episode_0305

“Rilis?”

“Yes, Agnes.”

“I distinctly remember you saying that she was going to buy new clothes just now.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…Did she come to buy clothes?”

“Yes, she did.”

Agnes looked around with a bewildered expression, as if my answer was hard to understand or something.

It was easy to understand why she was reacting like that. After all, the place I brought Liria to was not a clothing or fabric store, but an item workshop that sold weapons and armor.

“Oh, oh!”

Meanwhile, Liria, still completely unsuspecting, wandered around the workshop as eagerly as a child in a department store at Christmas. She really seemed comfortable in her own skin.

“Wow… I feel a mysterious power that I can’t understand from this window. How can such a long and sturdy object be so light…”

“You’ve got a good eye, miss. That’s quite a masterpiece in our workshop.”

“Um, how much is it, shopkeeper? With just this window, I’ll definitely win first place in this hunting competition…”

“Two gold coins.”

“…What?”

“It’s a masterpiece, so it’s two gold coins. Can’t lower the price.”

“…”

Even though she was a brainy muscle, Liria quietly put the window back in its original place, without shamelessly bargaining.

Two gold coins were equivalent to about 5-6 million won in the original world’s currency, so it was a natural reaction. Even so, 600 million won for a window was a bit over the top.

And in the first place, the quality of the items available at this “early game weapon shop” workshop was practically the same. Rather than the final equipment, the equipment obtained from monsters or dungeons during the game was better in performance and not worth buying at all.

The window Liria just picked up would be replaced automatically after 1-2 years, so there was no need to spend a fortune on something that would be replaced soon.

Bringing Liria here was not to match her equipment or anything. It was just for a confession item, so there was no need to buy high-quality items. Just matching the appearance was enough.

“Liria, don’t get distracted by other things and come over here.”

“Yes, Senior Rilis.”

With a disappointed expression, Liria moved her steps from the window stand towards me. Keeping her in front of me, I pulled Liria towards a pile of scrap metal in the workshop.

“Shopkeeper, how much are the items here?”

“What? Those are gathered to take to the blacksmith later. Why would you want to use those junk items?”

“I have a use for all of them.”

“Are you going to use them as materials? Just give me 30 copper coins for any one of them!”

One, two, three, four, five, six… If you add them all up, it would be about two silver coins.

The value of one or two gold coins was certainly a burden for me, but one or two silver coins were a manageable expense for the sake of my junior. Besides, if I could see the hero guy panicking and rushing around, even 50,000 won would be cheap.

With that in mind, I took out a few “clothes” from the pile of scrap metal gathered in one corner of the workshop and handed them to Liria one by one.

“Try them on one by one. If the plate armor is too small, it could be a problem later.”

“Got it!”

“You, you can just wear them as they are! It’s not like you need to take off your clothes to put on these shabby clothes!”

“Oh, okay!”

I hastily stopped Liria from trying to take off the clothes she was wearing in the shop and had her put on the plate armor on top of them.

When you look at the area covered by the rusty plate mail, it wasn’t much different from underwear in terms of coverage, and yet, when Liria put on just the top and bottom armor, her imposing presence was quite significant.

“Wow….”

“Oh, how is it?! Will this help seduce men?!”

“…Well, the direction isn’t bad, but this is still lacking. Let’s try on the rest of the pieces.”

“What? Do you mean I have to put on something else here?”

“It’s a full plate mail, so of course you need to wear gloves, gauntlets, and boots as well. Just wearing the top like pants won’t cut it.”

“Oh, I see!”

Watching Liria pick up pieces of plate mail one by one from the scrap heap and put them on, Agnes muttered anxiously.

“…Rilis, is this right?”

“What?”

“You said you were going to dress Liria in stylish clothes to attract men. But this looks like something a soldier killed in battle and turned undead would wear.”

“No, Agnes. How can you say such harsh things? Are you saying Liria looks like a skeleton soldier right now?”

“…You dressed her like that.”

“Well, you’ll see. I didn’t just put these on without thinking.”

Agnes’ lack of fashion sense didn’t change my plans, even if she pointed it out. Discussing fashion with Agnes, who always wore clothes provided by the Elizabeth family, was meaningless from the start.

