Chapter 13
ONCE MIRA AND THE GIRLS had swapped introductions, they made their way into the fitting room. Before picking innerwear, it was essential to check that it would match Mira’s outfit exactly. At least, that was what the three girls said as they nonchalantly led Mira into the fitting room.
This wasn’t the small private fitting room one might expect in a clothing store. It was more like a large dressing room.
“I’ve been curious about your outfit since I first saw you,” one of the girls told Mira. “I don’t recall ever seeing one like it.”
“Yeah, I don’t see any logo,” another added. “What brand is it?”
“It’s super well-made.”
The three avid enthusiasts were so incredibly passionate about magical-girl fashion that, as soon as they went into the fitting room, they opened Mira’s collar and flipped up her skirt, examining her outfit however they wanted. All three stared intently at the garments.
The oldest of the girls was named Mirei; she was garbed in a military-style magical-girl outfit. Next was Marietta, who was very inquisitive and dressed in an outfit reminiscent of an animal. Finally, there was Nene, who wore a Japanese-style outfit. At first glance, she seemed like the most reserved of the group, yet she was the one who boldly flipped up Mira’s skirt.
The cute yet loud trio swarmed around her. Mira didn’t particularly mind the situation, so she played along and answered their question. “Uh, well, my friends actually made this for me.”
“Wow! It’s handmade!”
“They must’ve put a lot of work into it!”
“I’m jealous.”
Mira should’ve expected as much of garments created by royal maidservants. The quality of her clothes didn’t just match that of store-bought goods, it far exceeded them.
Realizing that at first glance, the girls closely inspected every inch of Mira’s body—or the clothes on her body, rather. As they did, they even removed her jacket, so that she stood there in only a slip. The girls were in such a fervor doing as they pleased that they were about to take that off.
Of course, assuming they were normal girls, they’d probably have backed off once Mira said, “Okay, that’s enough.” But Mira didn’t say a word. She made no attempt to fight, struggle, or even move. She just let whatever happened happen.
The situation would’ve looked pretty wild to anyone looking in from outside. They’d probably think that there was no reason to turn someone’s clothes inside out just to inspect them. Or they might’ve said that, if the girls were going to go that far, Mira might as well have just let them check the clothes after taking them off.
Still, Mira didn’t utter a single complaint as the girls practically yanked off her outfit. I have no idea what they’re checking or why, but women’s fashion sure is a lot more of a pain than I anticipated, she thought irrelevantly.
She stood perfectly still, the three girls still inspecting her collar and skirt. She figured that doing that while still fully clothed must be normal for girls figuring out what clothes would complement others. At least, her experiences thus far suggested as much.
After all, the maidservants had done the same thing with her clothing… No, it’d been worse with them. They’d stripped her down to almost nothing to take her measurements and check every other minute detail. If anything, these three girls—who were focused entirely on her outfit—were a thousand times easier to deal with than the maids’ scrutinizing gazes had been. Since Mira had begrudgingly gotten used to the maids’ treatment, she’d reached the point where she could openly tolerate and almost embrace her current circumstances.
“Wow—looks like combat cotton. It’s high-quality too. Incredible! This is fine craftsmanship. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
Not only was Mira’s outfit visibly custom-made, but it incorporated a number of specialized elements too.
First, it was military grade and made with combat cotton. That material was particularly popular with adventurers. The specially treated cotton was exceedingly tough, highly impact resistant, and breathable. It was often employed in mages’ robes and in the padding worn beneath warriors’ armor. It was so widely used that owning protective garments made from combat cotton signaled that one was a full-fledged adventurer.
High-level officials used high-quality military-grade combat cotton, a luxury material ten times pricier than normal combat cotton. That very fabric lavishly lined Mira’s jacket.
“This kind of thing would make a first-class defensive item! Whoever made it for you must’ve really loved you,” Mirei noted, having observed that the outfit was designed to protect its wearer.
Although the workmanship indicated to Mirei just how much love the maidservants had poured into the outfit, she didn’t detect just how manic and rabid that love was.
