episode_0047

After sending Reginald away for a ridiculous reason, I rechecked the working conditions, contract terms, and whether he could start work next Monday, which I had written in the letter, just in case.

Everyone came thinking the conditions were acceptable, so it would be strange if there were any problems, but after being hit with that spider phobia nonsense, I was anxious to death.

Fortunately, there was no recurrence of such nonsense.

I was left with the concern of how to fill the vacancy, but I felt relieved that it ended smoothly and sent the people back.

Except for the tailors.

“Is there a reason why only we were left behind?”

“Wouldn’t it be because there’s something to entrust to you separately?”

“But is there a reason to tell only us that?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell us now.”

As the people who were told they could leave first all exited the coffee house, the remaining people simultaneously expressed their doubts and stared at me intently.

Now that there were fewer people, there was no need to stand, so I sat down on the chair and opened my mouth.

“I asked you tailors to stay behind for a moment because I wanted to find a solution to a problem.”

“A problem?”

“It’s a bit interesting that it’s a problem that Sir William is concerned about.”

The Princesses Elizabeth and Fannie showed great interest at the word “problem.”

I pointed to the mannequin wearing a bra on the table and said.

“As I said when we were all together, this is underwear that I’m thinking of as a substitute for corsets. I’ve cut out everything else and only left the elements that support and accentuate the chest, increasing comfort. I hope this will completely replace corsets, but this underwear has one problem remaining.”

“What is it?”

“Its figure correction ability is terrible compared to corsets.”

“Well, isn’t it obvious since comfort and figure correction are inversely proportional?”

Count Herbert tilted his head slightly, raising his eyebrows as if saying, “Are you stating the obvious?”

“Because figure correction is not an easily forgivable advantage for women. Women are willing to die for beauty.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating too much? Still, now that clothes that can replace corsets have come out, wouldn’t they switch to the new clothes rather than endure the discomfort?”

At Count Herbert’s optimistic observation, I chuckled and shook my head.

Even in my past life, it took decades for corsets to completely move away from being the mainstream underwear after the story about retiring corsets came out in the 1850s.

They demanded improved versions because they couldn’t give up the slender waist and curves they could get through discomfort, but they didn’t abandon corsets.

Considering that corsets moved away from the mainstream not only because of the emergence of bras, but also because of the accumulation of women’s social advancement and the metal shortage caused by World War I, it is by no means easy to suddenly switch to new underwear.

“Corsets are uncomfortable, terribly uncomfortable, to the point where bones are twisted and diseases that didn’t exist appear. Princess Fannie would know that well.”

“That’s right.”

Corsets have been popular here for roughly a little less than 200 years, and even if limited to corsets that tightly cinch the waist like an hourglass, it’s been almost half a century.

By this point, everyone should know how terrible corsets are, but women still wear them.

“But even so, women wear corsets, why? Because the figure correction effect is so outstanding. Even 60cm is thin without wearing a corset, and about 70cm is normal. But if you wear a corset, 50cm is the ideal waist, and you can reduce it to 40cm in severe cases. This is a figure that can never be reached by ordinary methods.”

To maintain a healthy and beautiful thin waist, you have to pay attention to exercise, diet, and lifestyle.

The dream waist circumference that you make by working so hard is 24 inches, or 60cm, but with a corset, you can immediately get 60cm just by tightening the string without such troublesome work, and you can make it 50cm if you try.

It’s very painful, but it’s easy in terms of method, so can you give this up coolly?

No.

I think this is called path dependence, and the yard-pound system is where it manifests in a terrible form.

The reason why an incident occurred where a $300 million spacecraft was blown up without even being used because of the yard-pound system, and the reason why the waist size of clothes has notations like 81(32) is because a certain superpower is refusing to change because of familiarity and money, so everyone is using it with tears in their eyes.

“Princess Fannie, is that true? Do you abuse your body to that extent, even if you’re crazy about beauty?”

“Yes, it’s almost the same as the content investigated by the doctors and the Holy Kingdom. There’s even a rumor going around that young ladies are secretly having their ribs removed.”

“Oh- such a terrible…”

Count Herbert, who asked Princess Fannie because he thought I was exaggerating, trembled his eyelashes and grabbed his head.

