is shameless from my perspective…” Laika turned her eyes away from the shop as a prim little lady would.
“Showing off the legs? And what is wrong with that?”
“You always show a lot of skin, Beelzebub…” Well, a lot of powerful villainesses wore clothes like hers.
At the very least, though, I didn’t want to walk around dressed like Beelzebub.
“Still, wouldn’t it be hot wearing something that hugs your body so closely in this region? Oh, there’s an explanation here.”
“How interesting! Madam Teacher, I want to try this on!”
“I would like to try one as well.”
Halkara and Beelzebub were on board.
And so Laika and I decided to watch them try it on.
“Wow~ It’s so cool~ This is so comfortable.”
“Aye, perhaps I might get one for myself.”
Both of them tried the breezy dress on and posed for us.
Beelzebub must have been pleased with how she looked, because she even pulled out a folding fan for effect. She’d had it for a while now, but it definitely matched the dress really well.
That aside—
“…You really need confidence in your figure to wear this, don’t you?”
“I don’t know if I could walk around town in it, either…”
It certainly emphasized Beelzebub’s bust—and Halkara’s, too, of course.
If I wore one and stood next to them, then everyone would see how big (or not) my chest was. That was terrifying…
“Will you not buy one? We may not get this chance again, so I shall purchase one for the both of you. You might find you’ll want it later.”
“No, Beelzebub, you really don’t have to do that…”
But I was curious—how would it feel to wear a dress cooled with Wind magic?
“But if you insist.”
And so I received one as a gift.
The night we got back to the house in the highlands, I locked the door to my room and decided to try my breezy dress on.
“First, I need to know if it actually looks good on me. Wait, it doesn’t really matter how it looks—this wind mechanism is more important…”
I checked in the mirror—
“Hey, it’s way better than I thought it would be. Man, I’m glad I’m forever seventeen. Yeah, I can pull this off! I can!”
The problem lay elsewhere.
“Brr!”
I reflexively wrapped my arms around myself and sneezed several times, too.
“It’s too cold! I’m actually colder than I was before I put any clothes on! The wind is wrapping around my whole body and lowering my body temperature!”
Now that I thought about it, a cool wind was especially cool when the air was already cold.
It wasn’t that warm in the house in the highlands anyway, and I’d chosen a rather chilly night to try on my dress, so my body cooled more than I thought it would.
“No! I can’t wear this in the highlands!”
I gave up after five minutes and changed into my normal clothes.
Then, the next morning…
“Oh, good morning, Madam Tea—hachoo! Achoo! Achoo!—cher…choo!”
Halkara seemed under the weather.
“I went to bed wearing the breezy dress… It cooled me down so much that I got sick…”
“That’s your own fault…”
I know it’s obvious, but you need to dress for where you live. Now I can say it from experience.
The End
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