That said, the clothes were well-made. To anyone who regularly engaged in battle, the jacket would seem like a reliable piece of defensive equipment. And since it was a magical-girl-style design, magical-girl-fashion enthusiasts would consider it a holy grail. At least, that much was clear of Mirei, who had jealousy written all over her face.
I heard that making this outfit was pricey, but I had no idea it was this special.
Although the maids had sewn it, Solomon and Luminaria had mostly paid for it. Despite having caught wind of its cost, Mira hadn’t had any idea that the outfit was made with combat cotton. She was impressed.
Using even more technical terms, Mirei excitedly elaborated. According to her, Mira’s ensemble was an enthusiast’s dream outfit in several respects. It was made using technomancy, lined with combat cotton, and crafted with techniques that protected its wearer. She listed aspects Mira had never even heard of.
Who’d have guessed that it’s this special…?
Mira knew just how passionate the maids were. She’d guessed that sewing was only their side hobby, but maybe it was one they were a little too hardcore about. Maybe the outfit’s two financiers had put the maids up to making garments this elaborate, thinking it would be funny. That would have allowed the maids to craft something incredible even though sewing was just a hobby of theirs.
At any rate, Mirei said enthusiastically, Mira’s outfit was incredibly well-made and so high-performance that it would hold up against the highest-quality Magical Knights combat clothing. It would go for no less than ten million ducats.
Mirei’s eyes drank in Mira’s outfit; she looked spellbound. Marietta and Nene also gazed at the clothes in reverent adoration, as if wondering whether they’d ever acquire garb like hers.
Mira finally understood just how high-performance and absurdly expensive her clothes were. She was shocked to learn just how much time and money the maids had poured into making it. They’d evidently worked so hard at their hobby that they were now at a professional level.
As anyone might expect, Mirei and her friends began hounding Mira with questions about the makers of the outfit. They asked how these friends of hers had become skilled enough to make clothes like these.
Mira simply answered that a very large group of friends had made it and that the rest was a secret. It wouldn’t do to have the girls snooping around.
The girls took the hint. It looked like they were eager to know more, but they seemed to fight back the urge to grill Mira. Although Mira had learned a lot about her clothing, they returned to the subject of what innerwear she should wear with her outfit.
As they did, Mirei suddenly noticed Mira’s left arm. “Ah, a User’s Bangle! That means you’re a high-ranking adventurer, right?”
“Wow, incredible!”
“You’re so cool.”
The three were getting frenzied again. They should’ve noticed her User’s Bangle when they took off her jacket, but they’d likely been too absorbed in checking out her outfit to do so. Having noticed her User’s Bangle now, they finally realized Mira’s status. They looked at her with eyes that glittered with admiration and respect.
What man wouldn’t have been ecstatic in that position? Mira was no different.
“Who, me? I’m only A-rank,” she boasted, smiling proudly. Then she hammily flashed her adventurer’s license.
“You really are!”
“I’ve never met anyone A-rank.”
“And you’re a summoner to boot…”
A-rank adventurers were the cream of the crop, and Mirei and her friends paid no mind to Mira’s blatantly transparent behavior. Checking her adventurer’s license, they got even more worked up. Mira herself got more and more carried away, beginning her pitch on how the age of summoners was nigh.
Then Marietta abruptly asked something that’d been on her mind. “I’ve been thinking about this. If you’re a high-ranking adventurer—even more so if you’re A-rank—you get into some pretty intense battles, don’t you? So…you’d need innerwear, right? How have you gone this long without it?” she asked, returning to the topic at hand.
Why would an A-rank summoner who’d probably seen plenty of fearsome battles only shop for innerwear now? Mirei and Nene must’ve wondered the same thing, as they both suddenly went silent. All three awaited Mira’s response.
Mira wouldn’t necessarily have needed innerwear if she was just having fun as a magical-girl-fashion hobbyist, so it hadn’t seemed too crazy to the girls that she didn’t have any yet. But innerwear was a requirement for an A-rank adventurer who routinely engaged in epic battles with fearsome monsters, especially considering how short Mira’s skirt was—there wasn’t any doubt that others would see her panties. In short, it would just be common sense for her to have innerwear on.