“In a situation where people are even having their ribs removed, do you think they’ll easily give up corsets?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Unless you get rid of all the corsets… it seems difficult.”

“That’s exactly it.”

Princess Fannie and Count Herbert frowned and shook their heads as if they were horrified.

“It’ll be much better than Sir William thinks.”

“Yes?”

However, Princess Elizabeth, who had been quietly watching this, smiled and offered the opposite opinion.

“You mean it could change surprisingly easily.”

“What does that mean?”

“I could tell you, but I think it would be more fun not to tell you.”

“……”

The way she tells you as if she’s going to tell you but doesn’t, the way she makes people so annoyed, made me want to give her a flick on the forehead.

I calmed my seething heart by recalling the difference in status, which was presumed to be comfortably high, because something terrible would happen if I actually hit her.

“There’s no such thing as absolute in a person’s life, so I hope everyone will think about alternatives at least once. Anyway, it’s good to have a Plan B prepared.”

“If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

When I stated my opinion once again, Princess Elizabeth did not raise any further objections and accepted my request with a haughty smile.

“Whether it’s new clothes or a way to persuade people, everything is fine, so I hope the other two of you will also think about it if you have time.”

“I understand, it also coincides with the goal I want.”

“I’ll do my best to try!”

Princess Fannie and Count Herbert also gave positive answers.

“It’s not an urgent matter, so please think about it comfortably, and tell me when you’re comfortable.”

“”Yes.””

“Okay.”

“Does anyone have any questions up to this point?”

I looked around to finish the story and asked if there were any questions.

Then, the three people glanced at each other and indicated that they had no questions by shaking their heads or hands.

“If there’s nothing else to talk about, let’s wrap up for today. Thank you so much for listening to the long story today, and I’ll see you next time you come to work.”

“”Thank you for your hard work.””

“Good work, Sir William.”

_

The last day of July.

I received a letter from Heiny Yang saying that she had finally completed the machine, so I hurried to Heiny Yang’s lab.

“Sir William! Welcome!”

Then, Heiny Yang, who had been waiting with the settings ready as if she knew I would come right away, greeted me happily and sat me down in front of the machine without even giving me a chance to exchange greetings.

Then, with a confident expression, she pointed to the square machine, which was about 2m wide, 2m long, and 1m high, and immediately began to introduce it.

“This is the hook and eyelet making machine that meets all the requirements you requested. It was made to be operated by human hands, and in theory, it can make about 100 hooks and about 30 eyelets per hour.”

While talking, Heiny Yang busily moved her hands, touching various parts of the machine. Finally, she pressed down on something like a lever and waited a few seconds. Then, she took out a couple of small hooks from inside the machine and held them out to me.

Looking at Heiny Yang’s palm, hooks of truly perfect shape were revealed.

“Fast and accurate.”

“Yes, as you just saw, anyone can make hooks and eyelets by putting in the material, manipulating the mold, and then pressing down.”

“Hmm… Is it sturdy? If it can be made with human power, doesn’t that mean it can be easily bent or damaged?”

“Of course not, look here.”

Heiny Yang smiled confidently, connected the hook to something like a string, hooked the hook onto a hook fixed to the wall, and pulled the string wildly.

“It varies depending on the size, but like this, even if you pull it hard, it holds up well.”

“Ooh~”

It was difficult for one hook to withstand the force of a person putting their weight on it, so it eventually bent, but I couldn’t help but admire the fact that it lasted so long for a small hook.

“Then how can I get the materials? Aren’t they expensive?”

“I also worried a lot about how to solve the material issue at first, because it would be meaningless if only I could get it.”

Heiny Yang handed me a note with something written on it.

“This is a smelter that can handle these materials in large quantities. It’s run by a magician I know, and they’ll provide the materials at a reasonable price.”

“Thank you so much, I didn’t know you would do this much.”

“I’m experiencing a huge boom right now thanks to Sir William, so this much service is nothing.”

Heiny Yang smiled and put the note in my hand.

Then she turned around, approached the machine, and said.

“Then I’ll continue to explain the remaining functions.”

“Yes, please.”

Heiny Yang, who was smiling and stuck to the machine, continued her long explanation again, touching the machine.

I was embarrassed that the explanation, which I thought would end moderately, lasted for two hours, but thanks to that, I was able to clearly understand that the machine was very well made.