After putting on the rusty iron scraps one by one and finally wearing a helmet, Liria transformed into an authentic medieval knight (200 years old).

If she went out on the street like this, she would probably be easy to find even if she got lost in the middle of the market. She would likely be wandering around, leaving a trail of rusty iron dust wherever she went.

“This… is supposed to seduce men….”

“…It doesn’t really look like it.”

“Really? Then what kind of outfit do you think would seduce men, Agnes?”

“….Huh?”

“If Agnes has a better idea than this, then that’s why you’re saying that, right? Surely you wouldn’t deny the outfit I coordinated for Liria without a better suggestion?”

“…I, I don’t know. Well, now that I look at it again, it’s not too bad. People’s tastes can’t all be the same….”

Realizing quickly that it was impossible to express her opinion, Agnes hurriedly left without saying anything more.

With that, all opinions at the scene were under my control. …Well, they were already from the beginning.

“I’ll buy everything this kid is wearing!”

The owner of the workshop looked at me with a suspicious look, but I ignored it.

***

It goes without saying that I never had any intention of confessing to Gyeommyeojoshegi while Liria was wearing this rusty full-body armor.

Well, this kind of outfit might be enough to make the young warrior guy flustered, but if I showed him such a severe sight, he might notice something strange and run away before I even got a chance to confess.

If that happened, even Liria would inevitably have doubts about what I had done to her when she saw herself in that state. She had followed my advice faithfully, so why would he run away just by looking at her clothes? Such thoughts would surely linger in her mind.

There was nothing as foolish as leaving a grudge against a barbarian. So, the plan for Liria’s confession failure had to induce a failure that she could understand without harboring resentment towards me.

“Liria, could you please bend down for a moment? My arms can’t reach up to your head.”

“Yes? Oh, okay.”

With a hint of doubt in her expression at my request, Liria complied and stood in front of me in a slightly awkward posture.

I placed my hand on her helmet and immediately used the ‘Clean’ spell to remove the rust and dirt that had accumulated on it.

“Ah…”

From her head to her top, gloves, pants, bracers, and boots, I gradually removed the rust, revealing a pristine full plate mail. Agnes, a beat behind, finally realized what I was doing and nodded in approval.

Although Liria’s transformation had become cleaner through several uses of the Clean spell, it wasn’t over yet. There were countless tiny scratches still left on the armor after removing the rust and dirt.

Now was the time to demonstrate the true power of the support magic I had learned so far.

The support magic ‘Sharp Blade’ wasn’t just used to increase the attack power of a blade. While it was commonly used for that purpose, the essence of this magic was to ‘smooth and polish the surface, giving it a sheen.’

Using ‘Ventilate’ to enhance the power of my magic, I then used ‘Sharp Blade’ to give a sparkling sheen to the entire armor Liria was wearing. After that, I used ‘Clean’ once more to complete the perfect cleaning.

By doing this, the ‘Sharp Blade’ effect would still maintain a certain level of sheen even after its initial effect wore off.

“Alright, Liria. You look much prettier now than before.”

“Oh, wow…! You’re truly amazing, Senior Relis! To think you could make this old armor shine so brightly with so many spells… I admire you, Senior Relis!”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“…But if you were going to do this, couldn’t you have done it inside the shop? Was it necessary to hide in this alley?”

“What are you saying, Agnes? If we cleaned this rusty equipment inside the shop, the owner might demand not just 2 silver coins, but 20. Until the transaction is complete, it’s not really our property, you know?”

“That’s true. I thought you brought her out like this because you had some ill feelings towards her.”

“How could that be, Agnes! Senior Relis would never have any ill feelings towards me! Please don’t doubt his pure intentions!”

“Anyway, now that the clothes are done, let’s go check the confession lines. If Senior, who you like, is preparing a confession line that you will undoubtedly fall for, let’s go.”

“Yes!!”

In the midst of the unnecessarily lively and enthusiastic response, I felt a twinge of guilt.

…Since the confession is bound to fail anyway, a little playful teasing shouldn’t hurt.