Yet Mira had said that she hadn’t yet worn any. That was something fellow girls absolutely couldn’t understand.
“No… What I meant was…I just never really gave it much thought…”
Answering this poorly would probably make them think she was some weird exhibitionist. But although she’d worried about that for a moment, she again answered their question honestly. Up until that day, she’d ignored the question of whether anyone could see her underwear—and probably would from that day on as well.
“I see. Guess there are girls like that around, aren’t there?”
“So, you’re that type of girl, huh?”
“That’s so boyish.”
As the three spoke, their inquisitive looks suddenly vanished, and they smiled with exasperation.
Apparently, some female adventurers didn’t split hairs over their outfit. They saw no practical reason to change their clothes away from their party, since that would only invite a monster to attack them. Still, these three girls did happen to worry about these trifles.
“Well, I don’t think I’ve met a girly girl like you who was that type, Mira.”
In the girls’ experience, such female adventurers usually dressed in clothes that emphasized practicality. They’d never met a girl dressed as cutely as Mira who favored function, they added.
“I’ve heard people say that A-rank adventurers are odd. Guess it’s true!”
“Yeah. There’s something different about you.”
Marietta and Nene had both spoken while staring at Mira. Marietta had a very keen expression, and Nene’s eyes were full of deep respect. Apparently, the other members of Mira’s cohort whom they’d met were mostly somewhat eccentric.
Thinking briefly back on the A-rank adventurers she’d met in the past, Mira smiled bitterly to herself.
“Yeah, you may have a point there…”
She couldn’t help but agree. First, there was the former player Cyril. Then there was the samurai she’d met on the way to the Celestial Ruins, Heinrich. There was also Aaron, the warrior she’d met at the Isuzu headquarters. Then there were Jack Grave and Eleonora, who’d ridden on the same airship as Mira after the battle with Chimera Clausen.
Recently, she’d met another one, named Tryde, in the Ancient Underground City. Well, Tryde wasn’t that peculiar. Still, thinking back on some gory details, Mira thought that the percentage of “unique” A-rank adventurers was rather high. She began to feel conflicted as she considered whether that went for her too.
Regardless, Mira was relieved that the three girls were reacting less negatively than she’d expected. She’d been prepared for them to say that such a thing was utterly unthinkable for a woman. Instead, she once again felt the resolve and compassion of the other women walking alongside her on the adventurer’s path.
Not only that, but the girls’ attitude had changed completely in the blink of an eye.
“It must be rare to stumble upon a brash A-rank adventurer dressed in magical-girl clothing who’s shopping for innerwear, huh? That means we have a hefty responsibility on our shoulders. We’ll have to do our best to help you!”
“Yeah! This is an urgent, top-priority mission!”
“Victory at any cost!”
In their eyes, Mira had suddenly transformed from a newbie magical-girl-clothing fan to a seasoned A-rank adventurer they all looked up to—not only that, but also one magnificently garbed in the very magical-girl fashion that they loved so much. The fact that she was also a fan of that style further amplified the three girls’ envy of Mira.
It was the icing on the cake that she’d asked for help picking out innerwear. The fire that had now been lit in the girls burned hotter than any Mira had ever experienced.
Since innerwear’s purpose was basically to cover one’s underwear, the wearer didn’t need to be embarrassed if anyone glimpsed them. But for A-rank adventurers like Mira, things were a bit different. How much and how vigorously an adventurer moved in battle generally corresponded with their rank. That was why A-rank adventurers almost never wore skirts.
Mira wasn’t just a high-ranking summoner, she was A-rank, and she would definitely need to move around quite a bit. Thus, Mirei explained, she needed to pick innerwear with the assumption that everyone would be able to see it. Furthermore, she needed innerwear that could deal with any situation and complement her outfit—or, at the very least, not detract from its cuteness.
Not bothering to ask Mira how she felt about any of this, the three girls agreed on those criteria and formed a plan. In their relentless pursuit of the perfect innerwear, they began carefully examining every inch of Mira’s body again.
“Something like this would be cute, right?”
“Just based on the color, it’s hard not to consider these.”
“How about something a bit lingerie-like?”
The three girls lined up innerwear of varied styles and colors on the fitting-room table, giving their thoughts and opinions on each. Finally, they resolutely grabbed a selection, had Mira try it on, and examined the garment from every angle. They chattered about how the garment did a good job of looking good in and of itself while also guarding against anyone catching a low-angled glimpse, in case Mira’s skirt flew up and revealed the innerwear as she moved around.
Mirei and her friends weren’t about to make any compromises on this task. After the ten or twenty minutes that’d just passed, Mira found that—perhaps because the girls were fellow female adventurers, or because they’d bonded over being magical-girl-fashion fanatics—she’d become fond enough of them that she had no qualms about standing in front of them in her undergarments.
Having befriended the girls, she was in a good mood. However, it only lasted a moment. Looking up toward the heavens imploringly, Mira now lamented the situation in which she found herself.
Why did it all have to come to this…?
During her very first attempt at picking out innerwear, she’d asked these three girls with more experience for help, and in turn—before she’d even had a chance to process what was happening—she’d buddied up with the three, who now wanted her to try on all kinds of innerwear like some human mannequin.
“Let’s try putting her in something a little more mature next.”
“Good idea. I think they still have a few of last month’s new style. I’ll grab a pair.”
“They didn’t look good on us, but they might on you, Mira.”
Not only was their enthusiasm not diminishing, they were getting even more fired up.
Mira undeniably felt a bit like fleeing, but the girls all looked extraordinarily serious, and she decided not to object. She could’ve told them that they didn’t need to get so intent or that she didn’t mind wearing anything so long as it didn’t look too weird.
Unfortunately, that ship had sailed. What started out as trying on different types of innerwear had, at this point, turned into more of a fashion show. Before Mira knew it, staff members and other customers had begun peeking into the fitting room to glimpse the event.
They usually exclaimed something like, “Wow, those look great!” It wasn’t just lip service; they genuinely meant it.
Overhearing those heartfelt compliments, other customers flocked to see what was going on. Looking into the fitting room, they discovered that the target of the flattery was none other than a stunning young girl.
As one might expect, the spectacle attracted quite a bit of attention. Mira might as well have been a model, since the innerwear she donned looked even more stunning than usual. Before she knew it, people were choosing what to buy based on what they’d seen her trying on.
How had this happened? Well, the shoppers probably just wanted to wear whatever they saw on someone they idolized. Mira had effectively become a model representing the magical-girl-fashion community.
When will this end…? Endlessly putting on clothes, only to take them off so she could put on something else, Mira puzzled over why things had taken this turn. She knew that she couldn’t keep doing whatever the girls told her to.
Mira belted out an incantation to summon First Pupil: “Your reconnaissance skills can help me out of any trap, meow. You can help me scratch that itch that I can’t reach, no matter meow hard I try. I have no doubt that you, Cat Sith, will be the perfect partner for me, right here, right meow!”
She summoned the evocation beside her, as if to demonstrate summoning’s usefulness. The words of the incantation had more to do with Cat Sith himself than anything related to summoning, but it worked well nonetheless.
Mira was pretty sure that the Magical Knights catalog and events usually featured a mascot like Cat Sith. In fact, fuzzy mascots were almost synonymous with the magical-girl genre, which was why they were used so heavily in advertising.
It might’ve been fair to say that Mira was sort of exploiting that so that First Pupil, who could easily pass for a fuzzy mascot, would immediately get just as popular as Mira. In short, she was able to use Cat Sith to divert about half the audience’s attention and—though to a lesser extent—promote summoning. Everybody loved mascots, so Cat Sith would no doubt improve people’s overall image of summoners.
Pleased at the opportunity to show young people summoning’s merits, Mira smiled and slipped on another pair of innerwear that was handed to her.
In the end, she spent about two hours modeling. While she’d started out just trying on innerwear, she eventually ended up donning all kinds of Magical Knights outfits—and even other outfits from throughout the store.
Word had spread of the pop-up fashion show, to the point that droves of people had made their way to the store. Most of those who came to watch were women; there were only a few men. In this world, magical-girl clothing was apparently less cosplay and more high fashion.
“I feel like I’ve gotten seriously sidetracked…” Mira muttered to herself.
She glared at the three girls, who were still smiling brightly as they sat in the employees-only break room that Mira had been given special permission to use. She’d only wanted to pick out innerwear, but the whole thing had somehow turned into a huge spectacle. Given all that’d happened, the time had flown by.
“All’s well that ends well, right?” Mirei said, avoiding Mira’s gaze.
“You’re just so adorable, Mira. There’s really no helping it, is there?” Marietta also avoided Mira’s gaze.
“You got two hundred thousand ducats for two hours of work. That comes out to one hundred thousand an hour.” Peering intently at a paper bag near Mira, Nene added that Mira had looked incredibly beautiful and that her dressing up in all those outfits had been really helpful. Her smile as she told Mira all that was one of genuine delight.
Nene’s serene smile utterly trounced Mira, who softened her gaze. “Jeez… When you put it like that, I guess I’m glad I put in all that work.”
She picked up the paper bag. Inside were packed leggings, skorts, tights, and all kinds of other innerwear. The garments had been carefully selected by the three girls or the store staff. Best of all, they were on the house, courtesy of Marl & Stritz.
As Nene said, the bag also contained about two hundred thousand ducats. Mira’s presence had, by all accounts, resulted in profits that had smashed the records for any Magical Knights-affiliated retailer. The store had given her the tip to celebrate breaking that record, as well as to entice her back.
Well, I guess it’ll have to do.
At any rate, she’d gotten what she came for free of charge. Not only that, it was all stuff specifically picked out and recommended to her by experts. The garments would definitely match her current appearance. Trying to look on the bright side, Mira didn’t bother worrying about the details; although her shopping trip had turned into a complete spectacle, she’d accomplished what she’d set out to do.
Thus, she bid farewell to the three girls before making her way back down the main street. Her skirt fluttered from side to side as she walked, and a bit of black lace peeked out. That was one of the new articles that she’d received—a pair of bike shorts adorned with beautiful lace.
Mira had chosen that particular pair of bike shorts for her first foray into wearing innerwear to hide an undergarment. They didn’t change how her outfit looked, were fantastic at concealing her panties, and weren’t hampering her movements. And they really were quite stylish. If anyone saw them peek out beneath her skirt, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Most importantly, the other three girls had all worn bike shorts when they first tried innerwear, and so they’d all encouraged Mira to do so as well. She and the girls hadn’t known each other long, but that didn’t stop the three from becoming big fans of hers.
Reflecting on that, Mira looked down at a promotional flyer. Mirei and her friends had given it to her, hoping that they could meet up again sometime. On it was written “Fashion exhibition sponsored by Magical Knights.” Apparently, a big event was being held for magical-girl-clothing enthusiasts. The three girls would definitely go, so they’d given her the promo flyer for the event so they could have a little reunion there. In short, they expected Mira to attend.
But, despite not feeling great about letting the girls down, she had no intention of going.
I mean, I’m not really a fan, Mira thought suddenly, feeling guilty. I haven’t known them long either. Still, I ended up getting along with them better than I would’ve expected, huh?
Sometimes it didn’t take long to meet, forge ties, and become fond of others.
She wondered how the three girls would greet her if she showed up at the exhibition—and how they’d look once they realized she’d ghosted them. Tucking the flyer away carefully, she strolled off, her skirt continuing to sway gently.
For the record, the castle maids had worked on innerwear for Mira, but they had yet to complete any. They’d been confounded by the same thing as Mira: There were too many different types. The maids had all worked on creating her outfit together, yet their opinions were divided when it came to what innerwear would be best. It got to the point that there were even those advocating scrapping underwear altogether in favor of a one-piece swimsuit.
Deliberations were still ongoing, so it might be quite a while before Mira got her hands on any innerwear sewn by the maids.
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